Hi I need some advice. Is there a way to essentially copy my DVDs onto a USB stick, plug the stick into DVD player or anything to play from there? To save keep changing DVDs etc so they're all in one place the same way iTunes works etc I know people that download films and watch off a USB stick but not sure if it's possible to copy DVDs etc any advice would be great. Thanks .
Play DVDs from USB on DVD player?
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...69837884,d.ZGU
As long as your DVD player or TV supports USB playback then I would imagine it's pretty doable.
As long as your DVD player or TV supports USB playback then I would imagine it's pretty doable.
Yes, you need to 'rip' the DVDs to your computer's hard drive, and convert them to media files (otherwise they'll be very big files). Your TV, DVD player or receiver box into which you want to plug a USB device to play back the files, will need to support media playback function too.
A DVD 'ripping' tool decrypts the discs contents - you can't just drag & drop the video files you can see on the disc - and puts the now unencrypted copy of the disc on your hd. This folder can be anywhere from 3 to 9gb in size, typically and unless you selected otherwise will include everything (menus, extras, extra audio tracks) that was on the DVD.
You can actually play the folder as if it was an actual DVD (as in toofast's link above), but to end up with compact media files you need to take the next step of 'compressing' the main movie section.
Up until a few years ago, the most common 'codec' used (the format for the video file) for compressed video was XviD (most files ending in .avi). It's good, but has been superceded by h264 (most files ending in .mp4 or .mkv) which can offer better image quality with even smaller files. Popular compression tools for XviD include AutoGK, for h264 many go with Handbrake, although there are plenty of alternatives (beware many, many bogus sites offering such tools - do your research, only go to the official sources).
I'd be more specific, but I think this subject can breach the house rules here. There are lots of tutorials out there, youtube is a start, but do google for info before downloading any software you find being offered in sidebars etc.
A DVD 'ripping' tool decrypts the discs contents - you can't just drag & drop the video files you can see on the disc - and puts the now unencrypted copy of the disc on your hd. This folder can be anywhere from 3 to 9gb in size, typically and unless you selected otherwise will include everything (menus, extras, extra audio tracks) that was on the DVD.
You can actually play the folder as if it was an actual DVD (as in toofast's link above), but to end up with compact media files you need to take the next step of 'compressing' the main movie section.
Up until a few years ago, the most common 'codec' used (the format for the video file) for compressed video was XviD (most files ending in .avi). It's good, but has been superceded by h264 (most files ending in .mp4 or .mkv) which can offer better image quality with even smaller files. Popular compression tools for XviD include AutoGK, for h264 many go with Handbrake, although there are plenty of alternatives (beware many, many bogus sites offering such tools - do your research, only go to the official sources).
I'd be more specific, but I think this subject can breach the house rules here. There are lots of tutorials out there, youtube is a start, but do google for info before downloading any software you find being offered in sidebars etc.
Originally Posted by Asmo:
“Yes, you need to 'rip' the DVDs to your computer's hard drive, and convert them to media files (otherwise they'll be very big files). Your TV, DVD player or receiver box into which you want to plug a USB device to play back the files, will need to support media playback function too.
A DVD 'ripping' tool decrypts the discs contents - you can't just drag & drop the video files you can see on the disc - and puts the now unencrypted copy of the disc on your hd. This folder can be anywhere from 3 to 9gb in size, typically and unless you selected otherwise will include everything (menus, extras, extra audio tracks) that was on the DVD.
You can actually play the folder as if it was an actual DVD (as in toofast's link above), but to end up with compact media files you need to take the next step of 'compressing' the main movie section.
Up until a few years ago, the most common 'codec' used (the format for the video file) for compressed video was XviD (most files ending in .avi). It's good, but has been superceded by h264 (most files ending in .mp4 or .mkv) which can offer better image quality with even smaller files. Popular compression tools for XviD include AutoGK, for h264 many go with Handbrake, although there are plenty of alternatives (beware many, many bogus sites offering such tools - do your research, only go to the official sources).
I'd be more specific, but I think this subject can breach the house rules here. There are lots of tutorials out there, youtube is a start, but do google for info before downloading any software you find being offered in sidebars etc.”
“Yes, you need to 'rip' the DVDs to your computer's hard drive, and convert them to media files (otherwise they'll be very big files). Your TV, DVD player or receiver box into which you want to plug a USB device to play back the files, will need to support media playback function too.
