I'd add in support for HandBrake [handbrake.m0k.org] for ripping to file, so one could store the result on their HD easily

ConstyXIV

Sure, it works with VLC, but the real question is, Does it work with XBMC? It seems I'd need just a playable video file, not something with a menu structure. Is there anything this simple I should use to convert my DVD collection to my Hard Drive?

JeffDrake

@jrghoull: Adam mentioned ImgBurn in the article. It's often highly-recommended and perhaps the most reliable, but DeepBurner and CDBurnerXP will also do the job.

ImgBurn takes just one click to browse for your .iso (once you're in image writing mode), then one click to burn. This week's update to ImgBurn added a one-page wizard-type interface to choose a task before you hit the main interface, which probably helps people who are completely new to the concept.

joelena

@savvy999: In DVD Shrink, you can "reauthor" a disk. This would allow you to drag, for instance, Title1 out alone, and export that as a single file. Rinse & repeat for each episode. It's a bit tedious, but it works!

bostonguy

@savvy999: Excellent question, and one I've been wondering too, but keep forgetting to ask. I agree, TV show DVDs would be best ripped into individual episodes (it's basically the reason why I haven't ripped them yet - just didn't know how to split up the .vob into multiple files - or if it's even possible). If anyone knows a way to do this, it would be greatly appreciated. My Always Sunny In Philadelphia and Flight of the Conchords DVDs will thank you forever.

lankysob

@firesign: sorry, i mean the mpaa of course.

firesign

i find it interesting that the old dvd decrypter program got threatened out of existence for doing exactly what all these programs do, and yet the riaa is not trying to make them go away.

firesign

I used DVD shrink and DVD decrypter when I was running windows with no problems. Now I a running linux and I use k9copy and burn the iso which works great!

jtango

DVD Shrink doesn't support the latest forms of dvd protection employed by studios and will fail to rip some dvd's. You should have had DVD Fab Decrypter do the ripping and then have shrink process the ripped files from dvdfab

Jurai

@salviati: I'll add that you would have to have DVD Shrink use a folder rather than an iso as the backup target to access the .ifo; either that or unpack your shrunken .iso to a folder.

DVDFab's HD Decrypter [www.dvdfab.com] is a free but limited alternative to AnyDVD. DVD Shrink was popping up a "Cyclic Redundancy" error more and more often, so now I rip the files to my hard drive with DVDFab (the free app is limited to a full-size copy), process them with DVD Shrink to a 4 GB iso, then burn them with ImgBurn.

It's not too much of a hassle, since each step takes just a couple seconds of input after waiting for the previous step to complete, but automating that 3-step process with an AutoHotKey script like this would be nice.

joelena

there are a ton of dvd rippers out there, but does anyone know of an easy to use, decent quality burner? its nice to be able to copy the dvds...but i then want to burn them to blank dvds...any suggestions?

post script: i was told if i give the people at a local tech store some rectangular sheets of green parchment, that they would hand me brand new copies of movies...but when i tried that they told me that they no longer accepted monopoly money.

jrghoull

i prefer SmartRipper and Dr. Divx 2. two step process, lots of options, great quality output files...easy

theorie

Here's my issue with DVD rippers... anyone feel free to help me...

So my kid loves to watch Dora the Explorer DVDs (which we own). Usually there's 4 episodes per DVD, accessible by putting the disc in the player, waiting past the FBI screens and some other crap, going to the DVD menu, picking an episode, and then again sitting through a couple of 'commercials' before actually viewing the episode. In practice, this means hitting fast forward a couple of times, etc to finally get to the freakin' show.

All of this pretty frustrating for us, much less for a 4 year old. I'd like to set up custom icons on our media PC which point to an individual episode without menus, without all the hoops. Quality sort of matters (it needs to be viewable), but size does not. English only, no extras. How do I get 4 individual movie files from a DVD?

The individual VOB (which I can rename to mpeg) files don't correspond to individual episodes, tried that. I followed the Lifehacker tips from before to use Shrink to get the whole DVD on the PC-- to avoid the skips and hassles of loading crusty, skippy discs-- now what?

