Software Reviews

Related articles:

Step by step to show you how to rip/copy DVD to all sorts of video and audio files on Mac OS X?

How to use M2TS converter to convert M2TS files to AVI, MP4, MPEG, etc.?


Do you have a ton of DVD's? Want to watch them on your iPod, iPhone or Apple TV? Here's a tutorial that explains how to use an awesome program called Handbrake to rip DVD's into MPEG-4 video files.
Requirements

* 500 MHz processor or better with at least 16MB of video RAM
* QuickTime 7.0.3 or later
* iTunes 6.0.1 or later
* VLC player (Handbrake 0.9.3 and higher)

Step 1: Download Handbrake

Download Handbrake from here and install it. Handbrake is free. If you already have Handbrake installed, please check to see if your version is out of date. Several new improvements have been made recently to the program, specifically for the iPod and iPhone.


Step 2. Insert DVD

Grab a video DVD and put it into your computer. Handbrake can only convert standard video DVD's that you would normally play in a DVD player. If you have a DVD-ROM with video files saved on it as individual files (AVI, MPG, WMV, MOV, etc), Handbrake will NOT be able to convert these files. Handbrake only wants standard video DVD's.

Depending on your computer's preferences, the DVD Player application might automatically open. If it does, just quit it. Only one application should be accessing the DVD at a time.

Launch Handbrake. A screen asking you to select a DVD will appear. Select the DVD you've inserted into your computer and press the Open button.



Step 3: Download VLC player

What version of Handbrake are you using? As of version 0.9.3, Handbrake will no longer natively rip DVDs. Weird right? I wonder if they were getting some pressure from the movie industry. But don't give up on Handbrake just yet. You can still use Handbrake 0.9.3 to rip DVDs, you just need to install VLC on your machine first.

If you see the VLC screen like the one shown below, then you need to download and install VLC.



VLC Download Page:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

The VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, etc.) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network. Handbrake now uses some components of the VLC player and it must be installed if you want Handbrake to read DVDs.

After you download VLC, you need to install it on Mac:
VLC for Mac OS X is distributed as a disk image. Download the .dmg file, open it, and copy VLC to your hard drive (for instance the /Applications folder). Open VLC by double-clicking on it.

Step 4: Source Settings

Handbrake will now scan your DVD. This make take up to a minute or two depending on the contents of the DVD and the speed of your optical drive.



Title: By default, Handbrake will select the longest title in the list. However, this may not be the content you want.

* Movies: If you are ripping a movie, the longest title is usually the main feature.
* TV Shows: If you are ripping a DVD containing TV shows, you should see a list of several titles all about the same length. The shorter titles on the DVD are usually the video backgrounds used in the DVD menu screens and DVD extras like movie trailers. Unless you are a graphic artist, you probably don't want these tracks.

The shorter titles on the DVD are usually the video backgrounds used in the DVD menu screens and DVD extras like movie trailers. Unless you are a graphic artist, you probably don't want these tracks.



If you only want to rip one title but aren't sure which one, you can click on the Picture Settings button (bottom right of the Handbrake interface) and manually step through several frames of the title to see what it looks like.

NOTE: Sometimes Handbrake is unable to see every track on a DVD. We've noticed issues with very old DVD's from the mid-1990s (before the days of fancy menus and Bonus features) and some newer DVD's like Stealth. There are different techniques and methods to authoring DVD's Sometimes the tracks get nested in weird ways that prevents Handbrake from seeing them. Other DVD ripping applications like Mac The Ripper and OSex might be able to see these tracks. Look for the longest track. That is probably the main feature.

Step 5: Destination Settings

The Destination section has 3 settings you can modify: file format, codec and file destination.

File Destination: You can name your file and choose its destination using this box. Try to pick a location that has sufficient disk space to store the ripped file. On average, you need about 1 GB per full length movie.



Step 6: Select A Preset

Handbrake has a variety of handy DVD ripping presets for iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, Xbox, Sony PSP and many more. Just select a preset and Handbrake will automatically fill in all the settings for you.