A DVD 'ripping' tool decrypts the discs contents - you can't just drag & drop the video files you can see on the disc - and puts the now unencrypted copy of the disc on your hd. This folder can be anywhere from 3 to 9gb in size, typically and unless you selected otherwise will include everything (menus, extras, extra audio tracks) that was on the DVD.
You can actually play the folder as if it was an actual DVD (as in toofast's link above), but to end up with compact media files you need to take the next step of 'compressing' the main movie section.
Up until a few years ago, the most common 'codec' used (the format for the video file) for compressed video was XviD (most files ending in .avi). It's good, but has been superceded by h264 (most files ending in .mp4 or .mkv) which can offer better image quality with even smaller files. Popular compression tools for XviD include AutoGK, for h264 many go with Handbrake, although there are plenty of alternatives (beware many, many bogus sites offering such tools - do your research, only go to the official sources).
I'd be more specific, but I think this subject can breach the house rules here. There are lots of tutorials out there, youtube is a start, but do google for info before downloading any software you find being offered in sidebars etc.”
Removing the copy protection won't change the file size. A dual layer DVD disk will contain about 8GB of content, much of it extra content not forming part of the main movie. There's no need to change the original mpeg2 compression if copying to a hard disk. An average DVD movie at full quality will run to about 4-5 GB of data. A 500GB USB disk will hold at least 100 movies without recoding the mpeg2 content (exactly the same as the original quality on the disk itself).
H264/AVC is the compression codec used for HD TV. SD Tv uses mpeg2 the same as a DVD-Video disk.
Google DVDfab.
Originally Posted by BobbyMcGee:
“Brill thanks will investigate further! Technology is a no no for me usually!”
“Brill thanks will investigate further! Technology is a no no for me usually!”
See my post. There is no need to re-code DVD content. (just remove the CSS content scrambling). Any media player will play the original video at full quality. (normally you would create a programme stream mpeg2 file (.mpg)).
A lot of people find it convenient to store their DVD collection on a NAS (Network Accessed Storage Drive). That way it can be viewed on a variety of kit connected to a home network. This includes tablet PC.s and Ipods.
On average you will need a usb device that has about 4.5GB of storage for each movie. A 1TB usb drive will hold about 220 DVD movies provided you just want the main title.
Google DVDfab.
Originally Posted by grahamlthompson:
“See my post. There is no need to re-code DVD content. (just remove the CSS content scrambling). Any media player will play the original video at full quality. (normally you would create a programme stream mpeg2 file (.mpg)).
A lot of people find it convenient to store their DVD collection on a NAS (Network Accessed Storage Drive). That way it can be viewed on a variety of kit connected to a home network. This includes tablet PC.s and Ipods.
On average you will need a usb device that has about 4.5GB of storage for each movie. A 1TB usb drive will hold about 220 DVD movies provided you just want the main title.
Google DVDfab.”
“See my post. There is no need to re-code DVD content. (just remove the CSS content scrambling). Any media player will play the original video at full quality. (normally you would create a programme stream mpeg2 file (.mpg)).
A lot of people find it convenient to store their DVD collection on a NAS (Network Accessed Storage Drive). That way it can be viewed on a variety of kit connected to a home network. This includes tablet PC.s and Ipods.
On average you will need a usb device that has about 4.5GB of storage for each movie. A 1TB usb drive will hold about 220 DVD movies provided you just want the main title.
Google DVDfab.”
Thanks will have a look. Think I'm getting my head around it!
Originally Posted by grahamlthompson:
“Removing the copy protection won't change the file size. A dual layer DVD disk will contain about 8GB of content, much of it extra content not forming part of the main movie.”
“Removing the copy protection won't change the file size. A dual layer DVD disk will contain about 8GB of content, much of it extra content not forming part of the main movie.”
I know, I said exactly that ('anywhere from 3 to 9gb' - single layer short to full DL)- hence step 2, compressing files if they want to.
Not compressing the files has the advantage, of course, of keeping all content, including multi channel audio.
Originally Posted by grahamlthompson:
“H264/AVC is the compression codec used for HD TV. SD Tv uses mpeg2 the same as a DVD-Video disk.
Google DVDfab.”
“H264/AVC is the compression codec used for HD TV. SD Tv uses mpeg2 the same as a DVD-Video disk.
Google DVDfab.”
