Recently in DVD Hacks Category

Marquis writes, "I downloaded a file from a torrent and it has 5 files in it VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.BUP; VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO; VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_0.VUP; VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_0.IFO; VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_1.VOB May i know what are this files and what kind of format is this?"

It sounds like the torrent you downloaded is a pre-built DVD of some kind. The directory structure for DVD movies typically puts all the movie content and menus in a VIDEO_TS folder. The VTS_01_1.VOB is an MPEG-2 file, which means you could play it on your computer assuming you have DVD player software installed (something like PowerDVD Ultra or VLCPlayer).

The torrent was likely packaged with the intent that you would burn the files to DVD to watch on a set top DVD player. Here's an easy way to burn it for set top DVD playback.

Richie asks, "How do I convert RealPlayer files to whatever so I can put them on a disc to view on my DVD player?"

There are several ways to go from RealMedia files like RM and RMVB to DVD. The way to get the best looking DVDs is to first convert the RMVB files to AVI and then use a DVD authoring software tool like Nero Vision or MyDVD to add the AVI file to a disk. If you have Windows Vista, you can also use the DVD Maker app included in Vista Home Premium and Vista Ultimate. The MPEG-2 encoders in any of those tools are better than what you might find in free DVD authoring software. If you're simply looking for a fast solution for converting RMVB to a DVD playable on your set top DVD player, there are faster methods using a free DVD converter.

Download SoThink Movie DVD Maker

Free DVD authoring software is hard to come by. Many of the free apps I've found are buggy. SoThink Movie DVD Maker is among the best of the free solutions available for DVD authoring. The app converts most formats, including AVI, MPEG, WMV, MP4, RMVB, MOV, and 3GP to DVD. Basic video editing features like trimming clips and combining smaller clips into a larger movie are also supported. When your video is ready for DVD you can burn straight to disk. The default video format is PAL, so if you are authoring home movies created in the US, you'll need to change the defaults for NTSC support. This is especially useful in combination with something like Windows Movie Maker for Windows XP, which includes no DVD burning support. While the app will work with Vista, the Vista DVD Maker application has a better burning engine and far more features for authoring DVDs. [Windows 2k/XP/Vista $0.00]

Chris writes, "We have tried Sonic and Roxio to transfer our digital camera movies to DVD. The movies burn to DVD OK, but when we play in our DVD player on TV screens, the movies are pixilated and not clear... is there some way to correct this problem? If I am understanding the 160 box in the bottom of the camera's movie screen window, our recording pixels may be set at 160 x 120 (compact). Any hope for making to big screen? Or is there a way for the video to only play at 1/4 the size instead of full screen - thereby hopefully keeping integrity of video?

160x120 video is never going to look good on a television screen. The resolution is simply too low. What Sonic does when it authors a standard definition DVD is size the video to fit at a standard full screen NTSC television (or PAL television if you're authoring a PAL disk). That means your 160x120 video is getting stretched to approximately 4 times it's original size. You're on the right track with attempting to play the video at 1/4 the size of full screen, but you need some additional tools to make it work.

The solution to the problem is to add a black border around the video to pad it to an optimal size prior to authoring the DVD. To do this, you'll need two tools I frequently mention here: VirtualDubMod and AVISynth. We're going to use the tools to create black bars all the way around the video to center it on the screen and force the DVD authoring software to maintain the video at it's proper size.

Required Software:

VirtualDubMod
AVIsynth

After installing both applications, follow the directions below specific to your video file format.

Putting Borders Around an AVI

If your source file is an AVI, you can force a border within the VirtualDubMod application directly (or with VirtualDub). Open your AVI file in VirtualDubMod and choose Video > Filters from the menu. Click the Add button and choose the resize filter from the list.

On the filter configuration window, leave the original width and height unchanged. Check the box to Expand frame and letterbox image, setting the new Frame width to 640 and the new Frame height to 480. Click OK when you are finished.

Save the file by choosing File > Save As from the menu. When finished open your favorite DVD authoring app and import the AVI you just created with VirtualDubMod and make a DVD.

