Software DVD Ripper are optional ...
There are different methods to rip a DVD
an Image file (.iso, .img ...) and
a DVD folder structure
Uploading an image file:
Image files seem to be the most simple method to rip a DVD - but beware: an image file is a single file which will be easily greater than 2 GB in size. As mentioned before - such big files can easily make it impossible to download such a file because of some (older) file systems are not capable of handling files greater 2 GB in size. That is the reason we do not like image uploads at all.
There are some programs which can split a big image file into smaller parts (size 1 GB) or so named file.I00, file.I01... but that is also not a real good solution because you need a descriptor file to describe the complete ISO image (named file.MDS) and special programs which are able to burn a DVD from such a descriptor file and all accompanying split image parts.
Uploading a DVD Folder structure
This is a much simpler option. You just have to take care of some naming conventions:
Create a folder named like the DVD. This will be the folder to create the torrent from (like the root of the DVD).
Inside this folder must be at least one other folder, named VIDEO_TS - (the video content of the DVD) - all DVDs have another empty folder:
AUDIO_TS - this folder is not used for Videos though but only for Music DVDs.
in the VIDEO_TS folder there are the video files starting with
VIDEO_TS.IFO
VIDEO_TS.BUP
VIDEO_TS.VOB *
(describing the structure of the (different) titles on the DVD like Main feature, Bonus features, ..., the file VIDEO_TS.VOB may be ommitted in some cases)
and the real Video files
VTS_01_0.IFO
VTS_01_0.BUP
VTS_01_0.VOB *
VTS_01_1.VOB
... up to
VTS_01_9.VOB
for the first video title on the DVD and the corresponding next title files are named
VTS_02_x.IFO/BUB/VOB for the second title ...
May go up to VTS_99_x.IFO/BUP/VOB
- also here the VTS_xy_0.VOB file might be missing in some cases, depending on the menu structure of the DVD.
Now a word about the file extensions:
the IFO files are information files and contain important tables about where each title is located on the disc, chapter points, age restrictions and a lot more. These IFO files are necessary to play a DVD and must be included! They are so important that there are backup files for them on each and every DVD, the .BUP files. Those are simply backups for the IFO files and will be used by the DVD player in case they get a read error in the IFO file. Also they must be included!
The VOB files are the video content - they are essential too of course.
Now we have the complete structure for our upload:
Title_folder for the DVD
AUDIO_TS (*1)
VIDEO_TS
VIDEO_TS.IFO
VIDEO_TS.BUP
VIDEO_TS.VOB (*2)
VTS_01_0.IFO
VTS_01_0.BUP
VTS_01_0.VOB (*2)
VTS_01_1.VOB
...
and this structure is mandatory to burn a playable DVD from the download.
*1 : the AUDIO_TS folder is usually empty
*2 : files may be missing due to the structure of the DVD
So we ask you to rip this structure from a DVD, move (or directly rip) it in a folder named like the DVD itself and create a torrent from the folder "Movie-title".
There are some ripping programs who create a top folder named DVDVOLUME. Please rename such a folder to the correct DVD-title. In case there are two uploads with a root folder DVDVOLUME - and you want to download both of them - the content of your first download will be unavoidably overwritten (same is valid if you upload only the folder VIDEO_TS, because this folder occurs on each and every DVD and is always named VIDEO_TS
DVDs should not miss the *.IFO and/or *.BUP files (containing only *.VOB files).
