DVD to Computer

[KMHGeorge]

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I haven't found it.

I want ot put dvds on my external drive, to watch on my laptop with media player (already on laptop) or other player that you may recomend for this purpose

I travel alot and don't want ot lug around dvds.

I aready have FabDVD v6 (newest ver).

I have used it to backup a couple of old dvds.

Tried to put on hard drive had trouble with no vidoe and it took 2 hours

Pleas point me to the correc t"how to guide"

Thakns!

KMHGeorge

[Dv8ted2]

Download anydvd. Let anydvd run in the background, and you can copy and paste using windows explorer, or you could shrink it using dvdshrink.

[Noahtuck]

Tried to put on hard drive had trouble with no vidoe and it took 2 hours

Are you trying to rip directly to your "external drive" ?
How fast is the transfer speed to it ?
What kind of drive do you have/using to rip the dvd's with ?
Are you letting DVDFAB shrink it on top of ripping it ?

You say

to watch on my laptop with media player (already on laptop) or other player that you may recomend for this purpose

so all you have is Media Player ?
Do you have an MPG-2 codec installed ?
Have you ever watched DVD's on your laptop before ?

If i am not mistaken, M$/Windows/Windows Media Player does not include an MPG-2 codec for playback of dvd's.

The only time i have ever even come close to 2 hours was when shrinking or converting it to another format & i have never had any playback issues as in "no video" with any version of DVDFAB.

[Dv8ted2]

You could use either media player classic or vlc media player. They both have MPEG-2 codecs.

[jason]

What exactly are you doing with DVDfab? Provide us with your steps.

[KMHGeorge]

I open FabDVD, insert dvd into my dvd

Under DVD to Mobile, I'm picking "Generic".

Then usually. choose the main movie, no other languages, just english.

Then "Next.

Under conversion setting, I have been picking avi.xvid.audiocopy. I haven't changed any of the other settings. It takes about two hours (maybe more) to do this. Just one pass not two.

That is the only thing I could get to play.

I am doing this "conversion" (correct term ??) on my desktop directly to a 160GB portable dirve.

They play in media player fine, on the desktop. When I move the drive to my DELL laptop, they play but no sound.

If it is a matter of settings in FabDVD, just tell me what to fix.

Thanks again to everyone!!!

[Noahtuck]

Well first off you are "converting" to a diff. format on top of ripping the dvd so of course it is going to take a couple of hours.

Format conversions don't happen in a couple of minutes, it takes time.
You're converting an entire 1 1/2-2 hour movie.

They play in media player fine, on the desktop. When I move the drive to my DELL laptop, they play but no sound.

so after playing them on your desktop (tower), then moving them to your portable drive, then plugging it into your laptop there is no sound when playing it in WMP ?

First you say no video and now you are saying no audio.... which is it

[KMHGeorge]

No audio.

Sorry

[Noahtuck]

First thing i would do is install gspot on the PC that you are having problems playing the file.

Then open the file in gspot and it will tell you what audio and video the file has and will tell you if the codecs are installed.

[yoda313]

If i am not mistaken, M$/Windows/Windows Media Player does not include an MPG-2 codec for playback of dvd's.

FYI I believe my oem vista premium 32bit media player came with media player already set to play dvds. Now I don't know if this is only on the premium version or not.

I'm 99% certain I didn't have to install a plugin for it.

[KMHGeorge]

I installed the AC3 filter and presto, Sound!!!!!

Thanks again!!!

[Noahtuck]

Well that must be one of the first ones ??

I know we have talked about it quite a bit here, that you need to install a secondary player or the codec because windows does not come capable of playing dvd's because M$ would have to pay major royalties.

And i'm only using XP Pro & the OP has XP in his details.

And i never bother with WMP & always use other standalone players for dvd's, xvid'x, WMV, ect.

[Number Six]

I think WMP came equipped to play DVDs starting with Vista. I never used Vista, but I am using the Windows 7 RC - I have it on 3 laptops, and 2 of them play DVDs perfectly after install, the third laptop plays the DVD but the sound is a horrible screeching sound - I have tried everything to fix this but nothing works - VLC plays the DVD perfectly

[Haywood_U]

Okay, I didn't want to start a new thread and get flamed.

I'm a newbie to this, but here is what I'm looking to do.

I have 2 small children - usually we use portable dvd players when going on trips, but we're tired of constantly changing the dvd or having them get scratched, greasy, etc.

What I'd like to do is purchase a netbook. I'll spend the time to convert the dvds to whatever format needed. What I'm looking for is something that will be easy for my kids to click on the movie and watch. Easy to stop and choose something else when they get tired of the movie.

I don't have a particular OS in mind - not sure what the netbooks are coming with - probably XP or some linux. I don't have a problem upgrading to Vista if needed. Free is better, but ease of use is the most important feature.

Where can I find info and preferably step-by-step on what to use and how to use it?

I'm hoping that I can convert once and copy to the 2 netbooks.

Best I can tell is I need - something to convert the video, and something to play the converted file.

Thanks for any help.

[usually_quiet]

Welcome to our forums. If you wanted to you start a new thread for this you could have, but think it is OK here too.

My sister got a netbook that has a 1.6 GHz Atom CPU, and it runs XP. The memory is limited and HDD is tiny by today's standards. I don't think Vista is an option for most of them. To store a reasonable amount of video it would need to be compressed, as you suspect. More conversion tools and players are available for XP if that is a consideration in choosing a netbook.

Look at Media Player Classic and VLC for free players that play most video formats. Conversion advice will have to come from someone else.

[usta]

Speaking of netbooks: I would delay my purchase. The current generation of netbooks made by Asus, MSI, Acer, Dell, etc. are using Intels on-board graphics GMA 945, which has problems to play HD (720p) content. In a few months there will be new netbooks in the market that will use Nvidia's Ion platform which combines the Intel Atom processor with GeForce 9400M graphics to provide better performance. This baby is expected to boost your netbook performance so that you can play mainstream games and play HD content. The good thing is that you will not need to convert anything anymore! :P