TIA!

savvy999

@JEFFDRAKE:

Yes, XBMC can read the DVD files, even streaming from a computer in another room (Although, it should be a wired connection since it is too much bandwidth for most wireless networks to handle). When you're in the Video section, find your way to the ripped DVD's folder, select it, Select the Video DVD folder, and there should only be one file shown inside (the .ifo I believe). If you see many other files, select 'Stack files' on the left-sidebar. Good luck.

salviati

This is cool. I have a few programs I use for ripping like DVD Shrink and Rip it 4 Me but I was wondering if you had anything that would rip the feature to an avi? When I'm ripping a DVD I'm usually just ripping the feature to my home media server and with 300+ DVD's having the menus and extra stuff takes up way too much space.

solareclipse2

personally i think RipIt4Me works the best... i've had no problems with any type of encryption...

looks like their website [www.ripit4me.org] is down tho :(

dysh

@JEFFDRAKE: You asked the question I was going to ask.
@CONSTYXIV: You gave the answer I needed to hear.

I just built a Windows Home Server literally yesterday and was starting to think about how to go about ripping my DVD collection for play through my 360 (ok, so not XBMC, but close enough) and for streaming (or just downloading) remotely. I downloaded HandBrake and will check it out tonight. So, thanks to both of you.

lankysob

Suggestion for those who encounter problems ripping newer movies due to new encryption schemes: AnyDVD

Keebler

PS: I believe that HandBrake can also break the CSS on it's own, but I'm not sure.

ConstyXIV

Personally, I don't care much for the menus, so I usually extract the main movie, take out all other languages except for English, etc (that improves the video quality too)...is there a way you could incorporate more settings for an automatic rip? Maybe it could have categories that would allow a person to rip movies and tv shows differently. Burning would be nice as well.

polarbear

@Fierock: oh, there is also a $20 one that does larger files (more than 700MB limit of free version) and apparently uses multi-threading

[www.fairusewizard.com]

Fierock

My wife endlessly watches Sex and the City and has the entire series on DVD. She is currently on her 7th or 8th go around but she keeps misplacing the discs. I reccently found all the missing ones and have started ripping them to avi's for her to watch on the media center. I'm using FairUse Wizard - it has plenty of options yet is the easiest ripper I've used so far, but unfortunately doesn't do decryption...

Fierock

@solareclipse2: I have also been archiving my DVDs as avi files, and I would recommend Auto Gordian Knot. Here's a tutorial that I found helpful.

I believe HandBrake will also convert to avi, but I have not tried it myself.

eeefresh

This looks promising. I haven't ripped many of my DVDs because it was such a hassle before (needed probably 3 different programs and took way too long).

And yes, Magnum P.I. does rule. :)

concrete_d

@theorie:
why does dr. divx crash on me? maybe cause i'm running the latest beta??

i've had a horrible time trying to encode movies to a format that will play on the PS3 while retaining the 5.1 AC3 audio.

zakharm

Magnum P.I. rules!

vinylkemist

@bostonguy:
adding to savvy999, rip all the disks to separate folders, then use DVD Shrink to pull the episodes (files) to a newly reauthored disk. You can remove opening and closing credits, and select the audio source (I have no need for French audio on the disks).

I do this for my DVD system in the car. That way I don't have the original disk in the car - I don't worry about theft of the disks, and they won't get damaged by temperature (I have had disks that I burned become delaminated due to heat). I have not had that happen with any originals, but it would not surprise me that it could happen. In addition when I put a disk in the player, and the disk starts to play without any interaction from me or my better half.

I use RipIt4Me to do the actual ripping.

bonofasitch

@joelena: i do it the same way and it works

jmiranda

As I have a mac, I've been using MacTheRipper, unless anyone can recommend something easier and better.

William Mize

I personally use DVD43 (which breaks the encryption), and Handbrake. This gives me a good amount of control as to how big I want the resulting file to be. I then transfer the resulting file to my network server :).

mulletmandan

Ive found one of the most comprehensive websites about DVD backup, authoring, conversion etc
[www.videohelp.com]
Hope it helps with your most strange questions

rasti

@Insomnic: Thank you to all who answered my question. I'll probably try the ReAuthor option on Shrink first, if that doesn't work then Handbrake. Thanks again.

savvy999

@DYSH: RiptIt4Me is unfortunately not being developed anymore. They stopped a while ago.

Personally I don't understand the problem with DVD Shrink on it's own. Why introduce a second application to complicate things? DVD Shrink was simple to begin with.

In addition, DVD Shrink has still been able to rip about 90% of the DVDs I throw at it, including most new ones. The few that cannot be ripped with DVD Shrink, I used to use RipIt4Me because it did an amazing job and it cleared any security junk (like blank frames and stuff like that, which were made to throw off the ripping apps). Unfortunately as I said above, it is no longer being updated/developed so some of the newer DVDs cannot be ripped with it anymore. I then turn to DVDFab. It is constantly being updated and has been able to rip anything that dvd shrink cannot.

