Putting DVDs on my PC
Discussion
I have a number of DVD’s that are taking up a lot of room in my house. How difficult would it be to rip these to a Hard Drive on my PC? I have a projector rigged up to it via a D-DVI cable and I also have Dolby 5.1 through my DVD player. I suspect I will need a new hard drive, maybe a 400GB drive!
Is it easy to do? Do I need any software?
Is it easy to do? Do I need any software?
It really does depend on what you want to do.
Are you looking at storing the movie in an AVI format or keeping the movie as a 'DVD' but stored on a harddrive?
The best place to go for hints on ripping and transcoding movies would be doom9.org as they're pretty much the one stop shop for all things encodery (or were).
Are you looking at storing the movie in an AVI format or keeping the movie as a 'DVD' but stored on a harddrive?
The best place to go for hints on ripping and transcoding movies would be doom9.org as they're pretty much the one stop shop for all things encodery (or were).
VLC will play VOB files from a ripped DVD directory, you will need to decrypt them first though (tools are available and easy to get hold of). You might want to transcode them to use interlaced Xvid, this will compress most 4.5gb dvds to around 2gbs and retain virtually the same quality, it is a lengthy process though, taking around 3-5 hours for an average pc.
I've done exactly that with about half of my collection. Didn't bother with re-encoding them though, so each takes up 9GB or so. But then I do have a couple of terabytes of space available.
It is technically illegal though, even if you do own the discs - and I don't mean copyright infringement, it's the breaking of the CSS encryption.
Personally I think that's ridiculous, but there you go
Much prefer to select stuff via my HTPC using Meedio than physically getting a disc, loading it etc. Call me lazy 
But it also means the discs aren't ever getting damaged too.
It is technically illegal though, even if you do own the discs - and I don't mean copyright infringement, it's the breaking of the CSS encryption.
Personally I think that's ridiculous, but there you go
Much prefer to select stuff via my HTPC using Meedio than physically getting a disc, loading it etc. Call me lazy But it also means the discs aren't ever getting damaged too. Edited by Graham@Reading on Tuesday 7th November 14:48
Graham@Reading said:
It's the breaking of the CSS encryption.
Theres a case going through the courts in the US at the moment.
CSS Licencing v Kaleidescape
Kaleidescape make a commercial DVD storage device, which is very good but pricey. CSS assert that ripping and storing, whilst being the copyright holder is breach of licence. Trouble is, there is nothing in the CSS licence which mentions this explicitly so now Kaleidescape are counter-suing. The judgement on this case should pave the way for commercial breaking of CSS if you hold the original media.
Plotloss said:
Graham@Reading said:
It's the breaking of the CSS encryption.
Theres a case going through the courts in the US at the moment.
CSS Licencing v Kaleidescape
Kaleidescape make a commercial DVD storage device, which is very good but pricey. CSS assert that ripping and storing, whilst being the copyright holder is breach of licence. Trouble is, there is nothing in the CSS licence which mentions this explicitly so now Kaleidescape are counter-suing. The judgement on this case should pave the way for commercial breaking of CSS if you hold the original media.
Excellent, ta for that. I knew there was something in the offing, but didn't realise it was that far on. I'll keep an eye on that, seeing as I have a personal interest in the legality of said encryption
scorp said:
Extra 300 Driver said:
Thanks for the replies, so how do media PCs work then?
They play back already encoded media, i don't think they allow dvd ripping, otherwise everyone would pile down to blockbusters and pirate their entire collection within days
You cant rip through the MCE interface but you can rip a DVD like any other using normal XP software on MCE
Plotloss said:
scorp said:
Extra 300 Driver said:
Thanks for the replies, so how do media PCs work then?
They play back already encoded media, i don't think they allow dvd ripping, otherwise everyone would pile down to blockbusters and pirate their entire collection within days
You cant rip through the MCE interface but you can rip a DVD like any other using normal XP software on MCE
Sure can
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