A quick follow up to the troubles I was having converting my DVDs to run on my PSP. The world has changed quite a bit since my 2005 post on making PSP movies. It’s a lot easier to get things running on the PSP with the latest software. Here’s a short set of instructions on how to get the movies converted.

I’m not an expert on all of this, and perhaps there are better ways to do this. If you’re an expert, please chime in below in the comments (especially if you have a better understanding of how the PSP does 2.35:1 display). Also, please do not convert movies you don’t own or violate copyright laws in any way. I’m assuming that this is legal where you are and that you’re following your local laws. If not, don’t follow these instructions. Seriously, follow the laws in your area. I only convert movies I own so I can make them compatible with other devices I own.

iPod users, Handbrake comes with an iPod setting so you should just follow it where you can. You can basically stop reading the instructions below after you have HandBrake started up and just hit Start.

What you need:

You’ll want a reasonably modern Mac. Rule of thumb: the newer the Mac, the faster the conversion. This same process works on my G4 iMac, and it flies on my new Intel-based iMac, for example. I’m assuming you have a DVD drive (just a reader, don’t need a SuperDrive or DVD-writer).

Obviously, you’ll want a PSP or iPod. For the PSP, which is the only device I’m really familiar with, you’ll want the latest firmware which you can download using the built-in software. Doing that is beyond the scope of this article, but you can find resources online. You’ll also need a memory stick to store the movies on for playback on the PSP. I recommend at least a 2 GB card which can store about 2-4 movies and is relatively cheap.

You’ll also want lots of disk space. I have a Western Digital 1 TB My Book Pro II External Hard Drive that’s great for storing both the in process DVDs as well as the final movie files. I use it for more than just videos, though, so you can definitely get away with far less space. I would recommend having at least 20 GB sitting around plus whatever space you want to store the converted movies.

Finally, you’ll want the latest versions of two pieces of software. The first is HandBrake, a very clean, free DVD to MP4 conversion program. Technically, you can probably get away with just HandBrake, but I also recommend getting a copy of MacTheRipper. While the latest release is also free, I strongly recommend donating to the project so you can access the beta versions. For example, I wasn’t able to convert Casino Royale using the released version but the beta already had a workaround for the new RipGuard/ARccOS protection used on that DVD (once again highlighting the futility of these copy protection schemes. More on that later).

Step-by-step instructions:

One you have all of that ready to go, the steps are pretty straightforward. You want to use MacTheRipper to take the data off of the DVD drive and put it somewhere on your hard drive. This is what people refer to as “ripping” the DVD. Then you’ll use HandBrake to convert the movie to a PSP compatible version. Here are the steps:

  1. Start up MacTheRipper (MTR) and pop in the disc
  2. If the “DISC RCE” box (bottom right of the top half/display part of the app) says anything other than “-CLEAR-”, you’ll need to select the region of your DVD (1 for North America) in the RCE Region box on the bottom right. See the screenshot for more detail.
    Smaller MTR RCE highlight screenshot
  3. If MTR says to follow some other steps, also do what it says. For example, newer Sony DVDs like Casino Royale can only be extracted using “Main Title Only Extraction” which you’ll have to set by going to the Mode tab in MTR.
  4. Click Go to start converting the DVD. Remember where you decided to save the extracted files (I’ll refer to them as VOBs from here on).
  5. Now that you have your VOBs, take out the DVD.
  6. Start up HandBrake
  7. In the window that comes up, select DVD Folder/Image and click the browse button. In the next window, find the place where MTR extracted the DVD. For example, MTR generally saves DVDs in the directory you specified as another directory with the name of the DVD. See the screenshot for what I see when I correctly select the GARDEN_STATE DVD.
  8. Click Open and that will return you to the main screen.
  9. Go to Preferences (under the Handbrake menu) and put the following into the x264 Encoder Advanced Settings Flags box: bframes=3:bime=1:b-rdo=1:direct=auto:level=21:me=umh:mixed-refs=1:no-fast-pskip=1:partitions=all:ref=2:subme=7:threads=1:weightb=1. Not sur what all of that does, but found it on some of the forums and they work well.
  10. See this screenshot below to see the settings I use. Note that this is for a 16×9 DVD, not a 2.35:1 DVDs. The back of your DVD case will tell you what kind it is. Basically, the PSP has a resolution of 480×272. Make sure your output matches those dimensions. You can change the output resolution by clicking the Picture Settings button. The height should automatically adjust when you reduce the width to 480. Make sure the height is 272.
    HandBrake Settings for 16×9 DVDs

    If you try to set the width to 480 and the height only comes out at 208 (with Keep aspect ratio checked), you have a 2.35:1 DVD. All you need to do is set the Crop setting to custom and make them all 0. Here’s a screenshot:

    Picture Settings window for 2.35:1 dvds

    Hope that helps eliminate some questions. Doing the math, though, I think this squishes the movie a tiny bit horizontally (a height of 208 would make the width 489 or so, not 480). Anyone have any suggestions here? I’ll have to try other settings to see what makes the PSP happy but keeps the ratio right.

  11. Note the other settings. I use 2-pass encoding and an 800kbps average bitrate because I want decent quality, but that does add to the encoding time and file size respectively. With these settings, the 2h24m Casino Royale came out to 962.5MB, which would be tight on most 1GB cards. I’m still playing around with different bitrates, and I’ve found folks online claiming good quality as low as 600kbps. I’ll update this as I try more settings.
  12. Another hint: Change the output filename to something you’ll recognize. For example, with TV shows I include the episode title or something else.
  13. You can hit start and then walk away for a while. I actually click the enable queue checkbox bottom left and do conversions in batches. In other words, I rip multiple DVDs to my drive, then queue them all up in HandBrake as I go to bed. By the time I come home from work the next day, they’re done. I delete the VOBs from my drive and start ripping the next set of DVDs while I work at my home computer. Lather, rinse, repeat.

That’s basically it. You should end up with a nice .mp4 file that will run on your PSP. Let me know if you have other questions or comments. I’m willing to help with as much as I know.