I have some standard TV shows that I have on a DVD-RW that I want to extract somehow and covert to mpeg video files so I can play them on a computer (via standard Windows Media player). What is the best way of doing this or the best software to use?
Everyone has their favorite. LOL. Here's a thread that discusses DVD to AVI conversion. http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/326012 http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/327200
I assumed you wanted AVI files. Perhaps that was a faulty assumption. Unless you want to save disk space, just rip the DVD to your hard drive as an ISO file with DVD Decrypter or DVD Shrink or whatever ripper you want. You can then use Daemon Tools (free) to mount the iso file as a virtual DVD and any software player can play it, including WMP.
OK, let me elaborate some more cause I'm not sure if that will work for me. I want to take the TV shows off of the DVD-RW and play them on a work computer with Windows Media Player (& CD Rom drive only). I can't install anything (rippers, encoders, etc.) on the work PC because I don't have admin rights so the whole process has to essentially be done at home, then brought to my employer's PC via files burned to a CD or transferred to my USB thumb drive. Any suggestions.
Ok, just convert your recorded shows on the DVD to AVIs. Then burn the AVI files as data onto a CD. WMP will play the file just fine. Go to the threads I posted links on above or see this: http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/dvd_rippers/dvd2avi.cfm
You need the files converted to VCD or SVCD. The simplest app I know that will do that is DVDCopy 4 from InterVideo. http://www.intervideo.com/ It should work as long as the files haven't been damaged by previous processing. There's a full function trial, so there's nothing to be lost in giving it a try. Otherwise you may be into doing file conversions and then burning your output. Note though that a full length movie will take about 5 CDs or more. It takes 5 CDs to hold the content of one 4.7 DVD. No idea what the length of your project is, just giving you something for comparison. Here's a screenshot of the DVDCopy window with the format options shown. Shown is the Copy DVD option which uses DVD files. The File to DVD option allows the use of other file formats such as AVI, MPEG, WMV, DivX and the like.
