Travel Technology - Movies and TV on Laptop

Hi All,

I'm not to bad at computer stuff but not an expert. I ideally want to upload dvd movies I have bought (yeah, ok, it's copyright protected) to the laptop for later viewing. Then delete them off after watching. Really don't want to carry the dvd, well just because I shouldn't have to. I know there are no commercially available programs that let you legally do this. Any "uncomercial" programs that let you do this relatively simply?

I was also looking at the software at CompUSA and they had a couple of programs that let you record from the TV to your laptop. Do these work/don't work as advertised. Also could I play a DVD/VHS movie on the TV then use this program to record it to the laptop hard drive? Anyone tried this?

Thanks in advance for everything!


MoreMilesPlease

See: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=370675

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=380213

Follow the first set of instructions ("Rip") then use a cd/dvd emulator to "mount" the image file. Your computer will think there are actually 1-5 DVD drives attached to the laptop. I like Daemon Tools (http://www.daemon-tools.cc/dtcc/portal/download.php?mode=ViewCategory&catid=5).

In my case, I load up to 4 .iso files at a time, plus a DVD in my drive, and when I open Dell Media Experience to play DVDs, it lets me choose which one to play.

As to your later questions, I have an ATI All-In-Wonder on my desktop that lets me record movies over the air or cable. Also, I can connect composite or S-video cables to it and record. Later, you can put these onto DVD. Don't expect to be able to copy the files to your laptop, though, because they usually need some kind of special codec included with the setup files. Use DVD burning software to make an image then transfer the image to your laptop.