Several weeks ago I posted information regarding ripping DVD’s with Handbrake onto a Macintosh computer. That was a good start to get readers thinking about a space savings technique where you still can bring all of your entertainment with you, without consuming any additional space.

And only a few days ago, the first demo posting on ripping DVDs to hard drives was put up on The Digital RV Podcast. That demonstration took Mac owners through what I consider to be an extremely simple program, Handbrake.

Finally, today another video post has been put up at the Digital RV’s podcast site. The newest video demonstrates AOA DVD Ripper for Windows (see folks, I do use Windows too).

Now readers and viewers can see for themselves, DVD ripping is possible, and in many cases can save you a fair amount of space.

Personal Assesment on Ripping DVD’s and the available software today

Pulling video off of a DVD and popping it on your hard drive is pretty simple. It’s exceedingly simple on Macintosh, and not quite as simple on Windows. There’s no two ways about it, and that does not imply a bias toward Mac on this author’s part. I’ll get more into that whole concept in an upcoming post. In a relatively short amount of time, any user with basic computer skills can begin ripping DVDs and making a “soft copy library” of their favorite movies.

For Mac users, the choice is crystal clear. Go download a copy of Handbrake and have at it folks! You don’t need to search around for the perfect ripping software. It’s Handbrake. Why is Handbrake just so darned cool?

  • It’s FREE
  • Easy to use (watch the tutorial)
  • Doesn’t choke on DVD lock codes.
  • Formats the video for viewing on an IPod, but the video can still be displayed full screen on your Mac.
  • It compresses the video very well, and if done right you can get a video to 1/10th the original size! Space savings indeed.

In the Windows world it’s not that straightforward. There are many software packages out there that can rip or copy DVD’s. Some will not function on DVDs with certain copyright codes. Others will function and rip the DVD, but their compression stinks and you’ll fill up your hard drive fast. Finally, others like AOA DVD Ripper do the job, and have other tools that you can use to further compress the video.

Several months ago I worked with a client who was trying to rip his DVD collection to his windows machine. He’d purchased a product at Best Buy, and paid over $100 for the package. In the end, the software went back to the store, as it kept choking on copyright codes on the DVDs. Well, didn’t work with all DVDs at all! That product was InterVideo DVD Copy 4. It claimed to copy DVDs to new DVDs, or to your hard drive. Well, apparently not all DVDs.

For readers of this site, I request your recomendations on your favorite ripping software. I could spend a fortune going through the “pay for products” that don’t do a great job ripping. So, if you know a great one, let me know and I’ll try it out and post a demo on the podcast site.

In the meantime, AOA DVD Ripper was a pretty decent ripper. I didn’t like the fact that IPod / PSP / MP4 features weren’t integrated into it. AOA does supply another product that will support that functionality, but wouldn’t it be nice to have all the features in one program?

Oh, wait, there is such a program. Handbrake for Mac….and it costs a whopping $0. Haven’t found anything comparable for Windows, even spending over $100.

The software is out there folks, help me find the best one available to pass along to readers and viewers everywhere.