Rip DVD to iPod

I set my little Mac Mini to the task of converting a genuine home-made DVD to a video suitable for iPod. For this experiment I used a non-commercial DVD of the TV series Space: Above and Beyond. Note: as of very recently it’s possible to buy commercially made DVDs of this series.

[Buy the Space: Above and Beyond set (or anything else) through this link from Amazon.com and I’ll get a small associate fee.]

I decided to try the first 90 minute double episode and used Handbrake (free) and Dive into Mark’s instructions: HOWTO Rip DVD Movies To Your iPod Using Free Software. The Mac mini churned away for about 2.25 hours and finally produced a 345 Mb file which I transferred to iTunes and on to the iPod.

I was totally engrossed before I knew it and 5 minutes sped by before I extracted myself to finish this post. The Mini’s now working on the next few episodes. I had to check and reset some of the Handbrake settings before clicking the Rip button.

I foresee a fair bit of work in the Mac mini’s future and a chunk of late night in-bed video viewing.