Getting your DVDs onto your iPod
Getting your DVDs onto your iPod
There’s a grey legal area here. Depending on who you ask, copying DVDs is either within your rights or illegal completely. Personally I do feel kind of frustrated that I own an iPod and a bazillion DVDs but I have to jump through quasi-illegal hoops just to watch my own movies on my own gadgets. But anyways I’m not here to tell you what’s right or what you should do, but at least give you the instructions on how to successfully copy your DVDs to your iPod.
There are a few steps to this:
1) Breaking the copy-protection/encryption on your DVD
2) Converting the video to the ipod format
3) Copying the video to the iPod
To accomplish it you’ll need some different programs on your machine.
For step 1 above you can use:
* For Mac: MacTheRipper download
* For Windows: DVD Decrypter download
Either of these programs will take you through the process of opening the dvd, and saving the de-crypted file somewhere on your computer. It’s pretty simple, insert the dvd (close your player if that opens) load the program, open the dvd up (or the video_ts folder) and click the button to start. I usually save the ripped files to my desktop as I don’t want to forget they are tucked away somewhere - they are quite large as it’s an entire dvd of content.
When it’s completed you can eject the dvd - the ripped files are yours for the tinkering - you can use a program like popcorn (mac) or dvdshrink (pc) to make a “backup” of the dvd using these files. But our goal is to get this movie on to your iPod. Now, this ripped copy isn’t a video file just yet - it’s really just a dump of the dvd with the encryption removed.
Step 2 - Handbrake download
Handbrake is a great little program for Mac/Windows/Linux. It can encode/convert the video in and out of various formats. The Mac version can do some decrypting as well, which might mean you can skip step 1 - but most newer movies are locked down pretty well.
Anyhow, you should have the decrypted version on your desktop. Load up handbrake and click the source button, you’ll choose the folder on the desktop as the source (the folder containing video_ts, the ripped files) You should see a dropdown with a label “Title:” next to it, in this dropdown you’ll see a list of all the videos from the DVD. For instance, if you’re working on a copy of a TV show - you should see several episodes. Sometimes it’s just special feature tracks, etc. The “long one” is usually the main movie.
You should see a presets list - a bunch of different formats handbrake can generate. (On the mac there’s an icon to view this tab if it’s hidden) We want to select the iPod format. (Under the Apple category) If you have an iPod touch or iPhone there’s a sepereate preset for that which will yield a slightly higher resolution video. After you’ve selected the appropriate preset, you’re ready to start. You can do several at once by adding them to the queue - or just click start to get going.
The entire process can take some time - maybe a half hour or so depending on how fast your machine is. This process will really put a lot of strain on your system - I’ve watched my processors max out and heat up to 180-degrees. This means a laptop will run down it’s battery quickly, etc.
When handbrake finishes you should see a .m4v file on your desktop.
Step 3 - iTunes (download from apple.com)
iTunes should have no problem with your .m4v file. If you have itunes installed, you most likely can double-click the .m4v file and it will go into your library. If not, you can always drag and drop the icon in. Once the video is in iTunes, make sure it plays correctly. If so, you can drag it over to your ipod in itunes. (Or I just have everything sync - so I don’t even have to drag it over)
When you’re done, clean up the files from your desktop - like I said, they take up a lot of space. You’re ready to watch your dvd on your iPod! You should even have the chapters and captions set up correctly!
Enjoy, let me know how it works out for you!