If you plan on watching this DVD on your iPod, iPhone or even Apple TV, we suggest you select iPod High-Rez and drop the average bitrate to 900 kbps. This will give you a nice high quality file that will work on both big (HDTVs) and small screens (iPod/iPhone) and won't take up a ton of hard drive space.


Step 7: Picture Settings

Click on the Picture Settings button to launch a separate window. The only thing you really want to do here is to compensate for interlaced or grainy, compressed looking video. Handbrake will have adjusted everything here for you based on the preset you selected.

Sometimes video files will have horizontal lines in them. This is called interlacing. To get rid of interlacing, try turning on the Deinterlace option and select "Fast." The image below is animated and will toggle between when the deinterlace option is turned on or off. You can really see the difference around the edge of the flipper.


Denoise will help get rid of graininess and Deblock will help clean up blocky or compressed looking video. Experiment and try to make your video clip look the best possible.

NOTE: Your iPod really only wants video files that are 320 pixels wide by 240 wide. If you don't plan on watching this ripped DVD on anything else, you can mess around with the settings. Turn on the "Keep aspect ratio button" and decrease the Width until it says 320. Handbrake will auto-adjust the height to match the width. If your video source is 3:4 (full-screen), the height will be 240. For wide-screen content, the height will be a lower number. This is fine and isn't something to worry about.
But if you plan on watching this video on your TV with an Apple TV or an iPod Video dock, then you should keep the video size big. If you don't have the money for an Apple TV, there's this amazing iPod video dock called the Keyspan TuneView. If you want to hook your iPod Video up to your TV, you should check out the TuneView.


Step 8: Rip

Finally! Click on the Rip button and stand back. The encoding time will depend on several variables including: the duration of the video file, the speed of your computer, what other activity your computer is currently doing, the codec you selected (H264 or MP4) and if you decided to do a 2-pass encoding or not.


Handbrake will attempt to provide you with an ETA. The time will increase if you Pause the encode or do anything that will hog the processor like start a 3D render in Maya. We suggest you do your DVD ripping overnight or at a time when you don't need to use your computer.

When encoding is finished, quit Handbrake.


Step 9: Import Into iTunes

* Connect your iPod Video or iPhone to your computer using the cable it came with and open iTunes (Applications > iTunes).
* Drag and drop the video file into your iTunes library, or select Add to Library... from the File menu.
* Make sure the video file you just added to iTunes is in a Playlist that will get synced to your device.
* Select "Sync"
* The sync may take a few minutes. Once completed, the file should now be on your iPod or iPhone.

As one of mobile devices fans, I was looking for a valuable all-in-one converter that not only can rip DVD and convert video, but also backup my ipod files to my computer. Recently my friend recommend me the Best DVD Converter Suite — Aiseesoft DVD Converter Suite that can meet my needs. Now I will share with you.

This Best DVD Converter Suite actually includes three useful software: Best DVD Ripper, Total Video Converter and iPod to Computer Transfer.

Aiseesoft DVD Converter Suite supports almost all the portable devices, such as: Google phone,PSP, iPod Classic, iPod Touch, iPod Nano, iPhone (3G), iPhone, Zune, Zune 2,Blackberry, Nokia, Creative Zen, Sony Walkman, iRiver PMP, Archos, PS3, Apple TV, Xbox, iPAQ, Pocket PC, Mobile Phone, etc. You can enjoy your favorite DVD and video files on them.



Key Functions
1. Convert DVD and any video/audio to the various video/audio formats
Aiseesoft DVD Converter Suite software could easily convert DVD and any video to the various video/audio formats such as MP4, H.264, AVI, MP3, WMV, WMA, FLV, MKV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, 3GP, 3GPP, VOB, DivX, Mov, RM, RMVB, M4A, AAC, WAV, etc.

2. Transfer songs and video from iPod/iPhone to PC
It could easily transfer your songs and video from iPod/iPhone to PC, then you can backup the videos or songs, you also could transfer them to another iPod or iPhone through the iPhone transfer software.

