I am SO confused

Sorry to start a new thread, but it needs to be done.

I went out and bought a DVD recorder (Thanks Dark Link). I figured everything out just fine. I recorded what I wanted to and have it on a DVD+RW disc. I can play it on my DVD player or computer just fine. But what I want to do is get it on to the internet. I figure I would just find a host and upload it just like I would pictures . . . this doesn't seem to be the case at all.

There is not just a single file on this disc. Oh no. There are several. I don't know what any of them mean. They don't look promising. Specifically, here they are . . .

Under the F drive, I have these two folders:

VIDEO_RM

VIDEO_TS

Under Video_RM, there are these:

-DVD_REC.USR
-PVR_TEMP....
-VIDEO_RM (with a windows media player symbol)
-VIDEO_RM (some other symbol)
-VIDEO_RM....

Under Video_TS, there are these:

-VIDEO_TS
-VIDEO_TS....
-VIDEO_TS....
-VTS_01_0
-VTS_01_0.BUP
-VTS_01_0....

What the heck? What am I supposed to do with these? Someone told me I should try to download a DVD ripper. I did, but it didn't seem to do much good. What I want to do is somehow convert/format/whatever the files on the DVD+RW (which work just fine) so that I may upload them to the internet. How do I go about doing this?

First off, hosting a DVD on the internet is madness. Even if you had gigabytes of web space to throw around, I doubt you'd have the bandwidth for very many transfers or any users that would be interested in a download on the order of several gigabytes. Not to mention it would take, what, days? to upload the files on a cable connection.

Now, as for the DVD itself... Authored DVDs typically have two directories, one for video and one for audio. VIDEO_TS is obviously the video, with Transport Stream (TS) video files within. VIDEO_RM is actually a new one to me, but I assume it's the audio folder.

Since it's a DVD-RW, there's no copy protection. You can simply copy these folders to your hard drive and play the DVD by opening VTS_01_0 in Windows Media Player. You can use a ripper and converter to create MPEG or compressed AVI files, and depending on how long the video itself actually is, they may end up internet friendly. Unless these are short clips, however, forget about it.

Well that's a downer. Is 18 minutes too long? Hahaha.

How do they do it on sites like SDA? I think I've seen some fairly lengthy clips on your typical hosting sites. Is there any way that this could be feasible? Damn. This sucks.

Now, for actually ripping and converting, could you link me to a free, reliable program for doing these things?

SDA has massive hosting and bandwidth I imagine. For a lot of larger files, BitTorrent is a good alternative. I wouldn't know how to set one up however.

As for the programs... Suffice to say I won't link it here. Look for DVD Shrink on Google for ripping and resizing. Unfortunately I don't use a solution for DVD file conversion, so I can't recommend anything there. Again, hit Google with something like "DVD to MPEG", you should get a huge list of programs.

They convert the DVD to AVI and compress with DivX codec on SDA, Shiek. I believe you can find programs for download out there that will do the job. Google should be helpful here.

However, If you just want to upload the raw DVD file, use something like Nero and extract the movie to a DVD Image file. That will contain all the formatting, files and such to a single file, which you can do whatever you want with (burn to other DVDs, upload, whatever).

Hope I helped.


And F3, sorry, but hosting DVDs on the web is not madness. I have no doubt that you'd be surprised how much it's done.

Thanks guys. Sorry my knowledge is so limited. It'll be a goal for me to get this done by the end of the week. Once I do it once, then I'll be able to do it many times.

Thanks for the reassuring words e_alert. I was really hoping that this idea would not go up into smoke so fast.

[Edit]

Crap. I've been searching for programs, but it seems like every single one costs money. I downloaded a trial version of one of them, and I'm pretty sure everything was working, but then a message popped up; "The trial version will only convert 5 minutes of video" or some garbage like that.

Does a free, non-trial version of such programs exist? I'm starting to think no. I know a friend of mine who downloads files from Limewire all the time, and I suppose that is an option, but I don't want to risk getting involved in legal issues if possible.

Originally Posted by e_alert

And F3, sorry, but hosting DVDs on the web is not madness. I have no doubt that you'd be surprised how much it's done.

