Corey

iTrader: (1)

I already use DVD Shrink and Nero's burning ROM plugin to back up my DVDs I buy onto a 4.7 GB blank.

What I am looking at here is a way to convert either VOB files that are created from DVD shrink, or MPEG2 files of the TV shows I record with my TV/FM tuner card in my PC over to the MPEG4 or MOV format.

Why?
I am looking at getting an iPod down the road, one of the new ones that plays video besides MP3s.
In order to watch a video on the new iPods, the format must be in MPEG4 or MOV format.

I have lots of cool Unreal Tournament frag movies I have downloaded from UTs Atari forum, and also the VOB files from DVD Shrink.
I can covert these over to the MPEG4 format, then upload them to the iPod and watch them on that.

I do not think I have any software now that will do this, not sure if Nero 6 does it or not.
I Googled, and this one popped up.
XiliSoft DVD Ripper

Has anyone used it, or is there a better choice out there?
Thanks,

Corey

iTrader: (1)

I tried a few, did not like them.
Trying this one now, and it seems very good.
http://buy.download3000.com/download...ome-14821.html



Limit of 5 minutes though unless you have the full version.
But it took "Sky Captain" one of my DVDs that I have in VOB files stored on my external hard drive, and it converted about 5 minutes of it to one single mp4 file which opens up with both iTunes and QuickTime 7.

Looks like this may be the program I will get at a later date.
Also read last night on CNet the 30 GB iPod last about 2 hours in video playback mode, while the 60 GB model goes almost 4 hours.
I think the 60 GB unit might be a better choice.

mike_d

if you don't mind running linux, the program 'transcode' does everything you can imagine. i use the program dvd::rip (which uses transcode to do all the hard work) to rip my dvd's and encode them at 700meg/hour mpeg-4

Corey

iTrader: (1)

I am a Windows XP user, no time to learn Linux or any other OS
Heavily into gaming too, and XP works with all of my games I have.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

http://www.pnw4runners.com/temp/sky_captain.jpg

Nero 6 may work, testing it now.
Used the convert to Nero Digital Video files, and it is doing it in a MPEG4 format which is what the iPod uses.

Not sure of the vid resolution size, I forgot to check it, but for the iPod it may have to be in a 320x240 format.
Will have to see if Nero lets me recode it to that size or not, or it may not display right on an iPod.

Yeah, from ipods site on Apples site:
H.264 video: up to 768 Kbps, 320 x 240, 30 frames per sec.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Bad news with Nero's Re-Encode app.
It does make a nice smaller MPEG4 video.
I was able to set its settings to make the vid 320x240, the size for the iPod, and the whole Sky Captain vid came out to 609 MB or so.

But if you open it up with an Apple Program such as iTunes or QuickTime, it is very grainy and looks bad.

However opening it up with Nero's DVD player Showtime, it looks perfect, even at full screen
However Power DVDs DVD player will not play it.
Must be a Nero thing and their DVD player Showtime plays it as it has a codec associated with it.

Guess I will have to get that other applet a few posts above when the time is right.

amusement

Virtual Dub from sourceforge.net is your answer.

It's simple and very easy.

I also use Gspot to checkout the encoding used on multimedia files.

Good luck!

goatboy22382

you should check out www.ilounge.com. they reviewed several programs that will do this. I did not read the whole article though so I cant tell you whats the best.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

I have virtual Dub, but have not messed with it much.
Will have to see if it can take a whole folder of VOB files or not and convert them.

Problem is though if it does, I wonder if they will be like what the Nero program did, and not work for an Apple app correctly.

Goat, I will check out that link later.
Thanks.

There is a very cool free app out to do what I want, and it is endorsed by Apple.
However there is no Windows version, and they do not plan on making one either.

Reldnew

It has been awhile since I messed about with video conversion, but the best encoder tool I ever came across was called the TMPG encoder. I believe the latest incarnation-- http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=TMPGEnc_Xpress --will do what you want, but it requires lots of tweaking and fiddling.


