LostInTechnology

How To Rip and Catalog Your DVDs for Free

Posted on 06. Jul, 2009 by Brian.Ross in How To, Software

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Ripping a DVD to your computer and cataloging your movie collection can be easy and cheap, provided that you have the right tools.  Today, we’re going to help make things a bit easier on you by telling you about two totally free programs that will help you get the job done right.  And, since I’m on the path of generosity, I might as well show you how to use them, too.

To begin, you’ll need get your DVD(s) ready and then download and install Free DVD Ripper 2.25 and Ant Movie Catalog.

Ripping a DVD

Insert your DVD into you disk drive (discontinue any auto play you may have set) and open Free DVD Ripper 2.25.  Once open, you’ll need to click on the Open DVD button and browse for your movie’s location, as indicated in the screen shots below

After the program has read the contents of the disk, a window will appear that will show you all of the titles available on the disk.  By default, the longest one will be displayed at the top of the window, and in the vast majority of cases, this will be the main movie and the one that you want to select.

Click on settings in the menu bar, then click Input Settings.  You can pretty much leave most of these settings alone, but I do want to point out a few to you.  The Output Frame Rate can be set for whatever you prefer.  In computer playback, this setting will not matter much.  However, if you plan to burn the movie to disk at a later point in time, you may wan to consider using a rate that is compatible you TV or other video equipment.

The next thing to look at is how you want your computer to store the temporary information.  In the Save your DVD drive section, not only can you set the amount of space you like you computer to use in the encoding process, but you can also set whether you’d like RAM to be used or your hard drive.  This is a nice feature to have, especially if your system is low on memory, or if you’d like to have it available for something else.

Note, that you can also select the audio you’d like to use, as well as whether or not you want the subtitles.  Excluding features that you will/do not use will help to save space on your hard drive.  The last feature I’d like to point out is DeCSS, or decrypting Content-Scrambling System.  Without going into to  much detail about this, CSS is a program that is encoded into some DVD’s to prevent you from copying them.  This is an added bonus, because you won’t often find this feature available in free software. Return to settings in the menu bar, this time click output settings. In the upper left corner of this window, you have the ability to control what format you want to convert your DVD to (VCD, SVCD, DivX, MPEG1, MPEG 2, MPEG 4, AVI).  Most people use AVI due to the small space it uses.  Each format has it’s own default audio settings which will change in the box below as you change the format, but you can adjust them if you prefer something else.

In the export sttings section you can adjust the resolution output.  Again, it had preset selections, or you can choose your own.  I suggest playing the movie in the application and pausing it on a frame with a full picture, then adjusting these settings to see what suits you best.  Finally, we have the Volume don’t exceed section, which allows you to restrict the amount of space the video will use on your computer.  Once you’re finished click apply.Now that you’ve got everything set the way that you want it, simply select where you want your rip to go by clicking the output folder button and browsing to that location.  Then, click the Start Encoding button.  As the DVD is getting ripped, look at the bottom of the window and you will see the fps rate, how far encoding has progressed, how much time is left to complete the encoding, and how much space it is consuming.  Encoding time will vary depending on the format and resolution that you’ve chosen.  While we wait for that to finish, let me show you how to keep track of all theses great movies you’ve got.

Catalog Your Movie Collection

Ant Movie Catalog (AMC), in it’s 3rd edition, is distributed under the GNU General Public License and holds a number of awards.  What it lacks in fancy UI, it more than makes up for in features.  This thing comes in a multitude of languages, can store your catalog in XML or binary formats, has customizable information imports from the internet (including IMDB), can manage your DVD loans, show you statistics on just about everything involved and generate reports and print lists.  According to the website, it work on Window 95 to Windows XP, but I know from first hand knowledge that it also work with Windows Vista & 7.

First thing you’ll want to do is decide where you want to store your catalog data and create a folder there.  AMC uses a relatively small amount of space; for example, I have a little over 1500 movies and my database is 11MB.  Once you do that, it’s time to open the application and get all your preferences set.  You can open the preferences window by pressing F10, going tools in the menu bar, or by clicking on the wench icon on the toolbar.  From here, you can adjust a number of features.  For now, I’m just going to address a few to get you started.

First, you’ll want to click on files and check the top two boxes on that page.  Under the At startup, automatically… you’ll find an empty box, click on the folder icon to the right and navigate to the folder in which you previously designated to store your catalog data.  Once this is set, it will automatically open and save your information here.

Next, move down to the movie information and check the boxes indicated below.  What this will do is automatically assign the next available number to your entry and open a box to to enter the DVD title so that it can retrieve the information from the internet.

Finally, click on search on internet and choose a service (I recommend IMDb), then click scripting and check the Auto-run last script… box.  This will set the default place to retrieve your movie information, and each time you go to add another title it will return to that service unless told otherwise.  Click save and you’re all set to go.

Now, go to movie in the menu bar and click add… A window similar to the one below will appear.  It may or may not have the import box already open.  If not, scroll to the service that you’d like to use and double click it.  The next time you open this window it should automatically appear.  Enter your movie title and hit enter.

Sometimes the result will show many movies that are somehow related to what you typed in, however, 99% of the time the one you want is at the top.  Select the movie you’re looking for, click save and you’re done.  A page will open with everything from what actors are in it, who produces it, what it’s about, and even a picture of the movie cover!

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Tags: catalog, dvd, free, How To, movie catalog, rip, Ripping