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How to copy DVD movies to your iPhone or iPod

Want to watch your DVDs on your iPhone or iPod? We show you how it's done using Handbrake.

The iPhone and iPod Touch have great video playback capabilities, so many people want to use them to watch their DVD collection while on the go. But how do you get the DVDs onto your iPhone or iPod in the first place? Well, it's actually surprisingly easy, thanks to the open source application Handbrake.

Handbrake is available in a Mac OS X version and a Windows version, and is completely free of charge. There's also a version for Linux, however, at the moment there's no graphical user interface (GUI) for this, so everything needs to be done from the command line, which makes things a little fiddly. The Mac and Windows versions are much more polished.

First, download the latest release of Handbrake and install it. If you're using a Mac, the latest version (0.9.2) only works with Leopard. If you're using a pre-Leopard version of OS X you'll need to download an older version of Handbrake.

Insert the DVD you want to rip and select its name from the menu. Handbrake will then read the contens of the disc and search for the titles and chapters on the disc.

Handbrake

From the menu marked 'Title' select the part of the DVD you want to copy. For films, the main Title is virtually always the longest one and is invariably complete, so you only need to select this.

Handbrake

If you're copying a DVD made up of a number of episodes, you'll need to select one, then click 'Add to Queue' for each episode you want to copy. Next, you need to select the format you want to transcode (a posh word for convert) the DVD video to.

Handbrake

Cleverly, Handbrake includes a wide range of pre-sets that produce video of different qualities for different devices. We tend to go for the iPod High-Res option, which looks good both on our Mac as well as on the iPhone.

When you select this, you'll notice that some of the settings on the main panel change. The pre-sets are so good that there's really little need to fiddle with these settings, but you can do if you wish.

Handbrake start

Change the name of the directory you want to save the file to, and rename the file if you wish, and then hit the start button.

You should now hear your DVD drive spin into life and the progress bar should start to move. Transcoding or ripping a DVD is a very processor intensive business and takes a very long time - many hours.

Although you can use your computer while Handbrake is running, you might notice a decrease in performance, so the best solution is to set Handbrake up before you go to bed. By the following morning you should have an MP4 file on your computer ready to transfer to your iPod or iPhone.

VLC

The resolution of this will be fine for playback on your Mac and should look perfect on your iPhone or iPod. To get the file onto your iPod or iPhone, simply fire up iTunes, click the movies button and drag the movie file from your machine onto the iTunes movies panel. It should then copy across and sync to your iPod or iPhone allowing you to watch your DVD on the move.