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whats the best FREE DVD ripping / converting SW around

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alanlgm 04 Jan 2013
Hi all got an Ipad for christmas and want to put my kids DVD's on it for when we are away.

I have tried a variety of Ripping/converting programmes that have come from a google search but have yet to find one that ticks all the boxes.

currently i am using DVDshrink or DVDFab to rip and then Handbrake to convert to M4V but it seems to take forever and whilst DVDFab does a better job at ripping it leaves a watermark on the copy.

any suggestions on free software or cheap decent software that will do the rip and conversion.

cheers guys

Al
 Dan Lane 04 Jan 2013
In reply to alanlgm:

I've just been ripping all of my DVD's so I don't have to take them back to university with me.

I used Format Factory. It worked perfectly and will convert to quite a few different file formats. It is quite slow, but it works well.
alanlgm 05 Jan 2013
In reply to Dan Lane:

I will have to give that one a try next

looking for something that will be a bit faster as i have a load to do.

thanks

Al
 The Lemming 05 Jan 2013
In reply to alanlgm:

How powerful is your computer?

I only ask as ripping and converting DVDs is one of the most labour intensive tasks a computer can perform.
 jaxxman 05 Jan 2013
In reply to alanlgm:
I have always used Handbrake to rip my DVD's for use on my iMac, iPad, iPhone, Apple TV etc. I've not yet found anything better which is free. As you state some 'free' software watermarks the file & you can only get rid of it by buying the full software. Handbrake is free.

I'd stick with Handbrake & if you have a mac go on a few mac forums as there are some great tips which tell you how to get the most from Handbrake.

I've burnt over 500 DVDs via handbrake & never had any major issues.
 vark 05 Jan 2013
In reply to alanlgm:
I was using Mac the ripper and then handbrake.
I have swapped to Macx DVD converter pro recently. It makes good quality rips within a reasonable time. Contrary to what the name would suggest it is available for ma and windows and is on offer at the moment for $39 packed with their video converter programme.
I would highly recommend it as a fire and forget solution.

If youre on Osx then the other thing worth having is Identify which looks up the tags/artwork for your mp4 files then renames the files in a way which satisfies my OCD.
alanlgm 05 Jan 2013
Thanks for the suggestions i will take a look at them.

I did think that it could be the fact that i only have a fairly basic windows 7 laptop thats a couple of years old why it is taking so much time to rip/convert.
i tried a few times to rip with handbrake but the copies were all pixelated and the sound was terrible has anyone else had this issue.

cheers guys
In reply to alanlgm:

I use handbrake to rip to MKV format. I don't use MP4 as our TV won't play them

One thing to note is that Dolby are flexing their muscles and forcing removal from the app store of all streaming/AV playback apps that use AC3 audio encoding if they haven't paid licensing fees ($30K/year + $1 per copy sold). Handbrake encodes audio using AAC by default in the MKV container format, plus the TV will play them.

I use Goodplayer as a DLNA client on the iPad. A lot of people rate AVPlayerHD but you have to download the movie to the iPad to play it, you can't stream it from a NAS.

ALC
 The Lemming 05 Jan 2013
In reply to alanlgm:

Ripping/encoding has probably been the only time where I have ever maxed out my 10Gb of RAM.

Quickest and least painful way of doing things is to simply download the film form a torrent site. This of course depends on your broad band.

otherwise it can take several hours to rip and convert one DVD. Them's the breaks.

 Fluvial 05 Jan 2013
In reply to alanlgm:
the faster the convert I have found that generally the more chance for something to go wrong - such as beingoutof sync or pixilation at times, the slower the better.

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