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17MBPC2D · Jan 17, 2007, 04:59 PM

Hi all,

I recently purchased a 17" Macbook Pro C2D and was wondering how and what I need to copy a DVD?

My kids damage DVD often...

I prefer not to schrink it as I don't mind coping it onto a Dual Layer DVD if necessary. If this is not possible...what are my choices?

I was told that I need some sort of decoder (Mactheripper?) Is this the best one out there?

Any what DVD burner software do I need to purchase?

Please help...never done this before.

brza · Jan 17, 2007, 09:40 PM

it's usually better if you teach them to treat DVDs properly. you won't have to burn them... you just dont let them use the movies if they can't put them away properly.

Frugle · Jan 17, 2007, 10:24 PM

Originally Posted by brza

it's usually better if you teach them to treat DVDs properly. you won't have to burn them... you just dont let them use the movies if they can't put them away properly.

You must not have kids.

What brza is trying to say, in a not really saying it way, DVDs are copy protected. 1, it is illegal, and 2 there are no legal pieces of software that will let you copy DVDs.

there is pleanty of illegal software, but again, it is illegal.

solofx7 · Jan 18, 2007, 08:35 AM

Originally Posted by 17MBPC2D

Hi all,

I recently purchased a 17" Macbook Pro C2D and was wondering how and what I need to copy a DVD?

My kids damage DVD often...

I prefer not to schrink it as I don't mind coping it onto a Dual Layer DVD if necessary. If this is not possible...what are my choices?

I was told that I need some sort of decoder (Mactheripper?) Is this the best one out there?

Any what DVD burner software do I need to purchase?

Please help...never done this before.

i understand you dilemma as i have a child and i also have friends that do not treat dvds correctly.
you are right about Mac the Ripper.
There is also DVD2ONE. i have not used it so i cannot tell you anything about it.

Simon · Jan 18, 2007, 09:25 AM

Originally Posted by Frugle

What brza is trying to say, in a not really saying it way, DVDs are copy protected. 1, it is illegal, and 2 there are no legal pieces of software that will let you copy DVDs.

there is pleanty of illegal software, but again, it is illegal.

Fortunately there are many countries where it is perfectly legal to copy a DVD as a personal backup.

If you are in such a country you can use a tool like MacTheRipper which will make an exact copy of your DVD and put it on your HD. If you want you can then burn that to a DVD-R. If you just want to extract the movie from a DVD you could use Handbrake. Both programs are free and work very well.

17MBPC2D · 11:30 AM

Thanks all for all your help.
I just order Toast 8...and will give Mactheripper and/or Handbrake a try.

I kinda like the suggestion from another to rip it into MPEG4 and store in a NAS connected to the upcoming Airport Extreme and stream it thru the iTV...that would be so cool (if it works).

solofx7 · Jan 18, 2007, 11:27 AM

Originally Posted by 17MBPC2D

Thanks all for all your help.
I just order Toast 8...and will give Mactheripper and/or Handbrake a try.

I kinda like the suggestion from another to rip it into MPEG4 and store in a NAS connected to the upcoming Airport Extreme and play it thru the iTV...that would be so cool (if it works).

that sounds good, i have toast 8 and it is very cool.
i am using connect x360 and trying to run videos through the x360 wireless and it is not working because MS only likes its own formats...

brza · Jan 18, 2007, 08:55 PM

Originally Posted by Frugle

You must not have kids.

What brza is trying to say, in a not really saying it way, DVDs are copy protected. 1, it is illegal, and 2 there are no legal pieces of software that will let you copy DVDs.

there is pleanty of illegal software, but again, it is illegal.

haha. what was your guess?

i understand that he may legitimately want to backup a DVD. if that's the case, there is lots of user-friendly software that does the entire encode/burn process. lots of 'em. sites like versiontracker.com have freeware/shareware versions you can download free to try.

k squared · Jan 18, 2007, 10:46 PM

Originally Posted by 17MBPC2D

Thanks all for all your help.
I just order Toast 8...and will give Mactheripper and/or Handbrake a try.

I kinda like the suggestion from another to rip it into MPEG4 and store in a NAS connected to the upcoming Airport Extreme and stream it thru the iTV...that would be so cool (if it works).

Use MacTheRipper to rip the DVD to your hard drive and then use Toast to burn the Video_TS file to DVD. Toast will give you options to burn Main Picture only (without extras, languages, subtitles) so minimal compression will be needed to fit onto a single layer DVD.

Of course, Popcorn will do all of this too and I believe it's cheaper than Toast.

I too am thinking about converting my DVDs to h.264 and playing them through appleTV...just waiting until some else tries it first.

Simon · Jan 19, 2007, 03:28 AM

Originally Posted by k squared

I too am thinking about converting my DVDs to h.264 and playing them through appleTV...just waiting until some else tries it first.

Well, I haven't actually done it with Apple TV yet, but I'm fairly close. I have ripped all my DVDs to MPEG4/h.264 with HandBrake and put them on my file server. My projector is hooked up to a Mac mini w/ BT keyboard and mouse. The mini mounts the server's movie partition and plays the files. Work just fine.

solofx7 · Jan 19, 2007, 07:12 AM

Originally Posted by Simon

Well, I haven't actually done it with Apple TV yet, but I'm fairly close. I have ripped all my DVDs to MPEG4/h.264 with HandBrake and put them on my file server. My projector is hooked up to a Mac mini w/ BT keyboard and mouse. The mini mounts the server's movie partition and plays the files. Work just fine.

pretty sweet. how big of a hard drive are you using?
roughly how many dvds do you have on there?
that is an idea that i am toying with, but i think that i would need like a super duper large drive, then the whole hd-dvd/blueray thing is going to confuse this.

Simon · Jan 19, 2007, 08:24 AM

The disk I'm using for the movies has 250 GB and is pretty much full. I've got about 70 DVDs on there.

solofx7 · Jan 19, 2007, 08:53 AM

Originally Posted by Simon

The disk I'm using for the movies has 250 GB and is pretty much full. I've got about 70 DVDs on there.

i guess i am going to need a couple of those or a couple of 1TB drives...