A Video_TS file is usually created by those DVD ripping tools like DVD Shrink or HD Decrypter. They can also be downloaded sometimes. The tutorial explains how you can convert the full movie including subtitles and additional languages if required.

The only software program required is AutoGK (Auto Gordian Knot) which utilizes a handful of well known tools like Virtual Dub Mod or AviSynth and automates their usage. That’s probably the greatest strength of the video software. It requires minimal input to convert the Video_TS folder to one video file.

AutoGK can do much more than just convert the video_ts file but that’s what the video tutorial will be concentrating on. Installation of the software takes a while because it spawns the installation of the additional tools used by it. Start AutoGK after the installation of all programs has finished.

The minimal steps that are required to convert the video_ts folder to a single video file are the following:

• Click on the Browse icon in the Input File row and pick the Ifo file of the Video_ts folder that points to the full movie. It usually contains the same digit as the largest amount of VOB files in the folder. In the case of the movie Crank it was VTS_02_0.IFO because there were six VTS_02_x.VOB files in that folder.

  AutoGK is displaying the playtime of the selected movie after picking the IFO file which is another indicator if you picked the right one. If the DVD has more than one main track then you need to repeat the step and merge the files later on.

• Now check or uncheck the available subtitles and languages.
• Once that has been done it is time to select the output file and size for the video that will be created.The output file size can be selected by picking a predefined size that ranges from 1/4 CD (175 MB) to 3 CDs (2100 MB). Several additional options are available for DVDr sizes. The user can also select a custom size if he likes but most should find a suitable one among the predefined sizes.
  The output file is simply a link to the avi file that will be created.
• Several optional parameters can be configured in the advanced settings. This ranges from selecting an output width to a selection of the video codec and output format.
• The last step involves adding the process as a job to the job queue and clicking on the Start button to encode all jobs in the queue. It’s possible to add additional jobs and let them run overnight for example.

The result is a avi file that can be played in video players on the computer.

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Please note that the following method to convert DVDs into Avi files works only with DVDs that are not copy protected. I will take a look at the possibilities to convert copy protected DVDs in the coming days. The freeware that we are going to us is called Auto Gordian Knot. It is a very simple utility. You basically select an input file from the DVD that has been inserted into your dvd drive.

You will find a so called IFO file on most DVDs and that is the file to choose normally. Sometimes you have to choose a VOB file instead. As a rule of thumb you should view the VOB files that you want to choose before you actually select them to avoid errors such as selecting a menu to be included in the rip.
Once that is done the contents will be read and you have to choose which audio tracks you want to rip as well. You may choose up to two audio tracks, the first audio track is always preselected.

If subtitles are present on the disc they can be included as well, same principle as with audio tracks. After that you define the output size of the movie, the default value is 2 CDs but you may choose anything from 1/4 of a CD to 2 GB.

Size is up to you of course. The smaller options such as 1/4 or 1/2 of a CD should only be applied to single tracks such as  episodes of tv series for example. It does not really make sense to add five episodes of a tv series and make the output size 1/4 of a CD which is only about 200 megabytes.

AutoGK has many advanced settings which are not that relevant if you want to quickly rip a DVD. You might want to take a look but you have to know what you are doing in order to change the settings there.

I especially like AutoGK because you may rip DVDs in one go easily. It takes between three and six hours normally depending on the source files and settings that you have choosen. Faster computers will probably need less time.  Oh, all codecs needed in the converting process are included which is another great plus.

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