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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Burning Dvds

tomlien - May 31, 2005 - 1:15 am

I have a lap G4 with a DVD burner. How do I compress and take off the right protect on a DVD so that I can burn a movie. I just want to archive some of the DVDs that I own.

potterhead4 - Jun 1, 2005 - 2:19 pm

Hi Tom,

Thanks for choosing MacOSX.com.

First, I'd advise you not to rip any DVDs for ANY kind of distribution. The Motion Pictures Association of America has been coming down hard on those illegally copying and distributing videos. One last time: the MPAA has been very harsh, and is actually cracking down.

Now that that's said, there is no real way to make a computerized copy of an entire DVD. You can of course make another hard copy, but if you're looking to have something you can play in DVD player, I'm afraid you've run out of luck.

However, if you just want to copy the video off of a DVD, there is a way to do it using as few free tools. The first, is a tool that will rip files from a DVD into a .vob file, which is an encoded video file that a DVD uses. The tool is called MactheRipper, and can be downloaded here: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/22715

The second tool allows you to play these files, as well as many others that Quicktime doesn't cover. It's generally just a good utility to have, and it's called VLC player. You can download that here: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Once again, DO NOT attempt to distribute these videos. It will just end in trouble. Otherwise, I hope I've been helpful and you successfully resolve this issue.

Thanks once again,

Gabe Stein