Best way to get DVDs/online videos onto USB

hanfrangipane

Hi,

My sister in law is working in Africa on various humanitarian and war relief sites so, as you might imagine, is without access to internet for the majority of the time. She has internet on the office computers but videos are blocked and then she has a netbook back in her little bunker but that doesn't have a DVD slot, just USB.

We are meeting her on her R+R break in January and I want to try and give her some films etc on memory stick so that she has a bit of light relief on an evening. She has books etc out there but as her work is rather on the heavy side even reading is bit taxing sometimes.

Any ideas how we can get her access to some of our DVD collection by saving them onto USB? It's frustrating as e have a netflix account that she could access but the only machine that has internet doesn't allow access.

We are taking her an iPod shuffle with some recent music on for her so it's mainly the video side of things we are struggling with.

Any advice on the best way to do this?

Thanks!

Han

amugofjava

Hi,

It is possible to convert or 'rip' DVDs and save the contents on to a USB stick - though these files are always quite large so make sure you get the biggest USB stick you can. There are many software packages that can do this, but one popular and open source application called Handbrake might be a good first start. Just search on Google to find it.

It has versions for Windows, Mac and Linux and is fairly easy to set-up. All commercial DVDs are encrypted (the legality of ripping purchased DVDs for personal consumption is still a bit of a grey area) and whilst Handbrake is pretty good, there are some DVDs it will struggle to convert. But give it a go!

hanfrangipane

Great, thank you! I'll give it a try.

Yeah, I did wonder about the legalities and quite understand why the manufacturers protect their stuff. We actually bought her a few DVD series without realising she couldn't use them when she was back in her room so it's mainly these ones that we want to convert, plus maybe a couple of others that we own to keep her occupied.

Hopefully old BBC TV series won't be too difficult to copy across.

Will order a large memory stick/hard drive and give it a go

bob_a_builder

Will order a large memory stick/hard drive and give it a go

would go straight for the hard drive option myself

hanfrangipane

Do you reckon 500GB would be big enough? There's one for £35 on amazon - I have no idea what kind of prices are reasonable for this kind of thing nowadays!

Andy_L

How about getting her an external DVD drive?

hanfrangipane

I didn't know you could get those, I will look into it. Although putting it onto an external hard drive would be easier from a practical point of view as each time she goes back to base she has to take back 6 weeks worth of food so space is a bit limited in her luggage

cookie365

Handbrake plus a 2.5 inch USB3.0 hard drive

Something like this
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500gb-seagate-stbx500200-expansion-portable-25-external-hdd-usb-30-bus-powered-pc-mac-black

Anne_Marie_2

Yes 500GB will be totally fine, you can get loads of video on to that, and much better than a few USB sticks. Hubby used to take one away with him loaded up with tv and films when he was working in Africa, and elsewhere.

Might also be an idea to video some messages from family for her too, am sure she would really appreciate that.

This one is a bit cheaper.
http://www.dabs.com/products/freecom-500gb-mobile-drive-classic-usb-3-0--compatible-with-usb-2-0--79HC.html?src=3&awc=3044_1418313768_4cbd56af552f7434c91020f1619d8ac0&referrerid=AW&utm_source=awin&utm_medium=affiliates&utm_content=AW00

hanfrangipane

Anne_Marie wrote: »

Yes 500GB will be totally fine, you can get loads of video on to that, and much better than a few USB sticks. Hubby used to take one away with him loaded up with tv and films when he was working in Africa, and elsewhere.

Might also be an idea to video some messages from family for her too, am sure she would really appreciate that.

This one is a bit cheaper.
http://www.dabs.com/products/freecom-500gb-mobile-drive-classic-usb-3-0--compatible-with-usb-2-0--79HC.html?src=3&awc=3044_1418313768_4cbd56af552f7434c91020f1619d8ac0&referrerid=AW&utm_source=awin&utm_medium=affiliates&utm_content=AW00

Ah that's a great idea - will definitely do that!

She can't come home for Christmas so will take some family videos for her