Ripping DVD's

[s/v Jedi]

Okay now that we have passed the legal dept. and arrive at the players, it's my turn

Mark is a bit behind with his iPods and video players etc. What you really want is wireless streaming that content directly from your computer (laptop) to the TV or stereo.

For music, good systems are Squeezebox or Sonos. I have the Squeezebox system (now owned by Logitec) but today Sonos might even be a better option. The music player does not store your music like an iPod does... it receives your music over wifi from your laptop, translates it from digital back to high quality (much better than laptop sound card) analog and puts that to your stereo/amplifier.

For TV/Movies, AppleTV is a good candidate. It even allows streaming from an iPhone or iPad if you want (or just show the screen like a presentation mode (big Skype screen ). This is called "AirPlay" mode.

These systems require that you have a standard wifi router to take care of the wireless links. Yes, the same el cheapo used at home works here too. If you're smart, you use an Ubiquity PicoStation M2 for this and link that directly to your Ubiquity Bullet or NanoStation for your Internet link.

ciao!
Nick.

[hellosailor]

Mark-
"If it is illegal to distribute something, how does one get it?"
Look at it this way. In most of the world, you need a special license in order to distribute and sell booze. But you don't need one to drink it, if you've got it.
Same thing here, the US is probably relying on the "comerce clause", i.e. the federal ability to regulate interstate commerce, to prohibit the distribution acts.

Bottom line is that Hollywood paid off too many people, got a facist DMCA passed, and then the voters got po'd about it and our Supreme Court (who sadly don't get paid anything by lobbyists but have to rely on their salaries) creatively interpreted a hole in the law.

Logic has nothing to do with it. If you keep trying to apply logic, you are going to get a headache. And, as Mark Twain said in a slightly different context, "to annoy the pig."

[SV Demeter]

Originally Posted by IslandHopper

Trust me i am no techie, i would not know if what you propose above would work , i just know what works for me....

At home i have a 1.5TB hard drive that lives in the Tv cabinet which plugs into a media player (about the size of a cigarette packet) which plugs into the TV, no need to fire up any computers, the same when i go back to work (at sea), i take a 250 gig USB powered hard drive + media player in a small toilet bag and plug these into the TV in my cabin, again no need for computers.....

I have found using this the easiest, i don't have to worry about bloody formats, file types or decryipting (no idea what it all means anyhow), just rip to the hard drive then plug into the media player/flat screen TV and play, it's that easy...and did i say no computer need for playback....

So to summarise, i use Magic DVD ripper onto Western Digital hard drive, then playback through a Western Digital media player to the TV....

Below is my original post on the subject.....

I downloaded the trial version of Magic DVD ripper and it seems to work fine but I notice it does not save the files with the movie title. Is this just something that the trial version does or do I need to rename the movie files once they are saved to the hard drive?

[IslandHopper]

Originally Posted by SV Demeter

I downloaded the trial version of Magic DVD ripper and it seems to work fine but I notice it does not save the files with the movie title. Is this just something that the trial version does or do I need to rename the movie files once they are saved to the hard drive?

I don't know about the trial version as i have never used it, i just bought the full one, but sometimes you need to type the title in....

With the full version i prefer to type in the title myself just to tidy it up, see in the "Output" and "File Name" boxes in the images below....

From this...


To this....


If you have any more questions just send me a PM if you want...

[hellosailor]

" it does not save the files with the movie title."
You will find that CD's and DVD's sometimes are poorly produced (especially the older ones) and sometimes information is truncated or abbreviated on them. Rippers and copy software sometimes cannot get correct information from the media itself, i.e. I've found two-cd album sets where the album title is different on each CD when they are the same album on the case wrapper.
There are also different requirements for the media file system names (i.e. Joliet and ISO) and different file systems place limits on the characters (spaces versus underlines, file name length, all caps, upper and lower case) and defaults that are used. So if you ever want to figure out what files have been made, it pays to override the software and make sure the filename will make sense to you.

