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Archiving DVD's with Linux?
Ramses0 asks: "Now that I've got my Linux box 100% functional with full DVD support, I want to archive all my media to it's 60gb hard drive. Since I don't have 60gb's of OGGable CD's, I started looking with a lustful eye at ripping and encoding my DVD collection to the hard drive as well. Most of the guides out today are targetted towards windows software, which is not an option for me. The only reference I could find to encoding under Linux is about ffmpeg on the DivX website. What is the best file format to target? DivX? VCD? What tools are available under Linux to encode DVDs? Why isn't there the equivalent of abcde for DVDs?"
Mplayer which is an excellent Linux media player (including dvd support) also comes with an encoder called mencoder which can output Divx;) avi files from your dvds, supports 2 pass encoding and subtitles, and other fun stuff like that. It works (well) for me. Mplayer is a great player in my opinion and it supports almost every file format i've encountered excluding sorenson quicktime.
--Ks9
transcode is a fantastic app. It can convert just about any kind of video stream to any other kind. It supports cropping, resizing, etc etc. Careful with the current prereleases, there are some nasty A/V sync issues. 0.6.0pre1 & 2 work best for me.
It's pretty tough to get right on the commandline, so grab dvd::rip, a nice perl/gtk frontend. Most useful, dvd::rip has a nice gui for using transcode's cluster encoding. That's right, you can build a dvd-ripping cluster. I have a 4-node setup, and it only takes a few hours to rip a dvd, using two-pass DivX 4.02. Careful with the newer prereleases, there are some nasty A/V sync issues. 0.6.0pre1 & 2 seem to work best for me.
I would suggest using one of the MPEG-4 variants (DivX 4.x, or XviD) in two-pass mode. In my experience, this produces very good quality. I rip my movies to one 1.4gb file, which I then split onto two CDs. You might be able to afford slightly larger file sizes, to do AC3 audio pass-through, for example.
If you double or triple your storage capacity, consider just storing the unencrypted VOB files - you'll get superior audio & video, as well as all the alternate audio & subtitle tracks.
And a few answers from me...
./configure && make && make install, put DVD in and play. I'd say around 1 hour, with the longest time being buying the DVD-ROM and installing it in my computer.
... alot more.
Question 1: How long did it take you to get your linux box to play DVDs?
Buy DVD-ROM, install it in computer, download xine+plugins,
Question 2: How many times did you have to reboot?
Once, when I installed the DVD-ROM in the computer.
Question 3: How many kernels did you compile in the process?
None. Why would I recompile it? The DVD-ROM was already recognized, I use iso9660 on the DVDs if I ever mount them.
Question 4: How many CDs do you actually own?
If you count audio CDs, around 4. Data CDs, OTOH,
Don't think of that as if I have a shitload of MP3s: it's not my fault if I prefer TV to music!
Question 5: How many DVDs do you actually own?
One. Blockbuster is your friend. And your friends are your friends, too.
Question 6: Who are you going to sell your DVDs to when you have copied them to your hard disk?
Listen, I got my DVD in a cereal box. A Disney thing. Don't recall the title, and if you want to buy it, drop me a line.
Comment 1: What happened to the copy of windows that came conveniently bundled with your PC?
That's more a question than a comment. Anyway, there was none. It's not easy to have an OS bundled when all the parts come from different places. Should it come with the motherboard? Processor? Processors?
Comment 2: As a Linux Zealot, you will know that DivX is not standardised and therefore you cannot use it, as it is against everything you stand for.
Zealot? Nope. Just a user. Although I wouldn't use it because it usually relies on win32 dlls to work, and it usually means less stability for me.
Comment 3: There are no tools available that are legal for this purpose.
Depends on where you live. You're entitled to backup copies in some jurisdictions.
Now, I want a tool to do the backup for me rather than do it by hand with a hand calculator for the IDCT. Can I?
Comment 4: As you will know, the production of a tool like abcde for DVDs is against the DMCA, and so anyone who creates such a tool is likely to go to prison like Dimitry did.
If he didn't come to the US, he wouldn't have been arrested. As I said, there are some other juridictions with different laws than the US. Jon shouldn't have been arrested for something he did in Norway. A swastika is legal out of Germany and France. A pdf viewer for the disabled is legal in Russia.