Putting Borders Around WMV, Real and other Formats

Other formats, like WMV, ASF, MP4 and Real require AVISynth to add a border around the video. This will help you import those files, add a border, and save an AVI you can use in your DVD authoring software.

Note: If you need to add a border around a MOV file, you need to convert the MOV to AVI before attempting to add a border.

Open notepad and type the following, replacing C:\yourfile.wmv with the path to your video:

For 160x120 video use:
AddBorders(DirectShowSource("C:\yourfile.wmv"), 240, 180, 240, 180)

For 320x240 video use:
AddBorders(DirectShowSource("C:\yourfile.wmv"), 160, 120, 160, 120)

Save your notepad file as yourfilename.avs (where yourfilename is whatever you call the file).

If you need to convert a bunch of files, I included AVISynth templates in the VirtualDubMod download.

Open the .avs file you just created in VirtualDubMod. After you add a border around your video with VirtualDubMod save the file as an AVI. Import the AVI you just created into your DVD authoring software and burn a DVD that respects the original resolution of your video.

Here's a before and after show of the video with border in VirtualDubMod.

For more on using VirtualDubMod and AVISynth with video projects see these other tutorials:

Reversing a video clip to play it backwards
Convert PAL to NTSC with VirtualDubMod
How to Convert RMVB with VirtualDubMod

How to make an HD-DVD using standard 4.7GB DVD media or 8.5GB dual layer disks.

After shooting numerous hours of high definition video footage, I've been itching for a way to create some HD-DVDs. There are no HD-DVD burners on the market at the moment. And media seems to be in scarce supply. Sure, I could shell out $700 for a Blu-ray burner, but then I'd need to spend another $600 for a player that conveniently connects to my television (like a PS3, for instance). At least I can use the Xbox 360 HD-DVD player with Windows Vista or my 360, and there's now an HP HD-DVD player in the wild as well. When I found out Pinnacle added support for HD-DVD burning to Pinnacle Studio Plus, I was thrilled. Better yet, they do it by burning to standard 4.7GB DVDs or to 8.5GB dual layer disks.

The HD-DVD burning feature is a $50 upgrade to the existing Pinnacle Studio Plus package and works well for authoring in either Windows XP or Windows Vista. The first time you go to the Make Movie menu and choose HD DVD from the Disc Type menu, Pinnacle opens a window asking you if you want to activate the feature. You can also add it to an existing copy of Pinnacle Studio Plus directly from Pinnacle's site.

How to Make an HD-DVD with Pinnacle Studio

Once you have the HD-DVD portion of Pinnacle Studio Plus activated, it's relatively easy to make an HD-DVD. Click the Make Movie button and choose the Disc tab. Select HD DVD from the Disk Type drop down and choose a Video Quality. Based on my testing, you want to stick with Best Quality, which gives you 23 minutes of movie time on a 4.7GB disk and 42 minutes on a 8.5GB disk. There is an option to maximize movie on the disk and anther one that dynamically adjusts based on how much footage you have, but if you want your video to look great on disk, stick with Best Quality and edit accordingly.

The Settings page is where you might need to make a few changes. It's here you can set a custom bit rate for your video content, convert the video to progressive scan content as the disk is authored and choose whether to burn to disk directly or create a file on your hard drive and then burn.

The only time you want to use progressive encoding is if your content is already progressive (like if your camera shoots in 720p rather than 1080i).

Based on the test DVDs I burned, I highly recommend choosing the Safe mode for Burn Options. I made several coasters and had to go back and re-render my project, which made the whole process of burning disks take several times longer.

Menus and HD-DVD Authoring in Pinnacle

In my tests of adding menus to HD-DVD projects, the final DVD would not play. In each test, the video launched to the menu screen and selecting a chapter caused the video to error out. This leads me to believe that the menuing in Pinnacle Studio Plus is a standard def only feature. This isn't a show stopper for me, but at some point it would be nice to have a working menu structure for HD-DVDs.

