Video Server, Part 2: Ripping
This is the second in a series of articles that will detail the tools and methods I’m using for my personal media server at home. Part 2: Ripping is all about getting data off the DVD and onto the computer. Future articles will detail encoding, converting, integration and disaster management.
Note: For the record that I believe ripping data from DVD movies you do not own is illegal, and I do not support it. ((I am not a lawyer, so I don’t know this for a fact. I think I saw it online and I’m repeating it here just in case it’s true.)) If you enjoy a movie, buy it, and support the people who created it… even if entire industry is a bunch of greedy douchebags.
For a while, I didn’t even realize ripping was a thing. I was playing around with different encoding tools, and they all worked the same way: stick the DVD in, twiddle some stuff, and the program read from the disc and wrote to a file. Most of the time, this worked. More and more often, though, I would encounter a problem; either the problem wouldn’t ready my disk, or it would encode about 20 seconds of data and hang. After some research, I eventually discovered something I already knew: most DVDs are encrypted. This is why you can’t just put in a disc and copy the files off it, even though if you explore you can see them clear as day.
I found the solution was a separate program designed to read the DVD and store an unencrypted copy on the harddrive. After some trial and error, I’ve had great results with DVDFab HD Decrypter. Not only is it free and reliable, it’s dirt simple.
Ripping the data to the hard drive separately also has additional benefits: it may cut down on the wear and tear on the DVD-Rom ((I also have no proof of this, it’s just one of those things that seems true. Maybe reading from a disc for 15 minutes at full-bore does more damage than reading a few bits at a time for two hours.)), as ripping takes considerably less time than encoding, and after the initial rip, you can encode without having to be physically present at the machine, or re-encode if something goes wrong.
Insert the disc, wait for the chapter data to load, and hit “Start”. If it’s the first time you’re running the program, also specify the Target: directory.
The process usually takes between 10 and 20 minutes.
Afterward, you will find a subdirectory in the FullDisc directory in the Target directory: <Target>/FullDisc/<DVD>. In the above example, the data I want is in F:\FullDisc\BLUSBRO\VIDEO_TS\.
I don’t do a lot of ripping on the Mac, but the few time I have, I’ve had good luck with Mac the Ripper.
Next Up: Encoding.