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How to Use HandBrake (http://www.handbrake.fr) to Pull Content from a DVD

1) Insert DVD
2) If youre on a Mac and see a window talking about region change for the DVD drive, move it to a side or corner.
DO NOT CHANGE THE REGION AND DO NOT CLICK CANCEL!

3) Open HandBrake
Mac
a. Open the hard drive
b. Go to the Applications folder (Make sure the listing is alphabetical.)
c. Double-click HandBrake

PC
a. The default install location is c:\program files\handbrake\handbrake.exe
b. There may also be an entry in Start Programs
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4) Select the source for your video.
Mac
HandBrake may open a dialog asking for a video source when you open the application. You should select the
DVD from the left-hand menu in the dialog and choose Open.


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PC:
Use the Source dropdown to select the DVD content



5) HandBrake will scan the DVD and populate a few key dropdowns, including Title, selected Chapters, and Format.
Confirm that these settings are what you want. Below is a list of the settings that will work for the most films in
the most situations:
Source
Title: Nearly always, the title with the greatest time allocated will be the feature film. Select this one.
Duration (chapters or seconds): The default is for the whole movie, as indicated by chapters. Set this to
be the chapter(s) you want or the timespan you want. HandBrake is not a DVD player, so you may have to use an
external player to find that timespan.
Destination
File: Path and filename should be to somewhere on your hard drive. Second choice is an external hard
drive,
Output Settings
Container: MP4
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Video Tab
Video Codec: H.264
Quality (note that 2 Gb is the upper threshold for a single file in Media Gallery):
If you are digitizing a feature-length film of 90150 minutes to be used in Media Gallery, set
Target Size to 1900
If you are digitizing something shorter, set Constant Quality to RF:20.
If you are digitizing something longer, I recommend breaking it up into 2 or more parts,
depending on running time.

Audio Tab
Confirm that the track selected is the language you want. You can, if you choose, remove all audio tracks
for a silent film. You will most often be better off not doing this, though, as a clip with sound can be muted when
you play it but a clip without sound cannot have sound added.


Subtitles Tab
Mac: Use the Track dropdown to select a subtitle language and check off Default
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PC:
1) Use the Track dropdown to select a subtitle language and check off Burned in and Default
2) You must use the Add button to include the selected subtitle track in the digitized movie


6) If you are segmenting the DVD into separate chapters, I recommend using the queuing feature of HandBrake.
a. Once you have selected the appropriate title, the chapters for start and end, and the file output path
and name, click Add to Queue toward the top of the window. Repeat this process for each chapter,
changing the file name each time. Use Show Queue (next to Add to Queue) to see what you have set
so far. Make sure the file names are all different.

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7) Click Start

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8) The process will likely take almost real-time if not longer. That is, if you are making a clip of one chapter that is
six minutes long, the process will take around six minutes and as much as eight. So if you are pulling off multiple
chapters you must be prepared to wait. NB: If you are working at the CLS, note that the FDL Macs are set to log
users off after 45 minutes without activity (as little as a mouse nudge) so that they dont get accidentally left
inaccessible to others.

9) Once the process is finished, Mac users get a popup dialog cheekily stating that fact; PC users will just see
Encoding Finished in the HandBrake status bar. Close HandBrake, click Cancel on any window asking about
changing the DVD drive region; this will eject the DVD. If there is no DVD region window, eject the DVD or not as
your needs dictate.

10) Verify that the files are where you wanted them, and spot-check to make sure they work. Copy them from your
hard drive to a more permanent or portable location (as your needs dictate).
11) Back up the digitized files! You will rather regret having to spend multiple hours re-digitizing films if you could
have backed them up.