What are DVD rips?

[xxVijayxx]

I was just googling random stuff, and I found the DVD rip of a movie, and now I really, really want to see it! But I'm just wondering, what is a DVD rip, and will it mess up my computer? Also, how do you get it going on your computer? It said something about xDR and seeding till 1:1 ratio, so if anyone can enlighten me on that, it'd be greatly appreciated. The DVD rip in question can be found here: http://www.desi.io/threads/dev-anand-in-goa-alias-farar-1955-dvdrip-x264-ac3-xdr-4th-anniv.254137/

[Dil Bert]

To rip a DVD/CD is to copy the data from the disc to a computer.  This movie is being distributed as a torrent, which is a way to share files on the internet.  You would need to install software such as bittorrent or others which can read the torrent file and download the movie.  The software required to play the movie will depend on the file extension of the actual file which is downloaded.  Software such as VLC can play many different formats, but you may need to search for the extension and find different software which can play the movie.

All that said, there are legal and technical concerns (viruses, malware, internet attacks) with installing/using torrent software to download movies.  If you are not familiar with the issues and able to make an informed choice, you may not want to start down this path.

If you can understand Hindi, it looks like Induna has the movie available on VCD (Video CD):
http://www.induna.com/1000007672-productdetails/

A VCD can be played by many DVD players and computer players, such as VLC:
http://wiki.videolan.org/VCD

[xxVijayxx]

Ah, I see. Have you ever watched a DVD rip before?

[Dil Bert]

Ah, I see. Have you ever watched a DVD rip before?

Yes; I have some Chinese DVDs without subtitles and was able to find the subtitles online.  After some fiddling with various programs, I was able to watch the films on my computer with subtitles.  It's about the same as watching a low-quality DVD on your computer, just a lot more trouble. 

[XceeD]

As Dil Bert said, ripping a DVD just means copying the data off the disc. In the case of commercial DVD-Video, most of the discs have protection mechanisms like CSS that prevent copying but specialised softwares exist that decrypt the discs. Legality of ripping discs varies from country to country.

Most of the DVDRips you find online are not just 1:1 rips but transcoded to different container formats like AVI, MP4, MKV using codecs like XviD, H264 for video and MP3, AAC, AC3 for audio. These files are shared through a variety of different ways like usenet, bittorrent, http filehosts, ftp etc.

It's about the same as watching a low-quality DVD on your computer, just a lot more trouble. 

That's not entirely true. Quality of the rip depends on various factors like source material, codec used, encoding parameters etc and vary from group to group. Some rippers prioritize quality while others put importance on fast release times, file size etc. Scene have rules that ensure quality of the rips and failure to abide them gets releases 'nuked'. In some rare cases a skilled ripper can make his rips better than the source by using filters to correct 'errors' in the source transfer like colour, AR etc.

Most of the video players these days will load softsubs automatically if they are placed in the same folder as the video file and have the same name.

IMHO, VLC is trying to be jack of all trades but master of none. Quality was never its strong point. Its popular only because it is an easy recommendation for non tech savvy users as the codecs are built in.

Note: I don't condone piracy and info in this post is to give a better idea of the topic at hand. If any of this violates any forum policy, I'm sorry and the mods may delete/edit it.

[xxVijayxx]

Thanks for the anwers, guys. I think I'm going to give it a try, I'm not going to risk getting a whole different idea of the plot like what happened with Jewel Thief (Suspense thriller = Inferred = Messed up). How do I get it going? Do I have to download bitorrent or something?

[Dil Bert]

How do I get it going? Do I have to download bitorrent or something?

The first thing you do is make a complete backup of your computer and make sure you have antivirus and firewall software installed/active.

Then get bittorrent and try giving it the torrent file.

[latishya]

IMHO, VLC is trying to be jack of all trades but master of none. Quality was never its strong point. Its popular only because it is an easy recommendation for non tech savvy users as the codecs are built in.

I can't agree - VLC does a much better job of playback than the awful WMP, for example, and is less bloated than DivX's player.