Ipods and Movies

[AZRogue]

So, I used some of the gift cards I got for Christmas to get myself an iPod this past weekend--one of the little 16 gig nanos--and am pretty pleased with it. I'm sitting in waiting rooms more and more of late (the current family situation is a stress for another day) and wanted to be able to watch podcasts and such as well as listen to music. My little samsung mp3 player, 4 gigs of space, was getting full, too.

I've been buying all my music through Amazon's digital download center, which sells DRM free songs, so I have multiple copies of all my music and have no intention of using iTunes for more than podcasts and organization. I did, however, get a free digital copy of the Dark Knight when I bought the BluRay and I loaded that onto my iPod and I have to say that it looks much better than I was expecting and it gave me the urge to try and get a few more; after all, I don't have to have them all on the iPod at once and can just sync the ones I want when I want them.

So I went onto iTunes and checked out the movies they have and I'm completely unimpressed. Too expensive, IMO. Hell, I already OWN nearly 200 DvDs and about 50 Blu Ray movies. I don't want to pay for all those damn movies all over again just to watch them on my iPod. I'd rather just carry around a damn $40 portable DvD player w/ screen.

So, my question is this: what would I have to do to copy my DvDs onto my computer in a format that would allow them to be uploaded to my iPod?

Just for the record, I'm not asking for anything illegal (that I know of). Hell, I've actually paid for every damn song on my computer, though I insist they be DRM free, and never bothered with torrents of any kind, so when it comes to moving media around I'm a bit in the dark. There ARE several online websites that offer free downloads that will magically do what I'm asking for but I trust them about as much as the websites that can't wait to give me a million free smilies and wallpapers ... for FREE!

So, does anyone here no the real deal? I'm pretty certain that I'm going to need an app to rip the DvD in the first place--maybe another one to render it into an appropriate format, not sure--but I don't know which ones out there actually do what they say they do and don't contain trojans and/or malware. There are some amazing open source apps out there but it's sometimes difficult to tell which ones are actual open source efforts and not some type of scam. Any advice would be appreciated. You guys are the reason why everyone thinks I be so smart. :)

[Dr_Avalanche]

Scratch the first program I suggested. I'm currently trying a tiny piece of software called bitRipper, which seems to be working fine, but the expected time to rip a full movie is about 7 hours (on my computer, but I don't think it can differ that much), so I can't tell what kind of quality the output will be.

[Varaj]

So, I used some of the gift cards I got for Christmas to get myself an iPod this past weekend--one of the little 16 gig nanos--and am pretty pleased with it. I'm sitting in waiting rooms more and more of late (the current family situation is a stress for another day) and wanted to be able to watch podcasts and such as well as listen to music. My little samsung mp3 player, 4 gigs of space, was getting full, too.

I've been buying all my music through Amazon's digital download center, which sells DRM free songs, so I have multiple copies of all my music and have no intention of using iTunes for more than podcasts and organization. I did, however, get a free digital copy of the Dark Knight when I bought the BluRay and I loaded that onto my iPod and I have to say that it looks much better than I was expecting and it gave me the urge to try and get a few more; after all, I don't have to have them all on the iPod at once and can just sync the ones I want when I want them.

So I went onto iTunes and checked out the movies they have and I'm completely unimpressed. Too expensive, IMO. Hell, I already OWN nearly 200 DvDs and about 50 Blu Ray movies. I don't want to pay for all those damn movies all over again just to watch them on my iPod. I'd rather just carry around a damn $40 portable DvD player w/ screen.

So, my question is this: what would I have to do to copy my DvDs onto my computer in a format that would allow them to be uploaded to my iPod?

Just for the record, I'm not asking for anything illegal (that I know of). Hell, I've actually paid for every damn song on my computer, though I insist they be DRM free, and never bothered with torrents of any kind, so when it comes to moving media around I'm a bit in the dark. There ARE several online websites that offer free downloads that will magically do what I'm asking for but I trust them about as much as the websites that can't wait to give me a million free smilies and wallpapers ... for FREE!

