digital use plus technical question

[tim.iles at utoronto.ca]

Missed the first post, but on MacOS X, there's a very, very nice little
program (free) called Mac The Ripper to copy a DVD--it creates a VideoTS
folder on your hard-disk which can be burned back to DVD using Toast. If
you're copying a Dual-layer DVD onto single-layer media, you'll need a
program like DVD2ONE to recompress the file--not free, but not too pricey,
I think. (Mac The Ripper can eliminate Region encoding, Macrovision, etc.)

If you want to create an AVI or DIVX file from the DVD, try "Handbrake"
(no idea why it's so called...), which is free and works well. There's
also D-Vision 3 which is not free. Converting a DVD to AVI on a 1 GHZ G4
takes about 4 hours--faster computers with lots of RAM are good things...
I find the Mac to be a great platform for all things digital, so these
things are definitely possible on a Mac.

There are controversies around the legalities of these operations, but
they shouldn't stop you from exercising Fair Use rights.


Best,


Tim Iles
University of Victoria