dvd d to avi?

[Soccerman77]

To backup your movies from DVD to AVI for purpose to watch them off a portable hard drive, what is the best method?
Or is better just to keep them as a VOB (DVD) and watch them from there?

[Lawbringer]

https://www.videohelp.com/dvdbackup#6;33

[Soccerman77]

Yeah, but can I just keep it as a DVD?

[Case]

Yeah, but can I just keep it as a DVD?

Sure you can. Back-up/rip as VIDEO_TS folder. Most DVD player software can also read from VIDEO_TS folders.
The VIDEO_TS folder will be larger than it would have been if you would convert to AVI (or whatever), but the process of storing DVDs as VIDEO_TS folders is much faster, as there will be no conversion.

[neomaine]

To backup your movies from DVD to AVI for purpose to watch them off a portable hard drive, what is the best method?
Or is better just to keep them as a VOB (DVD) and watch them from there?

The only important thing for the DVD vs AVI question would be the size of the hard drive. If the drive has enough space, then just keep it in DVD format (iso, vob, video_ts). If not, or you want to fit as many movies as possible, then avi (divx/xvid/h.264) is your answer.

We could be much more helpful if you give us the player involved. Without the appropriate playback support, its difficult to say which would be more helpful.

[Soccerman77]

I have a 500GB and a 1TB so size isn't an issue.. Playing them is a problem though. It will depend on what the computer has on it since its a portable dive. PowerDVD or Windows Media Player..

Is there a portable version of something that would be better?

Thanks

[loster]

VLC will play dvds well. It comes in version for almost all operating systems. I'm almost certain it's been modified to be a portable application. It does not play multiangle dvds however it can only play the first angle.

[redwudz]

Some other portable players: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_portable_software#Players

Both VLC and MPC portable may be worth looking into.

[neomaine]

I'd keep a folder with MPCHC on the drives will take care of connecting to most PCs. Not sure of a Mac solution.

The worse you'd have to do is change settings in the players based on the video card of the different PCs you'd be connecting to.

For DVDs:

- Anydvd loaded
- DVDDecryptor to hd in a single .vob file

For BRs:

- Anydvd to hd
- tsmuxer to .m2ts
(Playback smoothness will depends on capabilities of the system you're connecting to.)