How-To: Backup Your DVDs and Watch Them in iTunes
Posted 03/21/2008 at 3:25pm
| by Roman Loyola
Put Your DVD Movies On Your iPod, Apple TV, and More
iTunes makes it easy to buy or rent movies on your Mac and watch them on your iPod or iPhone, on your TV via Apple TV, or on your Mac. But what about that DVD library you’ve built up over the years? What you need is HandBrake (free, http://handbrake.fr), a utility that can take videos from your DVDs and reformat them for your iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, Mac, and other devices.
Like MacTheRipper, HandBrake can access movies from copy-protected DVDs, but HandBrake doesn’t rip the video to your hard drive. HandBrake converts the movie to MPEG-4 format; you can designate settings so the format suits the playback device. It’s not difficult to use, but it can take a while for HandBrake to do its thing—we’re talking 2 to 3 hours (or more) to convert a movie.
HandBrake is meant to create movies from your DVDs for your personal use. In the spring of 2007, MPAA Chairman and CEO Dan Glickman said that managed copying—converting DVD content for use on an iPod, Mac, or a home server—is acceptable. However, using HandBrake for purposes other than for your own personal viewing is illegal.
1. GET TO THE SOURCE

In step 1, make sure you selected the correct source by checking it under the Source heading.
Load the DVD into your Mac and launch HandBrake. The software needs you to select your video source. Navigate to your DVD and select it. If you ripped your DVD using MacTheRipper, you can use the folder of ripped files as a source. Once you select your source, it should appear under Source.
2. Now Get Inside The Source

If the DVD video is sectioned into chapters, you can select individual chapters instead of converting an entire movie.
The toughest part of HandBrake is figuring out which file on the DVD is the movie file. In the Title section in the main interface, you get a pull-down menu showing the available files on the DVD. The files are identified by time length, so if you’re ripping a movie, you select the file with the longest running time. (It can get tricky if you’re ripping a DVD with a commentary track or extra features that run the same length as the featured video.) If you’re selecting a TV show, look for running lengths of about 24 minutes or 45 minutes. Under Destination, pick a place where you want to save the converted file.
3. Output Settings

HandBrake also has a preset for the PSP.
If you want to convert a video for iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV, you can use one of HandBrake’s presets. Click the Toggle Presets button at the upper-right to open the Presets window (if it’s not already open). To create a video to play on your Mac, select QuickTime.