Friday was a big day around these parts. It was my mother’s birthday (I won’t say how many she’s celebrated). After having a child of my own, it’s really helped me to appreciate my parents and grandparents even more than I already did. I don’t know how they put up with us! My hair is turning white at an alarming rate, and there have been times where we’ve had to hide the butter knives, and not from our daughter, mind you. In any event, it seems that Facebook is now the go-to spot for birthday wishing. So, I decided to post a short video on my mother’s page to accompany my wish. The problem was, the video was converted from a VHS tape to a DVD. How could I get it from the DVD to my computer to post? Well, I grabbed (the) HandBrake!
In June 2017 I posted “Memories Fade Don’t Let Your Film”. Click here to refresh your memory. In that Post, I suggested preserving your film and photos before they’re gone forever. Currently, the last step of converting film is to DVD. That’s all well and good, but what if you want to share your videos with family and friends over social media? That’s where things get a little tricky. You need a special program to extract video from a DVD and save it to your device, at which point it can be edited and distributed. The easiest (and free) way I’ve found to do that is with HandBrake.
Now, before we get started, don’t get any ideas about “ripping” Star Wars from a DVD so you can watch it on your phone. Copywritten video can not and should not be extracted from a disc. Normally, there is a protection preventing such action, but even if there isn’t, it’s still not a good idea. With that disclaimer out of the way, let’s get started. Grab the DVD you’d like to extract video from and plop it into your computer. Next, download HandBrake from this link. Click on “Download HandBrake 1.1.1” and save the download to your computer. I should mention that HandBrake is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux so it should work for anyone. Click on the downloaded file, and follow the prompts to install the program.
With HandBrake now on your computer, open the program, and a screen will appear asking for a “Source Selection”. Click on “File” to open a single file. Next, navigate to your DVD drive on the left side of the window. Look under “Computer” or “This PC” depending on your version of Windows. For reference, my drive is labeled “E”. Click on the drive of choice, and double-click on the folder under the “Files Currently on the Disc” heading. A number of files will be listed. Look on the far right side of the window. The size of each file is listed. The files with the largest sizes are the video files, and are usually numbered according to where that particular clip appears in the movie (ex. “1” is first, 2″ is second”, and so on). Click to select the file of choice, then click “Open”. This will take a little time. The larger the file is, the longer it will take. When a preview picture appears on the screen, you’ll know that the video has been loaded into the program. Now, look for the “Browse” button in the bottom right corner of the screen. Click on “Browse” to tell HandBrake where you’d like to save your video. Clicking on “Videos” on the left side under “Libraries” is usually a safe bet. Then, click save. If you’re a video guru, feel free to fiddle with any of the settings that appear on the screen. If you’re not, simply click on “Start Encode” and the video will be saved to the location you stated. By default, files will be shared as MP4. From there the video can be edited and shared, to wherever and with whomever you desire.
Home movies are a lot of fun, and can be a great escape from the political bickering you find on social media. HandBrake can literally give you a hand in sharing your videos with anyone you’d like to see them. No longer are your videos held captive inside a disc.