Small list of useful Mac stuff.

Computer issues and app recommendations
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JQW
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Postby JQW » 12 Nov 2005, 00:06

JQW wrote:
Bucolic Old Sir Henry wrote:Here's a handy guide to using Mac The Ripper and a programme called Handbrake to rip DVDs to iPod format.

Pip pip!


They've now updated that to just require the latest version of Handbrake. It'll rip and encode a DVD in one go, splitting into multiple files if needed. It took me about 6 hours to do a 90-min DVD this weekend on a G5 iMac, but I was also running other CPU intensive things at the same time.

Now to get the video iPod.


I now see that they've amended one of the key stages in the instructions - namely the video format. The current settings of MPEG4/AAC audio are the correct ones - the earlier ones were incorrect.
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Re: Small list of useful Mac stuff.

Postby secondhandsocks » 16 Nov 2005, 18:05

JQW wrote:DVD Ripping Tools

Mac The Ripper - http://www.wormintheapple.gr/macdvd/mtr.html


Is that the right link, or am I a bit thick?
Can't see any download on the page.
Has it moved?

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Re: Small list of useful Mac stuff.

Postby JQW » 16 Nov 2005, 18:09

Happiness Stan wrote:
JQW wrote:DVD Ripping Tools

Mac The Ripper - http://www.wormintheapple.gr/macdvd/mtr.html


Is that the right link, or am I a bit thick?
Can't see any download on the page.
Has it moved?


It has moved - try http://www.losprimates.net/mtr/ instead. It looks like that link has been webjacked.

I'll update the main article.
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secondhandsocks

Postby secondhandsocks » 16 Nov 2005, 18:22

getting it now, thanks Paul

secondhandsocks

Postby secondhandsocks » 17 Nov 2005, 08:09

Sorry, follow up to the Mac The Ripper questions.

MTR is nice and simple and lots of the online guides point to DVD2One but this is only a trial version.
Should I just buy Toast and be done with it?

I don't need to shrink just to burn, am I going about this the hard way?

What about DVD Imager?

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Postby JQW » 17 Nov 2005, 10:03

I think you may just be able to burn using iDVD. That'll be installed on you machine.
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Postby secondhandsocks » 17 Nov 2005, 10:21

JQW wrote:I think you may just be able to burn using iDVD. That'll be installed on you machine.

I saw this on the ripdifferent site
"You don't use IDVD for burning ripped DVD's. Use Toast.

IDVD is for creating DVD's from your home video footage not burning ripped DVD's"

I'll have a go later and DVD Imager http://lonestar.utsa.edu/llee/applescript/dvdimager.html
looks pretty straight-forward.

Lots of trial and error coming up.

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Postby JQW » 17 Nov 2005, 10:33

I still think it can take footage ripped from a DVD and burn them to another via iDVD, although I've not tried it. iMovie might be needed as an intermediate step.
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Postby Snowdog » 17 Nov 2005, 10:55

JQW wrote:I still think it can take footage ripped from a DVD and burn them to another via iDVD, although I've not tried it. iMovie might be needed as an intermediate step.


Mac The Ripper creates DVD authored files such as VOB files etc. in VIDEO_TS & AUDIO_TS folders.

I have been unable to do anything with these files in an application, be it iDVD or DVD Studio Pro because they are what these applications produce rather than what they start with. (Although I am able to watch VOB files using Mplayer, they are not viewable in any other player such as Quicktime.)

Toast works perfectly, provided you use a certain procedure* but obviously Toast costs money.


*Ignore the "video" tab at the top & go to the "data" tab. From the flyout pane at the side, select "DVD-ROM (UDF)". Click on "New Disc", name it if you want & add your video_ts & audio_ts folders. Note: The audio_ts is always empty but some older players look for it so it's best if it's there.

Burn your disc.

If there's room, you can always add additional data files outside of the video_ts & audio_ts folders that won't interfere with the playing of the disc but could be accessed on a computer. (Concert or track listing notes, production details, artworks etc.)
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Postby The Prof » 17 Nov 2005, 10:55

JQW wrote:I still think it can take footage ripped from a DVD and burn them to another via iDVD, although I've not tried it. iMovie might be needed as an intermediate step.


No you can't.

My advice FWIW would be to use Roxio Popcorn once the DVD has been ripped. Never had any problems with it and it will compress the ripped material to fit on a standard blank DVD.

