how can i copy a dvd movie into my computer and what format will the copied video be in?

Answer 1

1. rip the movie from the dvd to your computer's hard drive by using a free software called dvdDecrypter.

2. Encode the file you just ripped using a software called DVDShrink

3. Burn the movie to a new blank dvd using a dvd burning software.

Answer 2

The format will be an mp4 file, which will run in iTunes and also on an iPod or iPhone. It will also run from Windows Media Player.

If you have a Mac then you can use the free open-source Handbrake program, but it won't work with copy-protected DVDs on a PC running Windows. Even on the Mac, Handbrake makes pretty large files and takes a long time to convert DVDs.

I prefer to use Xilisoft DVD Converter, which works well on both Windows and Mac, and is a lot faster too (only about an hour and a half compared to over 4 hours with Handbrake).

One nice feature about Xilisoft is that it lets you take stillshots at any point during the movie. You just click a button and it saves a photo of the current frame, making it easy to capture your favorite celebs at just the right moment.

The article below describes both of these programs, with screenshots, instructions, links, etc. Hope you find it helpful :-)

Answer 3

Strictly speaking you are not allowed to do that .. you may THINK you have 'purchased' the DVD but if you look carefully what you have bought is a License which permits you to do some limited things wit the content of the DVD ..

Things specifically prohibited include playing the contents in public and copying ..

.. on the other hand if you enter 'Open Source DVD copy tools' into google you will find what you want :-)

FAST etc. try to convince you that copying is some how stealing .. of course it's not = theft involves depriving some-one else of the item .. but if you make (not take) a copy, the 'owner' STILL HAS the original ..

They also bleat on about how you are depriving the artist of their income (carefully neglecting to mention that out of the £15 they charge for the DVD, the artists are lucky to see 15p)

Answer 4

There are quite a number of software available commercially that can rip and save DVD movies into almost any format you want. One example is the Total Video Converter.