Some tips on HD-DVD Authoring with Pinnacle Studio:

• Pinnacle labels the disk the same name as your video project, so if you want a meaningful disk name, choose your project name accordingly.
• The software does not automatically adjust based on the type of disk you put in the drive. If you're using a dual layer disk, make sure you set the software to dual layer or you'll still only get 23 minutes of recording time when burning the project.
• Don't check the box to re-encode your content. The software will re-encode as necessary and it's almost never better to re-encode your files without reason.
• Know your format and playback options before authoring - in general, HDV cameras record interlaced content. You should master your disk with the interlacing intact under most circumstances.
• If you recorded your video at 59.94, you need to decimate the video to 29.97 with something like VirtualDub or Pinnacle won't recognize the video footage

While this isn't the perfect solution of having an HD-DVD burner and actual HD-DVD blank media, Pinnacle's $50 add-on for HD-DVD authoring is worth the investment. The disks play in the Xbox 360 HD-DVD player both connected to a PC and to an Xbox 360 console. They are also compatible with the Toshiba HD-DVD players. One especially nice feature is support for playback in Vista even without connecting to an HDCP compliant display, which makes for a more compelling story for those of us who don't have HDCP compliant monitors yet. You can acquire both Pinnacle Studio Plus and the HD-DVD add-on direct from Pinnacle.

Sam asks, "How do I convert a PAL DVD made in Europe to NTSC?"

I've experimented with a handful of ways to convert PAL format video to NTSC, with none of them yielding perfect results. If you have a friend in Europe who sends you a DVD created in the PAL format, you might have problems playing it back if you don't either have a DVD player with PAL support or a computer that knows how to playback PAL format content. One way around this is to convert the PAL DVD to either a digital file on your PC or converting the file to an NTSC compatible DVD.

Making a PAL Video File

The easy solution to your problem is to simply convert the PAL DVD to a digital file on your computer. While there are rules about DVD drives supporting multiple regions or both NTSC and PAL, software doesn't care what format a digital file is in, it simply plays the file.

To convert the PAL DVD to a file, you need VLC Player. You can download VLC Player here.

Put the PAL DVD in the DVD drive in your computer (even if your computer is set to playback NTSC DVDs) and open VLC Player. From the File menu choose Open Disc. Click the radio button next to DVD and check the box next to Stream/Save, then click the Settings button.

On the Settings dialog box, check the box next to File, choose a name and location to save your file. Select the button next to MPEG PS, which stands for Program Stream. In the Transcoding options section, check the box next to Audio codec and choose either mp2a or mp3 as the output format. I use 192 kbps as the bitrate for marginally better quality. Last, check the box next to Select all elementary streams.

After clicking OK, click OK on the Disc Open menu to start copying the contents of the disk to a file. Depending on the disk, this will take about 30 minutes to copy the full contents to a file on your hard drive.

If all you need is a digital file, you can either quit here or convert the .mpg file to something that takes up less space, because a full dual-layer disc will create a 7GB or greater file.

Read on for details on converting the PAL format video file to NTSC.

If you want to create a video file that can be burned as an NTSC compatible disk, you need to convert the file you just created with VLC Player. PAL DVD video is typically 720x576 at 25fps. NTSC is generally 29.97fps and 720x480, but in this case we're going to cheat a little in making a file. A commonly supported video format is 24fps at 720x480. Slowing down the 25fps video from the PAL file to 24fps gets you a viewable result without too much complex math. To make this conversion, we need another video app called VirtualDubMod.

You can download VirtualDubMod here.

First VirtualDubMod imports the .mpg file we created, which may take several minutes.

After importing the video, we need to apply a number of filters to the file in order to process the PAL to NTSC conversion correctly.

From the Video menu, make sure Full processing mode is selected.

Choose Filters from the Video menu and click the Add button.

For interlaced content, choose the Deinterlace filter, double click it and choose the Blend fields together option. If your video is progressive content you can skip this filter.

Next add the Levels filter. Because the gamma on PAL content is generally 20% higher than NTSC, put the result of 1 divided by 1.2 in the input level, which is 0.833333.

Finally add the resize filter and set it to 720x480 with the Lanczos3 filter mode.

We're not quite done with the settings yet. Now we need to make changes to the Audio before converting. From the Streams menu, choose Stream list.

