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DVD ripping FAQ

06.02.2009
As often as we write about taking the DVDs you own and converting them to a format you can enjoy on all your media players, people continue to have questions. Here are answers to some of those questions.

Q. I have a movie on a commercial DVD that I'd like to play on my iPod. How do I convert it?

A. There are a handful of tools available for doing this. is one. is another. And is a third. HandBrake and MacTheRipper are free. RipIt costs US$19.

Q. What are the difference between the three programs?

A. HandBrake is the most configurable of the bunch. It includes a variety of presets, allowing you to rip your disc for specific devices and destinations--Apple TV, iPhone/iPod touch, QuickTime, and iPod High- and Low-Resolution, for example. HandBrake will automatically detect the main feature of the disc and offer to extract just that main feature. You can also ask it to rip other bits from the disc--previews, for example. You can choose the output file format, which can be MPEG-4, MKV, AVI, or OGM format (for Mac users, MPEG-4 is the way to go as it's compatible with the Mac and iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV).

The version of MacTheRipper commonly found on the Web is old and not compatible with some newer copy-protection schemes. You can get an updated version of MacTheRipper by joining the forums and purchasing a copy of MacTheRipper 3.x. It too can rip the main feature or any other portion of the disc you like. It produces a folder that contains an Audio_TS and Video_TS folder. Apple's DVD player will play the contents of a Video_TS folder. Just choose Open DVD Media from DVD Player's File menu, navigate to the Video_TS folder, and click Choose to play the folder's contents. You can then take that Video_TS folder and use HandBrake or an application such as Roxio's $100 to convert it to a movie playable on your devices.