A real basic question here: Is it safe to play music or send emails while ripping a dvd in HB? Am I in any danger of damaging the ripped file if I'm doing some light tasks while it rips in the background? I have a 24" iMac with a 2.66 Intel core 2 duo processor and 4GBs of RAM.
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Multi tasking while ripping DVDs?
- Thread starter B.A.T
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In my Q6600's heyday I'd convert a queue of DVDs in Handbrake while playing Company of Heroes online. 
Don't think there's any risk to your rips/encodes. I generally don't try to do anything else since HB maxes out my CPU--either makes the other tasks drag or just adds to the encoding time as CPU resources are diverted elsewhere. But, then again, I'm encoding on my 2.0 C2D Mac Mini so resources are already a bit limited .
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Not noticed any issues doing my DVD rips on a Mac Mini C2D 2ghz, put it this way, that is the most CPU power I have had to do this sort of work on (as it's my newest machine at a year or so old) and never noticed issues on older boxes like my AMD XP3200 or my other old machines. Surfing the net and listening to music are next to no cost at all IMO - unless you start getting flash heavy I guess.
RipIt is a piece of crap. Off topic perhaps but I thought I'd throw it out there. So far I've had ZERO luck with it, which is too bad. I like the interface but the rips it puts out are incompatible with all the mastering software, particularly DVD2OneX and DVDRemaster Pro (both of which I use near-daily).
As for the multitasking while ripping, I always have...
I have never had a problem with multi-tasking when ripping and converting using RipIt and Handbreak.
I am using Ripit ver 1.4.2 and it now has the option to encode the dvd straight to an ATV format, does take an age to be fair but only use it discs are copy protected.
RipIt has had encoding options for quite a while now. It's by no means as robust as HandBrake, though.
RipIt has worked with every disc I've given it, even discs that wouldn't rip with MacTheRipper or FairMount. Also, I have it rip straight to a VIDEO_TS folder instead of adding Apple's .dvdmedia extension to the folder. The only use I've found for adding the file extension is for opening the rip in Front Row or DVD Player.app.
I found that HD encodes from Handbrake would be jerky and pixellated on occasion. Those occasions always seemed to coincide with those times I'd been encoding and doing something else fairly significant at the same time (like ripping another Blu Ray for encoding).
It makes no sense that the encode would get messed up by other activity happening at the same time, but I now avoid using my Mac while it is encoding in HD and the issue has never recurred.
Just another perspective, I've haven't had any issues encoding SD or HD sources with Handbrake and multitasking... other than the encode taking a little longer than usual.
I agree. Wish the Apple apps were written as well as Handrbrake, in particularly Final Cut Pro.
The fact that I have not upgraded is a miracle of self-restraint. I doubt I can hold out much longer.
Wan't trying to be arguementative at all. Possibly other issues caused those encode to bork ? I am just saying that the way the fifo's and threads run in hb multitasking while running hb will only slow down the encode. HB will keep sync.
Fwiw I do all of my hb encoding on a measly mpb 2.16 c2d and am almost always doing something else during encoding. Haven't had any multitasking related issues to date. There again just my .02
Fwiw I do all of my hb encoding on a measly mpb 2.16 c2d and am almost always doing something else during encoding. Haven't had any multitasking related issues to date. There again just my .02
Still use MacTheRipper and MPEG StreamClip, never took to HandBrake.
VisualHub gets used for TV shows, Miyu gets used for hardcoding subtitles.
All fly on my Mac Pro, VisualHub hammers all 8 cores, but I can encode an hour of video into H264 in just 6 minutes.
Still, like others have said, I could line up a half dozen DVDs to encode (H264) and play Civ IV or whatever at the same time. May slow the encode by a few minutes, but never caused any issues with the finished product.
Used to get issues with some DVDs, whether the Mac was busy or not, Alien 4, 1492, Mongol, The World At War from memory. Re-ripping made no difference, not even on a different Mac. These I would re-sync by hand (it's harder than you think - especially with foreign language films - of which I have a lot).
VisualHub gets used for TV shows, Miyu gets used for hardcoding subtitles.
All fly on my Mac Pro, VisualHub hammers all 8 cores, but I can encode an hour of video into H264 in just 6 minutes.
Still, like others have said, I could line up a half dozen DVDs to encode (H264) and play Civ IV or whatever at the same time. May slow the encode by a few minutes, but never caused any issues with the finished product.
Used to get issues with some DVDs, whether the Mac was busy or not, Alien 4, 1492, Mongol, The World At War from memory. Re-ripping made no difference, not even on a different Mac. These I would re-sync by hand (it's harder than you think - especially with foreign language films - of which I have a lot).