Right-click the audio file and verify full processing mode is on. Select Use advanced filtering from the right-click menu, to make sure it is checked. Now select Filters and choose Add. First add the input filter. Next add the stretch filter. Double click the stretch filter to add the stretch ration. To keep the audio in sync with the video, we have to slow it down just a little. The PAL audio is set to match up with a 25fps video speed. We're converting the file to 24fps, so we need the audio to correspond. To get a matching audio, divide 25 by24 and use the result in an audio stretch filter. This translates to 1.0416666. Last add the output filter.

The final thing you need to add to the video processing settings is a frame rate. Choose Video > Frame Rate from the menu, click the button next to Change to and put 24 in the box.

If you plan to convert several PAL files to NTSC, choose Save Processing Settings from the File menu to store all these settings for later.

Now choose Save As from the file menu and either pick a compressed AVI format like DivX from the list of choices or save an uncompressed AVI file. This is the file you will use to make a DVD later.

Read on for a tutorial on creating a DVD.

Erin writes, "How do I get video from my digital camera to play on a DVD. I am using Kodak EasyShare software to burn the videos to a DVD-R. It seems they are burned but I cannot play them unless I click on each mov file in my computer HELP?"

Kodak EasyShare burns movie files to DVD as a data disk. This is great for creating a backup of your movies to store on DVD, but doesn't create a DVD playable in your set top DVD player. To create a DVD for playback in something like a set top DVD player, you need to use DVD authoring software when making the disk.

Before buying any DVD authoring software, you might check the software that came with your DVD burner. Chances are, one of the applications is designed to create movie DVDs playable virtually anywhere.

I use Sonic MyDVD for all my own DVD authoring because it is both simple and flexible. MyDVD handles virtually every video file format, so you won't be stuck converting your movie files before you start creating the DVD. It includes a simple interface for making the on screen menu for navigating DVD contents. MyDVD also offers one of the best interfaces for including chapter points in your DVD movies.

MyDVD may be purchased in one of two sets of features, or as MyDVD Express in the Roxio Easy Media Creator 9 suite. If you think you might ever want to do things like convert video files for iPod playback, edit your movies, make music CDs, or any of the million other options included in Easy Media Creator, buying that package will give you the biggest bang for your buck.

See also: my tutorial on making DVDs with MyDVD.

Keith writes, "How do I make DVD to play on my home DVD player?"

To make a DVD that plays on your home DVD player, you need DVD authoring software to convert the video to the file format for the DVD, as well as add menus and chapters (if you want those features). There are a number of DVD authoring software applications available. My personal favorite for making DVDs is Roxio MyDVD, which is available as both a standalone application as well as part of the Roxio Creator authoring suite. Here's how to make a DVD using Sonic MyDVD.

Download DIKO

With plenty of DivX and XviD video content available for download, there's also a common need for converting those video files to DVD. DIKO is one of the easiest solutions I've found for converting DivX video to DVD. You essentially point DIKO at an AVI and the app sets up the video for authoring. Choose from an authored DVD with no menu, or menus generated from one of two bundled menu generation apps. The app supports approximately 2 hours of video on an SVCD and 10 hours of video on a DVD, although, I recommend against this because the author's idea of good quality and mine are apparently quite different. It installs a few free apps, like AVISynth and VirtualDubMod, providing an efficient polish to these otherwise complex tools, making DIKO a solid solution for turning your digital video collection into DVDs. [Windows 9x/2k/XP $0.00]

How do I convert RMVB files to AVI or DVD?

RMVB files are great for online downloads, but they aren't widely compatible with all available media players. Converting these RealMedia Variable Bitrate files currently requires either purchasing a video converter or hacking together an AVISynth script for VirtualDubMod, which starts getting a little geeky. Below I provide both conversion options, with a link to software that gracefully handles the easy route and step-by-step instructions for converting RMVB files using VirtualDubMod. If you want to go straight from RMVB to DVD, I also include a third free option that requires a little creativity.

In the continuing search for an effective way to edit video files created by Sony Handcam DVD models, I got some great feedback from a number of people.