If you people are looking for a one-click solution, why not use DVD Decrypter. It can rip just about anything that DVD Shrink can rip and it's a one-click process (well, as one-click as it can get). Just select the output folder and click the "Decrypt" button.

This is the order I use. If one does not work, I try the next:
- DVD Shrink
- DVD Decrypter
- DVDFab
- AnyDVD

If I still cannot backup a DVD using any of those apps, I give google a go because certain video forums discuss which DVDs cannot be ripped and how to rip them. But DVDFab and AnyDVD can pretty much backup anything out there and they're being updated constantly.

atomicrabbit

Free software for dvd manipulation :)

For Ripping to avi (game consoles):
AutoGK
Handbrake
For Decryption:
DVDFab HD Decryptor
For DVD Backup:
DVD Shrink
For Burning Discs:
InfraRecorder
ImgBurn
BurnAware
PS: This looks like a great script Adam!

allc0re

You should also add a feature to use MEncoder or FFMPEG to convert to a .mp4.

Andrew Min

@savvy999: Handbrake will also allow you to rip specific episodes to individual files. You can even queue them so you don't have to go back each time and select a different episode. Googling for "handbrake episodes" will give you some guides to choose from to help you with it.

Insomnic

@fierock: How would you compare the speed of fairusewizard to say dvd decrypter and autogk? I've been looking for a good program to get my movies onto my nifty Cowon Q5W and have been somewhat dissapointed by Xilisoft DVDRipper.

GizmoBub

@savvy999: I just started using Movavi Video Suite 5. It's not free, but it's reasonably priced. You can clip bits out of your videos and then burn them to a DVD with a menu you create. Now, it's designed for use on unprotected DVDs only, but you've already "unprotected" what you've got.

You can find it here.

infmom

Has anyone here been successful with Disney DVDs? I rip all my DVDs down to a movie only single VOB and then use VideoReDo to convert to DVR-MS to use with my Media Center. Most movies it works like a charm, but the movies I need to rip the most to prevent disc damage (those addictive Pixar movies) I just can't rip down without getting a cyclical or read error. Any help would be great. I have tried AnyDVD and DVDFab HD Decryptor but neither work for me. I'm tired of having to deal with discs for only 3 movies.

aechevarria

Interesting article and discussion, thanks to Adam (and all). A few questions and comments:
1. I wasn't aware the DVD Shrink could rip. I've been using DVD Decrypter (sometimes with RipIt4Me). Does DVD Shrink do decryption?
2. From the article: "Normally a rip will smooth over those unreadable section without any issue..." Is this true? I've been unable to rip badly scratched disks. I've found the badly scratched areas won't rip at all. I'm sure there are *many* variables in this equation, but I've not found ripping to be a solution to scratches. Can be a solution to avoiding scratches on DVDs I buy, but not for fixing scratches.
3. Does anyone know of a way to use RipIt4Me to only clean up VOBs?
4. @ SAVVY999 "DORAdude": You can use DVD Shrink to re-author the DVD. Add the correct VOB(s) to be burned and then set the start and end as you wish (via the funny button with two arrows). I've not done this exactly (with episodes), but it should work. I backup movies for kids this way and you just stick in the disk and it plays. You can drop all the extraneous stuff like menus, previews, etc.

jonathan19

Please stop using the word "backup" as a euphemism for copying DVDs for use on other devices. "Backup" is BS and even the Congressmen debating this topic can see that.

orev

I love Magnum P.I.!

GeorgiaBoot

@GizmoBub: From what I can tell FairUse Wizard seems as fast (or slow) as DVD decrypter or AutoGK, but I haven't used either very often since FairUse usually does what I need it to, so I could be wrong...

Fierock

Adam,
What format do the ripped movies end up as?
I'd like to rip my DVD collection to ISO's but am not sure how to get Media Center (in Vista Ultimate) to be able to play them. Does anyone out there have any ideas?

iniquitor

@orev: I gotta tell you, I have never downloaded a movie off the webs, nor have I ripped a rented DVD, but I've got little kids and after losing a couple of DVDs to their wear and tear, I got wise and started ripping the ones I care about to disk as a backup. More than once, it's saved me real $$ on movies I already paid for. I think backup is a totally legitimate thing when it comes to any software sold on physical media (including movies and music).

knave77

Holy crap Adam! you are sooooooo close to making a poor man's kaleidescape!

[gizmodo.com]

B1663R

Awesome app, thanks so much! I use DVD Shrink all the time too.

