How to rip DVD to iTunes and why Apple won’t let it?

iTunes can rip a CD and make it rapidly available for you to listen to on your iPhone/iPod or stream around your house via other computers, or AppleTV/Airtunes and a variety of third party products. What about rip DVD to iTunes?

One would think that rip DVD to iTunes wouldn't be that big of a challenge for Apple, it just have to be locked into a proprietary, DRM-encoded iTunes-only format. You'd insert the disc into your PC, and iTunes would ask how you'd like to rip DVD to iTunes: optimized for Apple TV streaming or optimized for iPod/iPhone. Once it was in iTunes, the files could be transferred within the entire Apple products: the PC desktop (Windows and Mac iTunes libraries), the living room (Apple TV), and the portable realm (iPod and iPhone).

Sounds great, right? Unfortunately, I don't think Apple will let the ripping DVD to iTunes thing happen anytime soon.

First, The Hollywood big movie studio will kill every product that hurt their copyright protection, even if their position isn't legally tenable, they could try to tie down Apple in expensive litigation.

Secondly--and more importantly--it's not really in Apple's financial interest to add DVD to iTunes feature. The company wants to expand, not shrink the demand for its online iTunes Store: Apple makes nothing if you rip DVD to iTunes, but it (and its studio partners) earns from $3 to $15 per click, depending if you rent or buy. The company isn't likely to kill off that revenue stream anytime soon.

Let’s take a look at the RealNetworks' RealDVD software--which allows users to legally rip DVD movies to their PC hard drives. It was released in Oct 2008, and the most telling comment:
"Why I can’t rip DVD to iTunes? I need it for my portable device." Indeed, Real's product lets you move ripped DVD movies between a total of five licensed PCs, there's no provision for network streaming, and no support for transferring the movies to portable devices."

The following is the Google search trends of “RealDVD” in last 12 month:



It completed proved that costumers have lost their interesting on this DVD ripping software, and by now, the Hollywood big movie studio and RealNetworks are still in court.

How to rip DVD to iTunes with third party software?

This is the last reason why Apple won’t add DVD ripping feature to iTunes, savvy consumers would say:“We are already doing the DVD to iTunes thing.” Yes, there are so many freeware/shareware can rip DVD to iTunes now，Aimersoft DVD ripper, Handbrake, (If you are a Mac user,please click here for DVD ripper for Mac)some of these third party software actually do a good job. You can rip DVD to almost any video formats and then do whatever you'd like with these files--including watch it on your PC, stream it to an Apple TV, or transfer it to your portable devices iPod/iPhone/Zune/PSP/etc, and perhaps Apple is happy enough with the status quo. It's less expensive for them that way, and doesn't offend the same media companies Apple has deals with for iTunes rentals and downloads.



Original article from http://www.aimersoft.com/tutorial/dvd-to-itunes.html
Authorized reproduce

Related article: Convert DVD to iTunes for iPhone 4G on Mac OS

$30,000 to fill an iPod

So Microsoft's latest Apple Tax ad actually goes after the iPod and promotes the Zune, which is interesting on a number of levels. The argument? That filling a 120 GB iPod with songs from the iTunes Store would cost about $30,000. Or you could just get a Zune and subscribe to a Zune Pass for $15 a month, which is a little.

While some will argue nonsensically about how you don't "own" subscription music, I'd also point out that that $15 includes 10 free songs each month, which over time, would amount to quite a music collection, presumably of music you tried and then liked so much you decided to buy it. That's a lot better than spending a buck a song, only to later discover your musical tastes have evolved. As they will.

By the way: How long would it take to spend $30,000 on Zune Pass? About 2000 months, or over 166 years. In that amount of time, your musical tastes will surely change several times, too. :) Good thing you didn't waste money buying that music, eh?

Interesting ad.

via:

blogs.digitalmediaonlineinc

Should Apple Enable DVD Ripping in iTunes?

iTunes can rip a CD and make the tracks rapidly available for you to listen to on your iPhone (or iPod) or stream around your house via other computers, or AppleTV/Airtunes and a variety of third party products.

ZDNet thinks they should do the same with DVDs. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Why? While ripping CDs is legal in the US, ripping DVDs is not and Hollywood and Big Media would do their best to sue any product, iTunes included, into oblivion if put that feature in. In fact, that’s what they’re doing with Real’s RealDVD right now. This is based on the claim that it violates the DMCA by breaking copy protection, though Real wraps copy protection of their own around the ripped movies).

