Ripping DVDs?

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flotwig

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I'm trying to digitize my extensive DVD library, but I'm having trouble finding a good way to rip them to AVIs or MP4s. So far I've been using VLC to stream them to a file, but the performance is less than optimal and the settings are finicky to say the least.
What is the best way to rip a DVD on Linux?
 


I heard Handbrake works like a charm for some people, so I highly suggest you try that before anything else. It's really good with ripping and such, and it should work fine. Good luck with that!
 
If Handbrake doesn't work for you then it may be that the DVD that you are trying to rip is a newer DVD and new DVDs sometimes have a special feature on them to block anyone from ripping the movie from the DVD. Handbrake has failed me multiple times with DVDs like this but sometimes it works just fine. I guess it really depends on which DVD you are trying.
 
Maybe you should try DVD::RIP or Acid Rip, With Acid RIP you can rip and encode DVD's in MPEG-4 and AVI in a simple way, i think you can set the bitrates and it'll do the rest for you. DVD::RIP is more or less the same.

Handbrake is also good, i think it could rip even BlueRay DVD's and original DVD's.
 
[video=youtube;Uysdzf5-n-k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uysdzf5-n-k[/video]

Here is an excellent tutorial on it. I would go with whatever program has the best tut. Use handbrake.
 
linux on disk or "linux live" is the way to go. check out knoppix at http://www.knoppix.org/ just download it, burn it to disk, place it in the drive and reboot. will run from the disk drive. if i might make a suggestion... if you plan to rip a dvd, you'll need to have your dvd drive available, so hopefully you have more than one drive. there is a cd version and a dvd version. just get whichever one you can use without tying up the drive you need to do the ripping. if you have only one drive, you can install the live cd to the hard drive or even the ram and run it from there. just read the cheats that come with the program.
best of luck to you.
 
Transcoding (the process of ripping and converting audio/video files) is extremely configurable.

In OGMRip, my favorite DVD transcoder, the default DivX profile settings may not always produce the most desirable results. Some movies or programs are just so long that the video quality drops in order to accommodate the length and still fit within the 700 MB default parameters.

The solution is to increase the file size to increase the video quality. But the quality and size can still be controlled by using the Constant quantizer option. The end result will still be an avi file with the DivX/XviD codec.

The OGMRip Official Manual does mention Constant quantizer:

Constant quantizer: Also called constant quality, this encoding method gives very high quality videos but very big files. A lower quantizer gives a better result.

However, this really doesn't tell you what you need to know.

In OGMRip, go to Edit > Profiles and then select DivX for Standalone Players. Click on the Edit button:

66_15_06_13_10_39_50.png


The Qualitizer number at the bottom of the screen can be adjusted.

* 1 & 2 results in the highest quality and the largest file size.
* 3 & 4 are the sweet spots resulting in good video quality and manageable file sizes.
* 5 & 6 will result in roughly equal quality to the original default settings.
* There is really no point in going beyond setting 6.

There are plenty of other variables that can affect the finished product. Experimentation is the best method for finding just the right balance for your transcoding projects.

__________

Disclaimer: Due to legal constraints, I cannot divulge certain information.
wink.gif


I was trying to transcode a certain DVD (that shall remain nameless), but it had something to do with the third man of ferrum (look it up). Anyway, this unnamed movie contained about 100 titles in its table of contents -- only one of which was the legitimate title.

Handbrake couldn't access any title other than title 2, which was the wrong title. When I tried to load the disk in OGMRip, OGMRip crashed and closed itself -- as did several other Linux transcoders.

"Challenge accepted!" One transcoder was able to access the disk. Thoggen. Now, in order for this to work you must know in advance that the correct title number is four more than the answer to life, the Universe, and everything. (Are you with me so far?)

I set Thoggen to its maximum quality setting and an hour and a half later had a .ogv Ogg/Theora file of the video at 1.9 GB in size. Not really what I wanted, I used Handbrake to convert the Ogg file into a .m4v file of 900 MB -- which is what I was trying to do in the first place. Much better!

Note: Do not crop the image in Thoggen. Handbrake will crop the file when it converts the video.

Nice try, major undisclosed Hollywood studio! But Linux was just a little too smart for you.

You make it, we'll break it. Better luck next time.
 
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