[IslandHopper]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

" it does not save the files with the movie title."
You will find that CD's and DVD's sometimes are poorly produced (especially the older ones) and sometimes information is truncated or abbreviated on them. Rippers and copy software sometimes cannot get correct information from the media itself, i.e. I've found two-cd album sets where the album title is different on each CD when they are the same album on the case wrapper.
There are also different requirements for the media file system names (i.e. Joliet and ISO) and different file systems place limits on the characters (spaces versus underlines, file name length, all caps, upper and lower case) and defaults that are used. So if you ever want to figure out what files have been made, it pays to override the software and make sure the filename will make sense to you.

A far better explanation than i could have given....

[kryg]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

I ditched the physical media a long time ago and put everything on hard drives. We have a few 500MB ones floating around that have all our movies and music. If they crap out it's not the end of the world, but so far so good and we treat them gently and keep them in ziplock bags away from known leaks.

We just watch stuff on our laptop/netbook so the quality loss isn't so bad. What are you using to play it back? I try to rock VLC whenever I can.

It would be time saving convent if one could buy preload a large stack of movies That are already preloaded on an expernal HD. Has anyone know if there is an out let that markets movies bundles?

[Eoghan_Roe]

I have a suggestion, rather then using hard drives that are prone to damage (water or shock), why not use MicroSD or SD cards. They can be found rather cheaply, and stored in something like this: 0915 Protector - Micro Case Seriesâ„¢ | Memory Card Case | Pelican Products, Inc.

Photographers, have been using this technique for years, and they deal with some of the same concerns (space and the elements).

That is my plan for my entertainment collection.

[Sandero]

Originally Posted by red_sky

In case you feel slightly off about your mp3 collection: The Problem with Music

The problem is this "music" is largely junk and a waste of time.... but clearly the youth feel completely dependent on "their music" for their personal identity and self "expression".

I find most of pop music is a waste of time... certainly an area of exploitation... and very low on the culture scale. I suppose youngin's like to "dance"... a form of sexual play in public and so with raging hormones this seems to be unavoidable.

There are much better ways and music to spend your time and money with people who have way more talent than 99% of the pop people.

Grow up! Sooner is better.

[socaldmax]

Originally Posted by Eoghan_Roe

I have a suggestion, rather then using hard drives that are prone to damage (water or shock), why not use MicroSD or SD cards. They can be found rather cheaply, and stored in something like this: 0915 Protector - Micro Case Seriesâ„¢ | Memory Card Case | Pelican Products, Inc.

Photographers, have been using this technique for years, and they deal with some of the same concerns (space and the elements).

That is my plan for my entertainment collection.

The problem is, SD or microSD cards are still too expensive per GB. They are also just as prone to damage by water intrusion and no more reliable than an HDD, possibly less so when you consider how many it takes to store 2TB like a portable HDD. They do fail, I've had 3 of them fail on me so far.

When prices come down a little further, SSDs might rival portable HDDs in price/capacity. So far, I've had 1 SSD fail on me, 3 SD cards and no portable HDDs. That doesn't track with what I would have expected, but there you go, a lot of times theory doesn't match reality.

[nautical62]

While ripping DVDs may not be illegal, from what I understand, circumventing copy protection code many DVDs contain is illegal in many countries.


From what I understand, recording material so that it can be played personally on devices of a different format or to time-shift so it can be viewed at a later time is from what I understand legal in the U.S. This was determined by a case often referred to as the Betamax case. Burning CD music to iTunes is another example. DVRs are always recording media for purposes of time shifting.

The issue with ripping DVDs however as I understand it is that while recording for the above purposes is not illegal, circumventing copy protection code that many commercial DVDs have is illegal.(exceptions of small clips for educational purposes) So how do you known if your ripping software is circumventing such code? I have no idea. I'll also say that in reading about this, I did not come across any case of anyone being prosecuted for ripping DVDs for personal use.

The above is my understating, but I am not an expert in such issues.