Apple, of course, has $30 billion in the bank, which could fund one heckuva legal battle (and maybe even get the EFF on their side?) If anyone is in the position to help consumers retain fair use of their media, and increase the functionality and appeal of their own product at the same time, it’s certainly Apple.

But would they spend their time and money litigating the right to rip content from old, legacy media when they’re busily trying to get people to embrace digital downloads of the same content as the “next big thing”? Should they?

For consumers, it would be the same win as letting iTunes rip CDs even as music downloads were coming online. Apple maintains they run iTunes at low-profit levels simply to fuel hardware sales. The same model holds true for DVDs. Some consumers have huge collections of legacy DVDs and would love nothing more than easily, officially, load them up into iTunes and sync them over to their iPhone, iPod, set top box, computer, etc. alongside new digital downloads.

Of course, savvy consumers are already doing this with free, third party programs, and perhaps Apple is happy enough with the status quo. It’s less expensive for them that way, and doesn’t offend the same media companies Apple has deals with for iTunes rentals and downloads.

So the question is, are you happy with the status quo as well? Or is this a fight Apple should be fighting?

[via digitalmediaonline]

How to convert DVD to FLV, SWF and upload Flash Video to Youtube, Google & Myspace

This article is about how to convert DVD to FLV, SWF with a DVD to flash converter software.

As we know FLV and SWF is Flash video formats and notable users of the Flash Video format include YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo! Video, Reuters.com, metacafe, and many other news providers.

So, if you want to upload your DVD to most of the online video providers such as Youtube, Google, Myspace, you might need to know how to convert DVD to FLV, SWF.

Ok, let’s start to learn how to convert DVD to FLV, SWF

Step 1: Download a DVD to flash Converter or DVD Ripper and install it, Aimersoft DVD Ripper for example

Step2: Insert your DVD disc into your DVD-Rom, then run the software, click "File" at the top left corner to load the DVD Rom/DVD Folder/ISO file/IFO file. Select the chapters or titles you want to convert, check the “merge into one file” box so the converted chapters or clips can be merged into one video file.



Step3: Select output formats as FLV or SWF to convert DVD to FLV, SWF



Step4: “Edit” and “Settings”

The “edit” interface can help you trim, crop video and also change the effect such as brightness, contrast and saturation.
(With the trim function you can convert any parts of the DVD to FLV, SWF to upload them, I think it’s useful for long DVD movie.)

And you can also get a higher quality video or faster conversion speed by adjusting the video and audio parameters.

After all these done, you can see the conversion time length and estimated output size at main interface, then just press “Start button” to start convert DVD to FLV or SWF.

PSP 3000 jailbreak is coming soon !

The PSP homebrew community was rocked last week by news that independent developers Davee and Bubbletune have perfected their Homebrew Enabler (HEN). This PSP 3000 homebrew hack potentially allows hackers direct access to kernel mode on the device, bypassing Sony's tough new security measures and allowing all kinds of code to run on the machine.

So far the only proof that this exploit works is a YouTube video (below) showing the TIFF Image Exploit running on Firmware 5.03, changing the firmware version and MAC address on a PSP 3000 unit. This comes after a picture purporting to show a Gameboy SP emulator running on a PSP-3000 via the HEN exploit. According to the developers, the video proves that their code survives a reboot and the system software and MAC address can be changed. This is something that only can be done with a kernel exploit. However, the blurry quality of the video and the lack of any more substantial proof has many wondering if this exploit actually works, and if it can deliver on the promise of fully unlocking the PSP 3000.

After all, if you were a developer who'd just cracked the PSP 3000 once and for all, wouldn't you choose something more exciting to show off rather than a MAC address change?

via: digitalmediaonline

How to watch video on Nintendo DS with DPG Converter + Moonshell

This article describes two methods to watch video on Nintendo DS: Moonshell + BatchDPG + AviSynth , this is a free method, and another one is Moonshell + DPG Converter which is more easy with a little cost.

DPG - Also known as nDs-mPeG, usually abbreviated DPG, is a special format of MPEG-1 video specifically for playback using the homebrew Moonshell program for the Nintendo DS. So, for watching video on Nintendo DS we have to convert video to DPG with a DPG Converter.

Moonshell - a homebrew multimedia player for the Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS lite dual-screen handheld videogame systems.

