Hi - I'm brand new with any video work on a PC. I thought what I wanted would be easy...can't find instructions anywhere...probably don't understand the terms... I "just" want to copy a movie from a DVD to my hard drive. From there I want to be able to put an icon on my desktop to open/watch the movie. Right now I've got a DVD from my daughter's school Christmas show (I don't believe any security...). After that, I'd like to maybe copy a couple of my purchased commercial DVD movies to my hard drive and be able to watch them too. I've tried DVD shrink to get the school DVD to my computer and that works fine...but I end-up with a bunch of files that I don't know what to do with (again...all I want is an icon on my desktop that will let me play the show). I've got a program called "Roxio" that has let me copy the Christmas shows to my hard drive...but with no sound! It says that it will not support "AC1"?? (or something like that) so it's "substituting silence"!!! Can anyone help a real novice to get a DVD movie onto my hard drive with an icon on my desktop? Thanx
Using DvdFab Hd Decrypter will rip the movie to your hard drive and remove the encryptions. After saving it to your HDD you could move it to your desktop for quick viewing. If you want to burn a copy just run it through the DvdShrink process and burn with ImgBurn. Happy burning and welcome to aD. Merry Christmas. http://dvdfab.com/download.htm http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/burn_dvd-img_or_dvd_folder_dvdsanta.cfm Use ^ guide, just omit the vobblanker/fixvts step.
Do you have any DVD player sofware on your computer - like Cyberlink power DVD ? To copy a commercial DVD start with using DVD Fab to rip to hard drive - you can download from here http://www.dvdfab.com/free.htm This will make a folder and store on hard drive which you should be able to play with Cyberlink Power DVD player
If you don't want massive heaps of dvd files filling up your hdd, and just want a nice file you can play on your pc you can try the top application here http://freeware.filehungry.com/english/relates/dvd_to_avi Should make a nice avi file from unprotected dvd disks, and may work the same for commercial protected disks too. Everybody here is too keen on making 1:1 copies of hollywood films rather than ripping to avi :lol: Please report back on how well (or not) the application works.. I haven't tried it. Also grab vlc player.. it plays just about every media file format known http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ including streamed tv and radio.
I'm in the same boat as the OP. All I want is quite simple: I have DVDs that I want to copy to my external hard drive (so I can just take my external hard drive with me when I travel, as opposed to all my dvds). Why is this so hard? I've used DVDShrink, and the outcome is a folder labeled AUDIO_TS with nothing in it, and a folder labeled VIDEO_TS with a bunch of unrecognizable files. What am I doing wrong? To rephrase as simply as I can: Is it possible to put a DVD in my computer's DVD-rom, then make a copy of it to my external hard drive, where all I have to do is click an icon and the movie will start as if I had the actual DVD disc still in my computer? That's all I want! Thanks!
I have Cyberlink Power DVD. It was packaged with something else so not sure where I got it. When I start it I am able to load a DVD file in a folder and it will play the movie as if a DVD was in the drive. You can select the source as DVD folder on hard drive and then open the VIDEO_TS folder and watch the movie.
Nothing wrong. Look in the VIDEO_TS folder and locate the VIDEO_TS.IFO file. Use the 'Open With' command and choose your player, most should (all mine do) open and play the complete DVD. I've associated (tick 'always use...') Nero ShowTime with my VIDEO_TS.IFO files. Clicking it now opens Showtime and the DVD. To do what you want simply create a shortcut on your Desktop to the IFO, renaming it to reflect the movie and you should be good to go. Or you could also have DVDShrink save your output as an ISO (use the dropdown) and Install VLC, which will play ISO's directly. http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
OK - found a free player at http://www.snapfiles.com/get/avsdvd.html I just downloaded and tried it a DVD folder - seemed to work just fine. Just remember to pick the VIDEO_TS - it still has sound in that folder. I use DVD Fab to rip the DVD to a folder on hard drive. You cab also google " free DVD player " for other selections. This one looked nice
hmmm . . . I have PowerDVD and am trying to use it, but it doesn't seem to be working. Opening the VIDEO_TS.IFO file using the PowerDVD just brings up the PowerDVD menu with no options for playing the DVD . . .
