Ripping DVDs with VLC

[england]

Hello,

I've been doing this in the past and I always used the default settings (Encapsulation method: "MPEG TS", Transcoding options: None). It worked quite well but the files tend to be HUGE, like 6 GB and more for just one DVD.

I wanted to reduce the file size so I tried opening the files with VirtualDub to encode them with the Xvid codec, but VirtualDub couldn't open the files. (Error message: "Cannot detect file type of "...".")


Is there any way to tell VLC to use the Xvid (or any other suitable) video codec when ripping DVDs? Is that what the transcoding options are for? If so, how do I get the Xvid codec in there? Plus, what codecs would you recommend?

One more thing: is MPEG TS the correct choice as the encapsulation method for ripping DVDs?

My goal is to archive all my DVDs on a hard drive so I don't have to take the DVDs out of the shelf and their cases all the time.

Thanks in advance

[CloudStalker]

I would also like to know how to do this as well. As you can tell I know nothing about transcoding and blah blah blah, but I'm still willing to learn.

I heard somewhere that the H.264 codec is better then the Xvid codec, at least for the moment. Both now support 480p and 720p but in my opinion the H.264 codec seem to have better quality video, however, it's a little more CPU hungry then Xvid.

Is there anyway to convert the DVDs to H.264 and 5.1 lossless sound quality, or at least really high sound quality? Sorry I couldn't answer your question but as you can see I've got problems of my own.

[DJ]

Gee! Nothing like adding (pilling) on to an already difficult answer!

The simple answer is that I don't believe VirtualDub supports a MPEG TS container. It will probably work fine using a MPEG PS contaiiner assuming you have support in virtualDub for MPEG 2.

As far as lossless audio encoding there isn't a good format that works well with Video. DTS is as close as it gets. DTS 5.1 for example will take up almost as much space as h.264 video and the encoding time and processor requirements also go up considerably.

Yes! Both DivX and Xvid are now supporting HD video, but I still haven't seen any good samples even though I have the latest versions installed.

VLC will do Div 3 in a ASF container, but it shows up in Direct Show as MPEG43 and the quality is not nearly as good as h.264 or MPEG 2. In my opinion this needs to be updated and the AVI container finished. I would also like to see Matroska as a transcode option.

[england]

Here comes my fool-proof tutorial for ripping DVDs with VLC on Windows:

1) Insert a DVD into your DVD drive.
2) Start VLC, go to the menu File - Open Disc.
3) Enable the "Stream/save" option, press the "Settings" button.
4) Change the options to look like this:
, don't forget to enter the path where you want VLC to save the video. Now press the "OK" buttons in the "Settings" and "Open..." windows.
5) VLC will rip the DVD. This might take a while.
6) Use the free AutoGK from http://www.autogk.me.uk/ , start it, select the file created by VLC.
7) Change settings if you wish, click "Add job" and "Start".
8) Wait until AutoGK finished processing your video - done.

Worked for me with ~10 DVDs so far. I have some DVD with wrong aspect ratios and I couldn't find a solution for that yet.

[DJ]

Wow! You really had me worried that you were going to do it! As we very strongly discourage a tutorial on ripping a DVD. It is illegal in many countries and VLC wants to conform to the laws of all countries. Still what you suggest will work, but the quality will suffer greatly. I would tend to believe the law does not care as it didn't seem to care when the discussion of copying CDs to cassette was all the rage, but when DAT machines were introduced the issue drew lots of attention.

The most likely argument is that I own the DVD and want a backup in case it's lost or damaged. The law still does not recognize this argument and breaking the copy protection and even talking about copy protection schemes in some lands carry heavy penalties.

Perhaps I am somewhat guilty here, to be giving answers to people that can understand it. But I find it very difficult at times to answer a question that revolves around transcodinng or copying that may also be applicable to ripping a DVD. This is unintentional!