itunes and dvds

[PinkAmy]

I just started using i-tunes on my MAC and I'm fumbling through the basics. I have a few DVDs I'd like to load into my i-tunes but I can't figure out how to do it. I can't figure out how to save the dvds on my mac either, but OMG I watched my first DVD on my computer and could not believe how much I enjoyed viewing from my laptop. Wow.
Any ideas?

[Chicago Expat]

You should be able to load the dvd into your laptop drive. If iTunes doesn't pop up as the default program, then click on the "Finder" icon at the bottom left hand corner of your screen (it's an odd smiling rectangle). After it pops open a window, you should see your dvd on the directory list. Click on it once. Then go to the drop-down menus at the top of your screen. Find the selection that says "Get Info". I think it's on the View drop-down, but I can't confirm this because I have a crack in my screen at the very top, lol, and I don't remember what the selections are. In any event, select Get Info. From there, you can choose an "Open With" program. Select iTunes.

At that point, you should be able to see it reflected in your iTunes interface (and remember, it may automatically show up there. Look there first before doing the above). Click on the dvd icon. It should give you an option to import in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. That should get you free and clear.

Did that answer your question? There's always enough wrinkles with iTunes that it's easy to misunderstand what the problem is at first blush.

If it didn't help, try asking again and maybe I'll understand better the second time around where things are going wrong.

Cheers.

[PinkAmy]

Thanks for answering.
The DVD kept loading in the dvd player, so I went to system preferences and made itunes my default place to open dvds. Then when I ejected and reinserted the dvd, nothing happens. I can open the GET INFO but thee isn't an OPEN with (though I think I took care of in preferences.
So none of what I've been trying as worked, I dragged it--nada.
When I tried clicking all the buttons in GET INFO it says read only-- does that mean I can't move it to itunes?

[kuwisdelu]

I'm guessing you want to save the movies into iTunes, not just watch them on your Mac? While it's technically legal to make a back up of your own movies, the movie studios frown upon it, because they want more money; thus, it's not officially supported. It is fairly easy, but somewhat time-consuming (since it takes a lot of cpu time to convert movies from how they're stored on a DVD to today's preferred digital formats.)

First download VLC (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html). Then download Handbrake (http://handbrake.fr/). Open Handbrake and click "Source" and find your DVD. On the right-hand pane, you should see a list of presets. Either "normal" or "high-profile" should be fine; if it's an older DVD, you'll want to use "high-profile," since it has decombing and de-interlacing on by default, which is sometimes necessary for old-DVD's not to get a really annoying windowshade effect from the fact that the source is interlaced. Anyway, just click one of those presets, then hit "Start," let it do it's thing, and when it's done, you should have an mp4 you can load into iTunes.

[Chicago Expat]

Hey, Ku, thanks for that.

Since we're kind've on the subject, I've got this dvd of a live concert (Calexico, Live at Barbican) that I'd like to listen to simply as audio. Can I apply the same method you suggest above, but maybe there is a different "output" selection as audio only?

Thanks in advance.

P.S. And thanks to PinkAmy for letting me piggyback on her thread.

[PinkAmy]

Thanks ku- here's what I really want. I want to store the DVD on my itunes so when I get my IPAD- I can watch it on my ipad. I figured that would be the easies way to be able to watch a movie on the IPAD. (I'm not getting the IPAD until the end of June, so I have 2 months to figure this out.)
The way you're describing sounds arduous-- and maybe not worth the $9.99 it would cost to just buy the friggin movie on itunes. I just remember when I had my PC and spent about 4 of the longest days of learning how to make DVDs from windows movie maker and I'd rather spend the time and energy writing.
I thought I was simply missing which button to click.
Thanks a LOT for taking the time to answer this.

[Medievalist]

Thanks ku- here's what I really want. I want to store the DVD on my itunes so when I get my IPAD- I can watch it on my ipad.

Kuwi's right; it's actually not that arduous. You start the DVD importing, then go away for a while.

I'm expecting a free ebook on just this topic and the iPad to appear in the next few days, from one of my co-authors. It takes you through the process step-by-step.

[kuwisdelu]

Thanks ku- here's what I really want. I want to store the DVD on my itunes so when I get my IPAD- I can watch it on my ipad. I figured that would be the easies way to be able to watch a movie on the IPAD. (I'm not getting the IPAD until the end of June, so I have 2 months to figure this out.)
The way you're describing sounds arduous-- and maybe not worth the $9.99 it would cost to just buy the friggin movie on itunes. I just remember when I had my PC and spent about 4 of the longest days of learning how to make DVDs from windows movie maker and I'd rather spend the time and energy writing.
I thought I was simply missing which button to click.
Thanks a LOT for taking the time to answer this.

It's not that hard. Here's some quick instructions:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/143553/Apple/handbrake1.png

(eep, typo... how embarrassing.) The "presets" pane will slide out to the right when you click the toggle presets button:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/143553/Apple/handbrake2.png

*If your DVD's are older and/or come out with "lines" during transitions when you watch them, your source is interlaced. Click the "Picture Settings" above, click the "Fliters" tab on the new thing, and set Deinterlace and Decomb to "Default":

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/143553/Apple/handbrake3.png

**If you don't mind a slightly longer encode time, just choose "High Profile," which will choose the deinterlace and decomb options for you. This uses a slightly more complex algorithm for the conversion, though, and will take a little longer.

