Wouldn’t it be great if your home-ripped movies looked the same in your iTunes library as their expensive iTunes Store–bought brothers?

We already showed you how to convert your DVD collection into iPod-compatible clips using MacTheRipper and HandBrake (“Hardcore How-Tos: The Digital Media Edition,” Apr/08, p23). This time, we’re going to take this process a little further and polish up those files to make them look just like iTunes Store purchases, complete with named chapter markers, poster artwork, and a description field containing a film synopsis as well as a short list of its cast and crew.

If you followed our directions in the April issue, you’ll have to re-encode your film in step 1 below if you want to name the chapters. But the rest of these steps can be done to the files you already have. Most of the information for the description field can be gleaned from your DVD covers, but if you don’t own a scanner and don’t feel like typing all that information, the Internet is the best place to search for alternative content. Time to get your DVDs out and start creating a beautiful digital film collection.

What you need: iTunes 7.5 or later (free, www.apple.com), HandBrake (free, handbrake.fr),  Lostify (donationware, lostify.com) and your DVD collection.

1. Name Chapters Using HandBrake

Having DVD Player and HandBrake side-by-side can make it easy to write down the film’s chapter names.

When converting a DVD using HandBrake (www.handbrake.fr), chapter names are added automatically. However, if you click on the application’s Chapters tab, you can give them more memorable titles. Many DVDs have named chapters, which can be found somewhere on the DVD case, or by going into the DVD’s Chapter Selection menus (you can use Apple’s DVD Player to watch the film as you set up the conversion in HandBrake, although you should quit DVD Player before starting, as DVD drives can’t be accessed by more than one application at a time). 

2. Time-Saving Tips

Editing chapter names is greatly speeded up with the use of keyboard shortcuts.

You can enter chapter names in HandBrake quickly thanks to keyboard shortcuts: Hit the Return key once you’ve renamed a chapter, and use the Up or Down arrows to move to the previous or next chapter. To overwrite the default chapter name (or alter an already modified one) hit the Tab key. If you’d rather not have to type all that information, there’s a website that stores DVD chapter names: www.dvdchapter.com. If your DVD is there, you can just copy and paste the data into HandBrake.

3. Set Up iTunes

If you plan on digitizing many movies, it might be best to keep them on a separate drive and stop iTunes from copying them into its library.

While your movie encodes, you can make sure it’ll look good in iTunes by setting the Movies section to Cover Flow View (go to View > Cover Flow View or use the keyboard shortcut Option-Command-5). Next, go to iTunes > Preferences and select the Advanced section. In the General tab, make sure the “Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library” box is not checked, as you may want to place your films in the more appropriate Movies folder, or maybe even on an external hard drive. 

4. Find the Right Artwork

The Internet has the perfect poster artwork for your film—is there anything it can’t do?

Once your file is encoded, you can drag it into iTunes. The film gets automatically added to the Movies section. You can add information to some fields by selecting its entry and going to File > Get Information. Unfortunately, the most important field, Description, isn’t accessible. You can, however, add cover artwork. A good source for movie artwork is www.impawards.com. Find your film’s poster and drag the image from the webpage directly onto the Artwork section of the Information window.

5. Get Lostify

Although iTunes won’t grant you access to the Description field, a clever programmer has stepped in to help you out.

To fill in the Description field, you need a small, free application called Lostify. Go to www.lostify.com, select its Download page, and get the latest version (currently 0.7). Once on your Mac, you can place it anywhere you wish, but make sure its icon is easily accessible, as we’ll be making use of it in the next step.

6. Find All the Data You Need Online

Lostify lets you add a synopsis to your film, as well as an MPAA rating via a handy pop-up menu.

Locate your movie in the Finder (if you don’t remember where it is, you can Control-click it in iTunes and choose Show In Finder from the contextual menu). Drag the file from the Finder onto Lostify’s icon. You can add a description by copying the text from the DVD case, or you can use sites like www.amazon.com or www.imdb.com to gather the information. The MPAA rating can also be found on these sites and added to the relevant menu in Lostify.

7. Add the Cast and Crew

Adding a cast and crew list can be a bit tedious, so stick to only a few of the main actors.

Click the Cast button at the bottom of the window. You can add director, producer, screenwriter, and actor information, one at a time: Click the plus sign and add a name, choose a category from the pop-up menu, and click OK. When you’re done, click the Options button to the left of Cast. Make sure the safest method is set: Same (Trash Original And Replace). This ensures that Lostify will not overwrite your file, but create a copy instead. That way, if anything goes wrong, you can retrieve the original from the Trash and try again. Also click Add Lostify To iTunes Menu, as this option will come in handy very shortly. When ready, click Apply.

8. Apply the Final Touches

If your description is too long, you may have to access Lostify from the menubar to get iTunes to display the full text in the Information window.

In Leopard, use Quick Look to make sure the new file plays (or QuickTime if you’re running Tiger or Panther). If it does, it’s OK to empty the Trash. Go to iTunes and note the additional information that’s now displayed: You will see part of the file description with an i button to the right. Click the button and you’ll notice that the description stops after 255 characters. In the menubar, click the new Script icon and choose Lostify; that movie’s information should come up there. Don’t alter anything—just click Apply. Now click the i button in iTunes again, and the description will be complete.

9. See the Results

All the metadata you added can also be seen in Front Row or on your Apple TV.

It is best to follow the steps as indicated: Lostify can cause problems if you use it to alter tags directly from within iTunes. Also, adding the artwork after the description would force your Mac to fully write the file again, but adding artwork before the description is instantaneous. The added data works in your iPod, Front Row, and even your Apple TV: All the information is ready to display, and your new digital library is now ready for you to enjoy.