MousePotatoPower

I have come across too many friends that don’t know how to convert their own DVDs and put them on their Ipod. The best part about it, is that the whole process can be done for free! Part 1 of this series will show you how to rip your DVD to your computer and convert it into an AVI file.

It is a time-consuming process, but the end result will be a 700MB AVI file (approximate) that you can watch on your computer or copy to a CD and watch on somebody else’s computer.

Ingredients:

• an Apple computer
• Handbrake

Handbrake does everything on a Mac and it’s very simple. Download Handbrake and install it.

Handbrake is wonderfully easy to use.

Click on the Source icon

Select the drive that you DVD movie is in and click Open. There is no need to specify the AUDIO_TS or VIDEO_TS folder.

Choose your desired output, I chose Ipod High-Rez. You can choose to encode at Low Resolution, for the PSP, or the PS3.

Select the save location and file name by using the Browse button.

Click on the Start button to begin encoding.

If your Mac is fast, you may be able to encode a movie in less time than it takes to watch the movie.

If you Mac is slow…you may want to get a good night’s rest while Handbrake works on your new mp4.

The last and perhaps most important thing to do is open up iTunes,  do a File > Add to Library, and select your newly created mp4 file.  From here, you can watch it on your Mac or copy it onto you iPod to watch it on the go.