3. Support almost all popular portable players
Aiseesoft DVD Converter Suite software can convert DVD and video to all the popular devices: PSP, iPod Classic, iPod Touch, iPod Nano, iPhone (3G), iPhone, Zune, Zune 2, Blackberry, Nokia, Creative Zen, Sony Walkman, iRiver PMP, Archos, PS3, Apple TV, Xbox, iPAQ, Pocket PC, Mobile Phone, etc.

4. Easy and powerful editing function (Merge, Trim, Crop)
Aiseesoft DVD Converter Suite software offers powerful editing functions such as merging multiple DVD chapters, titles or different videos files into one file, trimming any clip of video or DVD, cropping video size and so forth.

5. Easy to use
Aiseesoft DVD Converter Suite is very user-friendly and easy to use. Only a few clicks to complete the conversion with supervising the whole process on real time.

Key Features

1. Merge multiple DVD chapters, titles or different videos files into one file
Aiseesoft DVD Converter Suite software provides an easy way to combine and join multiple DVD chapters, titles or different videos files into one file. Just select the DVD chapters, titles or videos you want to join and check the “merge into one file” check box you can finish it easily.

2. Cut any clip of video (Trim)
Aiseesoft DVD Converter Suite software provides “Trim” function to help you cut any clip from the original video. You can set the “Start Time” and “End Time” of the clip you want to get or just drag the slide bar to the accurate position to achieve it.

3. Crop Video Size
Aiseesoft DVD Converter Suite software allows you to remove black edge of your movie and get any playing area of the video by using its “Crop” function. You can also select the “Zoom” mode to extrude your video slightly to adjust to your portable devices so you can get the best video quality.

4. Capture your favorite image
If you like the current image of the video you can use the “Snapshot” option. Just click the “Snapshot” button the image will be saved and you can click the “Open” button next to “Snapshot” button to open your picture.

5. Support Preview
You can preview the source video and edited video.

6. All Encoders and Decoders are built in
Full support all popular video and audio formats.

7. Fastest Conversion Speed
Provide the fastest conversion speed (>300%), completely support dual core CPU.

YouTube Converter is the most powerful YouTube Video Converter software to helps you download video from YouTube and convert YouTube video to 3GP, MP4 and other formats. With the YouTube Converter (downloading + converting one-step solution), you can easily download YouTube video and convert YouTube video to play on your favorite portable device, including iPod Video, iPod Touch, iPod Nano, iPhone, Zune, PSP, PDA, Apple TV, as well as video capable MP3 players, 3GP mobile phones, Pocket PC. YouTube to iPod is the best YouTube iPod converting software. The YouTube to iPod helps you download YouTube videos and convert YouTube flv videos to iPod compatible video formats, all profiles have already been set for you. Even newbie could use it very easy. Just a few clicks to do the YouTube to iPod converting job. Then use iTunes to transfer your videos to iPod. YouTube Ripper is a perfect YouTube Video Downloader and YouTube Video Converter. It can free download any nice YouTube videos onto your personal computer with very simple operations, as well as converting YouTube videos to any other video and audio formats, like AVI, MPG, MPEG, DivX, Xvid, WMV, MP4, MOV, 3GP, SWF, MP3, WAV, WMA, AAC, AC3, etc. With the YouTube Ripper, you can rip YouTube to 3GP, rip YouTube to iPod, rip YouTube to PSP, rip YouTube to MP4, rip YouTube to MP3, etc. The iPod to Computer Transfer is premium iPod transfer software for iPod music, video and photo transferring. It can transfer iPod to computer and backup iPod to computer quickly and smoothly. It's also a computer to iPod transfer tool which can transfer iPod music, videos and photos from computer to iPod.It supports not only Transfer iPod to Computer, but also exporting photos from computer to iPod. It can be easily used as a portable hard disk to manage your iPhone content, import and export files between iPhone and computer.

