# Installing and using MythTV: MythDVD.

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## 18. MythDVD.

MythDVD is an application which rips DVDs and makes them available for use with MythVideo. You may also transcode the DVD content from MPEG-2 to other formats which should greatly reduce the amount of space the DVD material takes up on your hard drive.

MythDVD has a number of prerequisites to enable transcoding functionality. If you only wish to play DVDs rather than convert them to something like MPEG-4 or xvid you may skip the prerequisite installation step.

## 18.1 Manual Compilation of Prerequisites

## 18.2 Pre-compiled binaries

Mandrake users may install the prerequisites this way:

> `

>     # urpmi libdvdread3 libdvdread3-devel a52dec liba52dec-devel
>     # urpmi mplayer ogle xine

> `

Assuming that you've added a PLF mirror, you may also load the rest of the prerequisites using the following command:

> `

>     # urpmi xvid xvid-devel fame libfame0.9-devel transcode libdvdcss

> `

Next comes the configuration and compilation. If you don't want to transcode, then the first command in the next example can simply be `./configure`

> `

>     $ ./configure --enable-transcode
>     $ qmake mythdvd.pro
>     $ make
>     $ su
>     # make install

> `

## 18.3 Running the Myth Transcoding Daemon

Transcoding ("ripping") a DVD requires you to run the Myth Transcoding Daemon (mtd). To ensure that mtd is configured correctly, you should first test it at the command line.

> `

>     $ mtd -n

> `

The last line of text should show something like:

> `

>     mtd is listening on port 2342

> `

This indicates that mtd is ready for use. Once you've successfully tested mtd in the foreground, type CTRL-C to stop mtd. You may then start it as a background (daemon) process.

> `

>     $ mtd -d

> `

Running mtd as a daemon will allow you to automatically start it during the boot process. For example, you may add `mtd -d` to your `rc.local` file, or you can adjust the script/steps outlined in the section called Automatically starting mythbackend at system boot time to start mtd instead of mythbackend.

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