What ripper do you suggest

[Des]

imho, for the price of blank dvds, there is not much point ripping a dvd unless you want to put it on your iPod or whatever...

(wtf are pyramidal B-frames?)

1) i don't think he's burning them, just having a digital copy in case his discs become damaged through use

2) http://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/x264Options

[AJG]

Yeah ok, I do same, I burn copy DVDs play them and leave the originals on the shelf...?

[mr_smooth81]

imho, for the price of blank dvds, there is not much point ripping a dvd unless you want to put it on your iPod or whatever...

If thats is the case, there have been some good x264 rippers mentioned above, like Handbrake.
For more output formats, 'Next DVD Ripper' is very good. Laughably, the only thing I can see that the commercial version does that the free version doesnt, is automatically provide settings for specific devices like iPod... You can still set them manually in the free version
Only drawback with Next is no DivX support, but meh...
Hadn't actually used Handbrake before, so I downloaded after above suggestions, and it does seem to offer more advanced x264 options, but I am not sure that wou will ever need them Gundog, or understand half of them, I sure don't (wtf are pyramidal B-frames?)
'Next DVD Ripper' has a very simple and easy interface with a heap of preset output formats.


To copy DVDs, I think DVD Shrink with DVD Decrypter is an extremely easy solution. My Grandma does it all the time, once I set shrink to auto burn using decrypter

I dont do much converting, but does dumping to the HDD first actually speed things up mr_smooth? I assume you referring to the 'File' mode of DVD Decrypter for the 1st phase?

Yes, dumping to the hard drive does speed things up, and i've had a few issues doing the converting direct from DVD

basically, because i've got careless toddlers at home, i made the decision that having DVD's around all over the place was no longer going to cut the cheese so to speak, so i've gone down a completely digital road. Once converted, I put them in a folder on my makeshift NAS (Network Attached Storage Device), Windows 7 Media Player and the XBox does the rest. The plugin that I have in Win7MC downloads all coverart, some synopsis of the movie, and some random screengrabs to put in the background.

With the current rig i have at home, takes about 15 mins to rip the DVD to the hard drive, and around 40-50 mins to convert. I usually get the wife to rip the DVD's while i'm at work (usually while she's tending to her farm on FB) so when I get home all have to do is set them off to convert, and BAM!

[bennymacca]

it is much more convenient as well.
and if you are lazy like me, it means you don't have to get off the couch to put another movie on.

[David]

I still use my trusty original Xbox.

Plus a DLink NAS unit with 2 x 1TB drives.
Has a uPNP server running, as well as being accessed via a UNC path.

Xbox accesses it via IP and shares.
Phillips Stremium in the bedroom accesses it wirelessly via uPNP server.

Ideal, because I don't have to have my PC on all the time just to share data.

[AJG]

to cut the cheese so to speak

Think you are mixing up colloquialisms here....
Perhaps mustard is the word you are looking for not cheese.
Unless your toddlers have especially destructive flatulence...