Now, let start to watch Video on Nintendo DS with DPG Converter + Moonshell

Part 1, Watch Video on Nintendo DS with Moonshell + BatchDPG + AviSynth

Programs you will need:

AviSynth: Download
Microsoft .NET: Download
BatchDPG (A free DPG encoder need to work with AvisSynth): Download
Moonshell: Download
ffdshow Download

Step 1:
Downlod and install AviSynth, Microsoft .Net Framework 3.0 and ffdshow on your computer. Once you have all that done, you can download BatchDPG, and Moonshell.

Step 2: Download BatchDPG + Moonshell
Download BatchDPG from the above link, extract it to wherever. Also make sure you copy "avisynth.dll" to C:\Windows\System32 directory.
Afterwards, click BatchDPGMTv2.exe to open up BatchDPG, you can see the interface below.



Click "browse" next to media file and select your media file. Once your video is loaded, please input one of the two recommended settings in the section below and select a temporary path and final output path of your video. Once you are done, just click "Add" and click "Run". Please repeat if you have any more videos.

BatchDPG 1.3 Beta 5 Recommended Settings For Moonshell 1.71

Fullscreen

FPS: 20
Video bitrate: 386
Max bitrate: 512
Passes: 3
Profile: Ultra
Resizer - Spline16
Width: 256
Height: 192
Audio bitrate: 128
Samplerate: 32768
Mode: Joint Stereo
Normalize: On

Widescreen

FPS: 22
Video bitrate: 386
Max bitrate: 512
Passes: 3
Profile: Ultra
Resizer - Spline16
Width: 256
Height: 144
Audio bitrate: 128
Samplerate: 32768
Mode: Joint Stereo
Normalize: On

Tips: You can lower the amount of passes to reduce encoding time at the possible expense of quality.

Step 3: Download Moonshell from the above link and extract it. Insert you SD Card and transfer the extracted Moonshell files and converted DPG video files from your computer to SD Card.
Then, your can open up your Nintendo DS, enter the DS Card –> MoonShell and play your video.

Note: Some types of DS Card (such as SuperCard-DS) already installed Moonshell, just check your DS Card and if there it is, just ignore step 3.


Part 2 Watch video on Nintendo DS with DPG Converter + Moonshell

Step 1: You also need to download Moonshell from the above link if your Nintendo DS doesn’t have it in your SD Card.

Step 2: Just Download this DPG Converter, use it to convert video to DPG formats and transfer DPG files to your Nintendo DS with SD Card.
This DPG Converter is very professional for converting video to DPG, it can convert almost all video formats to DPG, provides video editing (crop, trim, effect adjust, watermark edit and plug-in subtitle) and also supports batch conversion.

MKV Format and Tips of Playing MKV Files on Mac

It can hold different types of video and audio. For example, there might be an .AVI file contained within the .MKV file.

The Matroska Multimedia Container is an open standard free Container format, a file format that can hold an unlimited number of video, audio, picture or subtitle tracks inside a single file. It is intended to serve as a universal format for storing common multimedia content, like movies or TV shows. Matroska is similar in conception to other containers like AVI, MP4 or ASF, but is entirely open in specification, with implementations consisting mostly of open source software. Matroska file types are .MKV for video (with subtitles and audio), .MKA for audio-only files and .MKS for subtitles only. High Definition movies in 720 or 1080 pixel width format are often encoded and packaged as a Matroska format video with a .mkv file extension.

These excellent and free multimedia players can tackle many of the video formats unknown to QuickTime. They contain the decoder to decode the .mkv files. They will also play many of the formats you will find inside the .mkv file.

How to use MKV Converter for Mac to convert MKV on Mac for free?

( And here is an article about How to use MKV converter to convert MKV on Windows? )

The totally free video converter, iSquint - developed by Techspanion, can convert MKV to iPod (Nano, Classic, touch), convert MKV to iPhone, Apple TV, Xbox 360, PSP, PS3, AVI, MP4, MPEG, Flash and WMV. But Techspanion has been discontinue, you can download the final version on macupdate.com.
And after an outcry from fans, iSquint, the popular video converter on Mac OS X have now gone open source. It has got new name Film Redux. You can download its open source and built it by yourself. Here is a tutorial: How to build iSquint and VisualHub?

If you don't mind paying a little bit extra money for high quality and technical support, you can also switch to professional mac video converter. As the continuator of iSquint, iSkysoft video converter for Mac does this job well.

Now, you can enjoy MKV files unlimitedly on your Mac.