Yes* but in this case the codecs for playback are dependant not on broadcast standards, but whatever is supported by the device they're using to plug their USB device into.
Compressing the DVD files to .mp4 files (h264) is the best option for retaining quality, even with SD material.
Compression was broached because the OP mentioned wanting to use their material like their friends were, with media files
* unless what you're driving at is the distinction between x264, which I understand but didn't want to cloud the issue!
Originally Posted by Asmo:
“I know, I said exactly that ('anywhere from 3 to 9gb' - single layer short to full DL)- hence step 2, compressing files if they want to.
Not compressing the files has the advantage, of course, of keeping all content, including multi channel audio.
Yes* but in this case the codecs for playback are dependant not on broadcast standards, but whatever is supported by the device they're using to plug their USB device into.
Compressing the DVD files to .mp4 files (h264) is the best option for retaining quality, even with SD material.
Compression was broached because the OP mentioned wanting to use their material like their friends were, with media files
* unless what you're driving at is the distinction between x264, which I understand but didn't want to cloud the issue!”
“I know, I said exactly that ('anywhere from 3 to 9gb' - single layer short to full DL)- hence step 2, compressing files if they want to.
Not compressing the files has the advantage, of course, of keeping all content, including multi channel audio.
Yes* but in this case the codecs for playback are dependant not on broadcast standards, but whatever is supported by the device they're using to plug their USB device into.
Compressing the DVD files to .mp4 files (h264) is the best option for retaining quality, even with SD material.
Compression was broached because the OP mentioned wanting to use their material like their friends were, with media files
* unless what you're driving at is the distinction between x264, which I understand but didn't want to cloud the issue!”
You are wrong, there is no need to retain all the content if you elect not to compress the content. You can choose to extract the main title video only, you also have the free choice of retaining or omitting any of the audio and subtitle content,
Normally I would simply use the ac3 English Audio, and have no subtitles, for most titles the resulting file is less than 4GB.
MP4 is not H264/AVC they are entirely different compression codecs. H264/AVC is an advanced and more efficient codec than MP4.
The only advantage in this case is the ability to fit more content in the same space, the major disadvantage (and pointless now large usb drives are so cheap) is the time taken to re-code the content and the inevitable quality loss.
For a source with 720 x 576 pixels, there's no point in re-coding unless you intend to display it on a portable device with limited screen resolution and storage . It just takes a long time, to create an inferior picture (which if shown on a HD TV will look very bad), just to squeeze a few more movies onto a storage device.
I have a Nexus 7 tablet PC, I use it to display Blu-ray Full-HD 1920 x 1080 content at the original bitrate and in the full 1080p24 quality. There's no need to re-code I use a 2TB USB drive, which is more than adequate to take away on holiday. Compared to the poor lcd screens on aircraft, the quality is superb (the screen is higher res than 1920 x 1080).
Sharing the content would clearly not be legal.
Originally Posted by grahamlthompson:
“You are wrong, there is no need to retain all the content if you elect not to compress the content. You can choose to extract the main title video only, you also have the free choice of retaining or omitting any of the audio and subtitle content,”
“You are wrong, there is no need to retain all the content if you elect not to compress the content. You can choose to extract the main title video only, you also have the free choice of retaining or omitting any of the audio and subtitle content,”
Wrong? I never said they needed to retain all the content (or even rip all of it) just that keeping a full mirror of the original disc is an advantage that's possible without compression. Once you compress to a media file, you lose the menu linking and disc structure, so either dump all the extra stuff or go about creating multiple media files of all of it that play separately.
I was trying to offer just basic initial information on ripping the disc in the simplest form to assist the OP - if they're new to the process of ripping a disc describing additional steps before they've got the software to hand (& because similar discussions in detail have been deleted) would be premature.
Originally Posted by grahamlthompson:
“Normally I would simply use the ac3 English Audio, and have no subtitles, for most titles the resulting file is less than 4GB.”
“Normally I would simply use the ac3 English Audio, and have no subtitles, for most titles the resulting file is less than 4GB.”
It'll vary from disc to disc, of course. A TV series may have several episodes and reach close to 9GB. A movie will typically be less, but there are long movies and higher bitrates too. I have quite a few discs on which the main movie element exceeds 7GB. That's without touching on the subject of discs that have multiple episodes in a indexed VOB set rather than easily identified separate VOBs!
