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Last Tuesday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs held a press conference event known as "Showtime," where he revealed revisions for all three iPod models, the prototype for a new media center box, and the new version of iTunes. Also revealed was an overhaul to the iTunes Store, which now boasts full movie downloads with prices ranging from $9.99 to $12.99. If the thought of watching a movie on your video iPod is appealing, you're certainly in luck. Nothing was stopping you from doing so before iTunes offered movie downloads however, and you definitely don't need to pay Apple a cent in the process.
Ever since the video iPod hit shelves last October, the capability to fill it with DVDs from your collection and watch them on the fly has been there, and this week I'm going to walk you through the process of doing so. Since I'm a Windows user myself, the instructions here are intended to be followed on a PC. Although I'm unaware of it, I'm sure there's a similar way to do the same thing on a Mac, and the way my Mac-using friends rave about their machines, it can probably be done with telepathy or something.
1. To start, you're going to need to download two programs: DVD Decrypter and Videora iPod Converter. Both are freeware and can be found relatively easily by looking around on Google. Install both programs.
2. Open up DVD Decrypter, and insert your DVD into a DVD readable drive. Click the "Mode" dropdown box and select "IFO."
3. On the right of the program you'll see two tabs: "Input" and "Stream Processing." With the "Input" tab selected, there will be a couple of numbered lines labeled "VTS." Nested within these lines will be more numbered lines labeled "PGC." After each PGC, in brackets, will be the time duration of that particular video segment. Select the PGC with the longest duration, as this will most likely be the movie itself, while the others will probably be deleted scenes and extra features.
4. Select the "Stream Processing" tab and check the box that says "Enable Stream Processing." Below that, you should see a list of all the video and audio streams contained on the DVD. Check the box next to the topmost video stream and the topmost audio stream, and uncheck all of the other boxes below, to ensure that you're only ripping one video and one audio stream.
5. Click the "Tools" dropdown box and select "Settings." Under the "General" tab on the right you can select the "Custom" radio button and choose where you want the file to be saved. Make sure you select a disk drive with enough memory, as a decrypted DVD will usually take up about six to seven gigabytes in VOB format. Close the "Settings" box, and click the large button on the bottom left of the program that shows a picture of a DVD with an arrow pointing to a hard disk.
6. Once it finishes decrypting, open up Videora. This program will convert the VOB file that DVD Decrypter gave us into MP4 format. Click the "Setup" button on the left, and under the "Settings" tab choose a destination for the file to be placed after it is converted. Under the "Profiles" tab, set the "Resolution" to 320x240 and the "Framerate" to 29.97 fps.
7. Click the "Convert" button on the left. Click on "Transcode New Video" and browse for the VOB file, which will be located wherever you set DVD Decrypter to output it. Select it and click "Start" to begin the conversion process. This will usually take a couple of hours, and will go faster if you're not doing anything else on the computer. The easiest way is to just have it convert while you're sleeping.
8. Once Videora is finished converting, simply add the MP4 file into your iTunes library and sync it with your iPod. All other files, such as the VOB, can now be deleted.
While it's legal to make backup copies of DVDs you own, it's illegal to copy DVDs that you do not personally own.
Bryan Irace is a staff columnist for The Heights. He welcomes comments iraceb@bcheights.com.
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