There are a number of certain pay programs that claim to do it for free, but many are riddled with bugs and fail to take into account DVD encryption. However, by using just two free programs, you can easily convert a full DVD movie into an iPod-ready mp4 file. Read on for the full guide and links.
PROGRAMS YOU WILL NEED:
- DVD Decrypter version 3.5.4.0 (available for free here).
- Videora iPod Converter version 2.0 (available for free here).
OPTIONAL PROGRAMS:
- DVD43 version 3.9.0 (available for free here). This program runs in the background and helps DVD Decrypter tackle certain types of encryption on the fly with no user interaction required. Some DVDs might not need DVD43, but others, including the one used in this tutorial, did need it. If anything, it’s good to have because it works with a whole host of other programs, too.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Once the DVD is inserted into your DVD drive, open up DVD Decrypter. If you are using DVD43 as mentioned above, also load this now (it usually auto-loads, you’ll see the smiley face in the task bar if it’s running). In DVD Decrypter, open up the source of the DVD by selecting the drive the disc is in using the drop down arrow. Nine times out of ten it will automatically detect the DVD and load it’s information - the only time you’re really going to need to choose the DVD manually is if there are multiple DVD movies in your computer at the same time, or you inserted the disc after loading DVD Decrypter.
2) Click the “Mode” option at the top, and select “IFO.”
3) Go to the “Stream Processing” tab. Check the box for “Enable Stream Processing.” Check only the Video file (there should only be one shown in most circumstances) and the Audio file that you want (in this case there is only one to choose from, but some movies will have dubs in other languages, or 2.1 or 5.1 options - check only the box that best suits your needs, which will most likely be 3ch and 6ch English). Don’t check the subtitle boxes unless you want them.
4) Click the “Tools” option at the top, and select “Settings.”
5) Select the “IFO” tab. Change the “File Splitting” drop-down menu to the “None” option and click OK.
6) If needed, change the output directory by selecting the folder and magnifying glass icon - make sure to remember where it rips to, because you’ll need to go back there soon. Click the large button with the disc and the hard drive images to begin ripping the DVD to your hard drive as a VOB file.
7) A typical movie will be about 5 to 6 GB in size when ripped, and will take about 15 to 20 minutes to rip. Sit back and let it go. DVD Decrypter plays a funny sound clip when it’s done, too.
8) Open the Videora iPod Converter program. Click the “Convert” button at the top.
9) Click the “Select File” button at the bottom right, and select the VOB file that DVD Decrypter just ripped to your hard drive.
10) You can play around with the onscreen settings as you wish, but for this tutorial, I chose options that give excellent video and audio quality while cutting conversion times considerably. These settings created a movie that was 747MB in size. I set “Video Format” to Old, “Video Size” to iPod, “Video Quality” to medium, “Enhance Quality” to off, and “Audio Quality” to medium. Click the “Next” button when you have the settings you want.
11) Select the “Set Title” tab at the bottom of the screen and choose the output name of the video file you are about to make. I just typed the name of the movie. Click the “Start Converting” button at the bottom right.
12) The movie has now started converting to mp4 format for your iPod. The progress bar for me zoomed to 100% instantly before it even started converting, but as the status figures show, you can see it’s progress. Just don’t be fooled by the instant 100% bar - it’s obviously faulty. Just let it go until it’s done. My particular movie took about 18 minutes to create.
13) Once the movie is done converting, the program automatically adds it to your iTunes library, if you have it installed. If not, it seemed to default to the My Documents\Converted Videos\iPod\MPEG4 folder if you need to access the movie file manually. It is now ready to move to your iPod. I received excellent video and audio quality, and no hickups during the entire procedure. And at last, a final picture to prove that it worked:
Hopefully this guide will be sufficient and definitive enough for all of our readers. I encourage you to comment below or post in the forums if you encounter any difficulties or anomalies, or if you have any additional feedback. Remember, iPod Legends doesn’t condone illegal pirating or conversion of DVDs. Only do this with your own purchased movies.
42 responses so far ↓
1 How to convert a DVD to iPod (MP4) for free « VistaSucks.WordPress.Com // May 14, 2007 at 2:08 am
[...] read more | digg story [...]
2 » How to convert a DVD to iPod (MP4) for free // May 14, 2007 at 2:24 am
[...] Original post by Verinox [...]
3 udigis // Jun 13, 2007 at 1:31 am
Why not just pay around $29 to get a shareware which is capable of converting DVD movies into iPod mp4 in just one step?! It’s all your choice: get iPod mp4 for free in two steps; or pay for a fast ipod converter, and create the iPod mp4 in just one step.
4 Verinox // Jun 13, 2007 at 2:01 pm
is 29 dollars worth less than 5 minutes to you?
