So in the wake of obtaining a Nokia e62 and an iPaq mobile PC, I decided it was finally time to learn how to rip dvd’s in to something I could take with me… and low and behold, LifeHacker came to the rescue again. However, I’ve made a couple of changes from their article (which was an awesome starting point).

As in the LH article, I too decided to use: DVD Decrypter to “decrypt” or rip the actual video and sound files from the dvd. However, unlike LH, I use pocketdivxencoder to encode the vob files in to avi’s that can be played on my laptop, phone or the pocket pc.

The lifehacker article was originally for ripping dvd’s to an iPod format, but since I’m one of the few with out an iPod (anyone want to fix that? Didn’t think so…) I decided that I need to make avi’s instead.

From the LH article:

Step 1: DVD Decrypter

1. Insert your DVD and start DVD Decrypter.
2. Click the Mode menu and choose IFO.
3. Click the Tools menu, select Settings, and then choose the IFO Mode tab.
4. In the Options section, click the File Splitting field and set it to None. Click OK to exit the Settings dialog.
5. In the right-hand section of the interface, click the Stream Processing tab and check the Enable Stream Processing box.
6. dvddecrypter2.pngImmediately below that box, uncheck everything except for the first video and audio items. In other words, only two boxes should be selected.
7. Back on the left side, in the Destination section, click the folder icon to determine where DVD Decrypter should place your ripped files. (I’m usually in favor of something like My Documents > My Videos > Movie Title.)
8. Finally, click Decrypt and be prepared to wait 20 minutes or so while the software does its thing.

One thing I did do was while under the settings was turn off the sound (it was a little too calypso for me).

Depending on the size of the file it will take a couple of minutes to 30 minutes. Nothing too bad.

Step 2: PocketDivxEncoder

This is where I varied from the LH article. PocketDivxEncoder (PDE) is designed to encode files for use on smartphones, pocket pc’s and other smaller format video players, however, the files are good quality (you can adjust that yourself) and they play fine on the laptop.

This is the easy part, once you launch PDE, all you have to do is choose the file you want to encode, choose the location and the name you want it to be, double check the settings and hit encode. There is a preview button as well that allows you to preview the file, but really there’s no need. The encoding can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour and a half depending on what you’re encoding, but the waits worth it. The files are good.

Step 3: Enjoy the Show
Now just sit back and enjoy. Rather easy isn’t it?

Do you have a different method for ripping and encoding dvds?? Let me know…

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