Sending DVD over the internet

Algis Kemezys · July 20, 2005

When someone asks you to send your DVD over the internet do you just send it? Pop the DVD into the computer and send it out ? I hear I need to use an FTP server ? or get the FTP address ?Any assistance would be appreciated. When I tried to send the DVD with my imac,The computer said, I had both not enough space to hold the DVD for sending and then a box popped up saying the audio track was not included ??? Must I convert the whole DVD to MP4 first or Quicktime before sending ?

anamexis · July 21, 2005

Indeed, a full (single layer, one-sided) DVD holds approximately 4.7GB, far beyond being feasible to transfer over the internet. As you said, you must first "rip" the DVD into a compressed format. MP4 and Quicktime are two such formats. How much you compress it depends on how much webspace and bandwidth you have available as well as the connection the person will be downloading it. For people on 56K/dial-up, you ideally want to keep the size under 10MB, where as with DSL or Cable, sizes can get in the hundreds of megabytes, although the larger it is, obviously it will take longer to download.

Anyways, there are several free utilities to rip DVDs, try searching http://www.macupdate.com/.

Mike Lary · July 21, 2005

Do you have access to the original digital media? If so, I would export a compressed version from the source material, using Quicktime Pro or another application as opposed to recompressing the DVD content.

Sending the file via FTP requires you or the recipient of your file to have a server/server space that supports FTP. You could also set up remote file sharing on your computer and set up a user account for the recipient, in which case he can log into a restricted area on your hard drive and download the content to his machine. This is supported in OS X, but it's a bit tricky getting it to work right. You can visit Apple's support site for more specific instructions (if they have any).

Good luck.

Edited July 21, 2005 by MikeL

Mark Allen · July 21, 2005

I'd send it via mail unless 1) they need it tonight 2) you have the time to deal with compressing and such - but there is a LOT to know about.

If do need to send via email or on a web - then it depends on what OS you're on as to how to approach it. If you are on Mac and don't have access to original files - you can use cinematize successfully to convert it to whatever format you want - i'd recommend perhaps mp4 unless they are mac with QT7 - then nothing will beat h.264.