Last week, in preparation for my trip to New York, I decided to rip a couple of movies onto my iPod Touch for the flight. I had never done this before, so it sent me looking for a solution.
There are many dvd ripper tools that are capable of ripping and converting DVD movie to iPod compatible video format. Many of them are general purpose toolkits that can convert almost any kind of video to almost any other popular formats. Some of them are good tools, but they make the process a bit complicated.
Finally I found a tool called iFunia DVD to iPod Converter for Mac on Google. This software is a free trial application for Mac OS X that accomplishes this task quickly and easily. It even has iPod Touch preset format options to set up for different resolutions automatically. It is easy to use and converts the video in a single pass, ready for transfer and sync to your iPod.
Step 1: Download & install iFunia DVD to iPod Converter for Mac
We’ll be using a very nice DVD Ripping tool for Mac OS called iFunia DVD to iPod Converter ( Mac OS only ) for ripping our DVD, head over here and download the free trial version.
Make sure you have updated your iFunia DVD to iPod Converter to version 2.0 or later. If you don't have DVD to iPod Converter 2.0 or later version installed, get it now.
Step 2: Run iFunia DVD to iPod Converter for Mac
Now get your DVD disc and insert it. Then run iFunia DVD to iPod Converter on your Mac and click the big button "Load..." to load your DVD disk, you may see the name of DVD Movie disk if you insert DVD disk before running this DVD ripper tool (see the image below to have an idea). This may take up to a minute or two depending on the contents of the DVD and the speed of your optical drive.
Step 3: Select the titles you'd like to convert
A movie DVD usually has several titles. However, only the first title is the content of DVD movie ( you may recognize it from the 'Length', see the image below), the other titles are the theatrical trailers. You may un-check the options not to convert these useless titles. Just check the first title option and convert all chapters of DVD movie content to one single video file.
The shorter titles on the DVD are usually the video backgrounds used in the DVD menu screens and DVD extras like movie trailers. Unless you are a graphic artist, you probably don't want to convert these titles.
Step 4: Add watermark on the output video file
Wanna add a personalized watermark on the output video files? You may add a text watermark or a image logo using iFunia DVD to iPod Converter for Mac. Just select the titles/chapters you'd like to add watermark, then click the button 'Edit' to open video editing window. If you want to crop DVD movies or add some special effects, click the first two tabs.
Step 5: Change the output settings to make the video look the best on iPod
iPod supports H.264 and MPEG-4 video only. You may learn more details about iPod supported video formats here.
Here I set the output video format to 'iPod Touch MPEG-4 Video (*.mp4)', Video Codec as 'H.264', Resolution as '480*320', Bitrate as '768', Frame Rate as '30', Audio Codec as 'AAC' by default. Remember that the output file size mostly depends on the Bitrate you set. Larger Bitrate, larger file size. Actually video with bitrate as 768 is acceptable for watching on iPod.
Step 6: Start converting DVD movies
Now you may click the big button "Start" to begin converting DVD movies onto your hard disk. The Convert progress bar shows you how much of the convert process is completed. The longer your movie and the larger its Bitrate, the longer the convert will take. The ripping time will depend on several variables including: the duration of the video file, the speed of your computer, what other activity your computer is currently doing, the codec you selected (H264 or MP4) and the bitrate you set.
Once the convert is complete, iFunia DVD to iPod Converter will place on your Desktop a new version of your movie that will play on the iPod. Double-click the new file and play it to make sure it looks as you expect.
To get the movie onto your iPod, launch iTunes 6 (or later). If you do not have it, download iTunes now. Drag your new converted movie file into your iTunes library in the folder or playlist of your choosing.
Attach your iPod to your computer and sync the iPod with iTunes. If you're connecting your iPod for the first time, you'll need to name it, and choose how you'd like to manage your music and video. Check the option "Automatically sync songs and videos to my iPod" so your music and video from the iTunes library will automatically snyc to your iPod. The sync may take a few minutes. When syncing is done, eject your iPod and take your movies with you.
To play the movie on your iPod, select "Videos" then "Movies" from the iPod Main Menu. Movies will be listed here alphabetically. Click on the desired movie to play.
DVD to iPod Converter for Mac is a powerful Mac DVD ripping software to rip encrypted movie DVDs to H.264 and MPEG-4 video for playback perfectly on your iPod. The converted MP4 video can be used for playback on iPod Nano, iPod Classic, iPod Touch.
(PC user? Get Windows version here)
(File Size: 5.4MB)