Basic DVD ripping

February 7, 2005 3:31 PM

DVD Ripping: I need someone to talk to me like I’m seven. [+}

Why is this so much harder than CDs?

After going through the threads, forums, tutorials, and videohelp.com, I’ve been trying to figure out this ripping business for two days now. I’ve tried a myriad of programs on XP. The only luck I’ve had thus far are with the following: ForceASPI 1.7 for the latest ASPI layer, SmartRipper v2.41 to get the .VOBs, EasyDivx v0.82 to make an .AVI and corresponding .WAV, and VirtualDub v1.6.3 to stick the two together.

So, why does (four hours of) synching the 870 MB .AVI with the 79 MB .WAV create a 30 GB beast?

I’m not looking to burn copies of my films or anything, just play them full screen at a decent quality on a later date. Disk space isn’t a huge issue, but 30 GB is excessive. I’m not particular to any programs or compression. Is there anything I can do to simplify?

Thanks, MeFi.

posted by glibhamdreck to computers & internet (26 comments total)

There's a wealth of info at: http://www.doom9.org/

I recommend DVDDecrypter over SmartRipper. Is your goal to make DivX or XVids of everything, or actually rip the DVD to a burnable DVD or DVD9?
posted by fet at 3:34 PM on February 7, 2005

Wow, that sounds like a whole lot of trouble. Doesn't Windows have an equivalent to Handbrake? Does autogk not run on your machine?
posted by majick at 3:37 PM on February 7, 2005

For all my dvd ripping needs, I use Auto Gordian Knot. It installs all the various programs to automatically rip and convert the dvd to the parameters you set. I don't recall it making files that take up a lot of room. For added help, here's a tutorial.
All my rips have come out well with this.

On preview:
Sort of a combination of the previous posters.
posted by mindless progress at 3:43 PM on February 7, 2005

don't mean to hi-jack, but I have been looking for a MacOS X solution. Thanks for the handbrake tip, majick!
posted by pmbuko at 3:52 PM on February 7, 2005

Why is this so much harder than CDs?

Because ripping a cd is just taking a single audio source and compressing it. Ripping a dvd is taking audio and video, getting them to a managable size, making sure that the quality doesn't suck and that both elements still match up. And cd's aren't encrypted.

If you just want the TS folders off of a dvd on your hard drive or on another dvd, use DVDshrink. If you want avi files to back up your dvd, use the aforementioned Auto Gordian Knot or SmartRipper.
posted by Mayor Curley at 4:16 PM on February 7, 2005

I recommend getting DVD Decrypter as well. Then, if the DVDs are still too large to fit on a regular DVD, get dvdshrink to shrink the files. That's all I use, and it works pretty well.

Both programs are very simple to use and free to boot.
posted by synecdoche at 4:24 PM on February 7, 2005

pmbuko: Mac the Ripper and ffmpegx
posted by spaghetti at 4:25 PM on February 7, 2005

Just an FYI about Auto Gordian Knot: since version 1.81, it installs spyware on your machine. It appears that it can be uninstalled, but just know that it's there, and that the author doesn't seem too repentant about it.
posted by delfuego at 4:26 PM on February 7, 2005

A combo of DvdShrink and Copytodvd are easy enough for even a moron like me.
posted by CunningLinguist at 4:31 PM on February 7, 2005

I hear HandBrake is good but very slooooooooooow, like it takes 10 hours to rip a movie. is that right?
posted by matteo at 4:36 PM on February 7, 2005

DVD Shrink and Nero Xpress are super painless. As in, my five year old has actually learned how to copy her movies from Netflix by herself.

Thank goodness there's no in-school DARE for piracy.
posted by Gucky at 4:57 PM on February 7, 2005

Yeah, handbrake has to be left on overnight. Makes clean files though.
posted by luriete at 4:57 PM on February 7, 2005

HandBrake takes about an hour to rip a DVD on my dual 2.5 G5 using one-pass ffmpeg. Adjust for the relative lameness of your Mac next to my god-monolith.
posted by kindall at 5:00 PM on February 7, 2005

Thank goodness there's no in-school DARE for piracy.

