[macintologist]

Over on the Mac side, we have Handbrake, an incredible simple powerful all-in-one DVD to whatever video app. Right now I'm ripping a Friends DVD directly into an ipod compatible .mp4 with h264. It's free, and it's bloody fast on my Core Duo iMac.

I thought we were blessed to have such a wonderful program since obviously an equivalent must exist in the Windows world, correct?

NOT

There is NO handbrake alternative for Windows. You HAVE to use DVD Decrypter (which I can't for the love of God figure out how to rip to a single .VOB stream) and then you have to use some Windoze-like video encoding software that's probably not very easy to use.

I can't wait to use this talking point with someone next time I'm evangelizing the Mac.

Rip a DVD straight into an iPod format video with one app

[MM-o4]

great :/
sounds illegal

MM

[MaxPower2k3]

There are experimental Windows builds of it. Check out their website

[mduell]

Originally Posted by macintologist

You HAVE to use DVD Decrypter (which I can't for the love of God figure out how to rip to a single .VOB stream)

Tools->Settings->IFO mode and change the file splitting option, assuming you're using IFO mode (which is the sane option, but people like to do funny things).

For encoding I use AutoGK or SUPER; since you're encoding for the iPod, SUPER is probably the better option.

[macintologist]

Originally Posted by mduell

Tools->Settings->IFO mode and change the file splitting option, assuming you're smart enough to use IFO mode instead of File mode.

It's nothing like 0sEx which has a simple menu

either it's DVD Folders (VIDEO_TS) or a VOB stream. how easy is that?

[macintologist]

Originally Posted by MaxPower2k3

There are experimental Windows builds of it. Check out their website

no GUI, and no CSS so you still have to use DVD decrypter, it's not an all-in-one package

[macintologist]

Originally Posted by MM-o4

great :/
sounds illegal

MM

Not if you own the DVDs and are ripping them for Fair Use purposes like putting them in your video ipod or PSP.

[meelk]

a monkey could run dvd decrypter, why cant you?
seriously, you pick the vob you want and press 1 button.

[removed oversize image --tooki]

[mduell]

Originally Posted by macintologist

It's nothing like 0sEx which has a simple menu

either it's DVD Folders (VIDEO_TS) or a VOB stream. how easy is that?

Huh? Why wouldn't you want a VOB stream? It's just MPEG2 with a different extension... you can change it if it bothers you.

meelk: Why are you using file mode and only ripping one seventh of the movie? LOL on you.

[meelk]

Originally Posted by mduell

Huh? Why wouldn't you want a VOB stream? It's just MPEG2 with a different extension... you can change it if it bothers you.

meelk: Why are you using file mode and only ripping one seventh of the movie? LOL on you.

because he said he couldnt even rip a single vob. nuff said. you rip the vobs you want and drag and drop the damn things into 3GP convertor, end of story. I just ripped the last segment of the incredibles from 600+ meg to 47 (normal quality, ipod sized) :o

76 meg for high quality...in 8 minutes on my X2 3800

[macintologist]

LOL

Have you ever looked inside a VIDEO_TS folder? It's filled with a bunch of VOBs

I want one single VOB file like how Mactheripper and 0sEx work.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by macintologist

Have you ever looked inside a VIDEO_TS folder? It's filled with a bunch of VOBs

I want one single VOB file like how Mactheripper and 0sEx work.

I told you how to fix that in my first reply; why are you still bringing it up?

[meelk]

Originally Posted by macintologist

LOL

Have you ever looked inside a VIDEO_TS folder? It's filled with a bunch of VOBs

I want one single VOB file like how Mactheripper and 0sEx work.

So join them. I dont care if I do need 3 programs, when they are as simple as push a button, drag/drop, push a button.
Really, if you need it easier I feel sorry for you.
btw: as H.264 becomes more interesting, youll see more options on windows.

[Eug Wanker]

While Handbrake is an excellent program, it still needs work in terms of simplifying usage and default settings. I'd rather see that done first than a Windows version (which is coming).

Originally Posted by meelk

H.264 becomes more interesting, youll see more options on windows.

