The Bobcat Nation

Does anybody have any insight for ripping DVDs onto a personal computer? Of course, I'm only referring to movies that I own. Our kids movies get a lot of wear and tear, and I'd like to try to preserve as many of them as possible before they're worthless.

I know there are some free DVD ripping downloads out there (HandBrake, etc.), but not sure if I should use one of those or if there's a software program to purchase that would work well.

I have about 60 kids movies to rip, and wouldn't mind ripping a few of my collection onto the computer as well. Anybody know how well compressing of the files works, average download time per movie, etc? Just bought a newer laptop with 640 GB hard drive. Would consider purchasing an external hard drive as well, if that would alleviate memory problems on my computer.

Thanks in advance!

I do a lot of DVD ripping and copying. I am not sure the info I have will give you any satisfaction since I use Ubuntu Linux but in case you have a computer with Linux I could definitely help you out. The best disk copier is called K9copy. It can be loaded onto any of the major Linux distributions. It works good for making backup DVD's I think it cracks the encrypted DVD's. It also resizes double sided DVD'd so that they can be copied onto regular 4.7GB DVD blanks.

If you need to rip them for playing and storing on the computer you can use DVD::rip. It will put the DVD into most any format including .avi or mpeg. It's a slick program as well.

If you need to put .avi or .mpeg files into DVD format use DeVeDe DVD/CD video creator. It works great for making your home videos into DVD's.

Do yourself a favor and load Ubuntu Linux and make things a lot cheaper and easier.

While Handbrake is very powerful and of course free, it can also be a bit overwhelming and difficult to get setup just right, especially if you are trying to rip the movies for viewing on different mobile style devices. While I was able to get it going, I went in search of an easier to use tool so that I could get through it a bit quicker (and so the wife could even do it if she wanted). I found a great program that makes ripping DVD's really, really simple. It's called DVD Catalyst http://www.tools4movies.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; It is a pay program but it's cheap and the one time I had to contact them for support they were great. Their website even lists DVD's that people have had problems ripping with solutions. Definitely recommended.

kmax wrote:While Handbrake is very powerful and of course free, it can also be a bit overwhelming and difficult to get setup just right, especially if you are trying to rip the movies for viewing on different mobile style devices. While I was able to get it going, I went in search of an easier to use tool so that I could get through it a bit quicker (and so the wife could even do it if she wanted). I found a great program that makes ripping DVD's really, really simple. It's called DVD Catalyst http://www.tools4movies.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; It is a pay program but it's cheap and the one time I had to contact them for support they were great. Their website even lists DVD's that people have had problems ripping with solutions. Definitely recommended.

Thanks for the advice. I haven't had a chance to download anything yet, so I'll definitely take this into consideration. I did find a YouTube video about Handbrake and the guy mentioned that there were a ton of options that he never ever used. It got a little confusing after the first couple of minutes. Also said that Handbrake would occasionally lock up and he'd have to start all over. I really just want something that I can click and go because I'm pretty much technically illiterate.