How To Rip a DVD and Upload it to Usenet The PC Guide

This guide, and the software used is based on Windows XP 32bit (Update 2013: The software
has been verified to work with Windows 7 64bit). It also assumes that you have a Usenet
provider and know your way around a computer and know how to use Windows Explore
(right-click on Start, click Explore All Users) to navigate your hard drive and to create
folders.
If you are reading this guide, you are probably already familiar with Usenet and know how to
download files. Uploading files is actually very easy after you've done it a couple of times. The
first time will take a little longer to get everything installed and configured.
The Steps:
1).
2).
3).
4).
5).

Rip your DVD to your hard drive

Create RAR files
Create PAR files
Create an NFO file
Upload your files

The Software You Will Need:

To get all the software used in this guide (and a few extras you might find useful) in one single
package, search Usenet for the: How To Rip a DVD and Upload it to Usenet - The Guide. Or
you can click the links on the file names below and download them.
DVDFab Software to rip/copy your DVD to your hard drive. The free version won't let
you burn DVD's, but it will allow you to rip DVD's to your hard drive. Which is all we
need it for.
WinRAR: Used to create RAR files. WinRAR is not free software.
QuickPar: Free software used to create PAR files that can fix damaged RAR files.
Notepad, or any basic ASCII text editor. For creating a NFO file.
JbinUp: Is a Usenet upload client. It is fairly new software and still in its beta stage, and
requires Java to run. One advantage is it supports SSL (Secure Socket Layer). If you
don't have Java installed, download it and install it before running JbinUp.
While apps like Sabnzbd are great at downloading binary files, they don't allow you to read or
post text messages. If you would like to be able to read and post text messages and make
requests to alt.binaries.magic, you'll need a newsreader. I'd recommend the FREE PAN
newsreader (Windows, Mac, Linux), or you can buy a newsreader like NewsBin Pro ($20).
If you have all the software installed, grab a DVD and lets get started.
Setting Up Folders On Your Hard Drive:

In order to better follow this guide, create a folder structure like the image below (with the
name of your DVD). This will make more since as we go on.
A). At the root of your hard drive, create a folder called DVDtemp
B). In the DVDtemp folder, create a Main Title Folder (the title of your DVD).
C). In the Main Title Folder, create a RARs folder, and a Secondary Title Folder
(same title used in step B).

Step 1) - Ripping/copying a DVD to Your Hard Drive:

If you already know how to rip a DVD to your hard drive, then you can skip this section.
Make sure you have about 10GB or more of free space on your hard drive.

Insert the DVD you want to rip in to your DVD drive, and open DVDFab.
A). Make sure it is set on Full Disc. That way you will get all the menus and
everything.
B). The Source will be the DVD you want to copy to your hard drive. It should detect
your DVD automatically when you insert the DVD or start DVDFab.
C). The Target will be where you want to copy the video files to on your hard drive
(see next step).
D). Click on the folder icon to the right of the Target box (C). Browse to your DVDtemp
folder > Title Folder > and click on the Secondary Title Folder, then click OK. This is
where your video files will be copied to.

E). You don't need this unless you want to create an ISO image file.
F). Select DVD5, so that others will be able to burn the files to a standard singlelayer DVD +R/-R 4.7 GB disc. Notice to the right, where it says Quality: 100% and the
total size of the DVD. If yours says less than 100%, don't worry. It's just going to
compress it down so it fits on a DVD5 disc.
Click >
This will normally take about 5-15 minutes depending on the file size of the DVD and the
speed of your PC. If it has to compress the file down, it could take a little longer. When it is
done, you can close DVDFab.
Extra information you don't have to read if you don't want to: One easy way
to put the video files on your hard drive is to; insert the DVD in your DVD player
on your PC. A window may pop up, or you can browse to your DVD using
Windows Explore. If you see a VIDEO_TS folder, you can drag and drop it to
your hard drive. Two disadvantages with this method is if there is any copy
protection on the DVD it won't be removed when you upload it, and others may
have problems burning it to disc. The other disadvantage is; most people will
download your files and burn them to a standard single-sided DVD +R/-R blank
disc. If the total file size is larger than that (about 4.19 GB), you will be
uploading a lot of extra megabytes/gigabytes unnecessarily, and the person
downloading will also waste a lot of unnecessary bandwidth. You can use this
method if you know the DVD doesn't have any copy protection, and the total file
size is less than about 4.19 GB. Otherwise, use DVDFab, to make sure all copy
protections are removed, and the file size will fit on a disc.

