DVD to AVI (XviD) Backup - A Complete Guide

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I have few DVDs which I felt that I should have a backup. So I started to search for a way, and there is nothing better than "Google". I encountered many tools and many guides, some having a steep learning curve and some uses tools which require almost no intervention from the User- kind of an AIO. After pondering over all the options for few months, I jumped in and found that there are still problems lying ahead. I got all my problems resolved after discussing the issues in different forums and ultimately produced an excellent backup of one of my favorite movies. My quest made me realize that there is a serious lack of a complete guide to help a complete 'newbie' to get a great quality backup using an Windows PC. So here is a guide which should help a New User to get a perfect backup of his/her favorite movie. So read on.....

Purpose: The aim of this guide is to show a easy way to convert the main movie on a DVD to AVI using XviD codec.

This whole guide is divided in to following two sections:

Section 1: Ripping the DVD to your Hard Disc.

Section 2: Making the Backup

Every section is further subdivided into three subsections:

• Download
• Installation
• Use

Tools Used:

1. • PgcDemux for Ripping- it only works for non-copy protected DVDs.
   • DVDFab HD Decrypter for Ripping- for all newer copy protected DVDs. - I'm in process of adding this, please be patient.
     
   
   
2. Auto Gordian Knot (popularly known as AutoGK or AGK) for making backup

Section 1 - Ripping the DVD to Hard Disc

As the main purpose of this guide is to Convert DVD to AVI (XviD) and Ripping is a necessary but additional part, I have decided to move it to another post so that users who do not require a Ripping Guide can just continue to AGK conversion guide. Please follow the links under the respective tools to view the guide to Rip a DVD using that tool.

1. PgcDemux

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Note: As mentioned above this tool will not work for copy protected DVDs. It is best usable if (for any reason) you have the DVD folder (VIDEO_TS) on your HDD. Otherwise, please refer to the guide for DVDFab HD Decrypter. PgcDemuxis a very powerful tool which can be used for various reasons in editing the DVD content, but discussing those functions is beyond the scope as well as the purpose of this guide.

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DVD Ripping with PgcDemux:

http://sroyc.blogspot.com/2008/03/dvd-ripping-with-pgcdemux.html

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2. DVDFab HD Decrypter

DVD Ripping with DVDFab HD Decrypter:

http://sroyc.blogspot.com/2008/03/dvd-ripping-with-pgcdemux.html

This concludes the section of Ripping.

Section 2- Making the Backup

In this stage the tool to be used is AutoGK. The best thing about this tool is that it comes bundled with all the necessary back end tools, so the user do not need to worry about missing components. Though this tool is mainly targeted to new comers, there are hidden options which can be invoked by pressing CTRL+F9. Though there will be no need to mess with the default settings of AGK.

Download:

AGK comes in two versions, one is the Full Installer of the Last Stable Release (2.45) and the other is the last Beta Release (2.48). The Beta release is only the update pack, so the user needs to download the full pack as well as the update ed Beta version installer to use the latest version. I suggest that both the versions should be downloaded. I have used 2.48 Beta release for the purpose of this guide.

1. Click here to Download AGK version 2.45 (Stable)- Full Installer
2. Click here to Download AGK version 2.48 Beta Update- Update Pack Only
3. AutoGK Homepage

Click Link 1 first to download the complete installer of about 8MB in size. Then get the Update Pack using the second link. The installer looks like this .

Installation:

Step 1:

Double click the version 2.45 installer and proceed as usual to install the program. Do not fiddle with the default installation settings unless you are absolutely sure about what you are doing. Though you can safely change the default installation location if you wish.

Step 2:

Once the installation is completed, run the version 2.48 Beta installer. It should pick up the installation location of the previous version by default even if you have changed it in earlier stage. So just carry on with the installation without changing the default options.

During installation, you may like to choose the Standalone Compatibility to be installed provided you have idea about what type of chip your Standalone DVD player uses. This will enhance the compatibility of the end output from the program and hence making it more playable in a standalone player.

Use:

Step 1:

Go to Start> All Programs> AutoGK and click on AutoGK icon which looks like this . The program window looks like as follows:

Step 2:

Click on folder icon beside the "Input File" field. That will open up a Pop-up window. Navigate to the ripped files folder, which were created in the last section. Choose the First File named as VTS_01_1- this is very important to choose the first file and the first file only. Now hot the "Open" button.

As you choose to open this file, the "Input File" field should look like this:

AGK will automatically choose the same input folder as Output folder and the Output file field should look like this:

If you intend to chose a different location for your Output file, just click the Folder Icon at the right end of the field, and you can choose another location. Remember only to choose a location with sufficient free space.

Step 3:

Now look at the Audio and Subtitle Selection section of the Program. the default one should already be selected. In this case there is only one Audio Track available and no subtitle track is there. There may be situations where you need to choose between different Audio Streams and Subtitle Streams. You can choose multiple Audio Streams, but that will simply increase the end file size. You can move the Audio and Subtitle streams up and down using the Blue Arrows beside the respective windows.

