DVD ripping to A500 format

[gerryex]

Hi ALL,

Could someone recommend a free (or cheap) PC program to rip a DVD into a format that the A500 can use. I did do a search but it brought up kind of old posts and it was a little confusing. So I figured it would be worth it to ask for recommendations now.

Thanks,
Gerry

 

[Batchman]

Hi ALL,

Could someone recommend a free (or cheap) PC program to rip a DVD into a format that the A500 can use.

Thanks,
Gerry

I've been using DVD Catalyst 4. It's pretty easy to use and works well.

 

[detz]

Gerry, I use DVDFab 8 QT. I've had the program for a couple of years now and I haven't had any problems with it. You can try it out for free for 30 days, but it cost $50 with free updates for life. Of course, anytime a new movie comes out with new encryption, you can d/l new update to fix that problem with-in a day or two of its release.

 

[gerryex]

Gerry, I use DVDFab 8 QT. I've had the program for a couple of years now and I haven't had any problems with it. You can try it out for free for 30 days, but it cost $50 with free updates for life. Of course, anytime a new movie comes out with new encryption, you can d/l new update to fix that problem with-in a day or two of its release.

Hi detz,

Thanks for the suggestion but I went ahead and bought DVD Catalyst 4 and it was only $10 (better than $50!!) I tried it on one DVD and it worked perfectly. So I think I'm all set!

Gerry

 

[Greg_E]

I just bought DVD Catalyst too, first thing that actually did what it claimed to do without a bunch of screwing around, and the current $10 makes it kind of a no-brainer.

 

[gerryex]

I just bought DVD Catalyst too, first thing that actually did what it claimed to do without a bunch of screwing around, and the current $10 makes it kind of a no-brainer.

Yes! And two things impressed me. When I first installed it and started it up the target format was already set for an Acer A500, yet it never asked during the install. I had in the past hooked up the A500 to the PC so I'm guessing DVD Cat scanned for what kind of drivers had been active and found something for the A500 and assume that to be the target format.

The second thing had to do with which file on the DVD was the main title. The first one or two conversions went without any problem but then the next one came up with a screen I had not seen before. Previously when it scanned the DVD there were maybe 5 or 6 titles and it was able to determine which was the main title. This DVD (Avengers, I think) had 99 titles! It seems they do this sometimes to confuse rippers. On this screen there was something like Click Me for help, and that brought me to a web page that described how to play the DVD with the Win Media Player, get to the main title and the hover the mouse somewhere to get the title number. You then go back to DVD Cat and use that number as the main title and it converted just fine.

Cool!

Gerry

 

[Greg_E]

I just look at the length of each title to make sure I am getting what I want, but I guess they could forge that info too. Not sure what the big deal is about ripping disks, the pirates will always find a way around anything they try, and the home users in most countries have the right to use them for their own personal use any way they want (which may include ripping to a file base portable device).

The A500 comes up because it is alphabetically the first device in the list, but it was interesting to see it listed.

 

[ahclem]

Yes! And two things impressed me. When I first installed it and started it up the target format was already set for an Acer A500, yet it never asked during the install. I had in the past hooked up the A500 to the PC so I'm guessing DVD Cat scanned for what kind of drivers had been active and found something for the A500 and assume that to be the target format.

There are 8 different "A500" ripping profiles. Which one did you use? What App are you using to play these?

 

[gerryex]

I just look at the length of each title to make sure I am getting what I want, but I guess they could forge that info too.

Yes, but when the scan shows up 99 different titles many of them have the same long length and according to DVD Cat's web site those are dummy titles meant to spoof ripper programs!

Not sure what the big deal is about ripping disks, the pirates will always find a way around anything they try, and the home users in most countries have the right to use them for their own personal use any way they want (which may include ripping to a file base portable device).

I agree 100%.

The A500 comes up because it is alphabetically the first device in the list, but it was interesting to see it listed.

Acer is first in the list but the A100 is first in the device list. So something had to tell the program to set itself to the A500. It still think its cool, but wonder how they did it.

There are 8 different "A500" ripping profiles. Which one did you use? What App are you using to play these?

I just used the one that's marked as A500. On the PC if you double click on the file it should be played by Win Media Player. On the A500 the standard player should play it but I have been using Mobo Player for quite a while (its free) and it played just fine.

Gerry

 

[ahclem]

I just used the one that's marked as A500. On the PC if you double click on the file it should be played by Win Media Player. On the A500 the standard player should play it but I have been using Mobo Player for quite a while (its free) and it played just fine.

Gerry

Thanks! My videos were skipping frames (pretty badly). One series was ripped that way somehow, one movie was skipping frames in the only player that worked (I don't remember which), but played fine on the PC. I'll give it another shot.

 

[Greg_E]

If the DVD you are ripping was a made for TV series, then it might be at 30 frames per second. The default in DVDcatalyst is to use an inverse telecine frame rate conversion. I found that my made for TV series disks would show a "glitch" every few seconds until I unchecked this in the poweruser menus. I also found that most of the disks I was converting had a lot of video noise in them and checking the enhance box applied some noise reduction before it encoded the files. Otherwise my settings are pretty much stock.