DVD Ripping Software

[Abhilash]

What is a DVD Ripper?

A DVD Ripper is a software tool that can backup the contents of a DVD into the hard drive in any of the popular video formats - such as DivX, SVCD, VCD, MPEG, WMV, AVI etc - without any real sound or video quality distortion. By doing so, the users can watch the movie at anytime without using the original DVDs, or could burn the video into blank DVDs or CDs using any of the standard writing software programs, if wished so.

DVD rippers have evolved so much since it made its first appearance in the digital market. Its functionalities and uses have increased manifold since then. For instance, most of the DVD rippers available today do much more than just ripping the video off a DVD; beyond ripping, it also allows the users to customize the whole ripping process such as setting the number of frames, sampling frequency, audio volume, AC3 or Dolby surround output, selecting the subtitle language, and setting the size for the ripped video files. Further, the software has been designed in such a way that it, by default, checks the CPU performance and adjusts the ripping speed accordingly. That is, if the DVD ripper is run on a powerful processor, it will provide higher ripping speeds.

But the customers need not worry much about the ripping speeds; it is not going to affect the video or audio quality in any way, the only variable here is the time.

Some of the latest DVD rippers even allow the users to preview the movie or watch it simultaneously during the actual ripping process. But, in order to use this facility, the PC on which it is being run must have a good processing capacity. Other options available in the high-end DVD rippers include batch conversion, options for converting the video into formats suitable for iPods and cell phones, and separate extraction of audios.

Tail Piece: Modern day DVD rippers provide its users a large number of options to customize the proceedings. But that is for the experts in the trade. If you are a beginner, better operate from within the default settings for unknowingly trying too much can spoil the video file beyond repair. Also, take care to ensure that the DVD ripper you are going to purchase works fine with all available DVD formats (some rippers won’t work with certain DVD formats).

[Abhilash]

Free DVD ripping software

DVD ripper is a software program that can backup the contents of a Digital Versatile Disk (DVD) into the hard drive in any popular video formats – such as VCD, DivX, SVCD, MPEG, AVI, and WMV – without any real sound or video quality distortion. By backing up contents of a DVD using DVD ripper software, users can view the backup data anytime without using the original DVDs or could burn the video into new blank DVDs or CDs using any standard writing software programs, if wished so.

Here are some of the popular free DVD ripping software programs.

vStrip

vStrip is one of the most powerful DVD ripping software programs available today. vStrip allows users to select things which other ripper software programs don’t allow. For example, users can select only certain chapters of the movie, angles from multiangle movies, etc. However, the software requires lot of testing and learning before one can master it completely. Majority of the latest DVD rippers available today are originally based on this powerful DVD ripping software – vStrip.

DVD2SVCD

DVD2SVCD is a powerful DVD ripping software which helps to convert the DVD files into SVCD (Super Video CD) format suitable for any CD player. DVD2SVCD software allows everything from DVD ripping to cutting and mixing to CD image creation. DVD2SVCD can be best described as a combination of several programs - vStrip for DVD ripping, BeSweet for superior quality audio processing, DVD2AVI to generate a DVD2AVI project, Mpeg2dec and Avisynth for the best possible frameserving from DVD2AVI to CCE, and finally creating SVCD images for burning using VCDImager. The software also boasts a NTSC to PAL conversion feature.

As the program is a comprehensive package which includes all the free software programs required for DVD ripping to image creation and burning CDs, DVD2SVCD can be called as a perfect choice for both beginners as well as advanced users.

DVD Decrypter

DVD Decrypter is an excellent DVD ripping program which enables user to decrypt and copy a DVD into the computer’s hard disk. The decrypted movie or video can be viewed using DVD players such as WinDVD or PowerDVD. One can also re-encode the decrypted file to DivX or MPEG1.

DVD Shrink

DVD Shrink is a powerful tool which allows to backup DVD disks. DVD Shrink also comes with the ability to re-encoding and re-authoring the movie. The software allows the users to select the compression level for each video track so that one can generate the desired disc size. The software also boasts an intuitive user interface.

SmartRipper

SmartRipper is a DVD ripping program with several unique options. SmartRipper allows users to extract the DVD VOB file. The software comes with several excellent features such as angle processing and per-chapter splitting of VOB files. SmartRipper also displays statistics such as the size, length, and average/minimum/maximum bit rate for every chapter and active selection.

Backup DVD Pro

Backup DVD Pro is a DVD conversion program which allows users to convert a DVD into a simple video format like VCD, AVI, or SVCD. The software can also burn VCD/SVCD directly.

DVD 2 Divx Ripper

DVD 2 Divx Ripper is an excellent DVD conversion tool which allows users to rip the contents of a DVD and automatically converts it into Divx format. The software is free for Windows 98/ME/2000/NT/XP.

Tailpiece: But most of the freeware comes with limited utilities hence for professional level services it is better to go for licensed full fledged versions.

[Fry]

I use DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink - 2 excellent programs