"Ripping" movies - DVDs, VHS too.

[Muse]

Never done this with a computer but I'm real curious. In fact I've never rented a movie but would like to start doing it. Have a lot of HD space, and if I can make a digital version of a movie that's reasonably lossless I can watch it later or watch it later multiple times (which some movies deserve). I have some VHS tapes and I've made VHS ---> VHS copies years ago and have a little electronic device that rips out the Macrovision encoding, dispenses with the artifacts that this can cause when watching Macrovision encoded VHS tapes, and it allows me to make copies therefore. I've heard that DVDs can use Macrovision and I wonder if I can use my little box (has a DC wall-wart PS) to disable that. Now, I understand to make a computer file of a VHS tape I need a capture card. Do I need a card to copy (isn't that called "rip") a DVD? I have a computer DVD player (Pioneer 106s 16x slot loader), lots of HD space and a pretty fast box, two actually with 1.2 and 1.5 GHz AMD CPUs with 512 DDR each.

What do I need here? When I built my 1.2 GHz Epox 8K7A system I downloaded Smartripper (from around July 2001), and I think you can use that to rip DVDs. What are people doing now? I also need to know how big the files are going to be. I figure that depends on my encoding algorithms, and maybe those are configurable like MP3s, but I'd like some idea of how many MBs/GBs are required to record an hour of video (and sound, obviously). Thanks for help/guidance.

 

[easystreet]

This ought to keep you busy.
Hope it helps.

 

[PG]

DVD2SVCD is a great program. It does DVD ==> SVCD. Each movie will end up being 2 or 3 CD's. You will need 15 GB of free HD space and about 12 hours or so of time per movie. Oh and you need something to burn the .bin and .cue files since that's what DVD2SVCD will give you.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: PG
DVD2SVCD is a great program. It does DVD ==> SVCD. Each movie will end up being 2 or 3 CD's. You will need 15 GB of free HD space and about 12 hours or so of time per movie. Oh and you need something to burn the .bin and .cue files since that's what DVD2SVCD will give you.

Questions, please: 2 or 3 CDs is around 2 GB or less of data for your final burn. Is the 15 GB necessary for temporary storage? Why would it be "12 hours or so of time per movie"? What's that about? I assume from this that it works out about 1 Gb or less of data per hour of video+audio. Is DVD2SVCD freeware/shareware/off the shelf?

 

[PhoenixOfWater]

is there a EZ way to rip a DVD and encode it in to a AVI file using divx?

 

[starwarsdad]

do a search for SmartRipper and Vidomi

Those are the tools you need.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: easystreet
This ought to keep you busy.
Hope it helps.

It sure looks like an education but it's disappointing. The English is often not good at all. You can generally make out the author's intention but it's a drag when that happens too much and it does here. There are links galore withint the site, more than I've ever seen before and I'm talking about hypertext to more info within the site, and that's great except for the fact that you don't see that it's a link until you pass your mouse over it, not too smart. It seems like a maze. Well, I do have a ton to learn, I can't deny that. I'm a digital video newbie. I tried looking up my Pioneer 106s DVD player, a VERY common player... everybody was buying them a year ago, and the site has dozens and dozens of Pioneer DVD drives and their compatibilities but for some reason the 106s or its sister, the 116 are not there, and I can't begin to fathom why. Is my $60 DVD drive just too basic and primitive to even be used for digital video? That's what I have to surmise or at least wonder.

This stuff looks more complicated than the digital audio arena. I was a newbie in that less than a year ago but no longer. Not an expert, but I at least I am pretty comfortable with a lot of basic MP3 utilities now.

 

[easystreet]

I agree, on some forums literacy is at a premium. When looking for the Koss DVD player that is being talked about in Hot Deals I had to type "Koss" in the model box since it wasn't listed in the manufacturer box.

 

[Pauli]

Muse, instead of complaining about the VCDHELP web site, why don't you just appreciate that there is actually such a great resource (it really is a GREAT resource) provided for FREE (and it is kept up-to-date which is more than I can say for most of these type of web sites) so that us newbies to digital video can actually learn vital information? You are at the same stage I was about one month ago before I started diving into digital video. I have spent a good bit of time on the vcdhelp web site and am VERY appreciative of what it has provided for me to learn.

