I really really a newbie

[shana26]

The question I have will probably seem really stupid to some of you. but... I'm gonna ask anyway.
To download and record dvd's do I need a certian kind of hard ware.? I have a cd burner on my computer and a standalone dvd player. Can someone please head me in the right direction. I've been reading the board but it is a little overwhelming. Thanks for your help
Shana

[taco]

You don't need any special hardware besides a fast computer to rip DVD's.

[alucard2050]

as far as downloading dvd's. i no of no site to do this and it is illegal. as far as ripping dvd's then this is the place for that info. a pc dvd player also helps if your ripping dvd's or are you looking to capture a dvd onto your pc??? if you don't have a capture card and your standalone dvd player can't disable the macrovision, then your out of luck.......

[shana26]

I am such a newbie.
I have no capture card that I know of and am not sure if my dvd player (stand alone) does what ever macro vision thing you were talking about. How can I find out??
I'm not trying to be smart I just really really am a newbie
please help
Shana

[Vejita-sama]

Right, please read the DVD Rip section to the left; as well as, the Convert section.

DVD - MPEG2 encoded video file. 6000kbit/s excellent quaility.

SVCD - MPEG2 encoded video file. 2500kbit/s, can be very good to excellent.

VCD - MPEG1 encoded video file. Better than VHS, but has limitations.

DivX - MPEG4 encoded file. REALLY small files, only play on PC. End with the *.avi extension.

People take DVDs and convert then to VCD, SVCD or DivX. Most of the stuff you would d/load is DivX. You can convert a DivX file to x(S)VCD too (if you want to play it on your TV).

[alucard2050]

my opinion. go bye a dvd for your pc. then check out how to rip the dvd's. or get a capture card, plug your tv into your pc, then capture whatever you'd like. in case you don't know, capturing is like recording a movie onto a vcr tape except its recorded onto your computer instead. also on what macrovision is, if you try to plug your dvd player directly into your tv you get a scrambled picture. thats macrovision. it keeps people from pluging their dvd into a vcr and recording the dvd onto vhs tape. but with the help of computers, this copy protection can be worked around. or, some dvd players can have the macrovision disabled and the dvd player can be hooked to your pc and then the capture card comes into play..... have fun.......

[nfl2k2]

how exactly do you hook your video card up to your TV?

[alucard2050]

on some video cards there is a port for either a cable line or an rca line. i'm not overly knowledgeable in video cards but here's what i have. i have a nvidia video card. it does not have the ports that i need for video capture. so i went and bought a tv tuner card. its a avi tv wonder ve. if cash is limited then you might consider getting just a tv card. mine was 30 bucks at best bye. or like i said before, you can go out and get a whole new video card that has it all in one but, they are a little more expencive. what are your pc specs???