pseudoswede

I can't believe how frustrating it is to find answers to this question.

Quite simply: I already have DVD files (uncompressed) on a portable hard drive. I want to convert just the movie (no extra features) into one WMV/MP4/MOV/etc.

What program(s) do you use? Free is best, but willing to spend a little money for convenience.

bp888

Handbrake.

themicah

Handbrake is superb for Mac and works great on Windows, but on Windows I'm pretty sure it only works with unencrypted movies files.

pseudoswede

I'm currently trying Nero Recode to pare it down to a 2GB mp4 file. Overkill? Would 1GB suffice?

I heard Handbrake can't recode down to 1024x600 resolution.

rally

whats the best size for a 9 inch netbook ?

and what format ?

when you look at one of these programs there are too many options !

Rally

Upstate

I like DVDshrink. It rips the DVD into video and audio TS folders so you have to use a media player that can play them (VLC works good). DVDshrink is mainly for converting dual layer to single layer but it works for this as well.

Tummy

Maybe Handbrake can't do 1024 because DVDs are originally encoded at 720×480 resolution for NTSC movies. I typically save our movies at 640 x ### and 699mb so that they fit on a cd. I feel sorry for people still on Windows... everything is so hard.

Braindrain

For Windows, use Xvid4PSP. Total control over resolution, codecs, bitrate, etc. Much better than Handbrake (for Windows).

Totally free.

For conversion, use the Xvid codec, which has the best ratio of compression to CPU usage. (translation: good for low-powered PC's like netbooks)

For reference, when I encode to .avi files for airplane use, I encode to 720x480 (or 400), 1400 kpbs video single pass, 128k CBR audio. If it's a DVD source, the resulting file is good enough for a 10-12" screen. Resulting file size is ~1GB.

PropWasher

Or did recently.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...-ultimate.html

Edit: Ignore above...

nkedel

Yeah, converting "down" to 1024x600 only makes sense if the original is in HD (ie not a DVD, and generally harder to do still.)

That said, none of the Windows software I've used is all that hard. AutoGK for converting regular DVDs to MP4 is very easy, as is Ripbot264 for doing HD-DVDs, and that's just the free stuff.

SouthernCross

CloneDVD -- if Windows is your OS of choice

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CloneDVD

gleff

Ok, totally dummy at this, I carry a laptop without DVD player (for size/weight).

So I want to copy a DVD onto my (pretty large) hard drive. Or copy several. For those really long flights.

What do I need to do? Stick the DVD into the attachable DVD drive and....

run a software program to unprotect it?
then another program to copy the DVD into another file format and save it on my hard drive?

Is there a single inexpensive (or free!) program I should be using to do this?

soitgoes

I use Fair Use Wizard Light (free) for this purpose.
There are other options, but it works for me and the price is right.
http://fairusewizard.com/lang_en/fai...t_edition.html

nkedel

Programs that do this one step alone also typically copy the whole unprotected DVD to your hard drive; if you drive is big enough for the 5-9gb per disk, the simples thing to do is stop here.

[quote]then another program to copy the DVD into another file format and save it on my hard drive?

You either need a program that does it in one step (fairly common) or to copy unprotected to your hard drive first.

To copy to your hard drive, my preferred program is DVDFab HD Decrypter (free, albeit nagware.)

To compress to a smaller (MP4, AVI, whatever) file, both Handbrake ( http://handbrake.fr/ ) and AutoGK ( http://www.autogk.me.uk/ ) are good. I use Nero Recode (which is commercial, and requires the separate step of ripping to the hard drive first, but I've paid for it for other reasons.)

bp888

On a Mac: Handbrake. Sometimes Handbrake in unable to remove the copy protection, then you need to use something else, e.g. MacTheRipper, so it becomes a 2-step process.