DVD to iPod Video: A (Relatively) Easy Guide

DVD
to iPod Video: An Easy Guide

Welcome to my first real
guide. It will show you how to take a DVD and make it ready to sync
to a brand new iPod Video! Note that for this guide I will be ripping
the Pixar short film Knick Knack from the “Finding Nemo” DVD –
Disk 2.

WARNINGS:

• This WILL take a
  long time. Probably overnight to do, depending on your system.

  
  

• Some of the
  software used in this guide may not be legal in all jurisdictions. I
  have no problem with “backing up” DVD’s, as long as you OWN
  the DVD.

  
  

• DON’T PIRATE.
  ONLY DO THIS FOR MOVIES YOU LEGALLY OWN. This guide is not
  intended to aid piracy!

  
  

Materials:

• 
  The DVD you will rip

  
  

• 
  Latest version of DVD Shrink (other software may be
  necessary. DVD Shrink doesn’t work with all DVDs).

  
  

• 
  Videora iPod Converter

  
  

Part
1: DVD to Computer

1. 
   For this first step you will need to download DVD
   Shrink. You can get that from FileHippo.com. They should have the
   latest version. It is under the “CD and DVD Tools” section.

   
   

2. 
   Install and open DVD Shrink. Then insert the disk you
   want to rip. Close any program that might have opened to play the
   DVD. Then click the “Open Disk” button. Select the drive the DVD
   is in.

   

   
   

3. 
   Next the program will analyze the entire DVD to
   see how to decrypt it. This will hopefully take under 10 minutes.

   

   
   

4. 
   Next, click “Re-author” because we don’t need the
   whole DVD’s contents (because the whole content includes menus and
   stuff, which iPods don’t read).

   

   
   

5. 
   Now you need to find the part of the DVD that you want
   to rip. Most likely you will want “Title 1” as that is most
   often the main movie. To check, click the part you want to check,
   then click the little play icon. If it is correct, then double-click
   it.

   

   
   

6. 
   Now click “Backup!” Choose to save it to a hard
   disk folder, and pick a folder. REMEMBER WHAT FOLDER you choose.
   Then it will take a while, but less than the running time of the
   movie.

   

   
   

7. 
   Now the DVD is on your computer!

   
   

Part
2: Computer to iPod-Readable format

1. 
   Now you need to download the very nice free converter
   program Videora iPod Converter. It is available from videora.com.
   Then install it and open it.

   
   

2. 
   Click on the Setup item and choose the Profile Picker
   tab. Pick the profile that best fits your needs. For widescreen
   movies pick “MPEG-4/Movies (Proper amount of time here)”. For
   other items, just read the descriptions.

   

   
   

3. 
   Then click “Convert” and choose “Transcode New
   Video” and navigate to the folder where you saved the DVD. Choose
   the “VIDEO_TS” folder and just choose the only file that shows
   up.

   

   
   

4. 
   Make sure the profile is correct and click “Start”.
   The process will take a while, and for me it never went past 0% the
   first time I did it, so don’t worry. To make it go faster, do
   nothing on your computer and choose priority “High.”

   

   
   

5. 
   When it says done just search your computer for
   “VTS_01_1.mp4”. Add that file to your iTunes library. Then right
   click the file in the library, and add proper tagging, to make it
   look nice in your iPod.

   

   
   

6. 
   Next time you connect your iPod Video (while iTunes is
   open), it will load to your iPod!