Tipard DVD Ripper Pack is actually the combination of Tipard DVD Ripper and Tipard Video Converter. With the DVD rip software and video converter, you can convert DVD and any video to all the video and audio formats for all the portable players.



Input Formats: DVD, IFO folder and MPG, MPEG, MPEG2, VOB, MP4, M4V, RM, RMVB, WMV, ASF, TS, MKV, AVI, 3GP, FLV, MPV, MOD, TOD, MP3, MP2, AAC, AC3, WAV, MID, MIDI, WMA, M4A, RA, RAM ..
Output Formats: MP4, H.264, AVI, MP3, WMV, WMA, FLV, MKV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, 3GP, 3GPP, VOB, DivX, Mov, RM, RMVB, M4A, AAC, WAV, OGG, RA.

Key Functions:
1. Set the video effects, audio track and subtitle
This pack allows you to adjust the brightness, contrast and saturation of video and volume of the audio by drag and click the adjustment bar. It also allows you to choose the audio track and subtitle to fit for your needs.

2. Cut any episodes from your DVD or video
Click “Trim” to capture any time-length video clips. You can set the “Start Time” and “End Time” to set the time of the clip or you can directly drag the slide bar to the accurate position.

3. Crop the video play region
By using the “Crop” function to crop off the black edges around video and adjust the video play region. It allows you to set the Crop Mode and Zoom Mode to exactly fit for your player.

4. Capture your favorite pictures and merge your wanted contents into one file
This Ripper Pack provides you to capture your favorite pictures when you preview DVD or video. You can join your DVD chapters or video pieces into one file for you to enjoy successively.

For Mac users, Tipard Studio also has the all-in-one tool: DVD Ripper Pack for Mac. It has the same functions with the Windows version.

MPEG-2 TS, is also a popular format specially for some camcorder which can't be supported by common players. The MPEG-2 TS Converter is an excellent TS Converter to convert MPEG-2 TS format files. The TS Converter can convert .ts files to all popular format files including avi, wmv, wma, mpg, mp3, mp4 and other common formats respectivly for iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, PSP and other digital players with perfect quality and fast conversion speed.
MTS Converter is an excellent mts conversion software that can convert mts files to other video and audio formats. In addition, The MTS Converter can convert mts, ts, trp hd video files perfectly and quickly.With the MTS converter, you can convert mts to AVI, convert mts to MPG, convert mts to iPod, convert mts to WAV, etc. The MTS Converter software supports a series of output formats like, WMV, AVI, ASF, MPEG, MP4, MOV, 3GP, VOB, FLV, WMA, MP3, AAC, WAV, etc. It can aslo supprt convert m2ts files to iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, Zune, PSP, PS3, Creative Zen, Archos, MP3, and other Video and audio players. Free download the mts converter and have a try.
M2TS Converter is a powerful m2ts conversion software that can convert M2TS files to other video and audio formats. Convert m2ts, ts, trp hd video files is so fast and perfect.
For e.g. With the M2TS Converter you can convert m2ts to AVI, convert M2ts to MPG, convert m2ts to iPod, convert m2ts to WAV, etc. The software support a series of output formats like, WMV, AVI, ASF, MPEG, MP4, MOV, 3GP, VOB, FLV, WMA, MP3, AAC, WAV, etc. It can aslo supprt convert m2ts files to iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, Zune, PSP, PS3, Creative Zen, Archos, MP3, and other Video and audio players.
TOD Converter is the excellent TOD Converter software for you which can convert .tod files to all format files with high quality and fast speed.The TOD Converter can not only convert TOD to AVI, MPEG, DVD, WMV, MOV, M4A, Mp4, M4A, Mp3, H264, but also convert TOD to iPod Touch, iPod Nano, iPod Classic, iPhone, iPhone 3G, Apple TV, PSP, Creative, Zen, iRiver, Archos, Zune, Blackberry, etc.Moreover, the TOD Converter provides powerful edit functions We can crop and trim the video when preview. Free download and have a try.