Open Power DVD player FIRST ( close window that says Edit playlist ). Look at the control console - there is a button on the bottom right - If you hover mouse pointer over it it says " Select Source " click it and select " open DVD file on hard disc - navigate to folder your DVD is in - open the folder and select the VIDEO_TS and click OK - watch movie.
Hello and Merry Christmas to All... Thank you very much for the great welcome to aD and all the helpful advice. Some feedback to go with the "thank you"... I'm going to stick with the idea of ripping the files to my HD with DVD Shrink and then finding/buying a player to play the files. (The player that came installed on my machine from HP defaults - and can't be changed - to playing from a DVD...not the HD). DVD Shrink is doing the job (and it was my first!!) so I'm gonna' stick with it until/unless I have a problem. Then I'll try DVDFab. VARNULL - I downloaded and used the program you recommended to get a .avi file. (From AVS) It worked well, but the avi files all played with "NOT REGISTERED VERSION" on them...until I registered with AVS...for a fee...every year. I liked the idea of a string of .avi files, but the combination of a fee and not knowing if I could do the work on commercial DVDs turned me away. Again, thanks to all for your baby-talk help. Just what the doctor ordered. Merry Christmas, MarkAMik
@mark Im thinking you are looking for an aplication to rip your store bought DVD movies directly into an AVI. That most likely will not happen. The comercial DVDs come with encryptions, just a ripper will not suffice. You need a decrypter/ripper. DVD Shrink is one of them, but will be obsolete with the new DVDs, it is not updated to handle the new encryptions. The best freebie, pretty current with the new encryptions is DVDFab HD Decrypter that somebody else also suggested.Easy to use, very simple-and FREE!! You will have to get the movie to your HD, and then turn it into an AVI. Just out of curiosity, what do people have against playing DVDs with Windows Media Player? I just go into the Video_TS folder, double click any *.VOB file and jumps right at the beginning of the movie. Supports subs, close captioning, whatever...Just curious, why hunt for all kinds of players...like Cyberlink, and other stuff. Cheers!
cyprusrom - Thanx for the note. After reading what you wrote about Windows Media Player, I tried it...and I got a message that said that "this version of WMP does not support DVD playback." I'd love to use an application that I've already got and not have to search for new programs to fill-up my HD...but it seems like I'm stuck. You also said something about, "just turn it into an AVI". A couple of questions...? + I was interested in "AVI" after reading what another poster wrote...but...what is an "AVI" file versus leaving what I've got? + Once I get a DVD onto my HD...how do I "just turn it into an AVI"? Thanx
@Mark I have version WMP10, you must have an older one,not have Windows Media Player updated(you can do that by opening WMP, click Help->check for player updates. I think the last version is 11. Anyway, I wasn't saying don't use a different player, this is the best. By far not, but if all you want to watch is DVDs, it is sufficient, and I was wondering why people were not happy with it. However, if you have different formats( for example .RMVB, I have a ton of those), it is good to have a very flexible player like VLC. I personally use Media Player Classic, but VLC is more versatile. http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_players/media_player_classic.cfm I thought you used the application that varnull suggested form http://freeware.filehungry.com/english/relates/dvd_to_avi . You said you made an avi already I don't know the interface of that software, but probably after you decrypt/rip the DVD to your HD,with DVD Fab for example, all you have to do is open AVI converter program, change the source file, instead of the DVD-ROM, locate the file that it was ripped to your HD with DVD Fab for example, and convert the DVD to AVI. When you buy a commercial DVD, it can have 6GB,7GB or more on it. I back up mine "Movie Only" and sometimes they are still larger than 4.4 GB. With an AVI, you can the same 5GB movie and "shrink it" down to 1GB, 700 MB, depends on you. But the more you shrink it, the less quality. There are players that support AVI(DIvx, Xvid..) playback. You could then get 4 DVD movies, "shrink" each of them to a 1Gb AVI, and put them to a single DVD. The question is, what do you want to do with your commercial DVDs? If you want to back them up so they can play on a regular standalone player, then you don't need to convert them. P.S What software did you register for? I thought this was the one, but then you mentioned something about AVS.I think this should be free. You probably clicked on an advertisement link. Scroll down a bit. http://freeware.filehungry.com/engl...dia_&_graphics/video_editors/freez_dvd_ripper
well, I still haven't figured out how to get Cyberlink PowerDVD to play my ripped movies (perhaps I have a different version?), though Windows Media Player does do the trick . . .
