Here’s a tutorial on using DVDx to make Zune videos from DVD. Why another tutorial? Aren’t there a million ways to rip a DVD to a WMV? Sure, but DVDx is free and it is a one-step procedure. No trials, no cracks, no difficult procedure.
Download DVDx from SourceForge and install it.
Download the Zune Encoding Profiles from ZuneBoards and unzip them to the Profiles directory of DVDx: C:\Program Files\DVDx\profiles (by default).
This is the screen for DVDx using the original skin. If yours doesn’t look like this when you first load it, you can change the skin under the File menu.
Put your DVD in and close out of any DVD player applications that might launch. Click the
Open IFO button
to browse to the DVD IFO files. When you browse to your DVD drive, look in the VIDEO_TS folder and you will see some IFO files listed.
Which one do you choose? Usually, it will be VTS_01, but some DVDs may have the main feature on a different IFO. Choose 01 for now. The
Input Settings window is displayed.
The first clue as to whether you picked the right IFO is the length of the program chain, shown in the first drop down list in the upper left. If the time seems too short, you probably need to choose a different IFO.
You should be able to leave most of the values on this screen at the default. The only one I tweak is
Volume. Sometimes movies are too loud or too quiet, so you can adjust the gain on the audio track. The default is 2, and I was getting distortion on a concert, so I dropped it to 1.5.
You might notice my cache size is 120MB (in the
Save your DVD Drive section). If you can afford it, go for it. I set the
Deinterlace Filter setting to Interpolate. It’s probably a bit slower, but I think it’s worth it. After changing these settings (and it will remember them for next time), click OK. You will be returned to the main window.
Now you can really tell if you chose the right IFO because you can scan through the selected file using the slider below the video window. Just be sure to bring it back to zero, because this is the starting location for the encode. If you want to skip intros, move the slider to the end of the intro and the encoding will start from there.
Click the
Output Settings button
. The
Output Settings screen is shown.
This screen only has a few things you need to check each time. The first time, you want to change the output type. In the dropdown at the top, choose
WMV. Click the
Change WMV Profile button to get a Zune encoding profile.
Click the
Load From File button and choose the profile that best suits your needs. The Zune Encoding Profiles are:
- Zune Highest Quality – The highest video and audio quality the Zune supports.
- Zune Med Quality – Excellent audio at the expense of video quality. I use it for concerts.
- Zune TV Quality – Improved video quality at the expense of audio quality. Fine for TV shows.
Click OK to return to the
Output Settings screen. Pay attention to the
Export Settings. You will want to check this each time.
If your DVD is widescreen 16:9, you can letterbox it by choosing the letterbox option. If your DVD is fullscreen 4:3, choose Full. Always click the
Whole button. This makes sure that you get the whole movie. If you only wanted part of the DVD, you could reduce this value. Verify that the
Time to Encode is accurate and the
Estimated Size is reasonable. Click Apply to return to the main screen.
Click the
Output button
. This brings up the
Output screen.
You can’t edit the filenames directly; you have to click
Browse. Find the folder you want to save in and enter a file name (extension not needed). Click OK and the screen is updated with your new file name. Depending on the output type, the respective file name will be used (.WMV in our case). Click OK to return to the main screen.
Click the
Encode button
to start encoding and wait until complete. When it’s done, you should have a WMV file that you can sync to your Zune with no further conversions needed.
Did you run into an encrypted DVD?
Download and install DVD43. It is freeware also.
Ripping DVD to Zune using DVDx (freeware)
