Putting my DVDs onto my Hard Drive

[dannoble82]

Hi,
Im sure this is going to be really simple and i feel a bit of a dumbass asking it....

I have just got a Acer Revo to be the main hub for my media centre, I have got a 1TB ext hard drive attached to it, I now want to rip/burn all my origional DVDs onto my revo so i can acess them at any time and anywhere in the house,

So here are my questions:

• What is the best software to do this?
• I have been told by a mate that i want them in AVI form

i currently have Nero Startsmart Essentials (came with the revo) & Xilisoft Video Converter Ultimate

thanks in advance

[philmein121]

just google AnyDVD that should meet your needs.
then you convert the dvds to iso then play with vlc

[evilsatan]

You have a choice of loss of quality for massive space savings (rip to Xvid, this is a .avi file) or for no loss of quality but huge files rip using IMGBurn to .iso then play in VLC.

I recommend ripping to Xvid using FairUse Wizard 2, I have ripped loads of my .ISOs to Xvid this week for my Revo using this tool. You can get the full version in the usual places and that allows you to specify output size. Run AnyDVD to remove most DVD protection on the fly as you follow this guide:
http://www.dvd-guides.com/content/view/160/59/

If you have any problems with some Sony DVDs then read my post here:
http://www.digital-forums.com/showthread.php?t=299572

I set my Xvid rips to 1400MB (2CD release) but it is up to you. Make sure you select the 2 pass option and move the slider to quality rather than speed.

[I Black Belt]

I use anydvd to convert to AVI's.
takes a bit of pissing about to make sure the rip you get is a full screen, rather than a letterbox format etc. It produces a rip of about 700meg, depending on what compression settings you use, but with todays modern tellies and upscalers etc I've never had an issue.
As such, I can stream them via Tversity through my xbox, or network to my main pc and stream wirelessly through my laptop without any problems at all
Anydvd will also handle "multiple episode" DVD's, such as tv series etc and allow you to delete any extras like additional audioe streams, directors comments and stuff like that.

[Mr.James]

DVD Shrink. You'll be able to rip the audio/video from the movie to a single .vob file without having to convert it which takes ages and loses quality.

[dannoble82]

thanks for all your help so far guys, i have got Fair use 2 premium now and currently ripping a dvd to see if its any good, ill let you know how i get on!

[{{909}}]

whatever software you use, always use 2pass if its available and encode to .mkv, this is a bit better quality than avi/xvid.

Also bare in mind you are going to lose any subtitles that a film may have unless you take some additional steps.

My choice of ripper would be staxrip, but i imagine most rippers will give similar results these days

[evilsatan]

I would usually have used staxrip or AutoGK but I researched last week as I had to do a batch of about 25 films and apparently FairUse is the newest app and came highly recommended on some pro encoding forums. In the end of the day it is down to personal preference though.

[DejaVu]

AutoGK FTW!

But, I gave up wasting ages recoding AVI's. Far easier to 'get' them elsewhere AND the library is HUGE now!