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Postby Snowdog » 17 Nov 2005, 10:56

Snowdog 2005 wrote:
JQW wrote:I still think it can take footage ripped from a DVD and burn them to another via iDVD, although I've not tried it. iMovie might be needed as an intermediate step.


Mac The Ripper creates DVD authored files such as VOB files etc. in VIDEO_TS & AUDIO_TS folders.

I have been unable to do anything with these files in an application, be it iDVD or DVD Studio Pro because they are what these applications produce rather than what they start with. (Although I am able to watch VOB files using Mplayer, they are not viewable in any other player such as Quicktime.)

Toast works perfectly, provided you use a certain procedure* but obviously Toast costs money.


*Ignore the "video" tab at the top & go to the "data" tab. From the flyout pane at the side, select "DVD-ROM (UDF)". Click on "New Disc", name it if you want & add your video_ts & audio_ts folders. Note: The audio_ts is always empty but some older players look for it so it's best if it's there.

Burn your disc.

If there's room, you can always add additional data files outside of the video_ts & audio_ts folders that won't interfere with the playing of the disc but could be accessed on a computer. (Concert or track listing notes, production details, artworks etc.)


Of course, if you manage it I'd be interested because it's something I need to do on several discs & have been unable to.
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Postby The Prof » 17 Nov 2005, 10:57

Or use Del's method above. I don't think Toast has the ability to shrink ripped material to 4.75 gigs though, does it?

Popcorn costs £35, which isn't really that much.

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Postby JQW » 17 Nov 2005, 10:59

The Prof wrote:
JQW wrote:I still think it can take footage ripped from a DVD and burn them to another via iDVD, although I've not tried it. iMovie might be needed as an intermediate step.


No you can't.

My advice FWIW would be to use Roxio Popcorn once the DVD has been ripped. Never had any problems with it and it will compress the ripped material to fit on a standard blank DVD.


Well, I've only burnt DVDs using geeky command-line things. It works, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone here.
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Postby secondhandsocks » 17 Nov 2005, 11:01

The Prof wrote:Or use Del's method above. I don't think Toast has the ability to shrink ripped material to 4.75 gigs though, does it?

Popcorn costs £35, which isn't really that much.


Thanks chaps, I'll check out Toast / Popcorn.
£35 sounds better.
I suppose I won't need to shrink if I'm using dual-layer discs, probably better not to compress at all.

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Postby JQW » 17 Nov 2005, 11:04

Happiness Stan wrote:I suppose I won't need to shrink if I'm using dual-layer discs, probably better not to compress at all.


Assuming you can find or afford the blanks.
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Postby Snowdog » 17 Nov 2005, 11:13

I use "DVD 2oneX" to shrink the files if necessary.

This gives you the option to lose stuff you can live without, such as menus, subtitles, languages, special features, commentaries etc. leaving more room for the stuff you do need so that it doesn't need to be compressed too much.
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Postby JQW » 16 Dec 2005, 10:49

MPEG Streamclip - http://www.alfanet.it/squared5/mpegstreamclip.html - a handy free tool for converting MPEG and Quicktime movies and MPEG streams into different formats. I've used it to convert some MPEGs into a format suitable for putting on the Video iPod.

It also claims to be able to copy data off some PVR systems.
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Postby Snowdog » 16 Dec 2005, 11:42

JQW wrote:MPEG Streamclip - http://www.alfanet.it/squared5/mpegstreamclip.html - a handy free tool for converting MPEG and Quicktime movies and MPEG streams into different formats. I've used it to convert some MPEGs into a format suitable for putting on the Video iPod.

It also claims to be able to copy data off some PVR systems.


What a coincidence. I just discovered & downloaded that yesterday!

Have used it to strip the codec out of a movie so that I can get it ready for DVD authoring. Took ages but worked a treat.
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Postby Bucolic Old Sir Henry » 02 Feb 2006, 22:04

Somebody want to try this out? Zerospan is a Mac OS X app (free) that can allow two computers to talk to each other via Zeroconf (aka Bonjour, or Rendezvous) - theoretically anywhere on the internet. Should allow the full range of Zeroconf/Bonjour services, including iTunes streaming and file-sharing.

Pip pip!
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Postby The Prof » 03 Feb 2006, 00:38

Nice idea but doesn't seem to want to work on mine.

Downloaded it, opened it up and over an hour later it's still saying "Starting Up" :?


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