The Ojai Post

Ripping your DVDs and putting them onto your portable player, or simply storing them in your iTunes library for viewing over your network or on your Apple TV is relatively simple. There's a lot going on behind the scenes though: First, your computer has to rip all of the data from your DVD, strip it of copy protection, and then store it as a file. It then has to convert the file to an iPod/iPhone-friendly format, and shrink the file down to a manageable size.

We used to have to use 3 different tools for this. The good news, is now you only need to use one. The better news is that this one tool is absolutely free!

It's called Handbrake, and you can download it by clicking on the pineapple image above.

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Once you've downloaded and installed Handbrake into your Applications folder, you're ready to rip your first DVD. (by the way, the term "rip" does not mean "to steal." "rip" is a term used to described digitally moving ones and zeros from one media to another, such as from a DVD to a hard drive.)

Ready? Okay, let's do this. Grab a DVD that you own (I had to say that) and you'd like to put on your iPhone or iPod. Insert your DVD into your computer's drive.

NOTE: Unless you've customized your system settings, your DVD Player application is going to automatically launch when it senses the DVD. You'll need to wait for this to happen and then quit DVD Player. Some people find this "feature" to be useful. I find it to be a huge annoyance. If you feel the way I do, here's how to defeat it:

From the Apple at the top left, select System Preferences. Now click on CDs & DVDs. Set "When you insert a video DVD:" to Ignore.

[While you're at it, do the same for the other ones. I don't like it when my computer starts making decisions for me. Just because I've inserted a DVD, it does not mean that I want to watch it right that very instant. I can launch the DVD Player application myself, thank you very much... I way digress, sorry about that. Moving along.]

Pressing the Source button forces a navigation window to open.

Choose your DVD from the sidebar on the left, and click on the Open button at the bottom right. Handbrake will scan your DVD, and figure out what it needs to do. This could take up to a minute, so don't freak out and start clicking around.

Next, you'll need to tell Handbrake where you'd like to save the new movie file. Since this file is going to be anywhere between 700MB and 1.4 GB in size (seriously) I strongly recommend that you do not save it to your computer's internal hard drive, unless you plan on only doing this once or twice. If you're foresee yourself ripping your entire movie collection, be sure to save it to a backup drive, or an external work drive. Saving large (700MB+) files to your system drive is one of the fastest ways to cause disk fragmentation, which can be a huge issue. [learn about this issue HERE.]

As you can see, I'm going to ignore my own advice, and save this to the desktop.

Next, you'll need to tell Handbrake how to format your movie file for you. Press "Toggle Presets" on Handbrake's Toolbar to open the Presets pane.

Select iPhone/iPod Touch from the Presets Pane at the right. If you'd also like to save the movie for your Apple TV, you can rip it a second time, choosing Apple TV as your preset next time. Movies sized for the iPhone actually look okay (though not great) on the Apple TV.

That's it! Press the big ol' Start button at the top left.

Handbrake will now chug through the process described above. This will take sometime, depending on factors such as how much RAM you have installed, how fast your computer's processor is, etc.

NOTE: Since this process can take up to a couple of hours (or more - Blade Runner ripped in 54 minutes on one of my Mac Minis) now is the perfect time to make sure that your Mac won't fall asleep in the middle of the job. Go back to System Preferences, and this time, click on Energy Saver. Click on Show Details, and then set the first slider over to 3 hrs or never, so that your Mac will stay awake.

When Handbrake finishes, it will display this silly message.

The next step is to locate the new file Handbrake has just created for you, and drag it into your iTunes. iTunes will copy it into your library, and it will display there. You may then DELETE the original file, as it has been copied, not moved, into iTunes.

Now you can go into iTunes/Movies and watch your movie there.

Last step: plug in your iPhone/iPod, sync it, and you're good to go. The image below is what a movie looks like on my iPhone. The controls appear whenever you touch the screen with your finger. Touch it again, or simply wait a moment and the controls to disappear on their own. Movies and TV shows are very watchable on the iPhone and the iPod Touch and I always load up with movies whenever I travel.

There you go.

Thanks for reading.

~ Chris

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