DRM Removal is developed to help you convert DRM protected media, like DRM protected music and DRM protected movies and remove the DRM protection to enjoy them freely. This DRM removal can not only remove DRM protection, but also convert all common unprotected formats, including: WMA, WAV, WMV, M4A, M4P, M4V, M4B, 3GP, AVI, ASF, MP4, MOV, FLV, MP3, AC3, OGG, APE, etc. Innovative record-by-play resolution to remove DRM legally from media files, return you full user rights.
DRM Remover is an excellent DRM Removal tool to remove DRM protection. With this DRM Remover, we can remove DRM from our DRM protected movies and music bought from iTunes and Windows media center. DRM removal helps you return user right to enjoy movies and music without limitation.
iTunes Converter is an excellent iTunes Music Converter, which can convert protected iTunes music perfectly and quickly. The iTunes Converter is not only an iTunes protected music converter, but also unprotected iTunes music converter.
The music purchased from Apple iTunes was protected by Apple's FairPlay DRM which allows us to copy iTunes music on no more than 5 compurters, and only play on our own iPod or iPhone. An iTunes Converter can help you transfer your iTunes music to other devices. iTunes Protected Music Converter did great job.



How to Convert protected music with iTunes converter

Step 1: Free download and install iTunes Converter and launch it.
Step 2: Click "itunes music converter" on the top of the main interface to select iTunes protected music

Step 3: Set the output format
This software provides MP3, WAV, AAC output formats. You can choose one of them from "Setting".


Step 4: Start converting by clicking "Convert" on the op of the main interface.( Batch conversion is also supported.)

Just a few clicks, we can remove the DRM protection from iTunes music and convert DRM iTunes Music to unprotected files. So easy ! Free download this iTunes Converter and enjoy the iTunes music freely.

flv converter macis a powerful FLV converter for Mac software which can convert FLV video files to all popular video formats and convert FLV to popular audio formats for Mac OS X users. FLV Converter Mac OS X softwrare supports all video popular formats indcluding FLV, MPG, MPEG1, MPEG2, MP4, 3GP, 3G2, MOV, AVI, Mpeg TS/TP (for HD Video), etc. The FLV Converter Mac can also convert FLV to MP3, WAV, OGG, 3GP, AAC and M4A, AC3, APE, etc audio.
flv_converter_for_mac.html is the most powerful YouTube Video Converter software to helps you download video from YouTube and convert YouTube video to 3GP, MP4 and other formats. With the YouTube Converter (downloading + converting one-step solution), you can easily download YouTube video and convert YouTube video to play on your favorite portable device, including iPod Video, iPod Touch, iPod Nano, iPhone, Zune, PSP, PDA, Apple TV, as well as video capable MP3 players, 3GP mobile phones, Pocket PC.
flv-converter-for-mac.html is a powerful FLV converter Mac software which can convert FLV video files to all popular video formats and convert FLV to popular audio formats for Mac OS X users. FLV Converter Mac OS X softwrare supports all video popular formats indcluding FLV, MPG, MPEG1, MPEG2, MP4, 3GP, 3G2, MOV, AVI, Mpeg TS/TP (for HD Video), etc. FLV Converter for Mac can also convert FLV to MP3, WAV, OGG, 3GP, AAC and M4A, AC3, APE, etc audio.
flv_converter_for_mac.html is powerful Video Converter Mac OS software which allows you convert videos between popular video formats. The easy-to-use Video Converter Mac lets you to enjoy your videos on iPod, PSP, Mobile Phone, Zune, iPhone, Apple TV and MP4/MP3 player. This Video Converter Mac allows you to set the destination, the output files.
With the flv-converter-for-mac.html, you can easily download youtube for mac and convert YouTube videos on your Mac OS. It can automatically detect the YouTube video files from the YouTube web pages you have opened and download multiple files once a time. YouTube Video Grabber Mac is a totally free download youtube videos for mac, because if you don’t want to convert downloaded videos to your mobile players, you don’t have to pay for it.