[2005] Backing Up DVDs Into Small Files

EDIT: Sorry. I meant to post this in chit chat. Could a mod please move it for me?

I am headed to college next fall, and I wanted to back up all my DVDs so that I don't need to worry about taking the physical copy with me and having it stolen. The only methods I have found for doing this only allow you to shrink it to about 4gigs and if you go any smaller than that, the quality is horrible.

I know there is no way to have perfect quality and small size, but does anyone know a good program that will shrink it to maybe a few hundred megs or something?

Check out RatDVD. It takes a long time, but it rips the entire DVD to about 1 - 2 Gigs. I think that will be the best you can get. Last I heard though, it takes a long time to convert.

http://www.ratdvd.dk/

Whenever you have to re-encode anything to that small of size, its going to take forever. If you want smaller files, you have to go with a non-dvd standard codec, and Divx is usually the one for the job that still retains good quality at smaller sizes. You can shrink it down to fit on a CD-R with Divx, although it will take quite a deal of time for each movie, and we are talking about hours. You wont be able to play it in your dvd player, however (of course, unless you have a Divx compatible DVD player).

If you want to save time, then you are best to stay with the dvd shrink programs, and burn them onto DVD's (assuming you have a burner, if not, then I could see why you would want the small files). You are talking 10-15 minutes ripping and transcoding with DVD Shrink (doing just the movie file and taking out all of the extra crud) vs. a couple hours or more encoding one DVD into Divx... After you do a couple you will get realllly tired of waiting around... I tried a couple, but I didnt have the patience to even finish one of them. As far as price goes, you can find hundred packs of DVD's for 30 bucks or so pretty often (I see them advertised on DealNews.com every few days) which is about 33 cents each... not bad at all... 33 cents is well worth saving 2 hours of my time...

mpdeglau, I'll look into that program. Thanks.

Yeah, if I had a DVD burner I would be set, but alas, I don't. I used DVD Shrink right now and it takes an hour or two anyway to shrink it from 8ish gigs to 4 gigs.

DivX format is fine since I only want to store them on my computer. The problem is that I have done a lot of searching and I can't seem to find a free/reputable encoder that will do that for me? My main question is what programs should I look into?

Well I use Nero Recode, it was just part of the Nero Suite that I had received, and it has the ability to encode it to fit to a specified size, even less than 700 megabytes. I think it uses MPEG4 or something for the encoding for that size, but alas I havent ever finished a re-encode since I never have the patience.

As far as the DVD shrink goes, you can save a lot of time if you just rip the movie file, and none of the extras. Just a matter of clicking on reauthor, and then dragging the movie title over. That way you dont have to bother with having to encode all the menus and special features. After that, you can modify the end frame, moving it to just the start of the credits in order to squeeze in a little more quality. I usually get at least 80 percent quality doing this (unless the movie is long), and most of the time it is in the 90 percent range (some even require no compression afterwards), and when you start getting into that range, then the ripping and transcoding is snappy. Its when you start getting into the 70 percent range and below that it starts taking a lot longer...

I always reauthor them. I usually have them in the 70-80 range and it usually takes 1.5-2 hours. I'm fine with the time, it is just the size that is a problem. I don't have nero, but I will probably have it by the time I go to college.

All the programs I have attempted to find online have been trial versions. It is quite clear to me that DVD ripping takes a lot more work than CD ripping. I suppose that is because a lot more effort is put into stopping DVD pirating than music pirating.

Well CDs just have less encryption than DVDs, because at the time CDs came out, no one even fathomed encrypting the entire contents of the disk, like DVDs can do, because the technology wasnt there then, so it was never in the format. The "antipiracy" features that are on a CD disk arent really supposed to be there, and arent part of the cd format. They are really just hacks that the silly music companies like putting on there that run or take effect when you put the cd into your computer, and the disk wouldnt be compatible with older cd players. So you can actually return the CDs with any of that crap on it to the vendor and say it doesnt play in your "old" cd player, because they arent 100 percent standard cds....

As far as free progs go, I don't think you will find many. It seems any Divx prog will require the Divx Pro codec, which costs about 20 bucks or so. You might be able to find MPEG4 converters somewhere, as microsoft has a free MPEG4 codec... but its not going to be easy. I think I had searched a while back and didn't turn up much...

XVid is free.