Here are a few more that may help you:
http://www.videohelp.com/tools?s=112#112

The whole video help website is an awesome resource.
Nero often "took over" other video software I had installed on my computer or did what I wanted, but made the finished product exclusive to Nero.

Best of luck,
Reldnew

Churnd

Corey -

This month's edition of Maximum PC has an article that talks all about doing this kinda stuff. They recommend using Intervideo DVD Copy since it'll convert to basically any file format you need. Hope that helps some to do what you wanna do.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Chris, I have that magazine, but I skimmed over the article, and I did not think it was related to the iPod for MP4 files which it uses.

I will look at it again tonight if I get a chance.
I have a sub to that magazine, one of the best out, and also CPU magazine.

Churnd

Yeah, if you look on this page, you'll find the following text:

Free trial too, so might be worth trying out. Could wind up replacing all your other video editing software as it looks to have a lot of different features.

DealMaker

You can also check out camcorderinfo.com at the Sony DVD camcorder threads and the Computer Video Editing threads. Alot of the guys with the new DVD camcorders have been on this road.

mike_d

i haven't seen the article, so this comment may be unrelated. but i wanted to mention it anyway. there's nothing special about the MP4 that the iPod uses. from what i've read, it's just one of the type of mpeg encodings (H.264 is the techical name http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264). so the ipod should be able to read any H.264 file as long as the encoder will make valid H.264 mpeg files. it should also read quicktime files since that's apple's own brand of encoding.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Chris, here is some more from that site.
Was probably written before the Video iPod came out, but that is the correct format.

Getting the trial now, and I will see if it can make the correct 320x240 768kb per second MP4 format or not.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Lions tigers and bears
http://www.pnw4runners.com/temp/dvd4.jpg

Chris, this seems to be a very good program, and it is fully functional unlike the rest of those others I have tried.
It will work for 14 days, and I will be able to get a good idea if it is worth it or not.

The trick will be to see if the video will work OK or not in iTunes and QuickTime.

But as you can see from the menu in the pic, the iPod format is an option.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Success!

Still more experimenting to do, but I took my AVP "back up" disc since my son has my real AVP DVD, and the software made a perfect copy of the vid in the MP4 format.

It plays perfectly in iTunes and QuickTime.
The vid size is 320x240, but get this.
It also plays perfectly at full screen on my 20.1" monitor.

Tried earlier with just the VOB files that I had backed up to my external drive, and it said it could not copy.
Will try again later.
But this go around for the first time was a success.
I am going to have to register this software for sure.

Now I can also take any TV show I have on my PC from the TV tuner card and import it the same way.

Churnd

Sweet! That drop down list in that first pic is just like the one in the Maximum PC mag. I didn't even know they had the iPod option... that's even better!

Keep me updated on how you like the software. Fool around with it some more and see if it has any limitations. I might be getting it too, along with
Nero 7.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

I will keep you informed for sure.
I have Nero 5 & 6, and I have not even tapped all 6 can do yet.
Amazing program, will not be going with 7 anytime soon.

Now get this.
In the past I have used two apps to back up my DVD collection.
DVD Shrink, and Nero Burning ROM plugin which is part of the Nero Suite.

DVD Shrink on its own can not burn, it can only decrypt.
The Nero plugin allows DVD Shrink to burn the VOB files to a blank without firing up Nero and burning with it.

But this software you turned me onto will take the place of both of them the next time I need to do a backup.

My son still has several of my movies out, and has forgotten to return them.
If they come back scratched, that is the main reason I make a backup copy.
If both get scratched, I keep a mirror of all burned vids on my Seagate external which also allows me to watch them right from the hard drive.

I copied a few AVI and MPEG vids I had of some UT 2004 frag movies I collected, and the app cranked them over to the iPod MP4 format perfectly.

It would be kind of cool during the winter time to watch a vid at work during lunch time on an iPod.