Hi! I have a toshiba satellite laptop (got it summer 2000). It is a pentium III, 192 MB ram.
Anyways, I was thinking of copying a few DVD's to my hard disk (maybe a better term would be DVD ripping). I want to save them in the DivX or Xvid format... Anyways, I have a few questions: What is the best software to do the job for me? Also, I was told that it would probably take up to 9 hours to rip one DVD. Is that harmful for my computer? I mean, would keeping the computer 'working hard' for that long harm it in any way? If yes, how? (keep in mind that I am planning to copy several DVD's, but of course, not consecutively). Also, I want to mention that I have a fan running under my laptop, so that lowers the mother board and CPU temp. (I didn't have a heating problem or anything, but I just thought, the cooler the better!)

Any info on the subject would be much appreciated

Hi, my favourite DVD Ripping software is DVD Decryptor, I'm sure you will hear other suggestions, but DVD Decryptor is easy to use, and seems to be quicker, IMO, than others. I don't think it will take 9 hours, it takes me a maximum of 40Min on an 8x DVD drive. Its not harmful to your notebook at all, your CPU is hardly being used anyway - its basically like using your DVD drive to play a 80minute Audio CD, the only thing that works hard when ripping a DVD, is the DVD drive, and it works just as hard when you watch a DVD movie... Just remember that you need a good 6-10GB of space depending on the DVD.

Good luck,

RaPTuRe

Who's General Failure and why's he reading my disk?

Try Clone DVD. It has the decryter built right into the software.

<font color=red>Urban Geek </font color=red>

I think he is reffering to the Entire Ripping and Encoding process using divx.

I use Smart ripper to rip,
virtual dub and xvid codecs with 128 mp3 sound.

If I use 2 pass encoding, it takes about 4X the length of the DVD. ie 90Minute DVD = 360Minutes = 6 Hours, + about 5 Minutes to Rip with smartripper, and 15 minutes to rip the Sound with DVD-AVI software.

In total no more than 7 Hours per DVD using 2 pass encoding.

or 4 Hours using 1 Pass CBR encoding.

cheers


Opel Superboss, now that was a car!

Ok, do you mean you use DivX or Xvid

I use DVD Decryptor, as I said, and then Xmpeg 5 to encode, using DivX codec and 128kbps MP3, Single pass, encoded to just over 700MB. Usually takes about 1.2X the length of the DVD to encode (10 minutes ripping, and 24-28fps encoding).

RaPTuRe

Who's General Failure and why's he reading my disk?