[kj] How to rip a dvd (Mac version)

Frank Coleman fbc at 21ca.com
Thu Oct 4 09:55:57 EDT 2007


Here's the step by step of how to do it on the Mac.

1) Insert DVD
2) Launch Mac The Ripper, which automatically scans the DVD and tells
you how big it is. The latest version (3) is highly recommended. Use
the default settings for Full Disk Extraction.

If it's "RCE Encoded" -- which I think means region-encoded -- it will
alert you, and you can pick the matching RCE Encoding option in the
little pop-down menu on the lower right. In my experience, this only
happens perhaps once out of 20 dvds, but duly noted.

3) Click the GO! button. It will prompt you for a destination. Make
sure you have enough space, obviously.

A disk that is 4.3 GB or less will fit on a standard single-layer dvd-r
-- the kind they sell at the drug store for about a dollar each. Many
commercial disks are 6 or 7 GB dual-layer disks, as they are packed with
extras and take advantage of higher bandwidth to deliver a superior
picture. Unless you have a dual-layer burner and disks (and know how to
do it, which is outside the boundaries of this e-mail), you'd need to
recompress the contents down to where they'd fit on a standard
single-layer dvd-r.

Will you lose picture quality? Yes. Would it be noticeable? Generally
no, unless you are a purist and/or compared it side by side with the
original. I happen to be a bit of a purist, so this part always makes
me wince. There is no joy, in my view, in recompressing, for example,
any of the disks in my Twilight Zone: Definitive Edition box set. The
*entire point* of the collection is that they look so gorgeous you could
cry.

But back to our story.

4) Now that the disk has been copied to your hard drive, you will see it
contains at least two folders, "VIDEO_TS" and "AUDIO_TS" -- the latter
of which will likely be empty. VIDEO_TS is the one we care about.

5) Launch Toast. Version 8 is a complete re-write and makes obsolete
all previous versions. In the video section on the left hand side,
there's a tab that says "VIDEO_TS Folder" -- select that. Now drag 'n'
drop the folder of the disk you ripped over into the Toast window. You
can take the whole folder, it'll be able to sort it out. If it's bigger
than 4.3 GB, select the "fit-to-DVD video compression" checkbox in the
lower LH corner.

6) Insert blank DVD and push the button in the lower RH corner to start
burning. If it has to re-compress, allow about 45 minutes, depending on
the size of the disk.

IMPORTANT: If the disk needs to be recompressed, you need to have enough
space on your hard drive to make a second copy of the disk -- so if it's
7GB, you'll need an additional 7GB or more overhead!

I put a Pioneer DVR-112 in my aging G4 tower. It burns an average DVD
in just under four minutes!

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Pioneer/DVR112DBK/

FYI and hope this helps,
FBC

ps - PC folks still adrift can search http://www.download.com for
utilities...

ps2 - How about that Killing Joke?!! ;)






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