Is there a free DVD ripper available?
I have some homemade videos that I have transferred to DVD, but, when I put the DVD’s into Windows Movie Maker, all I saw was a couple of TS or something like that notations, so I didn’t even bother.
I have downloaded a few dvd tools, but none of them say ‘rip’ or ‘copy dvd’, so, I don’t think they would.
Can anybody here tip me to a free one?
Thanks,
hh
When in doubt about something video, look at VLC:
What are you looking to do exactly? If you’re just making copies then there are a billion methods. The simplest would be to use something like Imgburn or DVDdecryptor to rip an ISO and then burn that to a new disc.
If you’re looking to make a digital file like a mp4 or avi then things can be a bit more complex. The easiest method would probably be to use Handbrake, which can make pretty decent quality rips without any tweaking.
I am trying to make copies that I can store on computer or on a flash drive.
I guess that would be .avi and mp4???
Yes, and the process of making an AVI or an MP4 file out of a DVD is indeed called ripping that DVD. Copying the DVD is another process.
Handbrake is what I would recommend for that.
DVDshrink is excellent, if you can still find it anywhere. Replaces a whole pile of video hacking tools and works extremely well. I used it primarily to rip apart Disney and other kid discs and reassemble them without the half-hour of sales pitch on the beginning. (Anyone remember Shrek 2, with its 7-1/2 minutes of front garbage that could not be skipped?)
Copying a full DVD to a local hd, as is, takes me on the order of half an hour (pretty old computer), but once done, it reduces the time it takes for Handbrake to make video files bigtime. If you just have small segments of video, though, you might not notice.
Handbrake does require you have VLC, so if you can copy the DVD with that, there you go.
DVDShrink does indeed work well for copying DVDs, for example for the kind of use you specify. Unless I missed something, it won’t convert them (to avi or mp4 or whatever), but you could use Handbrake for that.
For one-step ripping DVDs so that I can watch them on a mobile device (in my case, a Kindle Fire HD), I like DVD Catalyst 4. It’s not free (currently $9.99 and worth it IMHO, though there is a free trial version), but it’s powerful and easy to use.
The nice thing about Handbrake is that it can include chapter markers (though usually not the text labels) in a lengthy video.
Thanks, guys!
Me too. Kinda ironic that the only time I really make copies of DVDs is when I’ve bought them, and resent sitting through a lecture on why copying DVDs is baaaad.
If I’m converting to a different format, I usually use DVDShrink first, then something else (VOB2AVI or whatever) afterwards - converting in 2 steps gives a bit more control in some cases.
DVDshrink (if you can find a legit not infected copy) will not read many protected discs. You can use DVD Fab (free or eval) to copy the files to a folder, then DVDshrink will work on that folder. But that should be irrelevant if it’s a hme-made DVD. It’s most useful feature is to recode the 9GB double-layer disk to a 4.3GB single-layer ISO.
Another tool is DVDdecrypter. Don’t be fooled by the name, it will work on home-made DVD discs also - there is the option to produce one single video file instead of a sequence of 1GB VOB chunks from the video.
BTW, if your (home-made, unencrypted) videos are short, less than 1GB per VOB - the VOB files are actually MPG files, just copy them from the disk and rename them to .MPG if they are short, less than 1GB.
Then, you can use any converter tool (AVC for example) to recode the file to MP4 or AVI.
You’re correct. It won’t. The OP was vague about his goals but with clarification he needs a ripper/converter, not a DVD rebuilder.