DVD to AVI and Treo 600 Palm

[Reloader]

Please ignore this message as I think it's better suited to the Software forum. I don't know how to delete the whole thing. So I'm putting the message to stop this thread from being used until one of the mod people sees and deletes it. Or post the reply on how to delete the thread. Cheers. R

Hello all,

I have a couple questions;

1) I want to be able to copy all my dvd's onto my hard disk and then watch them back in full res with full DD 5.1 or higher, potentially. I have tried various programs on trial about 15 of them. These have done things like creating AVI files and IFO with the VOB files. But I don't know if they will work well when output to a TV or projector. (I haven't set up this bit yet, I wanted to see if I can get the DVD's onto my hard disk before I invest in anymore hardware.)

Any tips or ideas? Also when creating the AVI files. All of the trial software has asked which codec to create the AVI file in.
I have no idea which is which and what if any will keep all of the audio and video. Space is not an issue.

2) Once I have my AVI file I want to be able to play it on my Handspring Treo 600. Using MMPlayer. These need to be encoded in a 160x120 res on Hi colour not True colour. However when the Treo 610 comes out (I know about the rumours but they will release it eventually) I want the files to be in 320x240 and true colour.

MMPlayer will not play some AVI's, I've checked the website and I'm still unsure which codec's MMplayer will play.

Some of the programs I have downloaded already, come up with a memory reference error when reading the DVD or the IFO and VOB files. I might be able to do what I want if I could get these to work. Does anyone know of some thing I could be doing wrong.

I'm using XP Pro. if you need to know.

Thanks to anyone who can help. And to the rest of you, thanks for reading my post.

[Reloader]

(I have posted this in the Hardware Forum but I think it's better suited here.)

Hello all,

I have a couple questions;

1) I want to be able to copy all my dvd's onto my hard disk and then watch them back in full res with full DD 5.1 or higher, potentially. I have tried various programs on trial about 15 of them. These have done things like creating AVI files and IFO with the VOB files. But I don't know if they will work well when output to a TV or projector. (I haven't set up this bit yet, I wanted to see if I can get the DVD's onto my hard disk before I invest in anymore hardware.)

Any tips or ideas? Also when creating the AVI files. All of the trial software has asked which codec to create the AVI file in.
I have no idea which is which and what if any will keep all of the audio and video. Space is not an issue.

2) Once I have my AVI file I want to be able to play it on my Handspring Treo 600. Using MMPlayer. These need to be encoded in a 160x120 res on Hi colour not True colour. However when the Treo 610 comes out (I know about the rumours but they will release it eventually) I want the files to be in 320x240 and true colour.

MMPlayer will not play some AVI's, I've checked the website and I'm still unsure which codec's MMplayer will play.

Some of the programs I have downloaded already, come up with a memory reference error when reading the DVD or the IFO and VOB files. I might be able to do what I want if I could get these to work. Does anyone know of some thing I could be doing wrong.

I'm using XP Pro. if you need to know.

Thanks to anyone who can help. And to the rest of you, thanks for reading my post.

[Reloader]

Does anyone have any ideas???

[Xayd]

As far as putting all your DVDs on your hard drive, that's easy.

Get DVDDecrypter from http://www.doom9.org

As far as the Handspring goes, you'll have to find out what codecs it supports first. VirtualDub can re-encode your video/audio to shrink it down and change the resolution, but you have to know what codec to tell it to use for its output, otherwise it'll give you an uncompressed AVI which will actually be bigger than the DVD was to start with.

[Reloader]

Thanks for the help; just a couple points.

http://www.mmplayer.com/features.php

This details the codecs, I think. But to me its all same, I've downloaded VirtualDub but there are about 3 mpeg4 codecs which I'm assuming I'll need an mpeg one to create the AVI.
What do they all mean.

How do you know if will compress it or uncompress it. Because I did notice that. I created an AVI file from a ifo and vob which was to big for my phone and mmplayer couldn't decode it in time. So I used another program to convert the avi to a smaller avi and it ended up being 5 times as large.

Does the doom9 DVD Decrypter create a single file which Media player can run. With full sound and Video?


Is there a comprehensive manual or something anyway that deals with all this audio video stuff???

Thanks again for any help.

[hobey19]

no, dvddecrypter just copies the vob files over to your hard drive so you can work with them from there

craig

[Reloader]

So, is it possible to create a single file in which media player can run, and still keep all the info, as if I was just playing DVD from a normal DVD player?

[dave computer]

Your avi files will be large 700mb+ for most movies. I copies the two towers and it was 2.1 gigs. I think that would be alot of memory to put on a treo. Almost impossible.

[Xayd]

Ok, by that table it supports DivX, so that will give you the most compression while keeping as much quality as possible.

The easiest way to make a high quality DivX video out of a DVD source is using the Gordian Knot program.

There's a guide on how to use it as well as a download link for it at http://www.doom9.org

As for your audio, MP3 will probably be your best bet for the audio tracks from the DVD. OGG will give you a bit better quality, but you'll have to check and see if the Handspring supports OGM video files, since ogg audio can't be put in an avi.

[Reloader]

Cheers, Thanks for all your help.

I'm about to try it. I'll let you know on Monday what I've done.

[Reloader]

I know but the Treo has a res of 160x120 and 5k of colours so I was hoping that by reducing the DVD to this it may fit.



I've got this same thread in the Hardware bit. People are responding to both of them and I don't know how to stop one of the Threads. So I'm just waiting for a Mod to tell me off.

[reboot]

Going to answer here, and not reference the hardware thread, as this is entirely software.
First, you need to rip the dvd into a format you can use, at least on the PC first, and your Treo later.
DVDx or FairUseWizard are two free programs that will get you an end resulting avi in a PC useable format.
Chosing a codec is more personal preference than anything. Some codecs have much poorer quality than others, and the emerging avi standard is DivX.
If you choose DivX, be sure to specify the output bitrate as high as possible, to maintain quality. Some (such as divx mpeg4 lowmotion/fastmotion) allow you to specify bitrate from ~100 to 6000! DivX5.11 is the latest, but I'm not sure they have a free encoder version, just the decoder. 3vix or XviD will give similar results.
Most ripping programs will also let you specify frame size. 352x240 is 4:3 (TV aspect ratio), and is the standard. Even if your rip is at that resolution, you can reduce it to 160x120 in virtualdub (also free) in about 8 minutes per 1 hour of video.
Two things make up the size of the finished video, the codec's compression, and the bitrate. DivX5 has very good compression, even at high bitrate, to give a finished avi in reasonable size, a lot less than dave computer's 2.1gigs. Framesize has nothing to do with the final file size.
With the Treo only needing high color, you can, with some juggling of codecs in virtualdub, get a finished 2 hour movie into about 140 meg, animations into about 100 meg, and quite possibly less.

[Reloader]

Thanks for the help everyone. I will try all of this. Quite a bit to take in so give me a few days before I get back to you.