What does all this leaves? I don't know. I'll continue to watch rented and lended DVDs on my Linux box, and you'll probably continue to think it is difficult/illegal to do so. Have a good day!
Try looking at Drip http://drip.sourceforge.net/ and dvd::rip http://www.exit1.org/dvdrip/
Skimming Freshmeat.net is a good idea whenever you need an app.
Everytime you look at porn a devil gets their horns.
Mencoder is easier, transcode is more versatile (I think).
Mencoder is the "encoding" project that goes along with Mplayer, which in my opinion is probably the best-performing media player with the widest support for files and codecs (including Windows Media codecs, using the 'native' Windows DLL's) for linux at the moment, though not necessarily the easiest to use (not difficult, in my opinion, either, just not "clicky-pointy" simple like, say, Xine).
Trans code, on the other hand, has a bewildering variety of options to work through, but has a ton of functionality to go with it.
In both cases, the software handles reading DVD's, and can convert them to other formats. Transcode handles a bunch of different formats and codecs. Mencoder is limited to .avi file format at the moment, but can put a variety of codecs into this avi (including vorbis audio, as I recall). I've also found that you can even use mencoder to "capture" mms:// files for offline perusing or conversion, which is nice, since otherwise I wouldn't get anything but the Microsoft "Download Media Player for Mac or Windows" page whenever I tried to view such things...
For MPlayer/Mencoder, I strongly recommend reading the documentation (the software is great, but the impatience of the people on the mplayer mailing lists with people asking questions that are answered in the documentation are well known) and using a recent set of CVS sources.
Hacker Public Radio is our Friend
I don't know how far along they are yet, but it APPEARS, from lurking on the mailing list, that there is some support for .ogg format media files (i.e. .ogg file with vorbis audio and, say, XVid video), and I BELIEVE they will be adding support for the format for mencoder as well, at some point. Depending on how soon this takes place, this may be an option for people wanting to archive their DVD collections...
(I wouldn't be surprised to see support for the vp3 codec soon as well, since according to a blurb on this weeks' Linux Weekly News, they (that is, the guys the made vp3) apparently posted to one of the ogg development lists about getting a 'vp3 in .ogg' project going. It'll be nice to see some more semi-official work on video in .ogg...)
Hacker Public Radio is our Friend
After ironing out issues between the Adaptec/SCSI firmware and my DVD drive, it took ~2 hours to get my Linux box playing encrypted DVD's (with a little help from the friendly people in #debian).
/etc/lilo.conf; lilo; shutdown -r now; I don't think I needed to update my kernel, but I want USB support for later on, so it's kindof necessary. apt-get install ogle, run the included install-illegal-decss-library.sh script that it told me I needed. Run ogle from the supplied menu shortcut, open and play the DVD. Once you know what you're looking for, it's remarkably simple.
:^)
:^). Including Black Slot-loading DVD, and Black LCD display. Most of it came from directron.com, or harddrive.com. Got Quake 3 and the Matrix Orbital LCD display from linuxcentral.com. Bought all of the $9.99 linux games I could from EBGames, and some of the newer ones from TuxGames. I need to buy the 'Loki Installer' for RTCW because I bought RTCW from BestBuy since couldn't wait any longer after I finally got all my hardware talking to each other.
:^)
;^)
Basically, my process was: Bootable Debian 2.2 CD installation. apt-get install kernel-image-2.4.18-k7; vim
I have 200+ CD's. I had most of them MP3'd before at 192 bitrate, but now I'm using abcde with oggenc -q7 for VBR OGGfiles averaging 200-250kbps since the quality is better. I own 20-40 DVD's. I want to stuff my DVD's to my harddrive because I'm basically a geek with too much hard-drive space.
I bought all my PC parts in pieces following the specifications given by those nifty Spindl3top people (hi lucas
As a technology pragmatist, I recognize that there are a multitude of competing video container formats (mov, avi, mpg) with multiple supported codecs. I don't know which tools are mature on which platform, and what quality/stability issues remain to be ironed out, which is why I asked slashdot in the first place.
Looks like I came to the right place since there are a bunch of high-quality responses and no "check google you dumbass" postings.
--Robert