What You Need:

DVD Shrink: http://filehippo.com/download_dvdshrink/
You can get it at many other sites, just google "DVD Shrink" if you don't like my link.

AutoGK: http://www.autogk.me.uk/index.php?na.etails&lid=1

A DVD

Recommended 15GB of hard drive space


The Tutorial

I decided to only link to the pictures instead of show them because of size constraints, hope no one minds


Step 1: DVD Shrink

Alright so first things first; put your DVD in the computer and stop any autoloading programs or tasks. Load up DVD Shrink and click on "Re-author" at the top:

DVD ]Shrink Image 1
The reason we are using Re-author instead of Full Disc is because Full Disc will backup your entire DVD; film, menus, special features included. We only want the movie.

So, you should see your DVD drive listed on the right hand side under "Devices with Removable Storage". Double click it and you'll be faced with a list of items.

At the top are the menus, followed by the film (which is usually one file and close to 2 hours in duration). Then you have all the special features. Since we only want the movie itself, double click the main movie item (probably named "Title 1").

Your going to see a second window which is analyzing the film:
DVD ]Shrink Image 2

After it analyzes your going to see another list with check boxes. Uncheck whatever you don't want (in most cases you'll only want 1 audio and no subtitles so uncheck all but the English):

DVD ]Shrink Image 3
You'll also see compression settings. Since we are going to be encoding to avi which compresses the video I suggest setting it to uncompressed (unless you don't have the disk space).

Once that's all done you can hit the "Backup!" button at the top. If you left it uncompressed you'll get a message warning you that it's too large for a DVD:

DVD ]Shrink Image 4

You're going to be faced with a window asking you where you want to put your files:

DVD ]Shrink Image 5

You can browse to wherever you want to put the files (and you can see i'm ripping Snatch :O ). Whether you create the Audio and Video TS folders is up to you since it doesn't really affect the outcome or the rest of the steps.

Click Okay and your rip will start:

] Shrink Image 6

It took my computer about 20 minutes to rip Snatch. Most movies won't take longer than 30 minutes:

DVD
Shrink Image 7

Once it's done click ok and you can close DVD Shrink.


Step 2: AutoGK

Next we're going to open up AutoGK to encode our DVD files to an avi:

Image 1

In the Input field browse to the directory that you saved the DVD rip to (and if you created a Video_TS folder, go into there). You'll see a bunch of files but we only need the first video file (usually VTS_01_1):
img=http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/6350/97734348km6.jpg
AutoGK Image 2

Once you've opened that file in AutoGK move to the Output field and specify where you want the avi to be created. Here's that main picture again to help:


AutoGK Image 1
You should only have 1 audio track selected and no subtitles in step 2 (if you have more, unselect all but 1).

In step 3 you define the file size. For most movies I would suggest 700mb, especially if your going to make it a torrent. If you have longer movies or movies you want higher quality video you can go to 1400mb.

Next click on advanced options. If you chose to go with a 700mb file select the mp3 audio (the less space it takes the more you have for video quality). If you chose the 1400mb file stick with the original AC3 audio.

image 3

Once your done, click okay, then Add Job, and Start Job. the encoding process will start and you'll get a whole bunch of info streaming in the bottom left:

AutoGK Image 4



image 5



AutoGK Image 6

It will open a second window which can be ignored. I suggest doing something else, away from the computer while this is working.

Finally it will finish. It took my computer almost 3 hours to encode Snatch to a 1400mb avi, a 700mb file will take around 2.5 hours:


AutoGK Image 7

You can close the program and go find your movie. If you made a 1400mb file then you're going to see 3 files. The largest is the whole movie and then there are two smaller ones that are the first and second halves. Unless you're burning the movie you can delete the two smaller files, as well as the files created by DVD Shrink.


The End

I hope this was a helpful tutorial, it doesn't look like much since the pictures are in links and it's rather long for a simple beginner's tutorial but hopefully you forgive me there

Enjoy.
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