You got me there. I should say it's madness via HTTP for most people.

BitTorrent, on the other hand, is a different story. I've downloaded bootlegs and DVD-size concert videos with that. That would work, yeah, but I don't know much about setting up a tracker and it would have to be in demand enough to get seeders.

I've noticed that some DVDs contain their videos split up into sections. For example, my Hypocrisy - Virus Bonus DVD has several video files, though not cut up by song, but irregularly. Is there a way to put these files together into one video? I doubt there is a dedicated program for such a thing, but Windows Movie Maker just won't cut it. However, I'd prefer something easy to use rather than a professional program.

I could help you set up a bittorrent tracker, its quite easy. You could always find a good video converter and convert it to .avi.

I assume just a plain ol' DVD ripper will do the job?

Back in the day I used Gordian Knot. Doom9.net has download links and tutorials. Make sure to grab the codec pack too: http://www.doom9.net/

I know a lot of people find DVDX easier to use. It's better integrated but doesn't provide quite as much flexibility. Not necessarily a bad thing though (heck, my favorite ripper under OSX is Handbrake): http://www.labdv.com/dvdx/

Really, if you have a dvd player on your pc already, you can drag and drop the files from the dvd drive to a folder. You can play them back with VideoLan player or burn them from there.

I HIGHLY recommend getting VideoLan, as it will play almost anything you can throw at it without the need to get heavy codec packs.

Alright. I'm grown tired of looking for a program that will work. I'm just too stupid for this.

If I were willing to put some more money into this, would:

http://www.divx.com/divx/create/converter/

That program be the sort of thing I'm looking for? At this point, I just want something that I know will work, and twenty dollars is not too bad. I figure if you want something that is certain to work, work well, and have no catch, you're probably going to have to pay up.

Will that program allow me to create movies? Will it allow me to take all of this garbage:

Under Video_RM, there are these:

-DVD_REC.USR
-PVR_TEMP....
-VIDEO_RM (with a windows media player symbol)
-VIDEO_RM (some other symbol)
-VIDEO_RM....

Under Video_TS, there are these:

-VIDEO_TS
-VIDEO_TS....
-VIDEO_TS....
-VTS_01_0
-VTS_01_0.BUP
-VTS_01_0....

And allow me to turn it into something that I can put on the internet via YouTube or some other file hosting website? Because that is ultimately my goal here.

*sigh* and I thought actually recording the DVD would be the hard part . . .

Nah, don't pay for DivX Converter. At the very least, if you haven't tried DVDX already, give it a shot first.

You shouldn't even care about the actual files on the disc: All you need to be concerned with is that it's a DVD, and that you're ripping it. At that point you have a ton of options. Gordian Knot and DVDX are two examples I've listed, but there're dozens of free options. Both will do the job of ripping and compressing files down to something a bit more reasonable for posting online, whether you're hosting it yourself or through something like YouTube.

Paying is just silly: DivX Converter's feature set is pretty lacking compared to most free options.

Originally Posted by Dryth

Nah, don't pay for DivX Converter. At the very least, if you haven't tried DVDX already, give it a shot first.

You shouldn't even care about the actual files on the disc: All you need to be concerned with is that it's a DVD, and that you're ripping it. At that point you have a ton of options. Gordian Knot and DVDX are two examples I've listed, but there're dozens of free options. Both will do the job of ripping and compressing files down to something a bit more reasonable for posting online, whether you're hosting it yourself or through something like YouTube.

Paying is just silly: DivX Converter's feature set is pretty lacking compared to most free options.

You don't even need a did ripping program, you can drag and drop from Explorer. If your looking to make the movies, like burn and author them, you can check out 'Dvd Santa' which will allow you to create menus and what nots.

All those files listed are basically chapters of the movie. I do have one question though. Did you use a Philips burner for that disc? Thats generally what the Video_rm is all about. With that Video_RM garbage, you will catch alot of grief and waste money trying to burn those files.

To work around it, you will have to copy video_ts to your hard drive where you can just use Nero to burn the disc from there. Nero is alittle more expensive, but it is awesome, well worth the buy.