Bringing the experience together... [OT?]

[David Arnold]

I've been trying this as well on and off for a couple of years. What  
I did at first was just use MacTheRipper (MTR) to convert the entire  
DVD to disk and stored it in ~/Movies/DVDs/. I then wrote a simple  
little AppleScript program that would scan that directory for  
VIDEO_TS files and present a list for selection to the user.  
Selecting a DVD would launch DVD Player with that DVD. Worked OK for  
a while but not really what I wanted.

I have a mini hooked up through a stereo channel modulator and a  
Zantech IR distribution system throughout the house, so I have the  
distribution and control system already in place, just need a decent  
user interface and a decent way to get the movies in a usable format  
like Antony requested.

I'd really like something like the kaleidescape system at http:// 
www.kaleidescape.com/ but I don't have $30,000 to spend on what is  
effectively a DVD jukebox.

Back to the topic - I like Handbrake, but I cannot get it to convert  
a DVD at full resolution (720 x 480) without crashing part way  
through. Works fine on iPod sized videos though.

Due to some deliberate errors on some DVDs, the only way I have  
managed to extract them is extract the audio and video streams for  
each chapter separately with MTR and put it all back together in DVD  
Studio Pro.

On the PC (I know sacrilege, but it rarely gets turned on - so it  
might as well be doing something), there is a program called DVD  
Decrypter that will extract a DVD to a single VOB file. But how to  
play it? DVD Player of course will not play the file unless the  
VIDEO_TS directory structure is intact.

I'd really like to be able to extract the m2v and ac3 streams for the  
main feature and combine them into a single movie file that is  
playable by a QuickTime based player, but I've been unable to find a  
way to do this. If this were possible, then I could watch my DVDs  
from the hard drive, using the FrontRow interface, without have to  
reencode any of the video.

Not sure I added anything relevant, but I'm very interested in the  
topic.

David


On Jan 27, 2006, at 11:46 PM, Antony N. Lord wrote:

>
>
> And back to the DVD debate - I'd love to put a large chunk of my  
> frequently watched DVDs on to HD so they can be played in any room  
> with a capable machine. Any recommendations for an EASY way to  
> extract a main feature with say just the AC3 audio track? Even  
> better as a single .vob file.
>
> I've been playing with Drive Utility DVDBackup, MacTheRipper,  
> DVD2OneX, ffmpegX and more but still can't see a simple solution  
> that doesn't require many steps or high levels of user intervention  
> - would love to hear what other people are doing!
>
> Thanks you all once again!
>
> Cheers, Antony.
>
> -- 
> ==================================================================
> =                            =                                   =
> =   Antony N. Lord           =     http://antonylord.com         =
> =   antonylord at mac.com       =     Perth, Western Australia      =
> =                            =                                   =
> ==================================================================