Remove DVD Annoyances with myDVDEdit

When backing up DVDs, it's useful to remove annoyances like the previews or advertisements you're forced to watch, or the FBI warning screens, ratings screens, etc. They don't take up much space, so they need not be completely stripped, but it's nice to program around them so you don't have to watch them every time.

The free tool to do this on Mac OS X is myDVDEdit. It's a bit daunting at first, and it's useful to know something about the structure of a DVD. Once you get the basic idea, check out this forum post from the author of myDVDEdit.

Basically this a minimally invasive approach, in which you take whatever was going to happen at the end of the content you want to skip (Post Cmds) and put it before the content (Pre Cmds). As the author says, the Debug mode (accessible from the menu) is very handy for finding the location of the content you want to skip. Note that you must exit debug mode to do the copy and paste operations.

Just remember to skip over any Link commands in the Pre Cmds with a Goto command of your own:

• Choose the line above the one you want to skip
  
• Hit the (+) symbol at the bottom of the window to add a new command
  
• Hit the triangle to reveal your new command
  
• Choose Goto from the pull down menu that currently reads Nop
  
• In the Goto: text box, enter the number of the line after the one you want to skip
  

Save and test in DVD PLayer (cmd-T). What a great tool!