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View Full Version : Ripping DvD's: Definitive Guides Post Here!!!


Jarheadiswhitetrash
09-08-2001, 02:04 AM
Ok well, the reason I started this thread is because I wanted get cleared up all the misunderstandings about "Ripping DvD's".

"Ripping" "Burning", "Copying", all these terms mean the same thing. Reproducing a Dvd movie. This is done on a computer using a CD Writer. Also what is needed is a DvD player to play it.

Now as much as I'd like to I don't know a whole hell of alot about this subject, but I will tell the little that I know and ALSO pose all the important questions I can think of that need to be answered.

Here is what I know about Dvd Ripping.

First, really quick, just the basics, for the laymen.

Every PC Gamer out there loves to "back-up" their "own" games by burning them onto a blank back-up cd. These cds are called "CD-R"(CD Writeable = "you can copy something onto it once") or CD-RW(CD ReWriteable = "You can copy something onto it as many times as you like.") The truth is that even though the CD-RW's are better because they are reusable they more expensive so most people just us CD-R's which can be purchased for about $1.00 a CD-R and alot less if for instance you buy them in bulk from Costco.

The CD Burners themselves go by the same names and you can get a CD burner for you computer that can "write" and "re-write", if you like. Another aspect of a Cd Burner is it's read speed. For instance I have a PlexorWriter 12/10/32 this means that my Burner Writes at "12" speed, ReWrites at 10 Speed, and Reads at "32" speed.

Now Burning Computer games is quite a bit different then burning Dvd's. You see, all computer Games are sold on CD's, which can hold about 800 Megabytes. And a CD-R is just a blank CD so fitting a game onto a CD is easy. The Big problem with burning Dvd's is that while a computer game on 1 CD is around 800 Megs, a Dvd on 1 Dvd is around (if I remember correctly it could be more than this) 4.3 Gigabytes. Well this is substantially larger than the space your trying to fit it on, assuming your trying to make a copy of a Dvd movie and put it on a CD.

The solution to this problem has to do with "compacting" the Dvd data so that it can fit onto a normal cd or two. From here we get terms like ".VCD" and ".SCVD", and "DivX".

Thats about all I know except for one last thing. Basically at this point in time it is simply not advantagous to rip Dvd's. Because it takes an extremely fast compuer to do it and even then it can take about 8-10 hours to burn the image on to your hardrive (which means you better have around 5 gigs of space) and then another 8-10 hours to burn it on to a cd or two, depending. That couple with the fact that the picture and sound quality of the film suffers, makes this a questionable avenue.

OK, well now there is what I know. Basically what I am asking is that anyone that Knows anything about it post here a "definitive guide", some that is step-by-step and easy for people to understand. You don't have to answer the questions below point by point, they are there for you to keep in mind when writing the instructions. Of course it is important to address questions like: "How long does it take, and how fast my computer needs to be, and How much space I need". Because then people might want to reconsider before trying it at all.

NOTE There is another thing people with superfast connections have been doing. That is downloading the films off the internet and then burning them onto a cd. I will ask a few questions about that in the Faq, and if anyone knows anything about that please feel free to post it here since it is the same subject matter.

The DvD Ripping F.A.Q

1. What do the terms ".vcd", "scvd", and "DivX" mean.

2. What specs to I need for my computer?

3. How long is this process REALLY going to take, I've heard it takes up to 48 hours and I've heard people say that they can do it in 4 hours??? That includes burning the image on to my hardrive and then onto the cd. Account for variable specs.

4. Tell me the truth about just how much the picture quality is going to be effected.

5. Can you tell the the steps I need to go through for burning a dvd? (i.e. what software to download and what site it's on, how to use it)

6. Can you tell me the steps I need to go through to download a Dvd (i.e. what software to download and what site it's on, how to use it)


..........

Ok well those are the questions I can think of right at this instant but there may be more later.

Anyone feel free to ask your own questions. And also if you know anything about doing this post here.

Thanks

Hope this helps some people, by the time it's finished it should be at least easier to do something like this.




[This message has been edited by Jarheadiswhitetrash (edited 09-08-2001).]

inglourious basterd
09-08-2001, 12:04 PM
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">


The DvD Ripping F.A.Q

1. What do the terms ".vcd", "scvd", and "DivX" mean.

2. What specs to I need for my computer?

3. How long is this process REALLY going to take, I've heard it takes up to 48 hours and I've heard people say that they can do it in 4 hours??? That includes burning the image on to my hardrive and then onto the cd. Account for variable specs.

4. Tell me the truth about just how much the picture quality is going to be effected.

5. Can you tell the the steps I need to go through for burning a dvd? (i.e. what software to download and what site it's on, how to use it)

6. Can you tell me the steps I need to go through to download a Dvd (i.e. what software to download and what site it's on, how to use it)
</font>

1. vcd, svcd, and divx are the various mediums that are available for cdr movies. vcd and svcd are movie formats that were popularized in Asia. VCD stands for Video CD and SVCD stands for Super Video CD. I havent seen the .vcd extension, because I thought that they had the .mpg extension. (All those are in Mpeg-3 format.) I dont think that you can convert DVD into either of those formats...if you can, youd be in for a lot of work. The most popular way to rip movies from DVD's is in the DIVX format. More accurate information is available in www.divx.com (http://www.divx.com) . What it does it compresses the movie from 4.3 GB to a more managable size (I think its 650-750 MB). The reason the quality suffers is because it converts the MPEG-4 (DVD) into MPEG-3. The side effects of the conversion can result in a slight loss in picture quality and a slight delay in synchroniziation between voice and picture.

I havent been able to do it because 1) I dont have a DVD ROM drive and 2) it takes a big harddrive with lots of unnecessary space. For each DVD, you need to be able to have enough space to rip (download to your hard drive) the DVD and convert it to DIVX.

I would imagine that it would take a long time. To rip information from a CD takes probably the same speed to burn a CD. If that is true, then to rip a DVD would take approximately the time to burn 4 CD's. Then when that process is done, you would have the start converting that to DIVX which would take another 6-8 hrs (it goes through each frame of the film and takes a few seconds/frame depending on the specs of your computer)

If quality is something that you dont really care about, you could consider downloading movies from file sharing programs such as KaZaA or Morpheus. The thing is that the quality suffers because (for movies still in the theaters) they are hand recorded with a camcorder in the theater...lol. But for older movies, you may be able to find them in the DIVX format (they are usually 650-850 MB downloads).


I hope that this was some sort of help and if I was incorrect at all, please feel free to correct me. (Im just telling things based of what ive seen/heard).

[This message has been edited by psudoazn (edited 09-08-2001).]

The Heart Collector
09-08-2001, 03:53 PM
There is no such thing as .vcd or .svcd. They're all in a .DAT format, which is basically an MPEG. They can be played on DVD players.

You can't burn a DVD unless you've got a DVD burner. You can make a DIVX or VCD copy, but it will lose alot of quality.

VCD only holds 74/80 minutes per cd, so it'll be sort of like having a flipper.

The image quality is affected depending on how you compress it. You can use a 640 width resolution and compress it at 1000 kbps, and the image will look good. You can use a small resolution and huge bitrate and it'll look good. It all depends on what size you want it. Most people leave 'em at 695-700 megs.

[This message has been edited by The Heart Collector (edited 09-08-2001).]