But all that is trumped by SUFJAN! Thanks for the good tunes.

jay.gerland

This would be awesome, I have about 5 Thomas and Friends DVD for my son of which 1 is almost useless, because he has been watching the DVDs about once a day for the last 6 months. I do have a multimedia PC for playing Home Videos, Music and Photos on TV, adding DVDs to my media PC would be such a nice option than shelling out another $16 for the same DVD which I already have. I will def give this a try.

ggvrsn

@FIEROCK: Do you find that there are skips and stalls? I find that DVDRipper does that on a semiregular basis.

GizmoBub

Is this at all related to the dvd::rip program on Linux? Although dvd::rip is complicated at first, I think it's the best option on Linux because it is so robust in it's options. My favorite feature is its cluster mode-- where you can queue up many jobs at once, and distribute the load over multiple computers in your "cluster".

Scott Wegner

For those looking for something that will work when all others fail you should consider looking at an alternative operating system like Linux, which doesn't care about copyright issue like Windows does. Linux will not give you the ability to decrypt DVD's due to legal issues, but they won't stop you either. All you have to do is download and install the decryption library file libdvdcss2. It's readily available from medibuntu repository. After that any native Linux DVD programs like K9copy will be able read any DVD.

Lantesh

@da5id_nz: Ps, I meant RIGHT click the 'AnyDVD' system icon near the clock.

da5id_nz

@Keebler: I agree with your comment about AnyDVD. It has a feature that I didn't notice until a while ago; RIGHT click the system icon near the clock and there is an option to 'Rip DVD'.
Any it does! You just give it the location you want and off it goes, ripping the entire DVD to hard disk - no muss, no fuss.

da5id_nz

If you're looking for a good solution to rip to a video file (avi etc.) instead of a DVD file, I highly recommend DVD Decrypter and AutoGK. It's a two step process but I always end up with a very good quality file and it's usually 1.5GB or less. It even looks good on my 32 inch HDTV.

sorensilk

wow very neat, but I don't think this will bypass copyright protection on the dvds - not big into this sorta thing. But interesting to know and have.

MyEasyTV

@GizmoBub: I have not yet noticed any skips or stalls.

The biggest problem I've found with FairUse is it's fairly CPU intensive just reading and analyzing the disc before it even encodes it(more so than DVD Decrypter or AutoGK).

It usually takes awhile to do the first step during which time my computer is nearly unresponsive, so I have to leave it and come back awhile later to finish encoding (which is also very cpu intensive, as all rippers I've tried are).

It has the option to go into idle priority mode so that I can do other tasks, but then it isn't progressing. This high CPU load makes me think that even the free light version is utilizing both cores (which is supposed to be a selling feature of the paid for version) next time I rip a DVD I guess I'll be checking cpu activity

So if I want to just set it to rip a DVD overnight it means I still have to come back 20 to 30 minutes after starting to finish it. This is where a one-click utility like Adam's would be so beneficial for me...

Fierock

@iniquitor: Try "My Movies." It'll manage/index your ripped DVDs and play them in ISO format in your Media Center. To play them in ISO format you'll also need to install a virtual CD/DVD-ROM-EMULATOR. I recommend DAEMON Tools. Good luck.

jabber

@arcticdoggie: @jabber:

If you are ripping to ISO, there is no need to use a virtual drive and/or mount anything as long as you have a media player installed that can read ISO files, VLC likely being the most popular. Unless you prefer to use something else to watch DVD's (i.e. PowerDVD, WinDVD, WMP, etc), mounting and unmounting images just adds needless steps to the process.

Right-Click Directory > "Play With VLC" > Done

(Example Screenshot)

---

@jonathan19:

Never had a problem with Disney DVD's when using AnyDVD.

j3sX

@da5id_nz: For reference, that "near the clock" space is more commonly known as the notification area. Many also refer to it as the systray, but that ends up pissing off WinPurists.

j3sX

@lauriek:
I've never been able to test it personally, but I'm pretty sure that DVD Shrink can bypass region coding.

ConstyXIV

For the video, which screencasting software did u use? Did u use a different software for the overlay text in it? Also if possible could one of u do a roundup of screencasting solutions? That would be great. I think a lot of people use it nowadays for presentations and videos.

This is my first post btw, though I have been reading this site for a year. Great site.

ram.r

What I'm after is something that will allow me to make a Region 2 backup of a Region 1 disk, so that I can lend my Nan Spiderman 1 which I bought from the US. Any tips?

lauriek

DVDFab is all you need. Get the platinum. Updated weekly and could NOT be more simple.
They have 2 different schemes for avoiding DRM and one is rather ingenious.