H.264 is very interesting now. It's my format of choice for anything I encode from DVD.

[meelk]

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

H.264 is interesting now. It's my format of choice for anything I encode from DVD.

thats because it was launched on and pushed heavily on osx, essentially. dont warp the issue. as hd-dvd and blu-ray enter the market the shift will be heavily to the pc side.

[ghporter]

There are actually a number of DVD ripper packages for Windows. One of them actually got noticed and censured by the U.S. courts - it's called DVDRipper or DVDecrypter or something like that; a commercial package. Others exist and still work fine.

If you're interested in a package that not only rips DVDs but transcodes them into MPEG4, that's a different issue; there are separate Windows transcoder packages as well.

[Eug Wanker]

Originally Posted by meelk

thats because it was launched on and pushed heavily on osx, essentially. dont warp the issue. as hd-dvd and blu-ray enter the market the shift will be heavily to the pc side.

No, I use H.264 not just because it was pushed heavily on OS X. I use it because I don't like using DivX/XviD for example, which is inferior to H.264 anyway.

And as for Windows, I should point out that right now the 2nd most widespread media player in the world is QT/iTunes, which already supports H.264, so I don't think I'm warping the issue.

ie. If I hand my colleagues an XviD file and an H.264 file, none of them will be able to play XviD, while some of them will be able to play H.264, because they have iTunes/QT installed for other reasons.

[meelk]

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

No, I use H.264 not just because it was pushed heavily on OS X. I use it because I don't like using DivX/XviD for example, which is inferior to H.264 anyway.

And as for Windows, I should point out that right now the 2nd most widespread media player in the world is QT/iTunes, which already supports H.264, so I don't think I'm warping the issue.

ie. If I hand my colleagues an XviD file and an H.264 file, none of them will be able to play XviD, while some of them will be able to play H.264, because they have iTunes/QT installed for other reasons.

You'll find most windows users dislike itunes for various reasons. I dont know what bizarro world you live in, but people tend to dislike quicktime as well. xvid/divx are so tremendously more popular than quicktime that its a joke. Sure, that will change as the HD formats make it to market, but you live in a bizarro macintosh slanted reality that other people simply dont live in with you.

[ghporter]

In my experience, computer users use what's there and works, particularly if it's free. I know rabid Windows fans who run both iTunes and Quicktime simply because they provide access to more file formats and file manipulation options than Windows Media Player or most of the free utilities do. And I know a few Mac users that stick with the Mac version of Media Player simply because it renders WMVs and is free (and it works, too). meelk, maybe your Windows user acquaintances are more rabid than most?

[meelk]

Originally Posted by ghporter

In my experience, computer users use what's there and works, particularly if it's free. I know rabid Windows fans who run both iTunes and Quicktime simply because they provide access to more file formats and file manipulation options than Windows Media Player or most of the free utilities do. And I know a few Mac users that stick with the Mac version of Media Player simply because it renders WMVs and is free (and it works, too). meelk, maybe your Windows user acquaintances are more rabid than most?

windows media player is complete ass. I'll be the first to admit that. Anyone worth their salt on windows is running videolan/mplayer etc. I have no problem with itunes myself, I tend to like it, but honestly I as I've stated most of the people I know dont. Dont ask me why, its one of those "I just like winamp better" things. I think winamp is complete ass as well, so I dont know

edit: well, actually let me change that, I can tell you at least 2 reasons PC users dont like quicktime. Where the hell is the "always on top" option? The second is that apple forces windows users to resize the active window in the same way mac users have to - bottom right corner only. This irritates the hell out of a lot of people I know. While I'm nitpicking, who at Apple decided I wouldnt be allowed to put ARTIST in the first column on iTunes? What kind of stupidity is that? You can move the others but it wont let you do that?

I feel like I'm evangelizing windows on a mac board, when in fact I have a LOT of issues with the way microsoft does things and think OSX does most things tremendously better. That being said, if you know what you're doing a PC isnt nearly as bad as a lot of people here make it out to be, and apple stuff has its irritations as well.

