How to go from DVD to small MPEG file

[jester805]

Hey guys...sorry if this thread exists already, but I've been searching all over and can't find a straight-forward answer to what I'm trying to do. Anyway, here goes...

I have several (legal) kids DVD's and I want to take 3 or 4 of them and put them onto a single DVD. I don't care about loss of quality or anything like that. We have a minivan with the built-in DVD system and the screen is really small anyway. I want to make it easy for my 5 year old to watch the movie she wants.

So here's what I've been doing: I rip the movie with DVDFab Decrypter. Then I use VOB2MPG in order to create a single file. From there I use Any Video Converter to make it a compressed WMV file.

I have looked at all kinds of free applications so I can make this process a little easier. Nothing really seems to work that well. Has anyone else tried doing this??

*note* I just came across a program call ReJig and I think it's going to make things a little easier. It's going to take the place of Any Video Converter.

Thanks!!


**EDIT** After watching the output form ReJig, there is no audio.

[Supreme2k]

Use dvdshrink in reauthor mode and build your disc from multiple sources.
You can then shrink with DVDShrink or DVD-rebiulder

http://www.dvd-guides.com/content/view/46/59/

[redwudz]

You won't find a 'straight forward answer' as there are many ways to do this.

You have a car DVD player that plays WMVs? If so, that may be a good format.

But if it only plays DVDs and maybe VCDs, I would use your same method, but try the 1/2 D1 format with your VOB2MPG file. You can see that in 'WHAT IS' DVD to the upper left on this page. You will need a MPEG encoder that you can set to that format, then author the several MPEGs to a single DVD. You could also use VCD framesizes and get even more on a single DVD. 1/2 D1 should give you about six hours. The VCD resolution, maybe eight hours. For a small screen, it should be acceptable, especially for kids videos.

VCD resolution can be done with TMPGEnc encoder. It's free for MPEG1 (VCD format) encoding. You just need to convert the audio tracks to 48Khz instead of the standard 44.1Khz of a VCD. For authoring, GUI for dvdauthor is also free.

I know, this may be a bit complex the first time around, but next time, much easier.

Rejig is a transcoder, similar in operation to DVD Shrink. Handy for trimming down slightly oversize MPEGs, but for your problem. you need a real encoder instead. Especially if you want several videos on the same DVD. No idea why the audio is missing with Rejig. Maybe the wrong format.

And welcome to our forums.

[jester805]

Thanks for the help guys! I'll try out your suggestions tonight.

[jester805]

You won't find a 'straight forward answer' as there are many ways to do this.

You have a car DVD player that plays WMVs? If so, that may be a good format.

Sorry...I should have also said that I'm using DVDStyler to then put the movies back into DVD format for the car.

[jester805]

When i use DVD Shrink to rip the movie, there's a setting in the options for how big the output files should be. There are three things to choose from (DVD5, DVD9, or custom). I put it on "custom" and entered 800 meg's as the size I wanted it to be. However, after I ripped the movie, it was still really big (2+ gig's).

Anyone know if there's a free program to rip & shrink a movie at the same time?

Also, I tried using TMPGEnc, but I get an error message when I have it open the MPEG file.

[t0nee1]

@ OP , you say this ,
"So here's what I've been doing: I rip the movie with DVDFab Decrypter. Then I use VOB2MPG in order to create a single file. From there I use Any Video Converter to make it a compressed WMV file."

Then this,
"Sorry...I should have also said that I'm using DVDStyler to then put the movies back into DVD format for the car."

What is your goal? DVD format, or WMV?
What other formats does your minivan player support?
Maybe you should read the 'WHAT IS' DVD, as was recommended..
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

[jester805]

What is your goal? DVD format, or WMV?
What other formats does your minivan player support?
Maybe you should read the 'WHAT IS' DVD, as was recommended..
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

My goal is to have 3 movies on a single DVD in DVD format. I don't know that the minivan player does support any other format, but I can do some testing with it to find out.

[Baldrick]

dvd shrink can't compress a movie as much as you like. You need to reconvert using a mpeg encoder as redwudz says. I guess it would be easiest using tmpgenc xpress as it can open dvds directly.

If you want to use the free tmpgenc you need a mpeg2/dvd decoder that is compatible with it. If you can play the mpeg2 in windows media player you should be able to use tmpgenc.

Or just use Any Video Converter and convert to mpeg2/mpeg1 with low bitrate(or if you can set output file size) and low resolution.

[tinker]

My goal is to have 3 movies on a single DVD in DVD format. I don't know that the minivan player does support any other format, but I can do some testing with it to find out.

DVD player support DVD(mpeg2) or sometime DivX (mpeg4).
To put 3-4 (6-8 hours of video) movie on one DVD will result in very low bitrate= lousy picture.
I know that the display is small, but it will be still noticeable.
You may try DVD/DL disc, but some players may not play that.
If your player support DivX (look in the manual), it may be possible to do.

[jester805]

I found a program called WM Converter on www.download.com and it seems to do exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks for all of the help guys.