Ripping DVDs to 700 MB video files

When downloading movies on torrent websites, usually they come as 700 MB video files and with the .avi extension.

In one single DVD I have 4~6 movies and they play very nice (with good quality) in my DVD player!

I've downloaded Handbrake and DVD43. But I don't know the settings to get those nice results. How can I do it?


Solution 1:

The AVI extension has nothing to do with it's format. AVI is what's known as a container format, the codec you're probably thinking of is DivX (and the open source alternative Xvid).

Handbrake doesn't convert to AVI.

Assuming the copyright laws in your country allow for backups, you can use DVD Shrink to backup DVDs, but they will remain as VOB files (which are really of the Mpeg codec). You could then also use something like Clone DVD Mobile to convert to DivX. In Clone DVD Mobile, there are simple options to modify the quality of the output video which will also show you its size.

There are other options such as DVDX, since Clone is not freeware. I recommend looking for Xvid converters since the Divx converters are hardly free (since they require licenses and what not).

Also see: lifehacker.com/380702/five-best-dvd-ripping-tools

You are probably better off asking on forums of the site you download these files from. And don't forget to share any more info! Digitising a movie collection is a good move as discs get scratched too easily too fast.

UPDATE: I just tried AutoGK, it's more accurate than Clone DVD Mobile in output size. Plus it's free.

demo of autogk

Solution 2:

My favorite tool to rip and convert movie DVDs to AVI:

DVDx is likely the most popular DVD backup software world wide. Based on well known open source libraries, DVDx converts DVD movies in high qulaity (S)Video CD, DivX or Windows Media files.

  • DVDx copies DVD movie to VCD, SVCD, DivX, AVI or WMV in one step.

  • DVDx has been designed as a simple and intuitive program.

  • DVDx produces high quality MPEG and AVI movies.

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DVDx is freeware.

Solution 3:

I use Eahoosoft DVD Ripper, fast speed and work fine.

Eahoosoft DVD Ripper - one of the best dvd ripper software, can rip DVD to MP4, H.264, AVI, MP3, WMV, WMA, FLV, MKV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, 3GP, 3GPP, VOB, DivX, Mov, RM, RMVB, M4A, AAC, WAV, etc. with fast DVD ripping speed and excellent image and sound quality.

Solution 4:

The first thing to check is what's supported by your DVD player... And sadly, if your DVD player doesn't support the MP4/MKV containers, despite the fact it's the most friendly/efficient tool, handbrake is no more a good choice because AVI is no more supported...

So to encode a DVD as AVI files, I recommend:
DVD Decrypter for ripping (extracting & decrypting the dvd)
(keep DVD43 it could help DVD Decrypter on some protections)

Megui for encoding:

  • video: MPEG-4 ASP (xvid), MPEG-4 AVC (x264)
  • audio: AAC, MP2, MP3, Vorbis, AC3
  • containers: MP4, MKV, AVI, M2TS

(If they are supported by your DVD player, x264/AAC should have the best quality/size results)

And if you're not happy with the results of the "One Click/AutoEncode" buttons, start by following this guide

Note: It's not a piece of cake to have the best video encoding. Video compression has many parameters and for optimal results they should be tweaked differently by movies characteristics and some subjectives choices... So, if you want the long answer you should go to this site: doom9.org (and his forum)