***Depending on how old your machine is, you may want to run this overnight, or set a DVD to go, and go read for a while. Video conversion is one of the most cpu-intensive task a consumer will ever ask of a computer, so don't be surprised if your cpu goes to 100% and your fans kick in for a few hours. This is completely normal.

Hey, Ku, thanks for that.

Since we're kind've on the subject, I've got this dvd of a live concert (Calexico, Live at Barbican) that I'd like to listen to simply as audio. Can I apply the same method you suggest above, but maybe there is a different "output" selection as audio only?

Thanks in advance.

P.S. And thanks to PinkAmy for letting me piggyback on her thread.

You can't set the output to audio only, but you can set the output resolution to be really small (or just use the old iPod preset) so the conversion goes reasonably fast. Then use a program called Subler (very useful little app) to delete everything but the audio out and save it as a .m4a file.

[PinkAmy]

Thanks Med and KU- I will try this tomorrow when I have a fresh head. I really appreciate the step by step instructions and I can't really afford the $9.99 to buy the same things twice.

[kuwisdelu]

Just install VLC first, since Handbrake uses it to read some DVD's.

The only real problem may be if your source is interlaced... if the "Picture Settings" dialog up above scares you, just choose "High Profile" as your preset instead of "iPad." An iPad or iPad 2 will still be able to play it, but it may take a little longer to encode, and older iPhones/iPods probably won't be able to play it.

ETA: What can get difficult is if you want soft subtitles on your movies... but that's another story that I'm guessing you don't need to worry about.

[maestrowork]

Handbrake is free, and generally pretty good.

I also use Toast.

Both are very easy to use.

But do understand some of these commercial software can't do copy-protected DVDs.

[kuwisdelu]

Handbrake is free, and generally pretty good.

I also use Toast.

Both are very easy to use.

But do understand some of these commercial software can't do copy-protected DVDs.

Handbrake+VLC will do most copy-protected DVD's.

I thought Toast was more for burning than ripping.

[PinkAmy]

When I select the DVD in Handbrake it says the VLC isn't downloaded (it is). It says what I have downloaded isn't compatible (it should be, I downloaded the same 64 bit thingy.) When I try to convert the DVD it doesn't ask me all the configurations shown in kuwi's post #8. It says I can still try to convert but it might not be compatible...ahhh what to do :).
Any thoughts?

[maestrowork]

Which version of VLC and Handbrake do you have?

[maestrowork]

Another option is use MacTheRipper to rip the DVD first, then use any conversion tool (Handbrake included) to convert for iPod/iPad/AppleTV, etc.

[PinkAmy]

Version 0.9.5 i386 (2011010300) of handbrake
Version 1.1.9 The Luggage (Intel 32bit)

I just noticed that the luggage is 32 bit, maybe that's my problem?

I tried to send the luggage to trash and download it again, but it won't let me uninstall or delete.

[maestrowork]

Another thing to try is VideoMonkey, which is based on the GREAT but discontinued VirtualDub.

I still have a copy of VirtualDub which is great as a backup conversion tool, when all else fails.

[kuwisdelu]

Version 0.9.5 i386 (2011010300) of handbrake
Version 1.1.9 The Luggage (Intel 32bit)

I just noticed that the luggage is 32 bit, maybe that's my problem?

I tried to send the luggage to trash and download it again, but it won't let me uninstall or delete.

i386 means you got the 32-bit version. The 64-bit version should say x86_64 there instead. This (http://handbrake.fr/rotation.php?file=HandBrake-0.9.5-MacOSX.5_GUI_x86_64.dmg) should be the version you want (from this (http://handbrake.fr/downloads.php) page).

This is assuming you got the 64-bit version of VLC (and I'm you installed it to your Applications folder rather than just downloading it).

[maestrowork]

I didn't even know there's a 64bit version of VLC. That explains why they worked for me: I have the 32bit versions of both.

[kuwisdelu]

I didn't even know there's a 64bit version of VLC. That explains why they worked for me: I have the 32bit versions of both.

There's been 64-bit VLC for a while, but they lost a lot of Mac developers for a while, so the only 64-bit Mac version was pretty old. They're back on regular Mac development now, though, with a regularly-released 64-bit versions.

[GothamGal]

I'm guessing you want to save the movies into iTunes, not just watch them on your Mac? While it's technically legal to make a back up of your own movies, the movie studios frown upon it, because they want more money; thus, it's not officially supported. It is fairly easy, but somewhat time-consuming (since it takes a lot of cpu time to convert movies from how they're stored on a DVD to today's preferred digital formats.)

First download VLC (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html). Then download Handbrake (http://handbrake.fr/). Open Handbrake and click "Source" and find your DVD. On the right-hand pane, you should see a list of presets. Either "normal" or "high-profile" should be fine; if it's an older DVD, you'll want to use "high-profile," since it has decombing and de-interlacing on by default, which is sometimes necessary for old-DVD's not to get a really annoying windowshade effect from the fact that the source is interlaced. Anyway, just click one of those presets, then hit "Start," let it do it's thing, and when it's done, you should have an mp4 you can load into iTunes.

They've made it so easy now. I remember getting one of the 'new iPod with video' capabilities, but there weren't a lot of movies in the store--it was mostly videos. So I had to buy something called 'DVD to iPod converter.' Once I found VLC, heard about Handbrake and it's LOVELY.