Live CDs for ripping/encoding DVDs?

November 7, 2005 4:40 PM

Are there any Live CDs for ripping/encoding DVDs (movies)?

I’m thinking something similar to GeeXboX, which is a Live CD for watching movies.

It's for an old PC that I want to use for this function. (Same PC does a great job when it comes to reproducing movies thanks to GeeXboX.)

Thanks in advance for your help!

posted by kchristidis to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

Best answer: You could build your own fairly easily using Slax. It uses a very, very simple module system to allow for custom configurations, and it can load itself totally into RAM if you have enough, so your burner will be free even if it's the boot device.

I also seem to remember that Ubuntu LiveCDs can burn discs. It's been a while, though.
posted by selfnoise at 5:07 PM on November 7, 2005

Response by poster: Sorry, it was my mistake I didn't clarify this.

I'm not just looking for a Live CD that does DVD ripping/encoding. I'm sure that some of those Live CDs that come along with regular distros (such as Ubuntu) may be able to do this.

I'm looking for either:

1. a Live CD that does just that (DVD ripping/encoding), and thus, is highly optimized about it, or

2. a Live CD that performs a select few functions, one of which is the ripping/encoding thing.

To sum it up: the Live CD needs to be highly optimized a propps to ripping/encoding, so that this function can be performed as fast as possible on my computer.

Does Slax fit this bill? Any other, better, more targeted solutions?
posted by kchristidis at 5:28 PM on November 7, 2005

Response by poster: (s/a propps/a propos)
posted by kchristidis at 5:29 PM on November 7, 2005

Best answer: the thing is, a lot of livecds (esp most or all of the debian based ones, I think) leave out the decss code for legal reasons.

they make it easy enough to dl/install decss once you actually are running from a hd, though*.

so as selfnoise said, it may come down to having to take an existing livecd distro and build the functionality you need into a new .iso. this is not terribly hard, and many distros post guides for how to do it within that same distro.

then again with luck someone may know a specific distro that has it included. but none of the ones I've ever used have.

*now that more and more livecd distros are supporting unionfs (i.e. you can write on top of the "read-only" cd image that's living in memory) it's possible to have a two step process, i.e. you boot a livecd and then run the included decss downloading/installing script. but the changes will naturally disappear each time you boot the livecd anew.
posted by dorian at 5:55 PM on November 7, 2005