MediaFork: Stick a fork in HandBrake
Not much has happened on the HandBrake front for quite some time, so some developers decided to fork the open source development and create their own nonofficial version. MediaFork is the open-source community-contributed HandBrake fork they developed. Like its parent, it's a DVD ripping application that allows you to create iPod compatible MPEG-4 video from any commercial DVD. The 0.8.0 Beta 1 software is available as a 10.3.9-or-later Universal Binary. I just downloaded my copy and can't wait to give it a spin.

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
superg said 6:09PM on 2-12-2007
looks like the site is down
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Alexis said 3:54PM on 2-12-2007
Site seems to be down. Mirror of the download link?
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MySchizoBuddy said 4:19PM on 2-12-2007
They need to support 720p, cause thats what Apple TV supports as well
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Fyodor said 6:28PM on 2-12-2007
What is different about this versus Handbrake? Couldn't be arsed to look that up?
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Alexis said 4:33PM on 2-12-2007
I've downloaded the file twice now, but I keep getting no mountable systems errors when trying to open the disk image.
D: !!!
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am said 4:51PM on 2-12-2007
I appreciate the effort, MediaForkers, but dynamic DNS? Let's get you on Source Forge or Google Code asap.
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AHM said 5:11PM on 2-12-2007
The MacUpdate download http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/24032 downloads just fine.
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Pete said 4:59PM on 2-12-2007
So what's new with this? Will they be addressing the biggest drawback of DVD->MPEG4 on the Mac -- the complete inability to handle subtitles sensibly? (I mean so-called 'forced' subtitles, like in lord of the rings and many others).
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Adrian said 5:04PM on 2-12-2007
I tried it earlier and got the no mountable file system error too. That is when the site was up...
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Marcos said 6:32PM on 2-12-2007
Too bad they had to fork... can't they contribute to the main trunk? Were the developers of Handbrake closed to the extra external help?
I'd rather see more people working on one thing instead of two groups reinventing the wheel and duplicating each other's efforts.
I'm happy though, because the Handbrake GUI is terrible even by Windows 3.1 standards and it can use LOTS of work. Maybe they'll get 5.1 sound working?
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mart said 7:03AM on 2-13-2007
Download the .dmg.bz2 file and delete .bz2 from the filename. Now mount the DMG - and here you go...
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Erica Sadun said 6:46PM on 2-12-2007
The homepage says they had a denial of service attack this afternoon. Everything seems back to normal now.
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Jay said 7:06PM on 2-12-2007
For those of you with the "no mountable filesystems" error: there's a post in the handbrake forums about this. For some reason, the "bz2" extension is being automatically appended. Just delete bz2. The extension will then be dmg and it will mount. It was driving me crazy too until I saw this.
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AHM said 7:20PM on 2-12-2007
The Handbrake project appeared to be abandonware, so the MediaFork people started a separate development fork.
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Adrian said 10:01PM on 2-12-2007
That's for that mention on the addition of the .bz2 extension. I just made sure it's a Safari thing and it was. It has a habit of doing that.
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baggss said 11:34PM on 2-12-2007
Handbrake has not been updated in 10 months and no one has heard from the author. Since he was neither available to consult with or to actually work on the project the new team decided they would change the name and push foreword. Should the Handbrake author return and resume development there will be less confusion for the end user than if they had kept the Handbrake name.
MediaFork at he very least supports 640x480 video for the iPod and further upgrades are planned.
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Maddles said 2:21AM on 2-13-2007
Why does everyone think titer disappeared? He's currently working on Transmission, getting it up to speed for 0.7. His last contribution to Transmission was about 11 days ago, see here
http://chucker.mystfans.com/opensource/transmission/Transmission-0.7-svn-r1446-Changelog.txt
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brian said 10:50AM on 2-13-2007
I just got it from MacUpdate and the .dmg mounts fine in 10.4 but not in 10.3.9. Finder puts up a windows that I've never seen before that says 'corrupt image.' I've been happy with 0.7.1 but then again my demands aren't great--I don't need surround sound or subtitles. And I actually liked the older UI with everything on one screen, rather than separate tabs for audio & video.
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thomas Malley said 2:25PM on 2-13-2007
But will this circumvent the new dvd's that can't be ripped because of a locked drive?
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Bob Mc said 1:26PM on 2-14-2007
I was excited to give this a try, as HandBrake seems to crash every time. Alas, MediaFork does too. It's hard to steal backup DVDs.
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