[robbyx]

I'm interested in ripping my DVD collection so that I can watch movies streamed from my hard drive to a Roku PhotoBridge HD. I'm not interested in all of the DVD extras, nor do I care about preserving the DVD menus, etc. I simply want to copy the movie.

I've used MacTheRipper to extract VOB files and the PhotoBridge can see the resulting files. It plays them in order, so if you select File1.vob, it will then move on to File2.vob once File1.vob has finished. This works, but I find the approach rather ugly and not very user friendly. I'd like to combine all of the VOB files into a single MPG file. I'm also curious about (re)compression. Since I don't care about burning the ripped files back to DVD, might I be able to (re)compress and produce smaller movie files?

I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who has tackled this issue. What software should I use? How should I convert and join the VOB files into a single MPG? Any advice regarding (re)compression?

Thanks in advance!

-Rob

[bmedina]

Use 0SEx to rip to one vob.

[robbyx]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll check it out! What is a VOB file, anyway? Is it an MPEG-2? Can I play/edit them using QuickTime Pro if I buy the Apple MPEG-2 component?

Thanks!

-Rob

[k_munic]

for ripping (transfering from dvd to hd)
OSeX (e.g. http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~afaversa/)
MacTheRipper (e.g. http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/22715)

for selecting just the movie
dvd2one (49€ http://www.dvd2one.com/index.php)
popcorn (49€ http://www.roxio.com/en/products/popcorn/index.jhtml)

making it smaller (converting, mpeg4)
handbrake (e.g. http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/12987)
open shiiva (e.g. http://openshiiva.sourceforge.net/)

a .vob file contains a mpeg2 of the video and many more ; it is the data structure of a dvd, which can contain subtitles, different views, easter eggs, whatever…
you can playback such files with QTpro + mpeg2plug-in, or VLC (http://www.videolan.org/)

[Uncle Skeleton]

Originally posted by robbyx:
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll check it out! What is a VOB file, anyway? Is it an MPEG-2? Can I play/edit them using QuickTime Pro if I buy the Apple MPEG-2 component?

VOB stands for Video Object. QTPro won't allow you to edit MPEG 1 or 2, it won't let you play the AC-3 audio found on most DVDs (PCM is probably ok, but), the QT VOB parser gives up after 4 GB for some reason, and the quality of the $20 MPEG-2 decoder is downright bad. MPEG StreamClip is the only decent way I know of on the Mac to edit MPEG-2 files (and it reads all the obscure file formats out there, plus AC-3 audio), but it does require the QT MPEG-2 Decoder to do MPEG-2. VLC is the best option for just playing them.

[bmedina]

Originally posted by k_munic:
for selecting just the movie
dvd2one (49€ http://www.dvd2one.com/index.php)
popcorn (49€ http://www.roxio.com/en/products/popcorn/index.jhtml)

The ripping programs allow you to select just the movie. The software you list here is used to compress the movie down to 4.7GB (while still in DVD format) to burn onto a DVD-R.

making it smaller (converting, mpeg4)
handbrake (e.g. http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/12987)
open shiiva (e.g. http://openshiiva.sourceforge.net/)

I suggest Diva from the 3ivx guys along with this tutorial. But it's really a matter of personal preference. As long as you stay away from the AVI container, you're good.