5 fifiward // Jul 3, 2007 at 3:20 am
I use Any DVD Converter to convert DVD to iPod videos
with this program, I just need clicks to finish the conversion.
6 drcshine // Jul 26, 2007 at 12:36 am
Nice guide, I always use Aimersoft DVD to iPod Converter to load DVD on my iPod, it’s very easy to use and works perfect for me, here is a step by step guide about it
http://www.aimersoft.com/tutorial/dvd-to-ipod-converter.html
7 BlueBerry // Aug 23, 2007 at 8:54 pm
I used to use Daniusoft DVD to MP4 Converter to convert my DVDs in a good quality. And it has powerful functions such as let me cut off the black edge of the DVD movie.
Here is their official website:
http://www.daniusoft.com/dvd-to-mp4.html
8 Pops // Sep 18, 2007 at 10:59 pm
Help! I have already backed up my movies to my hard using DVD Shrink and would like to tranfer/convert files on my IPOD. Is there a simple process to do so? Which file is the correct file from the Video TS folder to convert? Videora only selects 1 file and it is not the complete movie once convertd.. Do I need to convert more files to get a full movie???? Very congfused with these procedures.
9 Lincon // Oct 24, 2007 at 2:53 am
I used to use Daniusoft DVD to iPod Suite to convert my DVDs and video to iPod formats. This software have powerful functions such as let me cut off the black edge of the DVD movie,trim,crop,addjust the effect,etc
Here is their official website:
http://www.daniusoft.com/dvd-to-ipod-suite.html
10 leony // Nov 9, 2007 at 12:29 am
I use iSkysoft DVD to MP4 Converter for Mac as a Mac user.It works well for me.
http://www.iskysoft.com
11 doleramon // Nov 19, 2007 at 2:35 am
Nice iPod Converter guide, but it works for Mac user only.
I always use Aimersoft DVD to iPod Converter to rip DVD movie to my iPod on Mac OS X, my friends recommend it to me, it works great
http://www.aimersoft.com/dvd-ripper-for-mac.html
12 andy t // Nov 21, 2007 at 12:35 pm
this is a good guide,probably the easiest way to do it for free, have used this for a few months and i was amazed at how quick it it, if only you could put a couple dvds in and leave it over night and have two done when you wake up
13 Anonymous // Nov 23, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Neither of the programs listed exist.
Both are closed down because of “illegal issues”. I suggest you delete this page to avoid misleading anyone else.
Mel
14 Jay..... // Dec 8, 2007 at 12:41 pm
Seems to be working fine for me… the links for the programs were no good but they were easy enough to track down myself. Not too convinced of DVD43’s usefulness though. It wasn’t able to crack the first 3 discs i tried. On the 4th disc i tried i got the smiley face and proceeded to rip the disc. :)
Both DVD Decrypter and Videora Converter appear to be working fine. Overall good guide that put an end to my searching for a FREE ipod converter.
Anyone know of a better dvd crack program than DVD43… please let me know
15 dina // Dec 20, 2007 at 1:10 am
Hi,Jay, I think free dvd to ipod converter has no pefect function as pay converter software. I would like to use pay software with better service.
16 Andrew // Dec 27, 2007 at 12:34 am
I suggest Handbrake.com free! and awesome
17 rusty // Jan 15, 2008 at 6:31 am
works madd aye thanx for ur time and that like with the steps 2 do all the stuff and the programs links. much appreciated.
18 roy // Jan 24, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Great tutorial.
I had great success with DVD43 and then Videora however what I found is the the picyute and audio are out of sync when it plays on the iPod,
Any ideas how to fix it?
19 DaveN // Feb 4, 2008 at 6:34 pm
All was going well with the first 5 films but now I keep getting pixelated green and red screen with no sound - this has only happened with tv series in my dvd collection
20 Milo // Feb 7, 2008 at 7:18 am
Thanks for the making the effort to produce this grea tutorial! For me, your guidelines and links worked as sweet as a nut. I send you postive karmic vibes through the ether : D
21 richard // Feb 13, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Very useful - thankyou for putting the time into writing this up.
I’d used DVD decrypter before - but the to IPOD conversion was new - this guide helped move DVDs to an ipod.
If you have movies already stored on the PC - AS divx for example then 3GP_converter does a good job for many mobile platforms..
22 Bill // Feb 16, 2008 at 11:54 am
Awesome Guide! It works for PC and Zune as well! I have been looking everywhere for a free way to get my dvd’s to my zune…. I never thought a Mac product would help! Perhaps there is hope for alliance yet…
23 Caron // Feb 21, 2008 at 9:43 pm
I think you gotta update it a little. The versions are more advanced than yours.
