Hi,

I am about to start ripping my DVD collection to a NAS so they are all accessible using My Movies.  I'm not patricularly concerned about file size (2TB NAS) but want the best video and audio quality and most convenience/robustness (particularly for playback when the family will use it).  From a playback convenience perspective, the option of just ripping the main movie and not the title screen, special features, etc. would be helpful considering I never use these extra features and it's easier to just go straight to the movie.  I obviously want to pick the best file format upfront so I don't have to re-rip everything at a later date.

I will have a Windows Vista machine in the lounge dedicated to being a media center with a HDTV and will add extenders once v2 TV-integrated extenders become available (hopefully not wishful thinking!).  Given this, I want a format which runs easily on Vista and Extenders in a high quality format.

I'm not sure what software to use (I've seen references to AnyDVD, DVD Decrypter, DVD-WMV, DVDShrink, FFDShow, etc.) or format (WMV, xVid, ISO, .TS files, etc.).  Your suggestions would be appreciated...

Thanks for your help!

Brian

Since you want easy playback on an extender you'll need to keep the files in an mpeg2 format.  AnyDVD is a great piece of software, it basically makes any dvd look like a region free unencrypted disk, so you can rip it with anything.

So what is the best ripper then?

DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink, in conjunction with AnyDVD has alway been the best combination for me. Decrypter and Shrink may be hard to find however. Try www.afterdawn.com or www.doom9.org to see if you can find a download for them.

AnyDVD also has its own copy/rip interface, just right-click on the fox icon, and there should be an option for 'Copy to hard drive' or something similar.

If you wanted to rip the DVD's into one file, and make them kind of small, I would suggest using AutoGK to rip them into either Divx or Xvid, http://www.autogk.me.uk/, but the quality of the movies wont come out as good as a direct rip using one of the tools above, as they are being compressed much much more.

I've noted that DVD Decrypter has been withdrawn because Macrovision? has bought them. I assume AnyDVD will be next, might be worth getting now, before too late. I've obtained DVD Shrink as well.

Looks like the lawyers might be starting a big offensive??? (My opinion based upon no hard facts!)

I'm sure most people know that DVD Shrink is FREEWARE, I'm just been suckered into paying for it.
- There's one born every minute :(
AnyDVD on the other hand is trialware

yeah, dvd decrypter was shut down, pm me or post your email and i will send it to you

http://www.mrbass.org/dvdrip/  this link still works at the moment folks - get it while you can....


and thanks for the offer.

I've never ripped a dvd before and I'm slowly getting the hang of what's involved. You'd think it would be easy, but oh no

Thanks for all the replies.  I now have AnyDVD, DVDDecrypter and DVDShrink but I'm not sure how to use team all - should they be used in a particular sequence or does one rely on the other?

Does AnyDVD run in the background, I use DVDDecrypter to rip the DVD and then DVDShrink to remove the special features from the resulting file on my hard disk?

It sounds like it's going to be a long process to rip all my DVDs!

Thanks again,

Brian

Typically, that is how I do it...AnyDVD in the background, then DVDDecrypter to rip, then DVDShrink to take out the special features and what not, then DVDDecrypter to burn if you are going to make copies.

Although, DVDShrink should be able to rip most of the DVDs for you with no trouble, and if you have trouble, start with DVDDecrypter...that should save you a step...

I have started ripping my DVD collection using AnyDVD and DVDShrink and it all works well on my dedicated media center.  I have been looking into MyMovies though and its FAQ states that ripped DVDs using this Video_TS format are not accessible from extenders on the network (which I intend on adding in the future) - is this correct under Vista/v2 Extenders?  If so, is there a way of batch converting all my ripped DVDs into a format which is accessible?

Thanks!

Brian

Autogk can compress them into either Xvid or Divx...you can get it here: http://www.autogk.me.uk/

I don't know however if extenders can play Xvid or Divx, but I believe you can use Transcode360 to stream them to the extender: http://runtime360.com/blog/

bdo21,

I had some problems viewing my movies from my hard drive using "My Movies"  when I hit play it says that the movie is not playable in this Zone... The weird part is that Im using shrink dvd to disable zones.

Can you describe your steps to see if Im omiting something or if im doing something wrong?

I like DVDShrink (http://www.mrbass.org/dvdshrink/) best but it doesn't work on some of the more recent DVDs.  For those I use DVDFab Decrypter (http://www.dvdfab.com/free.htm).  Both of these programs allow you to rip just the main movie and select which audio streams and subtitles to remove.

AnyDVD (http://www.slysoft.com/) is also a great addition, though it isn't free.

If you're not worried about file size but want the best quality possible then why transcode them at all? It sounds like the best (and fastest) way to get your DVDs onto your NAS would be to use a DVD decrypter like the freeware DVD43 (http://www.dvd43.com/). You should then be able to simply drag the Video_TS folders etc onto your NAS and arrange as you wish. No Loss of quality and no time wasted transcoding. Of course, this won't strip out the menu and special features etc but I think it would be the quickest solution.

Hope this helps.