LOL :rolleyes:

I haven't ripped many DVDs lately, but once you have the file on your hard drive, I really like "VideoMonkey" for recoding them down to reasonable size for the iPad. It's very simple to use and works well.

Hi, we can try to help you. Can you tell us what you did and what happened?

You downloaded handbrake for the mac, mounted the disk image and dragged handbrake into the Applications folder, and then ran it?

What happened after that? You should have seen handbrake's main window with the dialogue to open a file or device open on the screen in front of the main window. At that point, you would select the optical (dvd-rom) device from the left side of the open dialogue (the dvd is in the drive, and nothing is using it, right?) and then once it's open, select an ipad preset from the format pull-down ...

There's some documentation here: http://handbrake.fr/ including screenshots if you click on details.

-David

Assuming you have it installed and running from the hard disk, the process of ripping the DVD is as follows:
1. Insert DVD
2. Launch HandBrake from the Applications folder
3. Select the disc from the Devices sidebar in the drop-down menu
4. Select the VIDEO_TS folder in the drop-down
5. Press Open

The disc will now be scanned and the longest "Title" found on the DVD is assumed to be the film. You can see this under the Source section in the HandBrake window indicated by the hours/minutes/seconds duration of the clip to be converted. Generally, you will be fine to stick with the automatic selection.

6. Off to the right, you may or may not see a pane of presets. If you do not see this, press the Toggle Presets button in the toolbar of the HandBrake window.
7. Select the appropriate preset under the Apple grouping. In this case, it will be for the iPad. Select this preset.
8. Press the Start button in the toolbar and it should begin processing. This is indicated by the progress bar along the bottom of the window as well as the Time Remaining indicator.

The process may take 30-60+ minutes depending on the length of the video and the capabilities of your machine.

Give this a try and report back on whether or not it works.

Ha ha. Had a TSA agent tell me, upon looking at my removed iPad, that I didn't need to remove it from my backpack along with my laptop. I kinda shrugged my shoulders and said "it was never very clear". He agreed.

excellent post ^ nice detail.

-David

In addition to handbrake, I also use a tool called iFlicks €20 to add the movie metadata and poster to iTunes.

In combination with a programs called TVShows, Transmission, and iFlicks, my iPads, iPhone, and Apple TVs are, for the most part, automatically fed with new content to watch.

It takes a bit of setup to get everything working though.

TVshows - free
http://embercode.com/tvshows/

Transmission - free
http://transmissionbt.com/

iFlicks
http://www.iflicksapp.com/

Thank you for all of the help everyone!
I was able to use Handbrake successfully last night!
My original error was downloading the wrong version of the VLC player.
Once I had the correct one, everything was seamless. It took a while, but it worked^

Thanks. HandBrake really is a great app. Just as you would a DVD, the app can also convert several other video formats to ones compatible with your device.
Glad to hear it worked. As a previous post mentioned, you can now add cover art and metadata to the file in iTunes to make it appear as an iTunes store purchase would in your library.

+1. Whenever they asked if I have a computer, I've always say no, both domestic and international flights, in north america, Europe and Africa.