Glazedham42

Has anyone else on the board heard of this? I was surfing the net and came across it, and sort of decided to make it my mission. Basically what you do is convert the files off of a DVD, that you own hopefully, into an .avi file and convert the audio as well, and eventually you end up with a 4 gig DVD that you can put on a 700 mb CD-R!

Unfortunately I have been unsuccesful as of late, and am about to go crazy. I have tried every codec, and ripper and converter, and no matter what I do, when I finish my movie either,

1) Looks like crap
2) Sounds like crap
3) Is distorted
4) Too large of a file
5) Audio and Video don't match up

Basically what I want to know is, if anyone on the board has tried this before, and if so, I desparately need some advice. I am at my wit's end, but I am so close to being able to pull this off. I'd really like to back up my DVD's so when I let my untrustworthy friends borrow them, I've still got copies!

SEA_P5

Don't let your friends borrow them...I am still waiting on my own flesh and blood to return my dvd's. If they are that desperate to watch your dvd's, then they should bring some soda and pop corn to watch at your house....

Just my rant...

Glazedham42

Well, actually I was hoping I could just let them borrow the backups, and then I don't have to worry about my DVD's. All i'd be losing is a 30 cent CDR. Regardless, I still have to know how to do this. I can't stand to start something and then not finish it. I've been working on it for about 3 days, solid now, and I'm stuck. I've gotta figure it out, just so I can say I conquered it. I guess that's just how I am....

Pro_fan

If you're trying to get a picture, sound, etc as good as DVD, forget it. That's why DVD's are DVD's. It contains WAYYYYYY more info than a CD could ever hold.

That info (data) is what makes the pics and sound so good on DVD.

If you had a DVD burner, that's a different story.

ashutoshsm

Its possible to use the flask MPEG ripper and encoder to do this. Ages ago, I tried this and ripped a partial MPEG of just the trailor from one of the movies, and burnt the MPEG to CD in Super Video CD (SVCD) format. I used Nero to do the burning. I didn't have to do any MPEG editing in the interim.

Of course, having a slow computer, I haven't bothered to try it again (450 MHz Pentium II, 300+ MB memory).

I suspect having a bad DVD drive may have something to do with your lack of success. In the old days (heck, 2-3 years ago) of MP3 ripping, some CD drives would be unable to transmit the audio file from audio CDs to disc correctly because of speed/cache issues and you hear the result in all the bad skippy, scratchy MP3s out there. Something similar may be keeping your drive (and/or ripping program) from getting synchronize audio and video from your DVD drive. Try a different drive, or try copying the original (4GB+) file to disk from the DVD first!

I used to have a bunch of links (guides, program downloads, version issues, processor-based acceleration tips and drivers for the DVD drive as well as the MPEG encoding/resampling to different size and frequency) but have lost them since, but I'm sure you'll find a few nice ones off google! Post a nice HOW-TO for the rest of us here when you figure it out

JDMstuff

It's too complicated to explain here , but here's a link: http://www.vcdhelp.com

There isn't one easy step. There are quite a few steps involved, and you will have to download a few utilities to help you. I do this all the time, but unless you have a fast computer, it may take a few hours to complete the job. The quality does suffer, as you are compressing the information, but if you want to "copy" a DVD this is the only way. Keep in mind that you cannot fit everything onto a CDr, so you'll lose all the extra audio tracks, extra features, subtitles, and extra angles. If you have a DVD burner, you can do a direct copy provided the original does not have territorial lockouts and they're smaller than 4.7gb. Porno films tend to be the easiest to copy directly onto a DVD-r.

funkdaddysmack

I used to do this quite a bit. I got pretty good at it. I used the flaskmpeg rip pack to do everthing, and it would take like 12 hours to do on my p3 650... I haven't tried it since I got my new PC, but I could make some good looking ones. The only thing you'll need to get that isn't in that flaskmpeg rip pack would be a bitrate calculator. Now remember... Use Divx for the video (I think slow motion), and mp3 for the audio, otherwise they are going to be huge to look decent.

onehawaiian

closest quality would be svcd, but who wants to swap cd's in the middle of a good movie? dvd burner is the best way, and the dvd-r's are pretty cheap nowadays.

Pro_fan

Cheapest I've seen DVD-R's are $20 CDN. What's the point then? Just buy another copy of the damned movie.

Not to mention the DVD Burners are still over $500.

webmaster

i have a DVD burner and STILL can't figure out to copy them damn DVD's they are too protected

onehawaiian

wow, you canadians have exp stuff. dvd-r's are about us$4-$12, depending on which brand. it used to be $20 so i was like, yeah buy the real deal instead. but the price drops make burning more tempting.

funkdaddysmack

Copying DVDs isn't really possible even with DVD burners. Most DVD movies are around 4-8 gig depending. My Fight Club DVD is about 7 gigs for all the stuff. DVD-r discs only hold 4.7 gig so you're screwed anyways. DVDs are something I don't mind spending money on. It's just that ridiculous price for music is what gets me.

Funky Buddha

Tell them to install Kazaa and let them downlaod it or you should charge them. I just download and anything I can't get I buy.

Funky Buddha

You can rip dvd's into divx format and you can burn them onto cd's. Basically you need software that will do it for you. Alot of my movies are in divx format and burnt onto a 700mb cd. You get 5.1 digital sound plus widescreen. It also surpasses quality of a vcd and svcd. Don't rip them into 640 * 480 resolution or you'll end up w/ more than a gig of data but lots of ppl rip them at 320 * 240 so that they will fit. They look just as good as dvd's, but you do lose a little quality. And no you don't have to swap cd's for movies that are around 2 hours long. Also depends on how you burn them....the outcome could be 2 cd's or 1. Also, you can't play them anywhere else but your computer. Nero will do vcd but then most movies won't be able to fit onto 1 cd because of all the extra files that the vcd requires in order to play on a vcd player or dvd player w/ vcd support. So in turn you'll end up swapping cd's in the middle of the movie (sucks ***!).

Goto www.riphelp.com and search for dvd ripping. Hope this helps and sorry for the long post...if it makes sense at all.

SEA_P5

MAN you do to much for your friends...sometimes it is just better asking them to give you money to rent your stuff...then charge them a few cases of good import beer if they lose your dvd's....that what I do...that how I came up with over 50 bottles of Hard Alcohol...vodka, gin, whiskey...you name it...