Rip DVDs to hard drive & manage in iTunes

[Dj_AmTraX]

After days of research I decided to try putting some of my DVDs on my computer (Mac). I have over 100 DVDs and I noticed I have not watched them in years. Mainly due to being lazy. I also have ADD so by the time I go through my boxes of DVDs, I no longer have interest in sitting in front of the tube for 2+hours. So ease of use and fast loading is important to me.

I also want to be able to view my library on my MacBook Air and other computers (PC too) in the house and iPhone/iPod Touch for "on the go". This means I have to use iTunes to manage my movies. FrontRow is cool too.

I went with Handbrake (Free), nothing else. Finding the correct settings were my biggest concern. This took a lot of time searching and reading, days. Here is the break down for those interested.
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First time using Handbrake last night. I am very happy with the results. This thread is to make it easy for first timers like me to set-up Handbrake.

Mac GUI settings -

Apple ~ Universal ~
Format: MP4 File
Codec: AVC/H.264 Video/AAC + AC3 Audio
Insert iPod Atom: Unchecked
Video - Encoder: x264
Constant Quality: 62%

Picture Settings -
Anamorphic: Loose
Crop: Automatic
VFR: Enabled
Denoise: Strong

Audio + Subtitles -
Track 1 : AAC - DPL2
Track 2 : English AC3 5.1
Bitrate: 160kbps (only affects AAC)
Sample Rate: 48khz
Dynamic Range Compression: 0
Subtitles: Unchecked
Chapters: Enabled

2ch/5.1ch Audio and video works well with my 50" Sony LCD TV via new Mac Mini. Playback is GREAT on my MacBook, MacBook Air 1.6ghz (1st gen). No skips or lag. Audio matches too. As you can see, iPhone looks GREAT too. Zoom mode is a bit cut off on the sides.

This is a picture of the movie on iPhone "widescreen" mode.


This is a picture of the movie on iPhone "zoom" mode.

[Dj_AmTraX]

Back to the Future II screen shot taken from my MacBook Air. I love this movie. Not too bad for 1989 movie. Sorry for posting so many pictures. I am just very happy with the results. I used Handbrake all the way. I love being able to take everything on to my iPhone.

[Dj_AmTraX]

Rip the commercial DVD with Ripit (www.ripit.com) or Mac the Ripper. This will create a VIDEO_TS file. You can point the file to where ever you like.

Get the artwork for the movie on the web. www.slothradio.com/covers is a good start. Save the artwork to your Mac. Make a copy of it and paste it in the ripped folder (inside the movie title folder where the VIDEO_TS file is, NOT in the VIDEO_TS folder). Now rename the artwork file to Preview.jpg. Then make an alias of the (titled) movie folder that contains the Preview.jpg & VIDEO_TS file. Drag the alias folder to you User/Home/Movies folder.


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Connect the optical out cable to your receiver. Open Audio/Midi app. in OS X and make sure "built-in output" is optical out.

Open DVD Player in OS X and make sure in Preference pane, DVD setup section, Audio output is selected to "optical out". Very important! Close DVD player.



Open Front Row and go to Movies/Movies Folder and you will see your ripped movies along with the artwork. The movie will play like if it was the DVD spinning. All menus and FBI warnings are still there. Go to DVD Menu and make sure Dolby 5.1 is selected.

Hope this helps.

I can post screen shots tomorrow when I get home. Enjoy!

[Dj_AmTraX]

I couldn't get Front Row to play the Handbrake rips in 5.1 surround. I really didn't want to use any other media app because Front Row is easy and nice looking, easy for the rest of the family.

Ripit rips the DVD to VIDEO_TS with all DVD functions and Front Row plays nicely with the files with full 5.1 Dolby Digital. It also rips 3x to 5x faster than Handbrake.

I am doing two movie libraries. One with Handbrake MPEG-4 for iPod Touch and iTunes support. The other with Ripit for Front Row and main home surround system playback. Hard drives are cheap so this is best of both worlds.

I bought a 2 TB Firewire 800 hard drive for $230 shipped. I can always add more in the future.

[-E-]

On the PC side, if you have the HDD space and absolutely despise compression of any sort, DVD Decrypter is your tool. Free. Will ISO a DVD in its exact form. Playback is a snap utilizing a program called Daemon-Tools (also free).

All you need is a media player that can handle the 5.1 stream out (TMT and PowerDVD come to mind, and are not priced that badly).

[jericho]

I'm ripping all my dvd's with DVDFAB, select whatever you want as subtitle or audio!!!
Put everything on an external NAS HDD (Lacie Windows Embedded).Stream them with a Mini Mac to my TV using Mediacentral (Equinux Software)!!