Step 4:

In this step you need to choose the output file size. There are three distinctive options available

1. Predefined Size templates
2. Custom size
3. Target Quality (in Percentage)

First let us explore the " Predefined Size templates" option. Click on the Drop Down arrow beside the field and you may see all the available options. Do not choose anything below 1 CD (700Mb), as the end quality will seriously suffer. Generally the default is 2 CDs (1400 Mb).

Next comes the "Custom Size" option. If you select this option, you may input any size in the field. I do not recommend this as it is not at all for Newbies. You can change the size by clicking on the arrow button beside the size field.

Last is the option of "Target Quality (in Percentage)". I would always suggest to use this option. The main reason is that this option is faster than the other two options. There are two problems though, first you do not have any control over the output file size and some Standalone Compatibility features are disabled. The second one should not bother you much, and the first one depends on your personal choice. The quality setting can be any number up to 100. But I would suggest that to keep it at 75% or to increase it till 80% at most. Beyond that percentage the quality improvement will hardly be recognizable for normal viewing purpose .

If you choose this option you will get an warning from AGK like the following regarding Standalone Compatibility as mentioned above:

Just hit the OK button to continue.

As I said, I prefer to use this mode. If one likes otherwise, the other two options can always be chosen.

Note (for Advanced users): In "Predefined Size" mode, AGK will do a 2 pass encoding. This ensures that the quality-size ratio are optimally maintained. But this takes longer time to complete a job. In "Target Quality (in Percentage)" mode, as there is no worries about the output size, AGK does a 1 pass encoding only, making the process faster.

Step 5:

Here we need to change some settings to control the final result. Click on the "Advanced Settings" button as in the next screen shot:

Hitting this button will bring up the following window:

Make all the settings exactly as shown in the above shot. The Codec is XviD and I suggest that it should not be changed as XviD produces better quality output than DivX and this comes bundled with AGK installer.

Regarding the sound I prefer to choose the original sound as that keeps the Multi channel Listening Experience intact. Though if any output size below 2 CDs are chosen, AGK will re encode the original sound to MP3 as that will decrease the output file size.

Leave the Subtitle option as shown above, as external subtitle can not be played by a Standalone player. In another guide I shall try to show the process of ripping subtitle is discussed and how it can be used in the Standalone player (I may also add it to this guide letter).

After all the settings are in order as above, just hit OK to save the settings.

Note: These settings will be saved for the next project too, unless the user changes it to something else.

Step 5a (Optional):

If you are aware of the type of chip used by your standalone player you may proceed to read this step, otherwise proceed to Step 6.

Hit CTRL+F9 to open up advance options in AGK...

Now look at the right-bottom most part of the window and check the box beside "Enable Standalone Support" and then from the next box beside it choose the type of chipset used by your standalone player. Once you are done, just hit "OK" to complete. There is no need to touch any other options.

Step 6:

Now as we are all set and done, just hit the "Add Job" button right below the "Advanced Settings" button.

Now you can see the job being listed in the "Job Queue" as follows...You can also preview the end result by hitting "Preview" button beside the "Advanced Settings" button.

Step 7:

Now there are two options available, you can either start the job in the queue by hitting the "Start" button

or, you can go on adding more jobs in the queue. If you add multiple jobs you may change the priorities by moving the jobs up or down by using the Blue arrows beside the queue window.

As you start the job, you can see the progress in the log window beside the queue window as follows...

Once the job will be over, it will vanish from the Queue Window. You may also terminate the job midway if you wish by hitting the "Abort" button , which will be activated as soon as the job starts.

Annexure:

If you add multiple jobs, you may make AGK to shut down your PC (or sleep etc) after the jobs are done. To do that, look for a small field above the right corner of the log window named "When Finished". Clicking the drop down arrow will give you all the options.

This concludes the guide to get a great backup of your DVD movie. Burn the resultant AVI file on a blank CD or DVD using any standard CD/DVD burning application like CDburnerXP which is free.

Note:

If you face any problems while converting, I suggest that you use DVDDecrypter in IFO mode to rip your DVD and create VOBs to be used in AGK. There are many guides on how to rip a DVD in IFO mode using DVDDecrypter, so I am not adding another one to the crowd. Just search through the net or www.videohelp.com under Guide section.

Another tool that can be used for ripping is DVDFab HD Decrypter (Thanks GMaq for pointing it out to me). This is a free tool and excellent one. One brownie point that it scores over DVDDecrypter is that it is still under active development and can handle all the newer copy protections placed on DVDs, which unfortunately DVDDecrypter can not.

Download links:

DVD Decrypter: http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/DVD_Decrypter/1011845169/1

DVDFab HD Decrypter: http://www.dvdfab.com/free.htm

DVDFab HD Decrypter Ripping Guide: http://sroyc.blogspot.com/2008/03/dvd-ripping-with-pgcdemux.html

If you can not resolve the problem in a very unlikely situation I suggest that you visit the AGK support forum at www.doom9.org.

Let me know if you have liked this guide.