Newbie - DVD Burning Question

[i-sidd]

Hi, I am new to Mac and I just got my first MB. I have some dvds that I own that I would like to burn. I downloaded handbrake, but from what I have understood its only to rip dvds and then it can only play in an ipod. I want to also be able to watch them on a DVD player. How do I do that, what software do I need, hopefully a free one if anyone can recommend. Also can I only rip audio from a DVD and play it in itunes.

Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!!!

 

[xyian]

You need a program like Toast to burn it back to a DVD.
I use MacTheRipper and then burn the DVD using Toast.

 

[i-sidd]

isn't there any free applications that can do it. I have to Buy toast. isn't there any other way.

 

[apfhex]

You need a program to

a. rip the DVD. MacTheRipper can do this well.
b. compress the files to fit on a DVD±R. Burnable DVDs are smaller capacity than commercial DVDs.
c. burn the files.

Toast takes care of B and C but yes, it costs a bit of money. It's not just about compressing the audio/video, but also preserving the menus and everything, unless you don't care about those. I don't know a free utility that does that, at least not without a fair amount of work involved.

 

[i-sidd]

So, if I rip the dvds now with mac the ripper will it save all the menus etc. So basically, even if I burn DVD-R after ripping through handbrake or mac the ripper. it will not be able to play on the dvd player but the dvd could be played on the computer right.

 

[~Shard~]

Toast is an awesome, powerful app - definitely worth the money IMO. And version 8 has just been announced!

 

[xyian]

Toast is easily worth the cost. Trust everyone on this one. It's an extremely well thought out package. It's not just a burning program, either.

 

[quigleybc]

I love Toast, use it almost everyday

but

What else is there? If I want to burn an .avi or a .mov or whatever to a DVD to be later viewed in a DVD player.... it's pretty much Toast or nothing right?

and don't say iMovie / iDVD...cuz that's a laughable solution...

 

[GITANAJAVA]

Just the chaps I'm looking for: Toast users.

Long story short -- I created a slideshow in iPhoto that animates the business plan I wrote for a client (has music, Burns' effects, about 35-40 photos total). He loved it, asked me to burn it to DVD, even bought me a LaCie bundled with Toast Lite, Lightscribe, SilverKeeper AND the DVD's (DVD-R) that his Sony Vaio uses. All seemed to go well: exported the iPhoto slideshow to iDVD, used 1 of the themes (Brushed Steel?) and the iDVD Magic option to shape it up a bit more before burning the "new & improved" slideshow to DVD. Wasn't entirely pleased with the horizontal lines, herky-jerky motion, and lessening of what began as premium photo quality that iDVD seemed to add, but overall, the need for speed made us willing to compromise the visual quality a bit to get the product on DVD.

Now, the real problems: (1) - the ripped DVD plays well from my internal drive (DVD player, Quicktime, RealPlayer, etc.) without any additional issues. Ditto for playing from the LaCie. However, my client's Vaio won't play it at anything approaching even "slightly smooth" -- he's tinkered with resolution, frames per second, d/l'd Quicktime for Windows, and more, more, more. What, if anything, do I need to do on my end, to ensure this DVD will run smoothly when loaded into a consumer DVD player? (2) The first (test) version of the iPhoto-to iDVD-to Toast Lite-to DVD burn went perfectly and by the book. But when I was ready to rip the final version per the same steps, Toast sent me an error message along the lines of "Session aborted. Mac OS error 50." This message, by the way, only appeared near the end of what seemed to be the burn process.

Now it's your turn, Toast Pros. Teach this humble wannabe Toaster

 

[quigleybc]

Now it's your turn, Toast Pros. Teach this humble wannabe Toaster

hmmmm, kind of tough to say what's causing it to be "jerky" in a Vaio....I would venture to guess that it's not Toast, but more iDVD..but I would be guessing...

I've never attempted a slideshow DVD like you're describing...I'll try it out too

I feel like you should be able to leave iDVD out of the process, and just export, and burn to a DVD in Toast, without losing too much quality...

In the mean time, check out THIS program, maybe you can use it as a demo, or Buy it. It's sweet

 

[valdore]

I suppose if I want to get a copy of a movie, it's not so simple as downloading it from iTunes and burning it in iDVD so I can play it on an actual DVD player, is it? That would be just too easy, so I'm suspicious.

 

[After G]

I love Toast, use it almost everyday

but

What else is there? If I want to burn an .avi or a .mov or whatever to a DVD to be later viewed in a DVD player.... it's pretty much Toast or nothing right?

and don't say iMovie / iDVD...cuz that's a laughable solution...

My solution is to get a better DVD player. The Philips DVD player I have plays MP4/Divx.

 

[GITANAJAVA]

I feel like you should be able to leave iDVD out of the process, and just export, and burn to a DVD in Toast, without losing too much quality...

In the mean time, check out THIS program, maybe you can use it as a demo, or Buy it. It's sweet

Q,

Thanks for the hook-up to PulpMotion, looks interesting...can you say more about your experiences with it -- how you've used it, what projects, likes/dislikes, pros/cons?

Also, I've still no clue why Toast Lite worked fine the 1st time I experimented with it, but now -- no matter what I attempt to use it for (video, audio, data, copy), I keep getting the "Mac OS error -50". My filenames, BTW, are not the problem; I made sure of that.

 

[kenrobin]

Toast is easily worth the cost. Trust everyone on this one. It's an extremely well thought out package. It's not just a burning program, either.

I agree..... Toast is must-have software for the Mac. Don't sleep on this one........