Marc Bowyer and a number of other people pointed out Sony does include a ripping solution for their DVDs in their Sony Vegas editing suite. That's great, but where's Sony Vegas or a disclaimer or a free trial in the camcorder packaging when I get the DVD camera home from the store? If I just purchased the DVD camera to shoot my kids birthday only to discover I couldn't do anything with the video when I'm finished recording, I'm not a happy camper. I have a copy of Vegas; it's a great editing product, but this creates a lousy experience for anyone who actually elects to own a Sony DVD Handycam. The DVD cams are generally more expensive than MiniDV cams with comparable features, even though I can edit my video out of the box if I buy MiniDV.

Gary writes, My wife uses one of the Sony Handycams which writes the files to a mini-DVD. I'm trying to figure out how to do something with these files other than duplicate the entire mini-DVD. I've tried using the Nero 6 decode routines to convert to .mpg files, but that often doesn't work well, and it generates one file per "scene" instead of just converting the entire thing into one long MPG file.

Ideally, what I'd like to be able to do is to:

1) Start with the original DVD VOB files

2) Remove bad takes

3) Combine several mini-DVD's worth of movies into one longer regular DVD, and

4) Be able to put some sort of menus onto the front of the final DVD to get to different sections, preferably not every scene, but user chosen points. Even being able to just delete some of the original menu items generated by the camera would be great.

I've got Nero v6.6.01 and I purchased Adobe Premier Elements in an attempt to work on these, but they don't seem to be the right tools to work on this.

Dimmi writes, "I know how to use the Windows Movie Maker to create a slideshow with titles, credits, music, transitions, and title overlays which I like very much. What I am having problems with is the recording of the project to a DVD+RW. I can record to a CD for playback on a computer but I want to record to a DVD+RW in order to play back on my television. Is there something I have to do to accomplish this? My DVD player plays back computer generated slideshows but WMM is super with the overlay titles. Thanks for you help"

Currently, Windows Movie Maker does not have built in support for burning DVDs. I'm crossing my fingers for DVD burning in Windows Vista, but so far there's no indication whether we will see this feature in a future version. If you use Windows Movie Maker for creating your slideshow, you need an additional software application to burn a standard DVD. It's also important to prep the video file output from Windows Movie Maker to be sure you end up with a compatible file. There are several ways to create a DVD from a video file created in Windows Movie Maker.

Processing Your Slideshow

Since you created a slideshow, I'm assuming your project is entirely based on still images. Make sure you output the video from Windows Movie Maker as a High quality video (NTSC). If you are working with footage from a DV camera, choose the DV-AVI option. Save your movie somewhere on your hard drive and proceed to using DVD authoring software to create a compatible DVD.

DVD Authoring

For most of my slideshow creation I'm currently using Sonic MyDVD because it includes slideshow generation for up to 1000 images, with the ability to make each image it's own chapter. MyDVD also supports importing WMV and DV-AVI files created in Windows Movie Maker for burning to DVD. After importing, you can either leave the movie as one big video or add chapter markers at key points in your slideshow. Depending on which version of MyDVD you purchase, the price ranges from $49.99 bundled with the burning plug-in for Photo Story 3 up to $149.00 for the most comprehensive burning options. The key differences between the basic version and the $149.00 deluxe version are support for hard drive backups and audio ripping and burning in the more expensive version. All versions of MyDVD Studio 6 include support for 1000 image slide shows and burning Tivo files, which aren't available in any other program at the moment.

Nero Ultra Edition and the accompanying NeroVision Express offers DVD authoring as part of the package. The slideshow options are inferior to both the free offerings in Windows Movie Maker and Photo Story, as well as the slideshow feature of MyDVD. As a burner, Nero is still among the best.

Easy Media Creator 7 from Roxio is another solid option. Version 6, which was still labeled DVD Creator had a number of frustrating bugs, so an upgrade may be required. I suggest this as an alternative primarily because a version is frequently bundled with OEM hardware from the big PC manufacturers, so you might already have it on your system. Roxio is now part of Sonic with features gradually merging between Media Creator and MyDVD so we may see a unified product sometime in the near future.

A whole host of other DVD authoring software options will burn your slideshow for playback in most consumer DVD players.

"How can I watch my DVD movies on my Sony PSP?"

