How to Rip, Organize and Burn DVDs with Menus for free!

Hi,
In this instructable I am going to show you How to Rip, Organize and Burn DVDs with Menus! This is really easy to do and only takes about an hour or two. We will utilize a few free pieces of software and some scripts that make this really easy to do. After completing this instructable you will have a copy of a DVD of your choice that you can use in a DVD player with your remote.

A Note of Caution

I am not labile for your actions. Currently it is illegal to rip and/or burn a DVD in the United States. Please only copy DVDs you own for backups, and do not give them to your friends, family, classmates, coworkers, or anyone else. Also you shouldn't rip movies you don't own. Don't sign up for a NetFlixs account and rip movies that you get from them. If you do this instructable you will be hunted down by a wild pack of dogs and the RIAA will jack all of your money and then some. Continue only if you understand the risk.

UPDATE (7/31/2011) :If you are just trying to rip a DVD so you can put it on your iPhone/iPod/Touch/Computer and you don't care about menus you should use an application called handbrake. It is very simple to use and works really well. You can download it at handbrake.fr

Step 1: Software/Hardware

Here is a list of the software/ hardware you need to complete the project.
Hardware
DVD Drive that reads and writes-the faster the better
DVD- Almost all of the DVDs I have tried work. You need the DVD for a maximum of an hour which is nice especially if you rent DVDs or are borrowing it from a friend.
Blank DVD- You need a normal 4.7 GB blank DVD.
About 4GB of free space on you hard drive.
Optional
DVD Jacket- Nice hard plastic covers
Cover Art- If you want cover art you can get it from Amazon or you could scan them in.
Software
You can just download this zip file I made. It contains all of the necessary software. You need to unzip it though. You can download it from instructables directly or from this link.
DVD Rip- This is a script made by LifeHacker. Here is a download link.
DVD Play- DVD play is also made by LifeHacker. Here is a link to the download.
VLC Player- You need VLC player for the DVD library feature. This is a great media player. Plays pretty much everything. Here is a link to the download page.
DVD Shrink- Here is a link to a download page- Note: I Don't know if this page is safe or not so uploaded my original download as a mirror.
ImgBurn- This is the software that will burn the dvd. Here is a link to the download page.

Comments

[georion]

AVG antivirus says "DVD rip" contains a trojan/backdoor --Bonus??????from lifehacker ??????

[drewthejuggalo]

i just use dvdfab. if you use it, you can convert to ipod, xbox, ps3, cell phones, or about anything else

[dhdishner]

Or you could get on a bittorrent and download a little program called CloneDVD. It creates an ISO of the dvd and burns it in under 45 minutes.

[fwjs28]

or you could google cloneDVD and download it normally or you could even search for cloneDVD FTP and download it FTP style or...well theres a lot of other

[eljen]

Hi there, Whenever I try to download or install DVD Rip my McAfee (trial version) says it has detected a Trojan, and destroys it. This is whether I use your site, or a zip file downloaded from Instructables that includes several useful burning programs, including the ones you mention. Can it be infected, or is McAfee being over-sensitive? Thanks!

[fwjs28]

turn off McAfee and download/install this...your antivirus is set to destroy illegal programs like this...

[joejoerowley]

I think it is being over-sensitive. I haven't had any problems with it (to my knowledge)

[HardCoreHacker]

Ok... I got all the way to the backuping part and it doesnt play in VLC or have any data in the audio and video folders

[joejoerowley]

Ok thats strange. Maybe you can try again.

[Cman7]

Can you do this for Blockbuster movies that you rented? Or would the FBI like hunt you down?

[joejoerowley]

You could but the RIAA might hunt you down.

[Bran]

I tend to prefer using DVD Decrypter and Shrink - is DVD Rip better? Good job!

[joejoerowley]

DVD Rip is just a script that automates DVD Shrink. Thanks

[HardCoreHacker]

And DVD Shrink isnt working either

[HardCoreHacker]

DVD Rip did nothing... i am trying to work out DVD Shrink

[lopez8675]

you can just use DVD shrink and nero, which comes free with alot of DVD burners and its pretty simple to use, no other software or players needed.

[joejoerowley]

Well I just wanted to make it so that it is automated, more or less.

[lopez8675]

o ok

[lifeisgreat]

Cool guide - just what I needed! Always problems with menus. Though I would like to know what to do with a Double Layer DVD. Any guide for this? Maybe most of it is like this one I would imagine...but maybe you could add

[joejoerowley]

Yeah. I think if you rip it normally and then try to burn it img burn will automatically try to split it up.I don't know though.

[LloydTheLlama]

I followed every single direction piece by piece. But both programs i tried didnt work. I burned the disk to the comp and all but the problem come when i try to burn the movie to a new disk. It says at the bottom: Interpretation: Cannot Write Medium - Incompatable Format I dont know what else to do. Please help!!

[joejoerowley]

Which programs, dvd rip and dvd play or dvd shrink and imgburn?

[trustmefada]

I am having a lot of issues with sound on the VLC player. Searching forums and trying their solutions don't work at all. The sound it lagging behind the video (yeah yeah update drivers is the typical and easy answer, already done). Is there anyway to have the DVD play open up the files in a different player, e.g. PowerDVD?

[joejoerowley]

Hey!! I think I might of just saved the day. Here is program that allows you to slow down or speed up the video/sound for vlc. How about that?
Thanks

[trustmefada]

I tried using that and it made it better but still to annoyingly noticable. I found something that fixes my problem and i made a little Instructable Click here

[joejoerowley]

Thanks Well Done!!

[joejoerowley]

I imagine its possible but I don't know how to. What happens when you play the same file in a different media player (winamp/powerdvd, ect...)?? Good luck. :)

[trustmefada]

The audio is fine in other programs, If anyone knows anything about who made the program...all i could find was that it was anomynous...it would really help.

[joejoerowley]

I don't know. Good luck. :)

[Scammah]

Why does ImgBurn look like DVD Decrypter? And why does it replace DVD Decrypter when it's installed. I have used DVD Decrypter forever to "make legal copies of old xbox games"

[joejoerowley]

I don't know why ImgBurn looks like DVD decrypter. I have never used DVD dcrypter. I don't think it should replace DVD Decrypter. Thats bizzare.Good luck. Let me know how it works out. Maybe you can reinstall Decrpter and both will work.

[dchall8]

I record a lot of television with Windows Media Center. Currently I'm using Windows Movie Maker and Windows DVD Maker. DVD Maker has several options that really glitz up your final product. Unfortunately making more than a rudimentary menu is not an option. Before I change what I'm already doing, do you know if the suggested software will work with .dvr-ms files?

[joejoerowley]

I record a lot of TV with Media center also. I have used the DVD burning function before also which is nice but I dislike the menus on the DVD. The .dvr-ms file can be a pain to deal with. I while back I bought some piece of software to convert them but I lost it when the harddrive went dead. Maybe some one knows good software for the DVD menus or another media center alternative for recording tv to avi or something like that. I could never get mythtv working on ubuntu. Anyone have any suggestions?

[GorillazMiko]

Yay! Nice job. :-)

You did a great job, especially *cough* that first image. :D

+1 rating.

[joejoerowley]

Oh yeah I just added a note about you in the first and last step.

[GorillazMiko]

Hahaha, shouts to Goodhart. You are old but cool. :P

And you need to fix a sentence in the first paragraph: "Currently ripping and burning DVDs is a illegal in the United States."

[joejoerowley]

Thanks man. Nice catch!