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Ripmake (see http://www.lallafa.de/bp/ripmake.html) automates many of the decisions required to generate an AVI or SVCD from a DVD or a copy of a DVD. It is also heading toward generating DVDs. Its philosophy is to generate a script (using a Makefile) that encapsulates all of the automatic decisions which the user can then choose to override if desired.

Generally, AVI is a better format and okay if you only view on computer, but there aren't many, if any, DVD players that can play an AVI file. For backup you could regenerate the DVD and thus if you lose or damage your original DVD at least there is some hope. For viewing the backup on consumer DVD players that support SVCD, then of course generating SVCD would be the way to go!

To generate an SVCD from a DVD the process is:

$ ripmake /dev/dvd svcd (-s 650 to set CD-R size) $ make -f dvd-svcd.mak (generates a sample) $ xine dvd-svcd-SAMPLE.mpg (view the sample) $ make -f dvd-svcd.mak rip (generates disks) $ cdrdao write dvd-svcd-CD1.cue (burn a CD-R) $ cdrdao write dvd-svcd-CD2.cue $ ...

If you have a copy of a DVD in the folder xyz (which contains the VTS_01_1.VOB file, for example) and want to generate an SVCD then replace /dev/dvd above with the name of the folder (e.g., xyz) and replace dvd in the other lines with xyz.

Set the target for ripmake to be AVI:

$ ripmake [-s 650] /dev/dvd avi (-s to set CD-R size) $ make -f dvd-avi.mak (generates a sample) $ xine dvd-avi-SAMPLE.avi (view the sample) $ make -f dvd-avi.mak rip (generates avi collection) $ xine dvd-avi-CD1.avi $ xine dvd-avi-CD2.avi

To convert an AVI to an SVCD:

$ ripmake -n pal dvd.avi svcd (-n pal to ensure PAL SVCD) $ make -f xyz-svcd.mak $ xine xyz-svcd-SAMPLE.mpg $ make -f xyz-svcd.mak rip

Note that the size of a CD is usually quoted as the size of a CD in data mode (whitch uses 2048 bytes/sector). When mastering a VCD/SVCD we are usually talking in terms of raw mode (2324 bytes/sector). Note also that ripmake uses the common data mode size and internally converts to raw mode so that 700MB is usually the correct size for a 800MB VCD/SVCD (in raw mode). We introduce a number of associated command line tools for dealing with DVDs. These tools are actually the foundations of other front-ends, including ripmake, acidrip, and dvdrip.