There are two ways to convert DVD Movies for your Sony PSP. The easy way to convert movies for PSP costs a few dollars, but makes it simple enough you get the money back in time saved very quickly. The hard way to convert DVDs to PSP compatible formats is free but it takes a serious amount of human intervention and time. The method you choose boils down to how much you value your time.

The easy way to convert DVDs for Sony PSP

The easiest way to accomplish the conversion is to spend a few dollars on software to do the work for you. Currently, Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate is the most comprehensive solution I've found for converting DVDs for PSP playback. You can even embed subtitles in your foreign films and anime right from the Xilisoft interface. Download DVD Ripper Ultimate and get started converting now or read on for the much more complicated method.

David writes, "I did a wedding and made a SVCD of it before I had a DVD burner. The friend I made it for has never been able to see it. Now I want to convert it to DVD either by software or by reimporting it into camera and then importing it into my software or by converting it to AVI?"

Depending on the tools you used to create the SVCD and how many individual video clips you put on a single SVCD disk, this process is potentially quite simple. The SVCD format stores information in a series of folders, just like the DVD format. Unlike the DVD format, SVCD doesn't take the MPEG-2 video file and break it into a series of .VOB extension files. SVCD also doesn't separate audio and video into discreet files, instead leaving them combined as one single file, in part because you don't have the option to choose between multiple soundtrack options with SVCD. Assuming you didn't add any kind of copy protection to the video files or the disk itself, extracting the video is a simple matter.

All MPEG video files stored on an SVCD should be in the appropriately named MPEG2 folder. In most cases there will be only one video file in this folder. The video file likely has a completely meaningless name like AVSEQ01.MPG. Removing one or more videos from the folder should be as simple as copying them from the disk to your hard drive. Unlike DVD files, this MPG file contains both audio and video data, so there's no complicated recombining the audio and video using six different apps and losing most of your hair by the fistful.

Once the video file is transferred to your PC, fire up your favorite DVD burning application and start creating a DVD. I personally stick with Sonic MyDVD because I like the large collection of community created backgrounds and themes, but there are plenty of alternatives, including Nero, Easy Media Creator and a whole host of apps with slightly less features.

In a few rare instances with older applications, you may have issues getting the software to accept the standard SVCD 480x480 video with 44.1kHz audio in your DVD authoriing application. Considering most current DVD authoring programs will handle transcoding SVCD format video and audio to DVD 480p 48kHz media without any convoluted steps, I'm not going to walk through any of the painstaking alternatives. Easy Media Creator is available for as low as $20 with upgrade rebates at most electronics stores. If it's important to transfer the video files, the time you save in taking the easy route on this is worth far more than $20.

How do you record the audio portion of a DVD to a standard CD?

There are several ways to tackle the process of converting the audio output from a DVD movie to something you can burn to CD and listen to in your car or elsewhere. Depending on whether the DVD you want to extract the audio from is a commercial release or something you own the rights to you need to tread carefully in choosing your options. In terms of complexity, the legal method of acquiring the audio from a commercial DVD may be less complicated anyway.

The most straightforward method for separating the audio from a DVD is simply to record it cassette deck style with an audio editing application. Using this method, you'll open the DVD in a software player like PowerDVD, CinePlayer or WinDVD. To record the DVD audio track use your favorite audio editing application or download Audacity for free. Configure Audacity's preferences to record 44,100 Hz, 16-bit Stereo. Choose Stereo Mix from the list of recording options or "What you hear" if you use a Creative Labs sound card. Press the Record button and start the movie. When the movie is done, stop the recording and close your DVD player application.

At this point, it's a good idea to save a copy of the DVD audio, in case your computer crashes or the power goes out. You'll probably need to break the DVD audio into more than one file in order to put it on CDs. A CD holds a maximum of 72 minutes of Audio. Most Movies are a least 90 minutes in length. You can either divide the audio into individual tracks and save each track, or you can save the audio as two big files to be burned to two CDs.

If you followed the directions here, the recorded audio likely has several seconds of silence at the beginning of the file. Before exporting your audio, eliminate the silence by selecting it from the audio timeline and tapping the delete key.

To split the file into multiple tracks, use one of two methods. Either select the section of the main audio file you want to split into a track and actually split the track by choosing Edit > Split from the menu which creates two separate tracks.