Step 2) - Creating RAR Files:

A). Now, browse to your Secondary Title folder. You will see DVDFab created a few
more sub folders under it. Move the VIDEO_TS folder directly under your
Secondary Title folder, and delete the other folders.
Before

After

B). Right-click on your Secondary Title folder, and click Add to archive. This will
open Winrar. Make sure you don't have any extra files that you don't want to upload in
your Secondary Title folder, or your VIDEO_TS folder.
This is a good time to point out why it's important to properly name your Secondary Title
folder. When someone downloads and UnRARs these files, it will re-create your Secondary
Title folder and the VIDEO_TS folder. The downloaders will know exactly what the folder is by
the title.

C). Configuring WinRAR. You can pretty much go by the image below.

Archive name: You can leave the name as it is, or change it to what ever you like. I'm
going to use the initials for this guide. I recommend leaving it as the full title so people
will know what it is.
Compression method: Click the drop-down box and select Store.
Split to volumes, bytes: Just type 100 mb in the box and it will convert it to bytes
(104,857,600).
Archiving options: Click the boxes, Put recovery record, Test archived files
Click the Advanced tab. In the Recovery record box, it should be set to 1
percent by default. Click OK
This can take 3 to 10 minutes depending on the size of your video files, and the speed of your
PC.
Extra information you don't have to read if you don't want to:
Compression method: Video files are already compressed, so there is no
need to compress them. Besides, It'll take a lot longer to create your RAR files,
and it'll take the person that downloads them a lot longer to UnRAR them.
Split to volumes, bytes: 100 mb is a good size for full DVD's. For smaller files

you could go with 50 mb, 25 mb, etc.

Archiving options: Put recovery record is good to include, because it can
make minor repairs to the RAR files without the PAR files. Test archived files,
it's always good to make sure your files are not corrupted before you upload
them.
Step 3) - Creating PAR files:
A). Move all of the RAR files you just created in your Title Folder, to the RARs folder.
B). In the RARs folder, highlight all your RAR files (Ctrl+a). Make sure that only the
RAR files are highlighted, and no extra files are mixed in with the group of RAR files.
C). Right-click on the group of highlighted RAR files, and click Quick Par > Create
Recovery Volumes. This will open up Quick Par.

Step 3a) - Configuring QuickPar

A). Adjust the Source Block Count: slider to the far right. That should set your [C] Block
Size to what's pictured above (1,280,000).
B). Make sure the Restrict block size to multiples of UseNet article size box is checked.
C). Block Size should be 1,280,000.
D). Use the Redundancy: slider to select the percentage of the RAR files that it can repair. I
will usually set it so that [E] shows at least 1-1 or greater.
E). Shoot for 1-1 or greater, using [D] the Redundancy slider (about 2% to 3% is fine).
F). Click the Options button. In the Preferred Block size: section, set the For yEnc:
Lines to 10,000. Click OK.

Click the Create button.

This should only take about 3-6 minutes. When it is done, click Exit.
Step 4) - Create the NFO File
The NFO file allows the downloader to read all the pertinent information about the file before
he downloads it. This is a very important file on Usenet, so please don't ignore it. Nobody
likes downloading a 3-5 gig file, only to find out it was a total waste of their bandwidth.
Open Notepad or your favorite text editor. Put in any information you think might be important
to the downloader. TIP: Some NFO file readers won't word wrap. So, Turn Word Wrap off and
hit Enter where you would like to end each line. In EditPad Pro you can click on the Convert
tab, Wrapping Line Breaks.
Examples of what to put in the NFO file:
Title of the video
Performer
Description of what's on the video (copy and paste from the Internet)
If it's in a foreign language
Video quality (DVD, VHS, etc.)
Format (NTSC, PAL, etc.)
Internet links that might be helpful
Once you have all the information typed in, you will want to save it to your RARs folder along
with all your RAR and PAR files. Name it the same as your RAR and PAR files with the
extension .nfo instead of the default .txt (example: TW_VoW-1.nfo)
Here's an example you can copy and past, and change the information to fit your video.
*******************************************************************************
Tommy Wonder - Visions of Wonder vol.1
*******************************************************************************
Usenet Newsgroup.:
Number of Parts..:
Part Size........:
WinRar Recovery..:
PAR2s............:
Video Format.....:
Source...........:
Language.........:
URL..............:

alt.binaries.magic
33
100 MB
1%
2%-3%
NTSC
DVD
English
http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=579

Step 5) - Uploading Your files to Your Usenet Provider

Start JbinUp. You will need to configure the settings first with your usenet provider, port
number, username, password, etc.

Click File, click Settings.