To be honest, your post comes off sounding whiney and make you seem like an ingrate. What the heck do you expect for free?

 

[PG]

Originally posted by: Muse

Originally posted by: PG
DVD2SVCD is a great program. It does DVD ==> SVCD. Each movie will end up being 2 or 3 CD's. You will need 15 GB of free HD space and about 12 hours or so of time per movie. Oh and you need something to burn the .bin and .cue files since that's what DVD2SVCD will give you.

Questions, please: 2 or 3 CDs is around 2 GB or less of data for your final burn. Is the 15 GB necessary for temporary storage? Why would it be "12 hours or so of time per movie"? What's that about? I assume from this that it works out about 1 Gb or less of data per hour of video+audio. Is DVD2SVCD freeware/shareware/off the shelf?

about 15 GB is for temp storage, I delete it after I'm done with every movie.
12 hours is the CPU time required.
Get the software and more info here.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Pauli
Muse, instead of complaining about the VCDHELP web site, why don't you just appreciate that there is actually such a great resource (it really is a GREAT resource) provided for FREE (and it is kept up-to-date which is more than I can say for most of these type of web sites) so that us newbies to digital video can actually learn vital information? You are at the same stage I was about one month ago before I started diving into digital video. I have spent a good bit of time on the vcdhelp web site and am VERY appreciative of what it has provided for me to learn.

To be honest, your post comes off sounding whiney and make you seem like an ingrate. What the heck do you expect for free?

Yeah, I'm sorry and I see your point. I couldn't help going off on it, though, BEFORE I get addicted to it and am slobbering grateful. Normally I'm not a whiner. Maybe you can put yourself in my shoes a second and imagine what it feels like to be suddenly immersed in a sea of hypertext, none highlighted, and most of the text being a tough read. Yes, I pointed out the shortcomings before the value becomes apparent. It's a first impression. A lot of great things can't be seen as such initially, and this is probably one of those. And, you are right, it's free and to be honest I'm tremendously impressed with the level of technical sophistication of the writter some of the material I read, although I think that stuff was written by someone else - the stuff at this link. No, I couldn't do better. I couldn't begin to do what's been done at the sight. Am I so bad for being critical like I was? I'm not the first guy who's gone off on a link at first sight. Dig - I'm NOT an ingrate.

 

[Muse]

12 hours is the CPU time required.
Get the software and more info here.

Oh. You're saying that it takes the computer 12 hours to rip a movie, then! OK, cool. Not a problem. Thanks.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: easystreet
I agree, on some forums literacy is at a premium. When looking for the Koss DVD player that is being talked about in Hot Deals I had to type "Koss" in the model box since it wasn't listed in the manufacturer box.

I wasn't able to find my Pioneer 106s and I must have spent 20 minutes searching. I'll try again.... Hmm. He says "stand alone" DVD players. I guess that doesn't include PC interior IDE DVD players? That's what the Pioneer 106s is. I'm just trying to get my feet wet here. I don't have one of those DVD/CD/MP3 players that they're selling these days that look like VCR's. I'll get one if I need it. The prices are coming down. I believe I saw an ad yesterday for one for $100 with progressive scan.

 

[step-dawg]

What type of format do you want to convert your DVD's to? I usually use divx myself but there are several different types. Do you want to watch the files on your computer? or do you want to watch them on a stand-alone DVD player hooked to your TV?

I still use smart ripper to copy the dvd files to my hard drive. the program works great for me. I then use virtual dub to convert the files to divx format. there are several steps in between. I usually get pretty good quality to fit on 2 discs. Virtual dub is great for processing files, cutting them up, appending them, and cropping/resizing. There are plenty of different types of software available. just depends on what type of format you want to rip your movies to.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: step-dawg
What type of format do you want to convert your DVD's to? I usually use divx myself but there are several different types. Do you want to watch the files on your computer? or do you want to watch them on a stand-alone DVD player hooked to your TV?

I still use smart ripper to copy the dvd files to my hard drive. the program works great for me. I then use virtual dub to convert the files to divx format. there are several steps in between. I usually get pretty good quality to fit on 2 discs. Virtual dub is great for processing files, cutting them up, appending them, and cropping/resizing. There are plenty of different types of software available. just depends on what type of format you want to rip your movies to.