In addition to being a space savings, I like that for cruising, movies in MP4 format can be loaded onto a tablet, which can't play DVDs. I like that a tablet has a much longer battery life and is easier to recharge. Also, I don't even own a laptop, so, a tablet is the only means I have to play video when cruising.

It’s still illegal to rip DVD and Blu-ray discs for personal use | Ars Technica

Personal-Use DVD Ripping - Legal or Illegal?

[Eoghan_Roe]

Originally Posted by socaldmax

The problem is, SD or microSD cards are still too expensive per GB. They are also just as prone to damage by water intrusion and no more reliable than an HDD, possibly less so when you consider how many it takes to store 2TB like a portable HDD. They do fail, I've had 3 of them fail on me so far.

When prices come down a little further, SSDs might rival portable HDDs in price/capacity. So far, I've had 1 SSD fail on me, 3 SD cards and no portable HDDs. That doesn't track with what I would have expected, but there you go, a lot of times theory doesn't match reality.

Good points, I have had one fail on me as well.

I guess I just prefer SD and Micro SD cards due to their extreme small size. I could put 8 Micro SD's in a credit card sized case. Sure they don't match the capacity of a HDD without a large investment, but I have never liked the size of even a portable HDD.

I am a strange breed of "minimalist" I want to fit the max amount of things in the smallest possible space.

[undercutter]

Originally Posted by nautical62

While ripping DVDs may not be illegal, from what I understand, circumventing copy protection code many DVDs contain is illegal in many countries.

The issue with ripping DVDs however as I understand it is that while recording for the above purposes is not illegal, circumventing copy protection code that many commercial DVDs have is illegal.(exceptions of small clips for educational purposes)

Speaking of copy protection code:

We purchased a blue ray bdr player in Singapore. When we arrived in Australia we purchased quite a few movies at a reputable media outlet. When we tried to play the movies, 90% of them were locked out by the BDR player with the following message.

"The movie you are playing is not licensed for your area"

So apparently they have this code perfected for Blue Ray BDR/DVR players. And yes the movies would play on our laptops from NA.

Soon you will have to buy a new media device in every country you visit.

[socaldmax]

Originally Posted by Eoghan_Roe

Good points, I have had one fail on me as well.

I guess I just prefer SD and Micro SD cards due to their extreme small size. I could put 8 Micro SD's in a credit card sized case. Sure they don't match the capacity of a HDD without a large investment, but I have never liked the size of even a portable HDD.

I am a strange breed of "minimalist" I want to fit the max amount of things in the smallest possible space.

I also like very compact things, but I've run into a problem - it's getting harder and harder to see and keep track of these tiny things. I just bought 2 thumb drives - 64GB and 128GB USB 3.0, literally smaller than my thumbnail. They work great (but they get disturbingly hot, too much current with too little surface area to dissipate heat, which is not good for electronics) but if I put them down somewhere, they're very difficult to see. I ended up putting lanyards on them so they're easier to find, and marked one so I could tell them apart, they look identical except for very tiny engraving, almost impossible to read.

A 2TB WD portable drive is only $89, requires no power supply and will fit in my shirt or pants pocket. It's smaller than my phone, so that's small enough for me.

[socaldmax]

Originally Posted by undercutter

Speaking of copy protection code:

We purchased a blue ray bdr player in Singapore. When we arrived in Australia we purchased quite a few movies at a reputable media outlet. When we tried to play the movies, 90% of them were locked out by the BDR player with the following message.

"The movie you are playing is not licensed for your area"

So apparently they have this code perfected for Blue Ray BDR/DVR players. And yes the movies would play on our laptops from NA.

Soon you will have to buy a new media device in every country you visit.

That's actually not copy protection, that's region code, to prevent the resale of DVDs in different regions of the world. Why? Because the multi billionaire movie studio moguls don't want $5 BD discs from one region of the world to end up competing with the $20 version of the exact same movie they sell in another region of the world. Who says naked greed is dead?

You can (usually) change the region code for most BD players in the menu, but only 4 or 5 times, then it's stuck on that region permanently. Bluray Discs also have copy protection built in, but that was cracked quite a while ago.