You can even just rip the main movie and leave all the other crap out (might be good for the Dora the Explorer guy earlier). You can even put just the main movie on a single layer dvd and it will tell you what percent of quality you will get. On movies that are just ok but nothing you want to use a 1.50 dual layer dvd on, a single layer for .25 will get you about 75-85 percent and its pretty darn good looking. Lots of kid movies will even copy at 100 percent to a single layer.

One program, quality output. Will also convert to dvds to ipod, psp, xbox, etc.

I'm a fan cause it rocks and is dead simple.

gassylassy

DVD Daemon will allow you to mount a ISO and have it play like a normal DVD you insert into a DVD drive.
[www.daemon-tools.cc]

You can also try UltraISO, with it you can mount an ISO and click the files you want to start playing.

My Vote goes to Daemon!! Been using for years and works like a charm.

arcticdoggie

Another questions for the DVD Rip guru's reading this: I'd like to RIP a DVD and have it compressed to the smallest file size that will still look good on a 50" plasma. I'd play it via XBMC.

Is anyone out there doing this and if so, what software are you using and what size does a 2 hour movie take on disk?

TIA...

spifl

To me, the problem is the region code. I have DVDs from region 1-3. I have to use AnyDVD to watch the disc on my PC or laptop. I don't want to rip it into the hard drive to watch the movie.

wildeny

This is great. I use it in combination with Handbrake in a batch file to quickly rip and convert DVD's to my iPod. It would be even greater if, as mentioned in the article, it incorporated IMGBURN for a onestep rip and burn for DVDs.

jim817

@ConstyXIV: Nope... for that you need something like DVD43.

justrick

Adam...you are a genius.

tehblacksheep234

@eeefresh:
Using a PC, I'm able to rip the DVD VOB files to my computer, but I've never figured out how to get it to convert. Specifically, I'd like to have WMAs for my Zune, but I can never figure it out. Any help would be appreciated.

bigvince1981

Handbrake can not strip css encryption. But it would be great to have, as part of the DVD rip scipts, a way to use handbrake CLI to finish the job and rip it to avi.
Such as:

-i "C:\iso_name.ISO" -o "C:\ripped.avi" -e xvid -E lame -S 1400 -B 160 -R 48 -D 1 -v

loki1138

OK, I'm confused. I started out looking at the post about DVD Play. It says that I need DVD Rip. So here I am, and now I must hunt down and get DVD Shrink? Which may or may not work on the newest DVDs?

Oy ... if there is a solution somewhere up there in that mess of comments, I have given up on reading them all ...

Is there, by chance, a single piece of software that will do all of this? All I want to do is be able able to watch my purchased DVDs from my harddrive ...

LissaKay

@Dan: note to self (and everybody else):
ImgBurn can make an ISO from the files DVDFab ripped. You only need DVD Shrink if you need to compress the files to fit on a single layer disc.

Dan

@LissaKay: There may be ways to one-click the process (see: this article), but to have a reliable solution without spending a lot of money (or any money really) you need a few apps. I tend not to rely on DVD Shrink since it fails often.
@allc0re: I use the same apps, basically, but I never bother ripping with anything other than DVDFab, since it never fails.

DVDFab HD Decrypter [www.dvdfab.com]
This is the most reliable ripper I have seen. Has never (yes, never) failed to rip a DVD for me. You end up with a directory of DVD video/audio files.
DVDShrink [www.dvdshrink.org]
This will make an ISO out of the DVD files you ripped, or it can burn them to a disc. If you have a Dual Layer DVD burner or plan on just watching the ISO directly, no need to use any compression. Download restrictions, so maybe try here: [www.esnips.com]
VLC media player [www.videolan.org]
Plays anything, really, anything, including ISOs of your DVDs. It even plays the DVD files you ripped with DVDFab right out of the directory.
ImgBurn [www.imgburn.com]
Not absolutely necessary, since DVD Shrink can burn, but handy since it is such an excellent burner.

Really, it seems complicated at first, but DVDFab is basically, one click, maybe set a good location to rip to, but that's all I really worry about. DVD Shrink is also pretty simple to use, as is ImgBurn.

Dan

@Dan: Thanks, Dan! I have used DVDShrink before, in conjunction with DVDDecrypter when I had XP so I could rip DVDs to my iPod. But now on Vista, DVDDecrypter doesn't play too nice anymore. However, I do have Nero Ultimate 7, and once the copy protection is removed with DVDFab, I think I should be good to go. Thanks again!

LissaKay

try ripit4me, DVDdecrypter with DVDshrink works on about 99% of everything. Nero for burning

icyone