Ripping and Compressing

[Krugerr]

Hi there guys, ive set about to rip all my DVD's onto my computer, and im going to build a Multimedia computer when ive got the cash.

My questions are as follows;

Do you have a recommended program for ripping?
Whats the best way to set about Compressing them?

When you download Movies or TV-series, they are often reduced to very small files, the TV-series i normally download are at 150MB, ish, but when i ripped 2 episodes from Heroes, they totalled 3.6GB. So whats the crack there ?

Tip & Hints for a first multimedia PC?

many thanks
Krugerr

** EDIT **

Just finished ripping the first 2 episodes, to be greeted with a mass of seperate files, and not single nice easy to use files for each episode. Help plz!

 

[dulak]

Here you go m'friend. Done a little research and found a pretty good guide. Works pretty smoothly too providing the PC is beastly enough. Any high end gaming rig should be able to rip and convert a movie in 90 minutes tops.

http://elliottback.com/wp/how-to-rip-a-dvd-a-tutorial

 

[Krugerr]

Dude i could kiss you! <3 Thanks

 

[twizzops]

I have used DVD Decrypter in the past. In short you get what you pay for. I would say half the movies I would try to decode wouldn't because the copy write protection was better than what DVD decrypter was capable of.

I currently use DVDFab. It's amazing. Here's the link.

It's not free, but you can get a lifetime version for like $50 and they update there stuff all of the time.

Kind of like what a lifetime membership at MMOBugs gives you verses donating $10 to MQ2. Both works, but MMOBugs works, IMO, so much better.

As far as compressing, I don't do that so I can't comment on it. I just burn all my movies to a DVD.

 

[Krugerr]

Well i just finished the first episode of Heroes, and for some unknown reason, it broke the episode into 3 peices. Not chapter/scenes but just 3 random parts.

Instead of just the 1 **.VOB from an episode, its giving me 2 or 3, which obviously makes encoding it into a nice single episode impossible... Any suggestions?

 

[Krugerr]

Ahh think ive figured it, there was an option in the settings, it auto split the files into 1GB sections, turned that off, should be gtg now!

 

[bartab]

Dvdfab to get the vob then handbrake, i usually encode in h264 in a mkv container.

 

[Krugerr]

Dvdfab to get the vob then handbrake, i usually encode in h264 in a mkv container.

English?

 

[bartab]

Dvdfab enables you to get the "files" of a dvd, whatever the zone, protection etc.
But vob arent encoded nor compressed.
Use handbrake to do that encoding. Encoding can be resumed in 2 choices, container and codec. Mkv is the best container by far, h264 the codec I like the most.
After that test gordianknot for instance if you wanna try xvid and .avi, or whatever you may choose.
It will be a lot of trial and error to get the desired quality for the desired size, handbrake let you create profiles and is super user friendly. Gordian knot is more cryptic

 

[Krugerr]

Gotcha, thanks buddy - Ive got it going now, but its taking about 50mins to create each 1hour episode. Sucky!

 

[JimJohnson]

Yes encoding is really time crutial.

You are going to be stuck with lots of time doing that.

I like handbrake myself its a kick ass tool.

 

[bartab]

50min / hour seems right if u do 2pass.
You can check out on torrent sites as well, I had in mind a few torrent groups i liked for their encoding job, especially in term of quality, some of them give their encoding settings, taking them might be a 1st good step. After that it's trial and error, but it will never be quick. Handbrake is excellent for a 1st time user as it's very user friendly, after a while you'll do batches with command lines which is imho much more efficient

 

[rob]

Tip & Hints for a first multimedia PC?

many thanks
Krugerr

My setup is an Atom ION with XBMC. It is cheap and will play just about anything you throw at it, even 1080P.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856173001

Basically you buy that, add a remote, and install xbmc (or boxee), and you have a small light weight system.

I recommend downloading xbmc or boxee on your gaming computer just so you can look around and get an idea of what it does. It has a slick interface and it indexes your files and then scrapes websites for: poster/thumbnail images, summary, etc.

The end result is a very easy to navigate system that is easy to use. My kid wanders off with remotes a lot, so i even found an app for my phone that will let me remotely control the system.

 

[bartab]

As for the multimedia box, i dont have one, just plugged the hdmi cable into my av receiver, i use the tv as a monitor and play movies on vlc. I use my blackberry to remotly control vlc..

 

[Krugerr]

Thanks guys! I just got bored yesterday of having to get out of bed, go hunting for DVD's, going back to my room and sticking them on.

I already had a relativly big collection of TV series on my computer, downloaded from places. Fancied sticking EVERYTHING onto my computer, building a Multimedia computer, and having a kickass filing system for my shit, means i can also rent DVD's and store them.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Thanks guys! I just got bored yesterday of having to get out of bed, go hunting for DVD's, going back to my room and sticking them on.

I already had a relativly big collection of TV series on my computer, downloaded from places. Fancied sticking EVERYTHING onto my computer, building a Multimedia computer, and having a kickass filing system for my shit, means i can also rent DVD's and store them.

Did a somewhat similar setup. Being most of my systems are now Apple, I went with the Mac Mini for this purpose (they just came out with HDMI too assholes). Connected all around, any clips/movies that need to be popped on the big screen is just a click away. Don't use it as much as I thought I would, but it is definitely easier then maintaining all those spindles for active use.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

http://www.cannonpc.com/

Was looking at Cannon PC for awhile before settling on the Mac Mini, but a buddy of mine went ahead and purchased a top end one. Pretty solid all around, no issues as of yet, and it looks smooth with the rest of the audio equipment.

 

[Krugerr]

Many thanks for the replies guys! Will look into that Blitz!

I have been using "DVD Decoder" to rip my DVD's and "AutoGK" to compress/encode them. Just ran up against 2 new DVD's that the decoder couldnt do, so downloaded the trial of DVDFab, first time, it ripped it! It does appear to be ripping the "Main Movie" into several VOB's though, but im sure i can figure out a way to fix that

Got a very large chunk of my collection on my computer now. I took a look a Boxee, seemed pretty cool. What im looking for mainly, is a UI very easy to use, like Boxee, but i want to be able to search for Tags, and then obviously, apply tags to my movies.

Tags such as "Horror" or "Johnny Depp" so that i can just search for actors or genre's. Do you know of any that are able to do that?

-Krugerr

 

[rob]

Boxee and xbmc auto tag and you can sort on genre, actors, directors, studios (i think), and year. I don't know if you can add your own custom tags, though.

 

[dulak]

A way to get around the security encryption that tends to happen when using dvd decryptor is to get Slysoft Anydvd. It disables the encryption about 15 seconds after you put it in the drive. Makes it easier for dvd decryptor to do it's magic.