Like everybody I get stressed out because of my inability to play movies I purchased as a DVD on portable media players, computers without DVD drives, etc. Luckily I found out how to rip DVDs to iPod using my favorite media player, VLC, and I'm here to show you how.

Getting VLC

The first step is to get the software. If you already have VLC you can skip this step, but if you don't you can download it here. Find "Mac OS X" and click on.

Insert and Open the DVD with VLC

Most people know to open the program first. But if you don't open the program, unless you have some problem with your installation or your OS. Then insert the DVD you want to rip.

click the "File" drop-down menu and click Open disk. Select "DVD", make sure the "use DVD menus" box isn't checked. You might want to click ok and see if the main movie plays. If it doesn't, change the value for "Title" to 1, if that doesn't bring up the main movie, try 2, and so on.

Click the "Stream/Save" box then click the "Settings" button. (You can also go to "File" and down to "Streaming/Exporting Wizard". Click on "Streaming/Exporting Wizard" to bring up the dialog box.)



Output setting

Check the "File" box under Outputs. Don't check the "Play locally" box unless you want to watch the movie as you are ripping it. Now select the encapsulation method. If you want to use the file with itunes/ipod you need to save it as an mp4 with .h264 video and mp4a audio.

Now, under the "File" box there is a button that says "Browse". Click that. Select the file you want to save to then under file name type any name followed by the file extension for the encapsulation method you selected (if you you selected MPEG TS, PS, or 1 type .mpg at the end of the file name, if you selected Ogg type .ogg, ASF type .asf, and so on but don't type any file extention if you selected RAW). Hit "Save" then "Ok".

Convert

Hit "Ok" and the transcoding will start. If everything is setup right it should look like this (it'll be playing the movie if you selected "Play locally"). The problem is that it only rips at x1 so if you have a 2 hour movie it will take 2 hours to rip.

Handbrake's much easier.

no disrepect meant to fryke, and thanks for info on a program (handbrake) i'd never heard of. but a hackintosh junkie doesn't want the easiest way. that's why they're hackintoshen.
remember, for every problem, there's a solution that's simple, elegant, and not as much fun as downloading 8 files with bittorrent, booting from a thumb drive, patching a couple of kexts, burning a second DVD, getting on IRC to zap a patch, repairing permissions by hand, updating the video, then going on insanelymac and posting about your ordeal.
notice that happysmile hasn't started on about loading these on a non-jailbreaked iphone. he's saving that for next week.

Hi
VLC looks a bit complicated for ripping DVD to Ipod. Try using Popcorn. It's the best app I've found for this and can rip to Ipod, Iphone, PSP...........etc.

andy_bon

DVD to iPod for Mac OS X
iSkysoft DVD to iPod Converter is a quite good conversion software that can convert DVD to formats suitable for iPod products. With iSkysoft DVD to iPod Converter, you can choose to convert any chapters or titles, trim the length of any titles or chapters, convert your DVD into one file, and select DVD subtitle and audio track to convert your movie in any language available on your DVD.
It also lets you set video brightness, contrast, and saturation and so on to set the output movie quality. Rip DVD to iPod with this easy software to turn your iPod into a mobile mini cinema.




DVD to iPod for Mac OS X

iSkysoft DVD to iPod Converter for Mac Features:

• The DVD to iPod for Mac converter developed for Mac PowerPC and Mac Intel (include Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard) users.
• Besides converting DVD to iPod for mac, iSkysoft DVD to iPod Converter for Mac can also convert DVD audio to M4A for playback on your iPod touch, iPod classic, and iPod nano.
• This DVD to iTunes for Mac converter lets you trim the length of any title or chapter to convert your favorite clips only.
• You can capture pictures by clicking the snapshot button while previewing the movie.
• iSkysoft DVD to iPod Converter for Mac allows you to merge and convert all the titles or chapters you want to convert into one file.
• Set video encoding settings including resolution, frame rate, encoder, and bit rate, and set audio output settings including sample rate, channel, encoder and bit rate.
• This DVD to iTunes for Mac converter lets you crop DVD video to remove the video sides and enjoy your movies on your iPod touch in full screen.
• This DVD to iPod for Mac Converter adjust movie video effects by setting video brightness, contrast, saturation, applying a built-in video effect and normalize sound levels of DVD.
• Convert DVDs to iPod touch with any available language on your DVD by selecting the subtitle and audio track you prefer.
• iSkysoft DVD to iPod Converter for Mac has a very simple Mac-style interface that guides you to convert DVD to iPod Mac with just a few simple steps. It provides you with real time preview to adjust the output quality.

With the iSkysoft DVD to iPod Converter for Mac, you can easily enjoy DVD videos on your iPod players