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How to rip and compress DVDs in Mac OS X

A couple of months ago, I got a Mac Mini* and immediately (of course) hooked it up to my TV so I could use it as a media center. (That’s probably a good topic for a separate post.)

Since then, I’ve ripped my DVD collection onto the Mac so any movie I own is only a few clicks away. Here’s how you can do the same thing:

1. Insert a DVD in your Mac’s DVD drive

These directions are optimized for feature films, not TV shows or other things you might find on a DVD. However, with a little creativity you should be able to adapt these instructions to serve your purposes.

2. Use MacTheRipper to do a “Main Feature Extraction” to your Mac

I use MacTheRipper first because it allows me to archive a raw VIDEO_TS folder that I can re-compress later if I want. For more detail about doing a simple DVD-to-disk rip, see the first half of Mark Pilgrim’s excellent how-to video.

Here’s what my MacTheRipper settings look like:

3. Use HandBrake to compress the movie

This part is critical because there aren’t many programs (including Front Row) that know what to do with a raw VIDEO_TS folder. But nearly any video player (again, including Front Row) can handle an MP4 file, so that is what we will convert this movie into.

In HandBrake, I use the XviD encoder with a target size of 1000MB (about 1GB). This produces a very watchable picture at a reasonable file-size.

Here’s what my Handbrake settings look like (click to enlarge):

Put the video file in your Movies folder, and enjoy!

You can obviously keep your movies wherever you want, but I keep mine in the Movies folder (under my home directory) so Front Row can access them.

My movies folder

Give it a try!

Feel free to try this yourself, and let me know if you have questions!

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* The Mini was a gift from my generous Grandpa, who you may recognize from his occasional comments on this site.