So, does anyone here no the real deal? I'm pretty certain that I'm going to need an app to rip the DvD in the first place--maybe another one to render it into an appropriate format, not sure--but I don't know which ones out there actually do what they say they do and don't contain trojans and/or malware. There are some amazing open source apps out there but it's sometimes difficult to tell which ones are actual open source efforts and not some type of scam. Any advice would be appreciated. You guys are the reason why everyone thinks I be so smart. :)

In the US it is 100% illegal to convert a DVD to another format because of the DMCA. :grey:


DVD Shrink is a good tool to consider as well but it won't convert to another format.

Handbrake (http://handbrake.fr) looks interesting but it appears to not remove the encryption on window but DVD Shrink will do that on most DVDs.

[AZRogue]

In the US it is 100% illegal to convert a DVD to another format because of the DMCA. :grey:


DVD Shrink is a good tool to consider as well but it won't convert to another format.

Handbrake (http://www.kaytastrophe.com/vb/redirector.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fhandbrake.fr) looks interesting but it appears to not remove the encryption on window but DVD Shrink will do that on most DVDs.

Really? I didn't know that. That sucks. I wonder if I would even need to change the format for my iPod to play it (after it's been ripped). I'm guessing yes. What does iPod play? Like mpeg-4 or somesuch?

I remember you mentioning DvD Shrink before. I'm going to have to give it a serious look.

EDIT: I had this program recommended to me: TransferMyDvD. (http://www.avanquest.com/USA/create/photo-video/video-ipod-video-on-ipod/TransferMyVideo.html) Anyone hear of it before? It seems a pretty affordable way to do what I want.

[Varaj]

Really? I didn't know that. That sucks. I wonder if I would even need to change the format for my iPod to play it (after it's been ripped). I'm guessing yes. What does iPod play? Like mpeg-4 or somesuch?

I remember you mentioning DvD Shrink before. I'm going to have to give it a serious look.

EDIT: I had this program recommended to me: TransferMyDvD. (http://www.avanquest.com/USA/create/photo-video/video-ipod-video-on-ipod/TransferMyVideo.html) Anyone hear of it before? It seems a pretty affordable way to do what I want.

* TransferMy Video does not copy or convert encrypted or protected DVDs.

Without doing something to strip the CSS off commercial DVDs it won't do you much good. But might be a nice product combined with something that will strip the CSS off.

[AZRogue]

Without doing something to strip the CSS off commercial DVDs it won't do you much good. But might be a nice product combined with something that will strip the CSS off.

I think you're right. From what I've read this morning, though, it seems as though the copy protection doesn't have to be removed to let you make a digital copy and upload that to an iPod; it just prevents you from burning another DvD using Roxio, for example. I could be way off base here, as my knowledge comes from one morning of poking around, but I think that you could use a program like DvD43 (http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/DVD43/1118268636/1) to decode a DvD and then something like Handbrake to place it onto your device.

I'm going to give it a try this afternoon and see what melts. If the sirens start getting louder I'm chucking my computer into the neighbor's yard.

[Varaj]

I think you're right. From what I've read this morning, though, it seems as though the copy protection doesn't have to be removed to let you make a digital copy and upload that to an iPod; it just prevents you from burning another DvD using Roxio, for example. I could be way off base here, as my knowledge comes from one morning of poking around, but I think that you could use a program like DvD43 (http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/DVD43/1118268636/1) to decode a DvD and then something like Handbrake to place it onto your device.

I'm going to give it a try this afternoon and see what melts. If the sirens start getting louder I'm chucking my computer into the neighbor's yard.

DVD43 is a free DVD decrypter that runs in the background and decrypts DVDs on the fly. It will decrypt (unlock) a movie DVD so that your copy program can read it. It is a pure decrypter, it does not alter the image of the original DVD and will not remove copy protection (other than CSS encryption) added to the DVD. If the DVD structure is non standard or the DVD contains bad sectors, your copy program needs to take care of that.

CSS is the big one. CSS is the copy protection that prevents even playing a DVD on a player not approved by the DVD Copy Control Association. In order to convert to any other format you must remove the CSS. Lots and lots of tools to do so but all of them are illegal under the DMCA unless they have been specifically licensed to do so by the DVD Copy Control Association (I don't know of any).

[The Theocrat of Poon-Tang]

I've always used a combination of DVD Shrink to convert a DVD to AVI file and then a program I believe is called Super to convert the AVI file to an MP4 format. Though I don't have an IPod, my Sansa uses the same format.

[Hatter]

The DCMA truly has to be one of the worst pieces of legislation I've seen in the past several years.