Common Settings - Change the Lines per part to 10,000. Some usenet providers won't
allow 10,000 lines. If you don't know how many lines per part your usenet provider allows, you
can experiment. 3,000 should work, so if 10,000 doesn't work you could try something in
between.
Important Note: The number of lines you use here, should be the same as the number of
lines you set in Quickpar (Step 3a-F). If 10,000 doesn't work for you, make sure you change
the settings in Quickpar to the number of lines that do work for you, on future uploads.

Server Settings - Click Add Server (see image below)

If you have been downloading from usenet, you should know what to put in all these boxes.

Server Nickname: What ever you want to use to identify it (examples: Giganews, Astraweb,
etc.).
Server Address: Your usenet providers server address (examples: news.giganews.com,
news.astraweb.com, etc.).
Server Port: Common standard port numbers, 119, 23. Common SSL port numbers, 443,
563.
Encrypted (SSL): If you are using SSL, make sure you check this box.
Username: and Password: Only you know what goes in these boxes.
Server is activated: and Use Server for Uploads: Check both boxes.

Click OK

Poster Settings - Click Add

Sender. When ever you upload
files to usenet, what ever name and
email address you enter here will
show up as the poster (don't put in
your real name or email address).
Click Default check box. Click
OK.

Newsgroup Settings - Click Add Group. Type in

alt.binaries.magic, or any other newsgroups you want
to upload to. Click OK

Now that you have all of your user settings configured,

click OK on the JbinUp Settings window.

Click on File > Add a new Job.

In the Prepare New Job window, enter a name for the job.
Click the Add button. Browse to the files you want to upload (files in the RARs folder), and
select all of them (click on the first file, and hit Ctrl+a). Click Open

Now you should see all of your files that you will be uploading in the window. Make sure your
.nfo file is on the top. That way the downloaders will know right away what you are
uploading. Don't worry about the .sfv file, you didn't create one and you don't really need it.

Click the Step 2 tab.

Check the box of the newsgroup you want to upload to. You can click on the Add Group
button to add additional newsgroups.
In the Subject/Header of the new job: section. The $F has to be there. As you can see
in the blue box below it, it says, $F = Filename in quotation marks. The $F is a variable, and
will be substituted with the name of your file when you upload it and it will put it in quotes. If
you only had the $F in the subject/header box, and uploaded your files. Others would see
your files like this...TW_VoW-1.nfo, TW_VoW-1.sfv, TW_VoW-1.par2, etc.
The $1 and $2 are also variables that will be replaced with the number of your files as you
upload them.

Magic DVD for Magicians - You can put what ever you want in that space, or leave it blank.

Nothing left to do now but click the Add Job button, then click the play button (triangle). It
will remain paused until you start it. When your job is queued up, you can right-click on it and
make some modifications. Like, add files to the job, edit the subject line, etc.
Depending on the upload speed of your Internet connection, and the total size of the file you
are uploading. It could take several hours to upload. No big deal, just set it and forget it. Your
upload speeds are usually a whole lot slower than your download speeds. For example; It
takes me about 24 hours to upload about 25 GB. Where as it only takes me about 2 to 2.5
hours to download 25 GB. Big difference!
100 KB/s = about 350 MB per hour
200 KB/s = about 700 MB per hour
You can add more jobs while it is uploading. While the first one is uploading, you can continue
RAR'ing and PAR'ing other videos, and just keep adding them to the queue if you want.

If you get any errors trying to upload for the first time, it is more than likely one of your user
settings. Go back to the Settings on JbinUp (File > Settings > Server Settings > Edit Server),
and make sure everything is correct. Another possibility is the Lines per part mentioned
above in step 5.
Now that you have all the software installed and configured, you will find it much easier and
quicker each time you prepare a new DVD for upload.
Here it is in a nutshell:
Setup your folders About a minute or less.
Rip your DVD About a minute or less to get it started.
Re-adjust your folders Less than a minute.
RAR the folder and files 5 settings, less than a minute to get it started.
Move RAR files to the RARs folder A few seconds.
Create PARs Adjust a couple of settings, less than a minute to get it started.
Create NFO file Do this while ripping the DVD, or the RAR and PARs are running.
Add the job to JbinUp Name the job, add the files, fill out the Subject/Header

That's it, you're done! Congratulations!

One last tip: While apps like Sabnzbd are great at downloading binary files, they don't allow
you to read or post text messages. If you would like to be able to read and post text
messages and make requests to alt.binaries.magic, you'll need a newsreader. I'd recommend
the FREE PAN newsreader (Windows, Mac, Linux), or you can buy a newsreader like
NewsBin Pro ($20) or NewsLeecher ($20).
I hope this guide was helpful to you.
Happy uploading!