[JimH443]

Long story short... I plan on using my computer's HDMI output to hook to my flat screen and watch movies. I have hundreds of DVD's, and a 2TB external USB 3.0 drive. I would like to rip the DVD's and store them on the drive. I know there are hundreds (if not thousands) of DVD ripping programs out there, but I'm mainly interested in a quality file in any format that VLC can handle (which is just about anything). I could go through the process of testing each of these programs, but I'd like to know which ones are the best. Said program would need to work even if the disk has copy protection on it.

Speed isn't much of a factor, quality above all else.

CPU: quad core i7 Sandy Bridge
RAM: 8 GB
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64 bit

[LiveBrianD]

I know waldojim said he uses DVDFab.

[JimH443]

LiveBrianD, on 20 May 2012 - 10:53 AM, said:

I know waldojim said he uses DVDFab.

Thank you. I'll definitely try it. I don't suppose there are any good freeware rippers around (yes, I'm cheap )

I also realized that I'd forgotten to mention that I would prefer to be able to preserve at least one subtitle (if the DVD has them), as a separate file - such as SRT (so it can be turned on and off as desired).

This post has been edited by JimH443: 20 May 2012 - 11:20 AM

[compnovo]

JimH443, on 20 May 2012 - 10:47 AM, said:

Long story short... I plan on using my computer's HDMI output to hook to my flat screen and watch movies. I have hundreds of DVD's, and a 2TB external USB 3.0 drive. I would like to rip the DVD's and store them on the drive. I know there are hundreds (if not thousands) of DVD ripping programs out there, but I'm mainly interested in a quality file in any format that VLC can handle (which is just about anything). I could go through the process of testing each of these programs, but I'd like to know which ones are the best. Said program would need to work even if the disk has copy protection on it.

Speed isn't much of a factor, quality above all else.

CPU: quad core i7 Sandy Bridge
RAM: 8 GB
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64 bit

Hi Jim,
AnyDVD has a very good reputation and is great for backing up your DVDs to a hard drive, but it isn't free (just cheap ):
http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvd.html

This post has been edited by compnovo: 20 May 2012 - 12:27 PM

[LiveBrianD]

Compnovo, does that rip of a video format, or does it just create a disc image? (iso) My thoughts are that, if you want subtitles, an ISO might be best, but then you have a large file size (~4-8GB per DVD, which adds up fast).

[JimH443]

LiveBrianD, on 20 May 2012 - 12:59 PM, said:

Compnovo, does that rip of a video format, or does it just create a disc image? (iso) My thoughts are that, if you want subtitles, an ISO might be best, but then you have a large file size (~4-8GB per DVD, which adds up fast).

I had considered ISO, and may end up doing it. Even at 8GB per title, that's a couple hundred DVD's per external drive (I may end up buying several - haven't decided yet because I haven't had to. )

I would prefer something along the lines of AVI/MPG or MKV simply because there's no "mounting" hassle just to watch a movie.

From what I read, AnyDVD would seem to be designed to remove copy protection only.

[Evildave]

Handbrake to rip to m4v/mp4 (about 1GB per movie), VLC to play it. Though I could play in 'preview', VLC is useful for some other things, like ripping youtube videos, ripping audio/video from streams, etc.

http://handbrake.fr/
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html

Looks fine on a 50" TV set, playing through a PS3 from a DLNA server.

[JimH443]

Evildave, on 20 May 2012 - 01:07 PM, said:

Handbrake to rip to m4v/mp4 (about 1GB per movie), VLC to play it. Though I could play in 'preview', VLC is useful for some other things, like ripping youtube videos, ripping audio/video from streams, etc.

http://handbrake.fr/
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html

Looks fine on a 50" TV set, playing through a PS3 from a DLNA server.

I thought handbrake couldn't rip a copy protected DVD. While I could, apparently, combine AnyDVD and Handbrake to get the job done, I'd rather have an all-in-one solution.

[LiveBrianD]

JimH443, on 20 May 2012 - 01:20 PM, said:

Evildave, on 20 May 2012 - 01:07 PM, said:

Handbrake to rip to m4v/mp4 (about 1GB per movie), VLC to play it. Though I could play in 'preview', VLC is useful for some other things, like ripping youtube videos, ripping audio/video from streams, etc.

http://handbrake.fr/
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html

Looks fine on a 50" TV set, playing through a PS3 from a DLNA server.