Originally Posted by grahamlthompson:
“MP4 is not H264/AVC they are entirely different compression codecs. H264/AVC is an advanced and more efficient codec than MP4.”
“MP4 is not H264/AVC they are entirely different compression codecs. H264/AVC is an advanced and more efficient codec than MP4.”
Mp4 is not a compression codec, it's a 'container' format. The most popular usage of which is to contain h264 codec video with AAC audio.
Quote:
“MP4 is a container format much like AVI or MKV and it can be used to “house” many different types of compression codecs, not just H.264. It is true though that MP4 is a very popular choice for the H.264 format.”
“MP4 is a container format much like AVI or MKV and it can be used to “house” many different types of compression codecs, not just H.264. It is true though that MP4 is a very popular choice for the H.264 format.”
http://www.h264info.com/h264.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_container_format
For people who want to create media files witn h264 video but better audio (mp4 typically only supports AAC or mp3 - stereo) mkv is the next most common choice, as it can retain multiple audio formats, including various multichannel ones.
I tend to use AVIdemux for both mkv and mp4 file creation with h264 video, others swear by Handbrake - but most current ripping/editing/encoding software offers h264 at this stage (Handbrake dropped XviD some time ago).
Originally Posted by grahamlthompson:
“The only advantage in this case is the ability to fit more content in the same space, the major disadvantage (and pointless now large usb drives are so cheap) is the time taken to re-code the content and the inevitable quality loss. ”
“The only advantage in this case is the ability to fit more content in the same space, the major disadvantage (and pointless now large usb drives are so cheap) is the time taken to re-code the content and the inevitable quality loss. ”
Absolutely there's no need to compress, although the image loss can be minimised - it depends on how small you want to make the file, and what other settings you tweak on the way, and it can depend to an extent on the playback device being used (it's not clear what in this instance) I only raised this option because the OP mentions his friends watching films this way! Covering all bases early!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-4_Part_14
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC
All my video editing software will create .mp4 files with ac3 5.1 audio. Some will create h264/AVC compressed content which normally uses a transport stream container (.ts).
I normally use either Vegas Pro 12 or Magix Pro X6 for movie creation and Pro Show Producer for HD slide show creation.
This is essentially identical to HD broadcast content. (H264/AVC). Satellite content uses ac3 audio (2.0 or 5.1) with a separate mpeg 1 layer 2 audio track used for audio description. It's also the video compression system used by AVCHD HD camcorders. My Camcorder will produce 1080p50 content with ac3 5.1 audio.
Freeview-HD combines the main audio (2.0 or 5.1) and any audio description data into a singe aac track.
If you want to retain the full navigation data the easiest way is rip a DVD to a .iso image and use a media player that can mount and play back image files.
A 3TB NAS server ought to be large enough to hold most peoples entire DVD collection.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC
All my video editing software will create .mp4 files with ac3 5.1 audio. Some will create h264/AVC compressed content which normally uses a transport stream container (.ts).
I normally use either Vegas Pro 12 or Magix Pro X6 for movie creation and Pro Show Producer for HD slide show creation.
This is essentially identical to HD broadcast content. (H264/AVC). Satellite content uses ac3 audio (2.0 or 5.1) with a separate mpeg 1 layer 2 audio track used for audio description. It's also the video compression system used by AVCHD HD camcorders. My Camcorder will produce 1080p50 content with ac3 5.1 audio.
Freeview-HD combines the main audio (2.0 or 5.1) and any audio description data into a singe aac track.
If you want to retain the full navigation data the easiest way is rip a DVD to a .iso image and use a media player that can mount and play back image files.
A 3TB NAS server ought to be large enough to hold most peoples entire DVD collection.
Originally Posted by grahamlthompson:
“A 3TB NAS server ought to be large enough to hold most peoples entire DVD collection.”
“A 3TB NAS server ought to be large enough to hold most peoples entire DVD collection.”
Indeed, but the OP began with wanting to play from a USB stick like their friends who used downloaded media files... one step at a time!
Some of the receivers/players that support playback from USB (of the sort I'm presuming the OP is describing) have some limitations as to what they'll recognise, mp4 typical encodes (h264+AAC or mp3 are a safe bet) - many recognise VOBs too, but iso images might be a stretch on basic hardware.
Of course, as you say, if they're going to buy hardware or link their PC for playback then that opens up all the possibilities.