Using this method you then save the individual Audacity tracks as separate files.

Alternatively, you can use the label feature to mark your track divisions and export each labeled section as an individual track. First, divide the audio file using separate labels for each track by specifying a segment of the audio and choosing Project > Add Label At Selection (Ctrl+B).

Once you've got all the track divisions label, export the labels as individual files.

Using your CD burning software, create a playlist with a track order to burn the files in the order you created them.

The second method for doing this requires you to first rip the DVD using a software application like SmartRipper. If the DVD is a commercial release with Macrovision protection and CSS, this is a violation of the DMCA and therefore illegal in the United States as of this writing. It's perfectly acceptable to use this method for extracting audio from any DVD you own the rights to or created yourself. Once you have the DVD ripped, an application called DVD2AVI can split out the audio as one big file. For a more visual guide to this process, take a look at the steps used in putting DVD video on a Pocket PC. The process is the same. At this point you're back to the same problem of needing to make the file small enough to fit on a CD. The same directions for using Audacity described above are necessary to split the track into a manageable file size.

Arnaldo writes, "My relatives in Italy mailed me a Region 2 DVD that does not play on my Region 1 NTSC player (it's also PAL format). What do you suggest to watch the DVD as cheaply as possible? I assume that in my case removing the code for personal use would be perfectly legal, then what?"

Without knowing where you are writing from I can't speak to the legalities of removing the CSS code. It is never legal to DeCSS a DVD in the United States, even if the content of the DVD is public domain or you have permission from the copyright holder because you violate the DMCA by doing so (whether you would actually get charged if caught in the case of public domain content is hard to say). There are solutions to the PAL to NTSC issue, some in the legal grey area and some legal methods available for under $100.

I have tried dozens of programs for burning DVDs and CDs and they all will burn a disc that runs on my computer but what do I have to do to get these burned discs to play on my set top DVD player. The DVD writer I have is for DVD+R. I have been told that the burner does not matter. What program or steps do I have to use or go through to get my disc to play on my home DVD player? There are a number of possibilities why a burned disc might not play in a set top DVD player. The most common possibility is the burned disc isn't compatible with your player. Depending on how old the set top DVD player is and what model it is, it may be incompatible with all burned discs, or incompatible specifically with DVD+R discs. Before you conclude your burner is incapable of creating discs compatible with your player, make sure you are using DVD+R discs and not DVD+RW discs. While most players currently support DVD-R and DVD+R media, many players still do not support the RW re-writable discs. Once you verify the discs are DVD+R and not RW, you can probably assume your DVD player is incompatible with disc burned in your DVD burner. At this point, your best option is probably to purchase a new DVD player. There are numerous set top DVD players capable of playing burned discs of both the DVD+R and DVD-R variety for under $100. I picked up a CyberHome model with component outputs for about $50; it plays DVDs that none of the other players in my house would play.

Converting from AVI to WMV

When FlasKMPEG is done, playback the file in Windows Media Player to make sure the audio and video look and sound okay.

Launch Windows Media Encoder

Start > All Programs > Windows Media > Windows Media Encoder

Choose Custom session from the wizard options.

Click File button in the Source From: options and browse to the location where you had FlasK output the AVI file.

On the Output tab, uncheck the box next to Pull from encoder and check the box next to Encode to file. Choose a location and name for the output file.

On the Compression tab, click the Edit button.

Click Import and browse to the location of the profile you created, then click OK.

Check the box next to Two-pass encoding for optimal output. Encoder uses the first pass to examine the file and the second pass to actually encode it, allowing it to create the best possible output.

At this point, you can optionally click the Attributes tab to enter Title, Author, Copyright, Rating, and Description info about your video, or you can simply click Vobtowmv15.gif to get the encode process rolling.

When Windows Media Encoder is finished, your video file is ready for transfer to a SD or Compact Flash card for Pocket PC devices or to sync to your Portable Media Center.

Back to Part 1 | Back to Part 2

Creating the WMV output profile

If you don't already have it installed on your system, download Windows Media Encoder and install it.

While the video is converting, launch the Windows Media Profile Editor to create an output profile for the WMV file you will create using the AVI.

