Video question - again (I have done a search - dont worry!!)

[Guest cplowman]

Right. I am a tchnological incompetent, and have found this forum absolutely invaluable.

How the $%^& do I convert my DVDs (i.e. the ones I own) into a Smartphone format?

I've read Chriss coverting video thread, and I have WMEncoder installed, but it will not recognise VOB files on my discs. Are they locked or something to prevent unauthorised copying?

I also had DVDx installed, but this also was useless - it stated it did not find any IFO files (which were on the disc) so I am at a loss. I just want to convert a DVD to mpeg or something, and then use WMEncoder to further convert to Smartphone format using the instrutions from a previous thread.

If i need some software, pls make sure its easy to use!!!!!

With thanks...............

[Guest akarno]

I use dup-dvd

http://www.dup-dvd.com/index.html

You have to pay for it (there is a trial version) and a few DVDs will not work on it. But the plus side is that it is very easy to use.

[Guest HelloDave]

Converting DVDs is a big topic and too long for me to explain here because there's lots of ways to do it. Yes, the vob files are encrypted, and so ripping DVDs, even if you own them is legally dodgy, as technically you're cracking the encrypted files but still...if you own the disc you should be able to do what you like with it for your own use. The easiest way to convert a DVD for use on the SPV is to make it into an mpeg first, and then run that through Media Encoder. That can be done using a program called FlaskMPEG quite easily. A quicker way if you're feeling ambitious is to rip the DVD to your hard drive using a program like SmartRipper and then use the program DVD2AVI and the VFapi codec to frameserve the file so that WME can read it. This is a much quicker method but more complicated - it takes about half the length of the movie whereas the mpeg method takes around four times that (plus the encoding time of WME). Go to a site like http://www.divx-digest.com/articles/index_english.html where there are loads of articles on how to convert your DVDs to other formats using free software (it's not worth paying for) There's lots of info on both of the methods i've suggested; the mpeg method will probably be in a "DVD to VCD" guide and the framserving method in a DVD to DiVX/AVI guide.

[Guest spacemonkey]

As with the previous post, ripping dvds is complicated... another good site is http://doom9.org Hasn't been updated so much recently but it still has everything you really need.

I personally use smartripper to unencrypt the DVD onto my harddrive and then use flaskmpeg or dvd to avi after that...

[Guest HelloDave]

Whoops! Forgot to mention you have to rip the DVD to your hard drive for both of the methods I mentioned - it's because I haven't used FlaskMPEG for ages! You do need quite a bit of free space to do this - about 10Gb gives you plenty of space to work, but you can probably get away with about 6Gb for most movies. You'll need a fast computer and a lot of patience too - my 1.4Ghz Athlon takes about twice the length of the movie to encode it to mpeg and then Windows Media Encoder takes about the length of the movie.

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

I use cladDVD and then DVD2AVI to get a format ready for encoding... works for me!

P

[Guest cplowman]

Thanx for the replies all.

I think I will mesa about with a few methods when I've got a bit of time. Your help is much appreciated!!!!

'There is no death - there is only The Force'