Well, I'm just sort of starting, so I'm not sure. My computer monitor is a VERY good 17" CRT, and I have a good stereo in the room so I could watch on my computer. My video card has TV-out but so far I've only been able to get a square image on my TV. Playing a DVD it looks sharp but obviously with a square image you are losing some of the picture. It's watchable if you don't mind, and it is more comfortable than sitting in my computer chair. I could and suppose one day (maybe soon) buy a "stand-alone" DVD player, hooked to my TV. I have 2 very good SVHS VCR's and a switching box to send an S-Video signal to my TV/Monitor as it's called - just a good 20" TV, although it's from the end of 1989 or so. I suppose that it would be nice if I could watch my files on the TV OR the computer. Thanks for the help, folks. Hopefully, I'll be ripping my first DVD soon. I have a number of them to practice on. And I have a TON of HD space at the moment and pretty good hardware.

 

[MrPhelps]

12 hours is a reality. Processor speed is a factor, But you won't get one for one time.
The process is not as easy as you might think, You need to play a ton.


Good luckvcdhelp.com This forum is the ANand of video capture,Ripping,encoding....

Go there you will find experts, But read the how too's first or you won't get much help. (No free lunch)

 

[Crankydog]

Here's another good site for info and software for DVD to Divx ripping:

Divx-Digest

 

[easystreet]

These articles are well written and make this stuff easier to understand.

 

[Garion]

I've just gotten started ripping my DVD's to DivX files, and have found that there's a lot of good utilities out there, but the few that I've found that try to do it all in one shot don't produce very good quality video.

I finally settled on using Gordian Knot. It is actually a wrapper program that takes five or six individual appliations and provides a framework on using them all together. It produces excellent quality rips and is very well done. Just be sure to read and follow the FAQ and you'll be ripping in no time.

On the timing, I don't think Gknot takes 12 hours - probably 6-8, but I always let it get to the final rip just before I head to bed, and it's done in the morning. The earlier steps take ~1 hour total.

- G

 

[tart666]

Questions, please: 2 or 3 CDs is around 2 GB or less of data for your final burn. Is the 15 GB necessary for temporary storage? Why would it be "12 hours or so of time per movie"? What's that about? I assume from this that it works out about 1 Gb or less of data per hour of video+audio. Is DVD2SVCD freeware/shareware/off the shelf?

the ratio is about 3:1 on my XP1600+ (2 hour movie = 6 hours of processing)

Didn't check the new P4 2.4/533, hopefully it's down to 2:1.

DVD2SVCD is a collection of freeware/shareware. Mostly freeware + one shareware program (CinemaCraft). Or tmpgenc (edit: also shareware, MPEG2 only works for 30 days). But CC seems better and faster.

Btw, the actual "ripping" takes only 10 min or so. After that you don't need the DVD anymore.

 

[mindwarp]

But obviously, none of these are lossless right?

 

[tart666]

But obviously, none of these are lossless right?

Right. But SVCD has no noticeable artifacts when compared to the original MPEG2 on the DVD. At least not according to my highly trained super-eagle eye.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: tart666

But obviously, none of these are lossless right?

Right. But SVCD has no noticeable artifacts when compared to the original MPEG2 on the DVD. At least not according to my highly trained super-eagle eye.

Which is probably better than my super highly trained rabbit ear (can't hear the loss when recording MP3's on my box from FM at 128 kbps, 32 KHz sampling rate). If you really enjoy it and you can't tell the difference, how much are you losing?

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Uhm... Muse?


Quick note here:


If you're recording from FM adio and then encoding to mp3 at 128 kbps, you probably won't hear any difference.

FM radio does not go above 15 kHz, and neither does 128 kbps. The compression artifacts for such frequencies are definitely gone. Also, the 128 kbps encoding will compress the channels and lose some stereo information - and that's something that FM radio already does.

 

[zsouthboy]

I use smartripper and then FlaskMPEG....

Takes ~10 mins for the rip, and about 1.5:1 time for the encoding to divx 5(2 hour movie takes 3 hours) on my 1600+@1.74 ghz...

Jeez, 12 hours? wtf are you using?



Good luck.