Start > All Programs > Windows Media > Utilities > Windows Media Profile Editor

Add a name, describe the profile, check the boxes next to Audio and Video, accepting the defaults, and then click the Add button.

Type 800K in the box. This is the maximum threshold supported by Portable Media Center devices and is a good benchmark to hit for Pocket PC devices.

For the audio, choose 64 kbps, 44 kHz, stereo CBR

Video settings should match the screenshot below for optimum results.

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This tutorial demonstrates how to convert VOB files ripped from a DVD to a WMV format usable on both Pocket PC and Portable Media Center devices. After trying several out of the box solutions (most notably DVDtoPocketPC, which may or may not be deemed illegal at some point), I came up with a formula that produces smoother motion at reasonable file sizes, using a custom Windows Media Encoder profile and some open source tools.

There are plenty of applications available on the Internet for ripping DVDs and putting them on your hard drive. Many of these tools are illegal in the United States and other countries because they use technologies designed to defeat CSS and Macrovision protection. There are also plenty of legal reasons for ripping DVDs, like making training videos available for streaming on a corporate network, converting movies you burned to DVD back to a format available for use on a PC, or sharing material you own the copyright to in a different format.

Rather than making this tutorial a pointless exercise in what should be legal versus what is currently legal, I'm going to assume going into this that you've done your homework on getting video files off of a DVD and are now interested in being able to use those files for some other purpose. If you haven't, do a quick Google search for DVD Ripping and come back when you have the VOB files on your hard drive.

Software Required:

FlasKMPEG to convert VOB files to AVI
Windows Media Encoder to convert AVI files to WMV

Since most DVD ripping tools break large DVD files into several smaller VOB chunks, I'm currently using FlasKMPEG version 0.78.39, which automatically recombines all the VOB files to form a complete movie during the VOB to AVI conversion process. The disadvantage to version 0.78.39 is it doesn't use an installer, so everything lives in the folder you unzipped it to.

After launching FlasKMPEG by clicking on the .exe, open your video file from the File > Open menu.

At this point in the process we will output the highest quality AVI file possible, so we will keep the video the same aspect ratio as the original.

Go to Options > Advanced Options to configure settings for the AVI file.

On the video tab make sure Don't resize is checked. Check Perform dual pass encoding, which takes slightly longer but results in a better quality video file. Leave the output framerate and video structure set on the defaults.

Click the Audio tab and choose Decode Audio and 44100 Hz.

Leave the default settings on the Post Processing tab.

On the files tab, name the file and choose a location to save the output Click OK when you are finished.

From the select output button, make sure the AVI Output option is selected. Click Configure Output Module to choose the audio and video codecs used to process the AVI output.

My best success is using the Microsoft MPEG-4 Video Codec V1 for video and << Uncompressed PCM Audio >> for the audio codec. Accepting the defaults seems to produce great video for me. At this point, FlasKMPEG will process the VOB files and output an AVI file. Plan on processing time to be approximately as long as the playtime of video file you are converting.

Click Save and Close when you are finished.

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Someday, I'd like to lock all the media player developers who log these ridiculous error codes in a room and force them to listen to Alan Parson's concept albums until they can agree on meaningful error codes that make playing audio and video files the entertainment it's supposed to be instead of an exercise in futility. How hard can it be to map Tag 5376 to something meaningful like 'AAC file format'? Better yet, put some human context in the error message. I'd be elated if the computer would just say, "Hey stupid, this is not a DivX compatible file, try using the QuickTime player." Companies might get sued for lowering the collective self-esteem of users who are already badgered about applying updates and checking for spyware and immunizing their computers from the latest virus outbreak, but at least we would know how to achieve what we want to do at that exact moment. If you're reading the above error message, I'm assuming you attempted to play a file with a .mp4 extension in the DivX Player. While DivX supports MPEG-4 content, it can't handle content specifically generated using the standard format of MPEG-4 video and AAC audio, for some reason the DivX developers use a blend of MPEG-4 and MP3 audio. The easy fix for this is to play the file in QuickTime player. An alternative solution is to download the 3ivx filter suite, which will allow you to play the file back in any Windows player which supports DirectShow filters, like Windows Media Player.