Being able to use Ripit file for Front Row

[Roller Coaster Bob]

Hello,
New here and to Ripit. Love the program, but can't seem to get Front
Row to play a video that hasn't been compressed. Suggestions?
Thanks

[Steve Sloan]

Anyone know what the latest beta build # is? I have 1.5.5 but I cant seem to get the beta updates anymore.

Steve

[J.R.]

Steve,

You're in Roller Coaster's discussion here; but in answer to your
question to your question, the beta update should be at the following
path: http://files.thelittleappfactory.com/ripit/RipIt-beta.zip

On Apr 22, 3:29 pm, Steve Sloan <sloa...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Anyone know what the latest beta build # is? I have 1.5.5 but I cant seem to get the beta updates anymore.
>
> Steve
>

[J.R.]

Roller Coaster,

I think Front Row only runs compressed video. Correct me if I'm
wrong, but that's all I've ever played in Front Row. It ties in with
iTunes and whatever you download or copy into iTunes is directly
accessible in Front Row.

If you need to compress your video, Ripit does have a good user
friendly compression option.



On Apr 22, 3:06 pm, Roller Coaster Bob

[Sarpent]

Front Row plays RipIt videos just fine, but there's a missing step.

Here's what I do:

1. I locate the ripped file.

2. Right-click (control-click) on that file, and select "Show
Package Contents" from the drop down menu. This displays the file's
contents (this works because that file is actually a special kind of
folder).

3. I take the enclosed VIDEO_TS folder and drag it out somewhere
else. I delete the now-empty original ripped file (the special kind of
folder).

4. I make a new folder and name it with the movie name.

5. I drop the VIDEO_TS folder in that movie-named folder.

The next step is not strictly necessary to play the movie in Front
Row, but it will provide an image for Front Row to display, so it's
very helpful.

6. I Google the movie on the net for an image of the dvd or a
poster of the movie. Note: Make sure that the image that you find is a
jpeg, or you can convert it to a jpeg yourself. Most are jpegs, so
you'll probably be fine.

7. I save the image to my machine and rename it exactly
"preview.jpg" (no quotes). It's important that it's exactly named that
way -- preview.jpeg, for instance, will not work.

8. I drag the preview.jpg into the movie folder containing your
VIDEO_TS folder.

The movie will now play in Front Row.

It looks like a lot of steps, but it's really not bad. If there are
other ways to make the file playable, I'd don't know them. I also have
no idea why the RipIt folks don't have an option in their software to
output to a normal folder. They're the ones who make this nonsense
necessary. I'm sure there are valid reasons for it, but there are also
enough valid reasons against it to argue for a preference setting.
They've done so many things right with this software, it's a real head-
scratcher as to why they've neglected this. I'm betting it's a simple
as someone there never uses Front Row and lacks the imagination
required to add this feature for those who do. If you're listening,
Little App Factory (they're probably not -- I'm pretty sure they moved
the forum to Google Groups so they wouldn't have to deal with
customers asking when they'd have a fix for movies that wouldn't rip),
please, please add this preference.

[Paul Franz]

The option is called 'Use ".dvdmedia"

[Paul Franz]

The option is called 'Use ".dvdmedia" extension' If you mark it off
it will output a normal directory with VIDEO_TS inside.

Also, a shorter method of "converting" them are to rename the folder.
Calling it "file.dvdmedia" tells Mac OS' Finder to make it a
"Package." Removing that part of the name makes it a normal folder.
I'm not sure how to do this in Finder, but it's trivial in the
Terminal "mv Old_Movie.dvdmedia Old_Movie"

-Paul

[Sarpent]

Thanks Paul. That's very helpful. Unfortunately that's not a
preference setting, certainly as a default, that takes its audience
into consideration -- meaning that it's that single important critical
step away from consumer-friendly (the kind of mistake that Apple, for
instance, doesn't make).

Thanks again. You have made my life just that much simpler.

Sarpent

On Apr 24, 2:01 pm, Paul Franz <p...@paulfranz.com> wrote:
> The option is called 'Use ".dvdmedia" extension'  If you mark it off
> it will output a normal directory with VIDEO_TS inside.
>
> Also, a shorter method of "converting" them are to rename the folder.
> Calling it "file.dvdmedia" tells Mac OS' Finder to make it a
> "Package."  Removing that part of the name makes it a normal folder.
> I'm not sure how to do this in Finder, but it's trivial in the
> Terminal "mv Old_Movie.dvdmedia Old_Movie"
>
> -Paul
>
>
>
> On Sun, Apr 24, 2011 at 10:59 AM, Paul Franz <p...@paulfranz.com> wrote:
> > The option is called 'Use ".dvdmedia"
>

[Paul Franz]

I took a quick look and found a way to change your files only using
Finder. Select your dvd file and go to File > Get Info (or press
Command-I). Then you can either unmark "Hide extension" or just
remove the .dvdmedia there. Now it should show as a normal folder.

While the preference name isn't clear to the laymen, I actually think
his problem is a deficiency is on Apple's side. The .dvdmedia bundle
is a feature Apple implemented in the Finder. It allows you to just
double-click on a folder to open it in DVD player. So the fact that
Front Row doesn't support this Finder feature is an oversight by
Apple--not Little App Factory.

I'll put in a bug report to Apple, but they aren't usually responsive
on these kinds of things.