not having luck finding free dvd software that actually works

[funkenbooty]

What software can I get that is free and easy to use in OS X that will copy a DVD to my hard drive? Or am I expecting too much?

Okay if that is asking too much which one should I buy?

[crush7]

hi,

if you want to turn your movie into a Divx-file you need two small tools:

OseX
DivxRay

both can be found at versiontracker and macupdate.com.

lars

[DVDwannabe]

It depends on what you want to do. If you want to just have a copy of the movie onto you hard drive, then OSex or DVDbackup 1.3 is great. If you want to go further than that, use DVD2one. This comresses the Vob files you can get from Osex and DVDbackup to fit onto a normal DVD-R which you can burn on your superdrive.

[3-22]

Originally posted by funkenbooty
What software can I get that is free and easy to use in OS X that will copy a DVD to my hard drive? Or am I expecting too much?

Okay if that is asking too much which one should I buy?

Have you tried forty-two? Excellent program!

http://www.kaisakura.com/index2.html

Forty-two can take a DVD and make an AVI (DivX), or bin/cue (MPEG) files reading for burning to CD or DVD. It automatically determines all the required encoding/decoding settings, and takes care of audio-syncing. I've tried them all, but was blown away by its ease of use and simple interface. It's free too! Some say it's not the fastest, but on my G5 it does just fine and I'll take the simplicity any day. Lately I jest keep my original DVD's filed away, and watch movies in the corner of my screen.

While I'm mentioning cool apps, these are great players. Between the two you can play just about anything...

http://mplayerosx.sourceforge.net/
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html

[funkenbooty]

Thanks all for the replies.

I stumbled across DVDbackup 1.3 few days ago, it works great. It's amazing to me how good DVD movies look on that 12 inch screen!

Next goal is to figure out how to make Divx, SVCD or VCD and burn it to a disc.

I understand that the difference between SVCD and VCD is there is higher quality in SVCD. So what is the big difference between Divx and SVCD?

Thanks again:D

[3-22]

Originally posted by funkenbooty
Thanks all for the replies.

I stumbled across DVDbackup 1.3 few days ago, it works great. It's amazing to me how good DVD movies look on that 12 inch screen!

Next goal is to figure out how to make Divx, SVCD or VCD and burn it to a disc.

I understand that the difference between SVCD and VCD is there is higher quality in SVCD. So what is the big difference between Divx and SVCD?

Thanks again:D

I'm no expert, but...

VCD/SVCD is MPEG 1
DVD is MPEG 2
DivX is MPEG 4

VCD's are playable in most DVD Players. Few can play SVCD, and I don't know if there are any MPEG4 players. (but maybe) All can be played on a computer with the right software.

DivX compression can really squeeze down a movie, say you had a large 7GB DVD Movie even at a fairly high bit rate it could go to about a 1GB DivX file. (and still look quite good) Sometimes people really crank up the DivX compession, and it can look kind of lousy but it is a small file... A lot of times people like DivX cause they can squeze a DVD on to 1 (or 2) inexpensive CDRs. VCD is ok, it's could be compared to "VHS Quality".