[Eug Wanker]

Originally Posted by meelk

You'll find most windows users dislike itunes for various reasons. I dont know what bizarro world you live in, but people tend to dislike quicktime as well. xvid/divx are so tremendously more popular than quicktime that its a joke. Sure, that will change as the HD formats make it to market, but you live in a bizarro macintosh slanted reality that other people simply dont live in with you.

Not in the real world. XivD/DivX are bootlegger formats, not effective commercial formats. How often do you see legal movie trailers in DivX format? Yes they exist, but it's just no contest vs. Windows Media or Quicktime.

iTunes is hugely popular, even on Windows. Right now in terms of penetrance ON WINDOWS it's:

Windows Media > Quicktime/iTunes > Real >> DivX/XviD

Not a single one of my colleagues has a DivX decoder installed. Several have iTunes. Most are Windows users. Like I said, I'm talking the real world, not the computer geek world. BTW, I personally do have a DivX decoder installed on both my Windows and Mac machines, but I'm a computer geek, and my computing practices are not representative of the overall real world.

[meelk]

funny, but if you look at a lot of newer stand alone dvd players, they will play divx/xvid and not play quicktime

[Eug Wanker]

Originally Posted by meelk

funny, but if you look at a lot of newer stand alone dvd players, they will play divx/xvid and not play quicktime

Indeed. However, the same could be said for Windows Media, which like I already said is the #1 commercial format on the net (with Quicktime second). Furthermore, the playback of DivX on those players is inconsistent, and the machines are crap. You'll note that it's rare to find a good quality name brand player that bothers to support DivX. I personally would consider buying a cheap DivX player, just like I bought cheap crapola Chinese players to play alternate region DVDs. However, I would never use one of these crap players as my primary players.

OTOH, the next generation formats have mandatory support for both VC-1 (WM9) and AVC (H.264). XviD/DivX isn't even on the radar.

[meelk]

The machines are crap? You mean like the oppo, with its huge range of awards and praise?
http://www.oppodigital.com/

[Eug Wanker]

Originally Posted by meelk

The machines are crap? You mean like the oppo, with its huge range of awards and praise?
http://www.oppodigital.com/

Heheh. I knew you'd bring up that player. Thanks for hammering in the point. While it is one of the rare exceptions to the crap player rule, the oppo is essentially the ultimate über-geek player. It has roughly 0.00001% of the North American DVD player market.

You keep confusing geekness with real-world. I don't like Quicktime Player on Windows either, but that doesn't mean it's uncommon, cuz it's extremely common. Remember, every machine with iTunes on it also has Quicktime. Even the Queen of England and the Pope have iTunes.

I can guarantee you that 98% of my colleagues have never watched a BitTorrented XviD a file, but lots and lots have either Quicktime installed alone, or iTunes/Quicktime.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by meelk

thats because it was launched on and pushed heavily on osx, essentially. dont warp the issue. as hd-dvd and blu-ray enter the market the shift will be heavily to the pc side.

Of the 3 codecs available for HD-DVDs and BluRays, I haven't seen the content producers show any clear preference for H.264 over MPEG2 or VC-1.

Originally Posted by ghporter

There are actually a number of DVD ripper packages for Windows. One of them actually got noticed and censured by the U.S. courts - it's called DVDRipper or DVDecrypter or something like that; a commercial package. Others exist and still work fine.

DVD Decrypter was bought out by Macrovision (the anti-copy company) just so they could kill it.

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

You'll note that it's rare to find a good quality name brand player that bothers to support DivX.

A few of the comapanies whose mainstream players support DivX: Pioneer, Microsoft, Sony, Philips, Yamada, LiteOn, LG, Samsung, JVC. Not nearly the niche market you make it out to be.
Videohelp lists over 900 set-top players that support DivX/Xvid.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by meelk

I feel like I'm evangelizing windows on a mac board, when in fact I have a LOT of issues with the way microsoft does things and think OSX does most things tremendously better. That being said, if you know what you're doing a PC isnt nearly as bad as a lot of people here make it out to be, and apple stuff has its irritations as well.