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Originally Posted by eyeRmonkey

EDIT: Sorry. I meant to post this in chit chat. Could a mod please move it for me?

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I think "general pc" would be more apt. :)

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Originally Posted by grilkip

XVid is free.

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Okay, I just downloaded the DivX codec and the XVid codec. Now the question is, what programs can I use to rip in those formats?

hey eyer you could try this site
doom9.net
the site which offers everything abt dvd's rite from ripping to saving ,go to the downloads section and download what u think is approp...

if u are still confused pm me i can help you out with the ripping thing
good luck

Its not a particularly simple process because there are a lot of steps involved. You can do it step by step manually, as long as you know what to do. The steps usually involve ripping the dvd, removing all encryption, parsing the DVD in order for it to be able to be read by the encoder, setting up the encoder, and then letting the encoder do its magic. Being that it isnt a simple task, that is the main reason most of the progs you find are not going to be free that do a one-click conversion. If you want to try to do the steps manually, it is doable, and a good place to start is finding a DVD to XVid (or Divx) tutorial, like the one below:

http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/ar...dvdtodivx.html

Okay, here is what I am currently doing:

Software needed:
Google for "DVD Shrink" and download it
http://labs.divx.com/DrDivX
http://www.divxmovies.com/codec/ (DivX player and codec)
http://www.divxmovies.com/faq/ (AC3 Codec - half way down the page)

Steps:
1) Rip the DVD using DVD Shrink. Re-author it so it is only the main movie title. Specify for the dvd to be shrunk to DVD-5 (4.7 gigs).
2) Using Dr. DVD to encode the DVD. I chose to specify a file size of 700 megs, but you can do as you like
3) Play using the DivX player

I haven't done a lot of testing yet, but I think this setup will work.

yea that should work ,you could also try superdvd ripper .

p.s:did you check out the link i suggested in my previous post
www.doom9.net

That is an awesome link. Thanks. I think I already have things set up, but if I ever need anything else I will look into that site. :thumb:

Okay, so Dr. DivX isn't working so well. When I try to encode certain DVDs the prorgam crashes. That is a bummer when I set it up to run for hours while I am asleep or at school and I come back and it crashed 10 minutes into the encoding.

I've looked into other encoders, but I can't really seem to find any. None of the ones on www.doom9.net (that I have seen) let you encode from .VOB (DVD) files to DivX. Any ideas?

DivX or XVid is the way to go. What version are you using? (the codec)

What format does your ripper program deliver, mpeg2? You could try reencoding it with VirtualDubMod (google it). You'll have to make sure you also have a mp3 codec installed to compress the audio as well.

Even if it does go wrong it might give some more feedback on whats gone wrong.

I can't really figure out which format it was encoded to. It's DivX, but that isn't the format. I'll download VirtualDubMod. I think I might already have the MP3 codec and I know I have the AC3 codec.

GSpot (google..) is a must have for the happy encoder. It will display useful information on video files i.e. video codec, audio codec, bitrates.

Sounds good. As far as MP3 encoders, would you mind pointing me in the right direction. I can't decide which on this page would be useful...
http://www.doom9.org/software2.htm#audio

Well, I always use VirtualDub for encoding, it gives you a list of available codecs for audio or video streams. With a standard (windows) install, there is an mp3 codec there but it will only encode to low bitrates. I always install the Radium codec, which provides the ability to encode to a decent qualtity. (192>). I can't find the site, so I'll send you the zip.

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Originally Posted by eyeRmonkey

Sounds good. As far as MP3 encoders, would you mind pointing me in the right direction. I can't decide which on this page would be useful...
http://www.doom9.org/software2.htm#audio

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you will find lots of softwares which will help you encode mp3s jetaudio player from www.cowonamerica.com/download lets you encode from varirty of formats ,yhough ipersonallu use a registered version of blaze media pro www.blazemp.com or alternatively use audacity from sourceforge.net,its a free open source audio editor

regarding besweet from doom9.org its a little dificult to use but its open source and free!!

I went back to using Dr DivX and so far everything has been going good. It is way easier to use than anything else I have encountered.

but dr.divx expires after 15 days ,what after that??

The Dr DivX I found was an open source beta.

http://community.divx.com/labs/?cid=2

hmmm. happy ripping then but take care bcoz dvd ripping is illegal in few countries