On Sunday 21 Oct 2007, Andy Random wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Any suggestions on the quickest/easiest way to rip some DVDs to
> files viewable on my laptop?
>
> Nothing too illegal here, I have some DVDs that were recorded from
> the TV with my DVD recorder and I'd like to take those away with me
> when I travel, but my laptop doesn't have a DVD drive. Yes I
> realise that is still probably technically illegal, but it comes
> under fair usage in my mind... I'm not trying to circumvent any
> copy protection, and I probably won't keep the ripped files beyond
> watching them once.
>
> Being able to compress the files a bit more would be nice as well,
> but not essential.
>
> Also while kinda on the subject, any suggestions for just
> extracting audio from a DVD or video clip?
>
> Andy
I use avidemux to do these sorts of things. It has a reasonably easy
GUI interface and as well as the core de-multiplex role it will also
compress the stream as much as you like. Extract from my notes on
compressing video (
www.salisburys.net/PetersNotes-TW.html, search for
avidemux)
--------------
Video: Mpeg4, single pass, quantize 5 (higher numbers less quality, 10
more or less unwatchable)
Filter: Mplayer resize (from 704x576 Pixel AR 16:9) to 296x136 (both
final dimensions must be multiples of 8, ratio to keep over-all
aspect ratio of movie with 1:1 pixel AR)
Audio: Lame, 80k CBR (lower numbers lower quality)
Format: AVI
This encodes about 20 minutes TV programme into about 50MB (2.5MB per
minute).
----------------
HTH, Peter