I'm not about to argue with you on any of these points (or for that matter the others I cut out to make my reply smaller). WMP stinks, but less than it has in the past - though they added some interestingly new foul odors to the latest two versions, involving tracking history and playing habits. QT is much more functional than WMP (except for WMVs) and it doesn't bother me at all that the only way to size the window is the one corner; at least Apple used the correct paradigm for pointing that out!

Too many people think that if they can open a browser they "know" Windows; I don't think such people should be allowed to have anything beyond a dial up modem to limit the damage they can do to themselves. It takes just a little effort to learn ANY OS, since all OSs do basically the same things, just in different ways.

[vmarks]

Originally Posted by mduell

A few of the comapanies whose mainstream players support DivX: Pioneer, Microsoft, Sony, Philips, Yamada, LiteOn, LG, Samsung, JVC. Not nearly the niche market you make it out to be.
Videohelp lists over 900 set-top players that support DivX/Xvid.

Wait wait:

Lite-on and Microsoft do not make set-top box standalone DVD players that I have ever seen available for purchase.

I went to Sears to buy a DVD player and ended up going home with a player that has an HDMI port and HDMI cable in the box for under a hundred dollars. It doesn't do DivX/Xvid, but does support mpeg-4.

Not a single player on their shelves supported DivX/Xvid.

[ghporter]

Lite-On DOES make set-top boxes.

[Eug Wanker]

Originally Posted by mduell

A few of the comapanies whose mainstream players support DivX: Pioneer, Microsoft, Sony, Philips, Yamada, LiteOn, LG, Samsung, JVC. Not nearly the niche market you make it out to be.
Videohelp lists over 900 set-top players that support DivX/Xvid.

I have never seen a Pioneer, Sony, Philips, LG, or JVC player actually locally available that supported DivX, and I have seen lots of players on the shelves from those brands over the last few years.

Obviously, the market for DivX-capable name brand players isn't big.

I have seen a Samsung that supported DivX however. But my point stands:

You'll note that it's rare to find a good quality name brand player that bothers to support DivX.

[ambush]

Gotta love how it does x264 encoding.

The quality is hallucinating.

[macintologist]

SO theres not way on Windows to use one app to convert a DVD into an mp4 file?

[Lew]

Most of the developers of the transcoding software don't want to get into legal trouble by incorporating DVD ripping into their apps, so they recommend DVD Decrypter and usually tell you what settings to use.

and then you have to use some Windoze-like video encoding software that's probably not very easy to use.

Yeah, because AutoGK is so difficult to use.

[ghporter]

As Lew says, there are a lot of legal aspects to doing anything with DVD content, and since "the industry" is as short-sighted as it is, they have targeted Windows software makers for a lot of harassment because a user "could" do bad things with their software.

I'd also like to amplify Lew's last line. Where do so many Mac users get their ideas about how easy or difficult most Windows apps are to use? I have yet to see ANY app on either platform that seemed "difficult." Some take a few more steps to get to where you need to be, but geez, it's not like you need any kind of special education to use just about any software. This baffles me as much as the folks who say "oh no! Don't buy ANY Windows machine after you've been a Mac user!" I just don't get it.

[Eug Wanker]

"oh no! Don't buy ANY Windows machine after you've been a Mac user!" I just don't get it.

I get it. Most of the software out there to do this sort of stuff sucks in terms of UI, although that applies to both Windows and OS X. There are a few apps that are much slicker on the Mac side though. OTOH, I find Handbrake irritating too, but it's a lot less irritating than average.

I'm just surprised the Handbrake guys haven't been shut down yet. (I don't want them shut down, cuz I use their software all the time. I'm just sayin'...)

[ghporter]

Eug, that's ONE type of software, and I can see real benefits from using a Mac to do this sort of thing. It's the generic "All Windows software sucks so horribly that your grandchildren will be scarred by your even thinking of using a Windows machine" thing that I'm bothered by. And while my above statement may sound excessive, it's the kind of reaction a lot of Mac users have when anyone says "well there's this Windows app that's kind of cool for taking care of this particular thing..."