But thanks a lot. You’re the only people i’ve found that actually helped me instead of just wanting money.
24 conlifer // Mar 17, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Nice.
So I can use dvd to mp4 for ipod touch or just dvd to ipod converter for ipod touch?
25 Rich // Mar 23, 2008 at 9:23 am
I’ve done this and it worked fine with about 5 DVDs, now I’m trying to do a new one and the audio is completley out of sync, help! I’ve done it so many times, the dvd works fine on the tv but as soon as it becomes and mp4 it’s out of sync on the pc and the ipod. Thanks in advance. Is their any way I can still use these two programs.
26 XXXX // Mar 28, 2008 at 1:50 am
Yes, Handbrake is very good for free!
27 Verinox // Mar 30, 2008 at 10:06 am
rich, im not sure about the audio sync problems you’re having… if you could provide some more details, like what settings you’re using and if the new dvd is any different from the other 5, then maybe i can narrow it down.
28 db // Apr 9, 2008 at 7:30 am
I’m using the videora software in vista and unfortunately not the entire program screen gets displayed in the videora window: the bottom row is missing. Since this is where amongst other things the ’start converting button’ is located this can be quite a problem…
I’m using Videora 3.07 but i’ld like to try it with version 2.0 and see if the same problem occurs, however i can’t seem to find the 2.0 version anywhere… Any help on that would be great!
Thanks for the very clear manual you wrote here.
29 emdubya // Apr 16, 2008 at 10:50 pm
I’ve used this tutorial to successfully rip and upload at least 10 dvd’s to my ipod without any major problems. I’m not a big fan of Videora’s interface, but it’s free and has worked fine. Thank you very much for taking the time to share this information. Pass it on…
30 S&D // Apr 17, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Nice guide!
I’d looked for a convert programme for a while, but only foud some to pay for. Glad I finally found something free, nice guide too ;)
Thanks very much!
’bout the listed download pages;..
They perfectly bring you the programmes -.-
and they work also.. :)
Thnx! xxx
Btw: It doesn’t work for Mac only, as someone wanted to tell us.. I’m even a Windows Vista user…
31 tom // Jun 3, 2008 at 1:17 pm
great guide! okay its a little more work and converting, but the quality is still okay when you watch it on your ipod. only problem I have is that I don’t get any subtitles, even when I say I want them in the DVD decrypter. anyone experienced that problem?
but still its awesome for the movies you dont need subs with, concerts and stuff.
32 Carlton // Jun 13, 2008 at 12:18 pm
I’d like to convert some of my home movies from DVD to MP4, but not the entire thing disk. Is it possible to strip down the MP4 to, say only a few minutes?
33 dave // Jun 20, 2008 at 4:39 pm
I created the VOB file, but when I ran Videora it kept going after saying it reached 99% done. I let it continue but stopped it after 3 hours. It took about 18 minutes to get to what looked like it was finished, but the file size and everything kept growing. I tried it again, even created a new file first, same thing. I am really just trying to get my own DVD’s onto my ipod.
34 dave // Jun 20, 2008 at 4:43 pm
btw, I’m using Windows XP
35 Verinox // Jun 21, 2008 at 11:32 pm
that problem probably has something to do with your hardware on your computer, or conflicting software. can you give me a summary of what hardware you have, like processor, video card, motherboard, and memory, most importantly?
36 dave // Jun 22, 2008 at 12:39 am
768 MB RAM, 1.3GHz Dell dimension 8100
37 Verinox // Jun 23, 2008 at 12:20 pm
i’m actually writing a new guide using different programs that work a lot easier, and it’s still free. check back around wednesday.
38 Andrew // Jun 25, 2008 at 3:07 am
hi…
i couldn’t TICK THE BOX when I want to steam proccess it…
i don’t know why..
is it ok if I continue without it?
Why?
39 Alex // Jun 30, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Hey. The video files from the DVDs I have loaded are going on to the ipod fine, but there is no sound! I have tried changing a few of the trouble shooting options but no joy! Help!
40 Verinox // Jun 30, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Please use our new guide, located at http://ipodlegends.com/how-to-convert-a-dvd-to-ipod-for-free/
It’s still 100% free, shorter, faster, more reliable, and easier to follow.
41 Tony // Jul 1, 2008 at 6:44 am
When I convert the DVD, half way thru it tells me I have no disk space, yet I have 379gb on the drive I am saving the file to and 13gb on my c drive..
Any suggestions?
42 Verinox // Jul 1, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Please use our new guide, located at http://ipodlegends.com/how-to-convert-a-dvd-to-ipod-for-free/
It’s still 100% free, shorter, faster, more reliable, and easier to follow.
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