HandBrake

To start out, I'm new to the whole DVD ripping thing. I just downloaded Handbrake for Windows (latest GUI) last week, and for the life of me I can't get it to encode something that my computer will recognize and play. First I tried using default settings, mpeg 4 w/ AAC audio, I ended up with a m4v file, which my computer couldn't recognize. I changed the .m4v to .mp4, and it still wouldn't play.

Next I tried doing it but I unchecked the mark chapters box in the video tab. This time it ended up as a .mp4 file but still wouldn't play.

It is hanging up at muxing, but it sits there for hours without doing anything, so I figured it was done based on posts I've read here. I've read a number of posts here in the forums, and tried what I could, but now I'm stuck.

Any help/ideas would be appreciated.

What are you trying to play it with? Most standard Windows software (Windows Media Player, for example) won't play H264 stuff. I recommend VLC, although Quicktime will also play (some of) them.

If you want to avoid the muxing delay, use a setting without b-frames. The iPhone preset is a good choice for starters.

I've tried a couple of things. Zune software is supposed to be able to run mpeg-4, so I tried that. I also downloaded a mp4 player I found on the web, that didn't work either.

You may also need a decoder - such as ffdshow tryouts