Ripping Video from Any Source to Your Machine

Minutes

Unfortunately didn't go as well as planned, but still managed to create discussion around various topics.

A file created when ripping is made of three parts. A DVD stores the Audio and the Video in two different places and formats.

Ripping encodes the video in a video codec, and the audio in an audio codec (mp3, aac)

Both of the resulting files are then "wrapped" in a wrapper. There are a number of wrappers and codecs available, more information will be on the wiki for the session following this one.

Handbrake for Mac was shown in detail.

1 main issue - size of the file that is created when ripping, and the 4 main variables that affect file size.

Those variables are in two groups, video and audio, and are the same variables across the groups.

For the video:

Framerate: the number of frames per second of film. The more frames the better the picture, and the higher the files size. Both the terms NTSC and PAL refer to their respective framerates.

bitrate: the number of bits to use to record on disc each frame. 1400 is a good one for showing again at a later date. Smaller is ok for the web. The higher the bitrate, the larger the ripped file.

For the audio:

Samplerate: the number of frames per second of audio (for want of a better analogy). The more samples the better the sound, and the higher the files size.

bitrate: the number of bits to use to record on disc each sample. 1400 is a good one for showing again at a later date. Smaller is ok for the web. The higher the bitrate, the larger the ripped file. 192 is CD audio quality, 128 is acceptable for voice on the web. 320 is the bees knees.

Eventually was able to show people handbrake on the command line, and probably threw a few people, but is a good experience, if not one that they go back to :)

Also explained the similarities (right down to the name) of ripping a CD ("importing" a CD in iTunes)

Flash

To download most flash video available online, eg YouTube, Google Video, etc, I will recommend Flash Video Resources Downloader, which is a firefox plugin.

DVD

For Linux

• acidrip
• avidemux
• DVDRip
• handbrakes

For Mac

• handbrake

For Windows