Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Ripping DVDs to MP4 Files for your iPad

This little article is for those like me, who have an abundance of DVDs and would like to get them in a digital format to enjoy on your various tablets, mobile phones and etc. The title of the article indicates it's only for iPad, but in truth this stuff is pretty universal, and the file you get can be used on a variety of devices, that being said, here's what you're going to need.

DVDShrink - an oldie, but a goodie. Used to rip the contents of the DVD. A quick google search should turn up what you need, I'd recommend sticking with the second or third result, and not the dvdshrink.org site, as it seems to be mostly Spam now.

Handbrake- from http://handbrake.fr/ This is what we will use to turn the multiple files we get from the DVD rip, into one nice and neat .Mp4 video file.

First we start with DVDShrink:


Open disc, let it anylze, then click Re-Author, and on the right side of the program under the DVD Browser tab, you will see basically a list of all the video content of the disc, look for the one that says Main Movie.














Drag it over to the left side. Then click on the Backup button. Create a target folder to dump the files into, and then wait 10-20 minutes depending on the speed of your computer, and then you're done.









When it’s all finished simply click ok to close the program, now unto Handbrake!

Handbrake: 

Start by selecting the type of device you want the movie file to play on, HB does a great job of auto selecting the correct resolutions and whatnot. Then select the source folder, which will be the output folder we chose in Dvdshrink.

Next select the destination folder, and give the output file a name, then click ok, simply click Start and you’re good to go. (another 10-20 minute wait)

The resulting mp4 file can then be copied to your tablet or phone via windows explorer, or imported into iTunes and synced to your IOS device, and enjoy!