I thought handbrake couldn't rip a copy protected DVD. While I could, apparently, combine AnyDVD and Handbrake to get the job done, I'd rather have an all-in-one solution.

Correct. As you said, I suspect that it might work with AnyDVD removing the disc encryption on-the-fly.

This post has been edited by LiveBrianD: 20 May 2012 - 01:35 PM

[compnovo]

LiveBrianD, on 20 May 2012 - 12:59 PM, said:

Compnovo, does that rip of a video format, or does it just create a disc image? (iso) My thoughts are that, if you want subtitles, an ISO might be best, but then you have a large file size (~4-8GB per DVD, which adds up fast).

AnyDVD gives the option of ripping to either an ISO image or an exact copy of the DVD.
@E.D.,
I also use Handbrake when I want to rip to a smaller format. Handbraked movies look terrific on my netbook at the default setting (mp4). Both WMP and Zune play them natively on a Windows box.

This post has been edited by compnovo: 20 May 2012 - 02:56 PM

[LiveBrianD]

compnovo, on 20 May 2012 - 02:55 PM, said:

LiveBrianD, on 20 May 2012 - 12:59 PM, said:

Compnovo, does that rip of a video format, or does it just create a disc image? (iso) My thoughts are that, if you want subtitles, an ISO might be best, but then you have a large file size (~4-8GB per DVD, which adds up fast).

AnyDVD gives the option of ripping to either an ISO image or an exact copy of the DVD.
@E.D.,
I also use Handbrake when I want to rip to a smaller format. Handbraked movies look terrific on my netbook at the default setting (mp4). Both WMP and Zune play them natively on a Windows box.

An exact copy of the DVD - what do you mean, mpeg-2 files?

Fyi, I think Vista Home Premium, Ultimate, (not sure about vista business - it didn't support dvd playback anyawy) and Win7 support formats like mpeg-2 (DVD) and mp4 (XP didn't OOTB).

[compnovo]

LiveBrianD, on 20 May 2012 - 03:01 PM, said:

An exact copy of the DVD - what do you mean, mpeg-2 files?

In other words, what you see in the DVD is exactly what you'll see in the HDD folder with the movie's name: a VIDEO_TS folder with all the appropriate files inside.

[LiveBrianD]

compnovo, on 20 May 2012 - 03:13 PM, said:

LiveBrianD, on 20 May 2012 - 03:01 PM, said:

An exact copy of the DVD - what do you mean, mpeg-2 files?

In other words, what you see in the DVD is exactly what you'll see in the HDD folder with the movie's name: a VIDEO_TS folder with all the appropriate files inside.

I get it.

I wish that it wasn't so hard to do this though.

[Szczecinianin]

Ripping protected disks? Well, I heard a lot of good about Alcohol and now it's free Alcohol 52% too. Anybody remember/use this app?

[Evildave]

Handbrake won't do SOME DVDs, like a few of Disney's children's titles. So a hundred or so titles out of tens of thousands, Handbrake won't handle. It does EVERYTHING else.

I mean, sure, you can pay $20~$30 for something to do it, or you can use the free tool until you NEED to spend money.

Also, Handbrake is really nice for turning a BATCH of ISO images into mp4/m4v videos. Because if you have a mountain of DVD titles and a couple of DVD drives, it's actually faster (and more reliable) to rip 'em raw, then re-encode them.

This is where Handbrake particularly shines. Queuing up a 'to do' list and doing the CPU intensive encoding, one after the next. Or ripping a DVD with multiple tracks (TV episodes) to different mp4/m4v files.

Because once they HAVE been ripped (by most rippers that can 'fix' copy protection), even the 'protected' DVD content will be in the 'normal' DVD format that Handbrake can encode without a problem. Especially if you're in the habit of only ripping the 'main' movie, and not all the extraneous crap.

And once you're happy with the output, you can throw out the 4~5GB rips and keep the ~1GB mp4/m4v rips.