Pussy Cat Doll

Use SmartRipper http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/dvd_rippers/smartripper.cfm to decode the VOB’s into unencrypted files. Be sure to set the files to break at chapters instead of by file size, or you’ll end up with scenes broken across files.

Now they’re MPEG2 compliant and can be used in most any program, unlike DivX and Xvid.

VirtualDubMod http://virtualdubmod.sourceforge.net will open them right up to cut and reencode if necessary, but any app like Premeire will work directly with the files as they are.

I might as well add my method of choice for ripping dvds here as well. My method is basically equivalent to about half of the above mentioned methods. I like to use a two step process that uses CladDVD to rip(and decrypt(also can remove macrovision from VOBs)) and FlaskMPEG to encode.

All you have to do is click ‘rip full dvd’ in CladDVD. Then fire up FlaskMPEG, point it to the VOB files, and decide what codec you want to encode with, usually divx. Then set a few encoding options like bit-rate and wait 3 or 4 hours.

I’d have to agree that VirtualDub is the best and easiest way to split-up the avi.

I suspect that Eduardo’s method is actually the best way to rip the dvd, though I’ve never tried it.

Bob: I don’t think you need to go to that extreme (and syncing a camcorder with a TV is not easy). One could play the DVD on a regular DVD player and send the analog video output into an analog video capture board on the PC. And I guess a 10-year-old kid wouldn’t be likely to complain about the lack of image/sound quality. But why buy the extra hardware when the raw PC is capable of doing the job with the correct (free) software?

Um…at the risk of exposing my abysmal ignorance…what about simply playing the DVD’s and recording the images and sound off the TV using a camcorder then downloading the video to their computer and editing it from there. Quality with be lost, but the process might be easier and quicker.

Ah yes, Gordian Knot. It’s basically a front-end for all the tools I mentioned above in my previous post. I haven’t used it because, like a good geek, I like to keep control of the process and stay close to the nuts and bolts of the system, but it probably could be useful to you.

Philip – off topic but related – you and/or your friends might enjoy The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1400032717/103-6662761-5843817?v=glance). I just read it and found it 1) amazing and 2) a fascinating look into the mind of an autistic child. Joel Spolsky warns that nobody he knows who has started the book has been able to put it down, and I must confess I read it in one day.

Ole

The tool you want on Windows is Auto Gordian Knot aka AutoGK, http://www.autogk.net/ It combines all the various frobs you need to turn a DVD into a video file: ripper, decrypter, codecs, etc etc. The process is remarkably complex but AutoGK makes it pretty simple. It’s still kind of rough hackerware, but it’s the simplest and most automated of these tools that I’ve seen. A course 6 guy like you can probably figure it out.

Alternatively, if feeding a DVD player or VHS player into a standalone DVD recorder, I believe this is an option: Sima GoDVD http://www.videoguys.com/sima.htm or http://www.facetvideo.com/xcart/customer/home.php

They are image stamilizers that ignore the macrovision and other encryption.

Oh, WinXP… …sorry, easy to do on mac os x (well at least for now…)…