I am currently looking at DVD/Blu-ray ripping software and would like to get your recommendations if possible. My main criteria is that the final output file must be mp4 or m4v as I also want to be able to play my content on Apple devices. I have been using Handbreak with mixed results. My only real gripe about handbreak being lack of support for encrypted discs. Magic DVD Ripper seems to work well, but does not give me the options for chapters or soft subtitles. I had a look at WinXDVD Ripper but this only allows you to rip 5mins of the movie which I think is a bit lame. At least let me rip one whole movie to see if the chapters work. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks Slip
I use Handbrake to do my ripping.Ā - http://handbrake.fr/
you may need to also get something like
http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvdhd.htmlĀ if the material is copy protected.
hope it helps!
d
i am sorryā¦ i didnāt see you were already using handbrake
just go right to the Anydvd linkā¦ it works great.Ā Havenāt found any disc yet that it wonāt decrypt.
d
slip.cougan wrote:
I am currently looking at DVD/Blu-ray ripping software and would like to get your recommendations if possible. My main criteria is that the final output file must be mp4 or m4v as I also want to be able to play my content on Apple devices. I have been using Handbreak with mixed results. My only real gripe about handbreak being lack of support for encrypted discs. Magic DVD Ripper seems to work well, but does not give me the options for chapters or soft subtitles. I had a look at WinXDVD Ripper but this only allows you to rip 5mins of the movie which I think is a bit lame. At least let me rip one whole movie to see if the chapters work. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks Slip
In the US (I donāt know about the UK) itās illegal to sell DVD/Blu-ray ripping software that circumvents copy prevention. So, I doubt you will find anything off the shelf to do what youāre looking for.
Hi Bill
I am curious, if it is illegal to sell DVD ripping software in the States, how do you guys manage to use all this kit?
Just throwing it out there.
Regards
Slip
slip.cougan wrote:
Hi Bill
I am curious, if it is illegal to sell DVD ripping software in the States, how do you guys manage to use all this kit?
Just throwing it out there.
Regards
Slip
Of course not. Ripping software abounds here. Most users just donāt want to pay for it. But the real issue revolves around copy protection circumvention. In the States, here, we have whatās called āFair Useā rights. In other words, we have the right to copy cdās, dvdās, etc. to back them up, or use them on other devices we own. Which means we can buy a music cd, rip it, and play it on our phones, ipads, etc. What the courts have stopped is software manufacturers from selling software, here, that is able to break copyright protection, which is the big deal with Blurays. I do think itās their way of getting around the Fair Use clause. But I canāt blame them, and I think itās their right.
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Hi Tinwarble,
Thank you so much for your help it is really appreciated 
As my Subject states I was looking for recommendations. As a noob to all of this I figured that I would get some help from the mature members of this group.
I would like to point out that I have spent many hours on āgoogleā reading reviews and downloading demoās, trying them out and uninstalling the ones that really donāt cut it. I have a creaking windows registry to prove it.
I am not after a free-be and would happily pay good money for a good product.
I posted only after NOT finding what I wanted.
Sorry to have troubled you.
Kindest regards
slip
Clone DVD with ANYDVD are good . Another good one is Make MKV which also atm is in beta and free to use
try RipbotĀ
I second AnyDVD for the decryption, and CloneDVD2 if you want full iso copies (minus the trailers and adverts)ā¦it will keep the menus and extra features if likeā¦I just go for the main feature, but keep the menu so you can jump to scenes, etc. If you are looking to save hard drive space, I use Handbrake, h.264, MP4ās, with āConstand Quality: RF18ā setting, and AC3 passthrough, and basically zero quality loss (maybe a little artifacting in dark scenes, but well worth it, since you can encode a movie to 1-2GB, instead of 3-5, and preserve nearly identical quality (this is viewing on a 60" display mind youā¦the image quality is really good!, and the audio can be straight copy). Ā The WDTV Live SMP plays these perfectly. No glitching, stalling, or anything.
Just my 2 cents
I use VidCoder (basically a HandBrake clone for windows). Itās much better.
You have plenty of control, itās stable and FREE. (needs .NET 4)
Very easy to rip DVDs or Blu-ray to MKV. It keeps chapters, subs, can select more than one audio track.
It can downmix DTS to AC3 or AAC (both stereo or 5.1).
You also have control of the Aspect Ratio - important for anamorphic DVDs (non-square pixels).
You have a couple of presets included. Depending on the speed of your PC, the time you have and the level of quality you desire in your output, you can experiment different settings.
I personally hate CQ (Constand Quality) as it can take more on certain action scenes and allocate bitrate inneficiently.
My choice is 2-Pass with target size. Variable bitrate gives better quality. If you limit it, say 2000k you have static dark scenes taking about the same space as hi-action light-flashing scenes - and there you see macroblocks.
Below are my settings. A reasonable compromise between quality and speed.
Here are better settings, taking LONGER to encode but produce a slightly better result.
Other thing I like about VidCoder, is that you can pick any scene (5 - 30 seconds) and do the encoding to test your settings, without encoding the whole 2h long video.
I have been using this for more than a year. The output is playable in iPad/iPhone.
However, if you already have the MKVs and want iOS compatible files use MkvToMp4 for that.
It only take a couple of minutes if your file is already x264/avc (it probably is if mkv) and has AAC audio.
This can convert audio to AAC 2.0 (iOS canāt play 5.1) if required and also lets you enter M4V metainfo (subs, cover, info etc.). NOTE: you can put first audio-track 2.0 AAC and keep the other(s) whatever you prefer (AC3/DTS/MP3).
Again, this is for the default iOS player, other iOS video-players have no problem playing 1080p DTS :-)
