Imaging DVD to Hard Disk (1 Viewer)

[yogiman_uk]

OK I posted this earlier but it dissapeared, I posted asking if anyone had deleted it "moderators and got no reply" so I am hoping it does not disapear again.

I have a large collection of DVD's I would like to image some to my HDD for playing back in media portal.

So my question(s) are:

1. Can Media Portal Do This?
2. If MP does not do this then can anyone suggest a decent free product that does.
3. Is it possible to image and remove all the extras as I only want the movie and thus taking away the extras would reserve some space!!!

Thanks for any advise

Yogiman!

 

[Tinkerbell]

Hi,

Yes, you can do this a number of ways; I do it all the time.

The simplest way is to rip the DVDs to your hard drive using something like DVDDecrypter. This will create a .ISO (DVD Image)file on the drive.

You can then use Daemon Tools to play the .ISO file from within MediaPortal - seamless.

If you want to remove the adverts/slideshows/extras from the movie, you can use DVD Shrink to do that for you. This can process the .ISO file created above, leaving you with just the movie.

There are a number of other ways - you can break down the .ISO file into individual scenes if you want (also using DVD Shrink). MP will handle this also. The good think about this method is that you can then use the built in database to reference and access individual scenes rather than whole movies.

Tink

 

[yogiman_uk]

Thanks for posting, however I think I am going to compress the movies so I can fit more on my hard disk.

I found a program called no: 1 DVD ripper which just takes the movie and compresses it into whatever format you want DIVX vidX.

Thanks for replying though!

Regards

Yogiman!

 

[alexeix]

I have a problem in this area, so I thought I'd tag it onto this post...

I've ripped some of my personal DVDs to my hard drive and most play back fine through Media Portal, however, some start playing, but then the screen blacks out, e.g. some or all of the trailers play, but it never gets to the main feature.

DVD Decrypter was used to rip them into VOB files ('file' mode). I've tried playing a problem movie through Windows Media Player and it worked, although I had to click on one of the chapters displayed on the right hand side of the window and then skip through the trailers.

I installed Daemon Tools, but having re-read some posts here, I'm not sure that it will be relevant, as my DVDs are not imaged.

Any ideas why they don't play back properly through Media Portal and what I can do to resolve the problem? It's nice to be able to watch movies without the DVD drive whining...

Thanks.

 

[alexeix]

Hmmm...I've read somewhere on the web that this is because of improved copy protection and since DVD Decrypter is no longer developed, the product can't circumvent the improved security.

However...there is some software called 'Ripit4me', which will supposedly get around the problem, when used in conjunction with DVD Decrypter.

Has anyone heard of or used Ripit4me? Is it safe?

Just to stress that this is for the purpose of watching my own films straight from Media Portal.

Thanks.

 

[yogiman_uk]

Alexix

Try using DVDshrink to extract the movies from the DVD's. Extract only the main feature and not the menus or commercials or extras. Then try and play the same movie.

I found that a lot of menus's failed to show up on MP thus blank screen (don't know why)

But by extracting just the film there is no menus' to worry about!

Cheers


Yogiman!

 

[strontium]

I use dvdfab platinum, you have to pay for this ($50) but I have found it to be really good.
If something wont rip you send them an e-mail with the details and they will amend the program for everybody and it has free updates for life.
The function i use most is they rip to a generic gormat (divx, xvid) ipod or psp format, so if you have one of those as well it makes life simpler.
They are soon going to add batch process as well, which for TV series will be great (this is what I use it for mainly).
Just my 2c worth.

 

[Klept]

Hmmm...I've read somewhere on the web that this is because of improved copy protection and since DVD Decrypter is no longer developed, the product can't circumvent the improved security.

However...there is some software called 'Ripit4me', which will supposedly get around the problem, when used in conjunction with DVD Decrypter.

Has anyone heard of or used Ripit4me? Is it safe?

Just to stress that this is for the purpose of watching my own films straight from Media Portal.

Thanks.

I use it - works beautifully. Basically it's a wrapper for DVD Decrypt, DVD Shrink and Fix VTS.

I don't know about this Deamon tools stuff. I just rip my DVD's to the HDD, Use database in MPConfig to setup the thumbnails etc. Then I just goto "My Videos" and click on the *TS.IFO file and it starts playing.

I can elaborate more if you need.

 

[alexeix]

Thanks for the responses everyone.

Yogiman_uk:

when you say blank screen, do you mean that the screen actually goes black? Totally by chance, I found that when this happens, if you right click and select 'Root Menu', then you can start watching the movie.

I still don't know why the black screen thing happens and maybe it is to do with the copy protection, but I can watch the films now!

Does DVDShrink keep the movie in the original format (VOB?) from the disc?


Klept:

I use file mode and it causes no problems for most discs. The titles appear in My Videos, you select one and then it plays just like the DVD (most of the time!).


Does anyone know if Daemon Tools will actually be having any effect on my set-up?!?

 

[Klept]

Thanks for the responses everyone.
Does DVDShrink keep the movie in the original format (VOB?) from the disc?

Yep. But know that DVDShrink is trying to get your dual layer DVD's under 4.2 gigs. So there might be some compression.