How to backup your DVD to DivX simply.

How to simply backup your DVD's to DivX
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This would have to be the simplest way to backup your DVD's to DivX in a 2 step operation; Rip & Convert and it can produce some great results. It will give you the best quality DivX movies with the simplest of fuss.

Although this guide uses SmartRipper to rip (remove the movies encryption and transfer to your Hard Drive) the movie off the DVD, other freeware rippers could also be used. These include DVD Decryptor and CladMdec. The actual encoding of the DVD Video to DivX is done by Vidomi (which installs the DivX Codec 3.11a) and the Audio is automatically converted to MP3 using Lame, for the best quality. Vidomi can use either DivX codec, 5.x or 3.11.

I have tested this method with PAL Region 4 DVD's. I know it works for PAL, there may be some tweaking needed for NTSC or FILM.


Software you will need:

1. SmartRipper 2.41 or later (d/l from http://www.down4free.com/view.php?Id=241 )
2. DivX Codec 5.02 or later if required (d/l from http://www.divx.com/ )
3. Vidomi 0.448 or later ( d/l from http://www.vidomi.com )
4. Your favorite burning software if you want to save it to CD. A fully funtional version of Nero can be d/l from http://www.nero.com


You will also need a Computer with:

* Windows 98, 98SE, ME, 2000 or XP installed.
* A Pentium 400 MMX or equivalent as a minimum.
* At least 64meg memory
* An internal DVD Rom player (any speed)
* Hard drive with at least 4 gb, but preferably 10 gb FREE space in one partition.
* A CDR(W) Burner to burn the DivX files onto CD and a box of good quality CDR's or CDRW's
* A sound card to check the finished product.


Tips before we get started:

* Turn OFF your Screen Saver, it will simply slow the conversion down by hours.
* Do not run any other program in the background while Vidomi is running, especially if you have a slower computer.
* Turn the screens colour depth to 24bit colour or better.
* Re-boot the computer BEFORE you start the conversion.


Step 1: Getting Ready.

1. Install the DivX Codec 5.02, if required.
2. Install SmartRipper to any suitable folder.
3. Install Vodomi to any suitable folder and it will install DivX Codec 3.11 also.
4. Install any suitable burning software if you do not have any, Such as Nero, Diskjugler, Prassi PrimoCD, NTI, etc.


Step 2: Copying DVD files to hard drive.

1. Put the DVD movie into your DVD Rom player. Pretty simple so far!

3. Run SmartRipper and and it will make a Folder for you to extract the files to.

4. Select Settings and for Key Check set Every VOB File. For File Splitting, set Every VOB File and for Options select Unlock Drive, DeMacrovision and Create Directories.

5. Selecting Start to start ripping the .VOB files of the DVD to your hard drive. This can take from 5 to 30 minutes depending on your computer setup and the DVD.



Step 3: Conversion to DivX

1. Run Vidomi. Click on Mode to make sure your in Vidomi Encoder mode, not Player Mode.

2. Click on ADD and load each VOB file in turn that SmartRipper copied to your HD.

3. Enter in an appropriate Output Path and Filename.

4. Use Audio Track defaults to Track 1, which is English 95% of the time.

5. From here on, you only need to do this once as it will remember all these settings next time its run.

6. Click Option, then Video Options. For Video Codec Settings, select DivX Networks (Two Pass) [uses DivX 5.x codec] which give trouble free Audio/Video sync problems. Encode Colour Space should be YV12 (Faster). Leave all other settings alone on this page. Click OK.

7. Leave Options / Advanced Video Options at defaults.

8. Click Option, then Audio Options. Select Lame Bit Rate. I use 128kbs, but for 2hr+ movies select 96kbs. Lame Encode Type to Joint Stereo. One Pass Normalization should be selected and at 100%. Leave all others at the defaults. Click OK.

9. Click Options, then Subtitles Options. If you wish to include Subtitles, tick Subtitle Channel and select the Track you wish to include.

10. In the Options / Chapter options, I have not tried this yet but they appear you have to manually enter the frame number manually for each.

11. Click Options, then Output Options. Set number of Media Disks you want to use, normally 1 or 2 and set the size of the CDR to 1 meg less than its rated size, ie; 649 or 699.

12. Click Options, then Select Source Range, but only if you do not wish to encode the whole movie. Use the [ to set Start Point and the ] to set the End Point.

13. Click Options (last time!), then General Options and for Output All Files With The Extension, select .AVI. Uncheck the Check for New Version box. Leave others at default. Click OK.

14. Your now ready to start, so click on Start Conversion.

15. Turn your monitor off, go to sleep, work or school and when your back, it will all be done.

16. You now have a DivX AVI file on your HD. Run Windows Media Player, load in the new file and sit back and enjoy.

17. Burn to CD as a Data disk using your favourite burning software. All done.


ChickenMan (C) 2002