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How
to rip a DVD To DivX/XviD using FairUse Wizard
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A new program that I tried recently
is FairUse Wizard. From the first time I used it I was impressed
from the easy to use interface and the very good quality of
the output file. And the best of all the program is free, you
can download it from here with no cost!
Now about the program itself, I think it's easier to use than
DVDx, but it cannot make a DivX / DivX file from the DVD. You
don't have to worry though as it includes a ripper and it will
unlock and copy the DVD in your hard disk. Actually FairUse
is the only program you are going to use as it includes even
the codes! In the first screen you can click Options and enable
the included codecs or you can leave it in the default value
and use the DivX / XviD codecs that you already have in your
system. The program has a few bugs (I had troubles when working
with the included XviD codecs) but it works OK. Note that you
may also need an ASPI layer if you have not installed one yet!
Now let's start the guide! |
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First of all you'll need to create
a new project. Just set the name of the project (1) and the
folder you want to put the files into (2) and then click Next.
The Batch processing (3) is useful when you want to do more
than 1 encodings one after another (for example if you let your
PC work when you sleep). |
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This screen should come up. Just select the drive
you have the DVD into and click OK! |
Now you have to select the main movie. You can easily find the
main movie from it's length, so select the main movie (1) and
the third option (2) and click Next. |
The program now actually rips the DVD in your hard drive, so
you'll have to wait a little (about 20mins) before you can continue.
After this process you can remove the disc from your DVD drive.
Make sure that you have around 10GB free before you find out
that the ripping failed because you ran out of space! |
Here's the nice stuff! In the Frame range (1) you can see the
frames that are going to be encoded. Move the slider above the
Set credits start (2) button to the point that the credits start
and click the button. Put the value you'll see in the button
itself in the End frame textbox of the frame. rage option (1).
After that you'll need to chop the black bars. Auto set (3)
works nicely, so just click it and it will do the job. Check
out the preview window to be sure that everything was done successfully.
If you want to add some subpictures (subtitles) then just check
the box and select the ones you want (4). You can also edit
or deactivate the vertical safety zone (5) which actually rises
the subtitles a little bit. As always you can see the changes
in the preview window.
You may also want to select Show forced subtitles only to display
the subtitles that a movie may have if for example in one scene
they do not speak English. After all these, click Next. |
In this screen I suggest you click Auto detect (1) and then
select the option it suggest you (2). Then click Next. |
This is the last screen with settings so be patience! The settings
are pretty easy as the program makes all bitrate calculations
and stuff automatically.
First of all select the codec you want to use (1). The results
are almost the same, and the choice is yours, I preffer XviD.
If your movie is a cartoon you may want to enable the Cartoon
mode of XviD codec. Then add an audio track (2) and select the
encoding (3). I selected AC3 2.0 (preffer it from AC3 5.1 if
both exists and you are using Mp3 audio). For Mp3 128kbps is
just fine, and you may go a little lower (like 96kbps) for a
big movie. After the sound settings you need to select a resolution
(4). I suggest you use the one that has a width closer to 640.
Finally select size of the file (5). If you want it to be on
a CD use something like 698MB to be sure. If you want to encode
more videos you have to click the Defer processing button. After
all these settings click Next and the encoding starts! |
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This is the encoding window. You may want to select Shutdown
computer when done if you leave your PC and go. Low CPU temp.
mode is not something you should enable except if you have
an overclocked CPU and you are afraid about it. Just wait
a few hours (note that the time you see is for the first pass
only) and your DivX / XviD video will be ready!
Finally I can say that I was impressed by FairUse Wizard.
It is a very poweful tool that creates very good quality video
of while it is easy for the newbie to use. In a comparison
to the other freeware program that we have in our site, DVDx,
I can say that FairUse is much better, and actually it's the
program I use from now on. A very good thing is that it is
updated often, while DVDx's development seems to have stopped.
Also FairUse is much easier to use, includes a ripper and
a calculator so that you don't have to bother. It still needs
1-2 things like the ability to encode directly from the DVD
or to load DVD files from the hard disk and it is going to
be perfect. Are you still here?
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