That's what you think! [PDF]

Oh, and I use DVDDecryptor + DVDShrink + Whatever software came with my drive.
posted by falconred at 5:17 PM on February 7, 2005

If you just want to play the DVD's on your desktop, you might want to check out the VLC Media Player. This program will allow you to directly play files in the TS folder, without worrying about changing them to any other format.

And I agree that doom9.net is the place to get a lot more info.
posted by neurodoc at 5:17 PM on February 7, 2005

I rip using mencoder for linux. There is a windows version but I don't know much about it. It's command line based in either case but I just have simple script that goes through the 3 parts (rip audio then 2 passes of video encoding). It's at mplayerhq.hu. There is also a mac version I believe.

It's about 1 to 1 time wise (a 2 hour movie takes about 2 hours to rip from start to finish on a 2 ghz intel laptop). Output size is configurable. I have my script set up to produce about 600 megs per hour which is a good size for me. For stuff I care less about I aim more for about 450 megs per hour. I have it do nifty stuff like determine if it needs to grab subtitles, rip extra audio tracks into seperate wav files (think directors commentary)

I've heard great things about gordion knot.
posted by RustyBrooks at 10:50 PM on February 7, 2005

Another vote for DVDDecryptor + DVDShrink, it doesn't get much easier. You need to have a (free?) Nero element installed to burn from DVDShrink, I prefer to write ISOs to disk, and return to DVDDecryptor for the burn.

Doom9 is chock full of information, but it can be confusing, they discuss every alternative and option at the same time. Most people aren't going to concern themselves with 90% of the site contents.
posted by Jack Karaoke at 11:46 PM on February 7, 2005

delfuego, is that v1.81 a typo on your part? The latest version available on the autogk website seems to be 1.60.
posted by Yelling At Nothing at 2:18 AM on February 8, 2005

Whoops, 'scuse me. 1.80 and up would of course be available in the 'beta releases' section.
posted by Yelling At Nothing at 2:28 AM on February 8, 2005

On the OS X front OSEx gets the .vobs into one huge file. OpenShiiva puts it into a nice .MP4 file for you.
posted by Navek Rednam at 3:23 AM on February 8, 2005

Why are you guys using DVD Decryptor *and* DVD shrink? I just use the latter and then a burning program. It seems to work fine....what am I missing?
posted by CunningLinguist at 6:07 AM on February 8, 2005

If anyone comes back to this thread, could you tell me why I'm not getting the sound to work? I'm using DVD Decrypter and AutoGK. I've installed all the codecs and have tried both XviD and DivX, 2Ch and 6Ch audio. AutoGK 's set at Auto (AC3/VBR Mp3). Thanks.
posted by glibhamdreck at 7:02 AM on February 8, 2005

I figured it out... needed ffdshow.
posted by glibhamdreck at 8:53 AM on February 8, 2005

glibhamdreck, if you looking to make a copy of a DVD movie onto another DVD for home viewing, send me an email at the address in my profile.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 9:57 AM on February 8, 2005

Why are you guys using DVD Decryptor *and* DVD shrink? I just use the latter and then a burning program. It seems to work fine....what am I missing?

I'm the same... though I have read somewhere in docs or tutorials for DVDshrink a recommendation to get DVD decryptor if you have issues with some discs. I just haven't had the issues yet...
posted by pompomtom at 8:58 PM on February 8, 2005

Why are you guys using DVD Decryptor *and* DVD shrink? I just use the latter and then a burning program. It seems to work fine....what am I missing?

I use DVDRemake as an intermediate step, so DVD Decryptor is the natural choice for ripping, as I have to step out of DVD Shrink anyway.

DVDRemake allows me to strip out segments I'm not interested in (ads, copyright notices, extras) leaving more space for DVD Shrink to encode the main feature into. I paid for it, and it was certainly worth the money.
posted by Leon at 1:38 PM on February 11, 2005