How To Convert a DVD for Playback on Your iPhone

Apple iPhone

Since I’ve gotten the iPhone I’ve really enjoyed its mobile media playback aspect. I can be at a car-wash or service station watching my favorite TV show or movie while I wait. I’m a science-fiction and fantasy buff, Heroes on NBC is a current favorite of mine. In this tutorial I’m going to show you how to take your favorite DVD and put it on your iPhone mobile.

What You Will Need

Formats Supported

AVS Video Tools isn’t only for the iPod or iPhone, it can also convert between the following formats (it has all the codecs you’ll need): AVI (DivX, XviD, etc.), DV AVI, MP4 (including Sony PSP, Apple iPod, Apple iPhone), WMV, 3GP, 3G2, QuickTime (MOV, QT), SWF, DVD, VOB, VRO,MPG, MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, DAT, VCD, SVCD, ASF, ASX, MJPEG, H.263, H.264, Real Video (RM, RMVB), DVR-MS, MKV, OGM, FLV.

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Getting Started

With AVS Video Tools this process of ripping the dvd couldn’t be easier. Place your DVD into your DVD drive. Start AVS DVDtoGo and follow along …

On the first screen select the media source, click browse and select your DVD drive. Take note of the current DVD parameters like video size, frame-rate, and audio frequency. Click the next button to continue. TIP: If needed you’ll be able to use the back button to come back to this screen without losing any of your settings.

Step 1 of 5, selecting the DVD source

On step 2 of 5, you are able to convert the entire movie or only a segment. My Heroes DVD had two episodes on disc-1 so I selected “I want to convert a part of my DVD movie” and used the Range bar to adjust the segment I wanted. You can fine tune the start and finish points by using the exact time index.

Step 2 of 5, select to convert all or a part of the DVD

On step 3 of 5 you are able to set the conversion parameters. By default AVS DVDtoGo will show you the device output wizard (simple mode), where you can select a device for output. This is a quick and simple way to get started.

Step 3 of 5, in simple mode you can select what you want to conver to...

If you want a little bit more control, click the “Switch to custom mode” button. AVS DVDtoGo keeps things simple in this mode as well. Since you will be outputting the DVD to your iPhone, start by selecting “Apple iPod” from the video preset drop down, this will give you almost all the settings you will need for your iPhone. Select your desired frame size from the drop down, a pretty good setting is 320×240 (TIP: here are the iPhone specs that might help you out). I left the frame rate at 30 FPS and audio at 48000 Hz. You can save some file size by playing around with these settings to your liking. Click the next button to continue when your all set.

Step 3 of 5, in custom mode you can specify the conversion details

On step 4 of 5, review your settings and select where the output file will be saved to and the name of the file (usually the defaults are OK to get started).

Step 4 of 5, review your settings and select the output file name and location

When your ready click the start button, this will start the DVD conversion process. This screen will give you basic status, after a few seconds the “Remaining time” status will level off and you will get an accurate reading as to how long your DVD conversion will take.

Step 5 of 5, view status while ripping the DVD

You will be notified once the DVD conversion process has completed. At this point you should click the Open Folder button and rename and/or move the file to its final location before using iTunes to add it to your library.

Finally you want to use iTunes to add the output file to your library. Usually when you select “Add File to Library…” the file will be placed in your Movies section Once you’ve done that your all set and ready to sync with your iPhone. If you’ve never synced your iPhone before checkout Apple’s detailed activation and syncing the iPhone video, the syncing segment is about 1/3 way into the video.