Ripping dvd's to hard drive

Hi,

Just received apple tv as an xmas present but may return for this product, but had 2 concerns.  I would like to rip several dvd’s, mostly those for my 4 year old, to enjoy before he scratches them all.  Apple tv will do this but I would like an interface to show the cover art, even if I have to browse and load it via amazon or the like to save it to file?  Making my move folder look like those from blockbuster or netflix,  Is this possible with this system as I don’t think it is with Apple tv?  Also is can you add external hard drives to this unit for even more storage?

Thanks,

Robert

Yes, you can add external drives to the hub for more storage. The limit per external device is 2TB. One thing to consider is that APPLE TV’s limit is 720p. You cannot get 1080p quality. On the hub it plays 1080p movies great. 

I would use DVDdecrypter to rip my movies into ISOs. That is what I use for my DVDs.

You can add cover art and description for every movie in the hub. There is an option to add it. Just choose the right title and the hub will download it for you. If you rip your DVDs to play in the apple tv, it has to be in mp4 format, but for the hub, you can rip it in different formats (avi, mkv, iso, etc) because the hub plays a wide variety of format and if you rip it in ISO format, you will be playing it just like when you play it in the dvd player with the menus, intros and everything.

DVDDecrypter is, in programming terms, depricated; in layman’s terms outdated.  I also used it recently, but one out of about every 6 or 7 DVD I ripped as ISOs simply would not play.

At the suggestion of another Community Member, I bought DVDFab and have yet to run into another non-payable ISO.  You can also simply download the trial version and I I understrand its base functionality - rip/strip - never expires.

I hope you have the same good experience with DVDFab I did and if you choose to continue using DVDDecrypter I hope it works flawlessly for you.

Cheers!!!

Jim

Yes Jim you are correct. Dvddecrypter is not supported and it is outdated. I use that along with DVDFab. So far, it hasnt presented me with any problems. 

Thank you for your post.

I would also recommend makemkv, if you plans are to transcode to MKV.  It works great and I have no problems ripping or playing MKV.

I’ve been using DVD Decrypter for quite some time now but it doesn’t give me any problems. Although, when using it in Windows Vista o 7, it should be run as administrator so there will be no error. DVD Decrypter is outdated but I still think its still a usable program. I haven’t tried DVDFab but I am planning to try it.

If you’re using a mac, RipIt is the way to go. Well worth the registration fee. I rip dvd’s to the hub over the network now. Sweet.

With Ripit, how do you use it on the Hub. 

I was reading on their site that it creates a .dvdmedia file. Is that playable on the hub

thanks in advance