Ripping DVD's to AVI

mnc fear · 20 Feb 2014 at 11:43

Hi All, sorry if this doesn't belong here.

I was wondering if anyone knows a good free program which I could rip my Pittsburgh Steelers DVD's to enable me to have them on my Home Server so I can watch them without going to keep putting the Disc in

Thanks

Raumarik · 20 Feb 2014 at 15:33

http://lifehacker.com/380702/five-best-dvd-ripping-tools

I've used DVDShrink, MakeMKV etc all good. There will no doubt be a DVD-quality freak on later telling you what settings to use though so hold off until this evening

ttaskmaster · 20 Feb 2014 at 16:03

Ooh, nice link - Thanks.

A couple of total Noob questions on these apps, if I may - I'm looking to rip all my DVDs (no BluRays) and some older game CD-ROMs (Thief, Star Lancer, etc) to electronic formats.

I expect they will end up as .ISO files (only because I have DaemonTools) - Is this the best format for both disc types, or would people suggest something else and will these apps rip to that format?

Also, is it possible to rip, say, CD1 and CD2 of a game into a single file, so I don't have to keep swapping discs (virtual or otherwise)?

jh30uk · 20 Feb 2014 at 19:06

Used to be into this long ago and used VirtualDub Modded but now Freemake Apps does the job and free.

Raumarik · 20 Feb 2014 at 19:07

ISO is best for gaming dvds etc personally I'd look to rip DVDs to a video format and strip away all the guff, I'm typically only after the movie/episode.

ic1male · 20 Feb 2014 at 20:04

Would you really choose AVI as a container these days? I think MKV has taken over it or even just plain MP4.

bledd · 20 Feb 2014 at 21:42

Use makemkv, then run handbrake on those files if you want them smaller.

ttaskmaster · 20 Feb 2014 at 22:05

Halfmad said:
ISO is best for gaming dvds etc personally I'd look to rip DVDs to a video format and strip away all the guff, I'm typically only after the movie/episode.

I do like my DVD special features and I have quite a few collectors editions (Aliens, Blade Runner, etc).
So which is the most straightforward Noob-friendly for CD-Rom and DVD to ISO files, do you think?
Are ISOs better than MDX (the only other disc image type I've heard of)?

darael · 21 Feb 2014 at 00:32

As I understand it, an ISO will be a 1:1 copy of the DVD. Never heard of MDX files, but I can say I've not been bothered with ISO files and they're easy enough to work with.

MagicBoy · 21 Feb 2014 at 00:50

.MDX is a Daemon tools format.
.ISO is a sector copy of the physical disk.

I usually "import" the DVD Video with DVD Shrink, then transcode them into an h.264 MP4 file with Handbrake.

hawkhench · 21 Feb 2014 at 09:47

If space isn't an issue and you want something simple, then .iso will certainly work for you in terms of keeping special features.

marc2003 · 21 Feb 2014 at 10:04

i wouldn't bother ripping games ISOs. i'd look for workarounds which allow you to play games without a disk in the drive. obviously such things can't be discussed here.

as for DVDs, i use makemkv and handbrake which have already been suggested above. with makemkv, you can deselect any extraneous audio/subtitle tracks and extras which makes things a lot cleaner.

ttaskmaster · 21 Feb 2014 at 10:26

Most of these games have semi-official mods that already incorporate workarounds.
It's more about keeping the physical disc safe, really and having a backup/easy-access e-copy, especially as I'm likely to be messing about and upgrading my rig a bit, which will involve a few reinstalls of everything.

ISO should be fine for the DVDs, as I have several TBs just for that purpose!

marc2003 · 21 Feb 2014 at 10:33

ttaskmaster said:
ISO should be fine for the DVDs, as I have several TBs just for that purpose!

well compressing does take a lot of cpu grunt/time so you can skip using handbrake. i'd still use makemkv to create separate mkv files because you don't get all the useless guff like trailers and foreign language audio tracks/subtitles. you can save the extras if you like but i don't bother. once i've seen them once, i certainly don't want to see them again.