Easily & Quickly Rip DVDs With These Windows Apps
People have been ripping DVDs for years, so most people assume it’s an entirely solved problem. That’s not the case. Searching Google for “rip dvd” will present a variety of options and articles. Some are valid. Some are for paid software, or software which either does not work, or tries to install adware.
There are still only a few free DVD ripping utilities that are of high quality, consistently stable and capable of handling most movies on your shelf. Let’s take a look at the options.
Freemake Video Converter
This software is (relatively) new among the contenders, and it shows. Its big advantage over other free video conversion suites is a friendly interface that’s easy to understand. Most video converters are not that complex, but they have a tendency to obscure the interface behind an archaic GUI or strings of technical text that look like nonsense to most users. Freemake doesn’t make these mistakes.
Of course, ripping DVDs is only one of many functions this software can fill. It’s a multi-purpose video converter that is designed for people with a variety of different devices and media, which makes it a good choice if you’d like a multi-purpose utility.
On the downside, Freemake will ask to install some extensions and DIVX software. It didn’t appear to even ask before attempting to install a Chrome extension. These extras aren’t malware according to Avira antivirus and Comodo firewall, but it’s annoying to see installation attempted without user permission.
ImgBurn
This software is based off an excellent tool that was known as DVD Decrypter. That software ran across legal issues because it was specifically designed to defeat DVD encryption. You can still download DVD Decrypter from an unofficial website but development on the project has halted.
ImgBurn looks a lot like the software it is based on – which isn’t exactly a compliment, as that software ceased development in 2005. Still, creating an image of a DVD only requires a few clicks.
Although ImgBurn does not claim to decrypt DVDs, it had no problem handling most of the DVDs I used when evaluating these programs. Only The Dark Knight tripped it up – but I’ve yet to use free software capable of ripping that movie.
This is an disk imaging program with rip capability, not a converter, and that means DVDs are saved as .ISO image files. You can view the finished .ISO file with VLC and other free media players.
HandBrake
Handbrake is one of the most well-known free video converters, and for good reason. It is free, quick, and comprehensive. It also doesn’t try to install any third-party software.
Perhaps the only problem with HandBrake is an interface that can be a bit difficult. A destination must be selected to save a file, but you’re not prompted for one automatically. Instead it must be manually selected.
There are options for things like cropping, filters and more. Power users will appreciate these fine details, but newbies may feel overwhelmed. We’ve published several articles about Handbrake over the years, so check them out to learn some of its tricks.
With that said, Handbrake does include some device-specific presets that are useful for iPhone and Android owners. That’s great if you want to rip DVDs so you can watch them on a mobile device.
Conclusion – Be Cautious
Lots of people want to rip their DVDs. Many of those people are not geeks or technology enthusiasts. They just want to rip a DVD as quickly as possible.The result? Many suspicious programs and websites. Browsing and attempting to install various freeware options constantly sent my security suite and my firewall into a rage. There’s a lot of bogus software out there.
There are also a lot of DVD rip tools no longer supported by their developers. They aren’t a threat, but are often buggy. These three video converters are all programs I’ve used in the past on various computers and they’ve proven reliable.
Do you know of a high-quality free DVD ripping alternative that was missed? Let me know in the comments.
Source: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/easily-and-quickly-rip-dvds-with-these-windows-apps/
5 Easy-to-use Freeware Video Converters
Our lives have turned into a big media center. Each of us likely have our own set of desktops, laptops, mobile phones, portable media players, handheld consoles, and MP3 players. The many video formats needed to run our gadgets just add more stress to our already media-entangled lives.
With so many video formats and too little time to organize our video files, we need an easy-to-use and intuitive video converter that handles all our video files on the go. Let us look at 5 of the best freeware video converters that will keep your video collection a little less insane. For converting other files, you can choose an online file converter that were covered earlier.
Quick Media Converter
Quick Media Converter is a powerful freeware video converter that handles all current formats such as FLV, AVI, DIVX, XVID, MPEG 1-4, iPod/iPhone, Real Media, and M4A. In addition, this whale of a free video converter allows you to record videos from your DV camera or webcam in the classic AVI format and convert the file to any format you need.
Quick Media Converter has two modes. The Easy Mode gives you quick access to all conversion options available in an all-in-one interface. Once you have your video file or folder loaded, just click the file that you want to convert and select the conversion format that suits you. The Expert Mode is less intuitive but it gives you full control of video conversion options like codec rendering, aspect, bitrate, FPS, audio synchronization, and recording volume.
Super Video Converter
Super fits the bill for a simple, no-frills interface that converts videos on the go. Super is actually a shell for different command line conversion scripts. Super handles a large number of video formats like 3GP and 3G2 for mobile phones, ASF, DIVX AVI, MOV, MPEG, flash video, real media, PSP video, and more. Super also handles audio conversion for those who want to extract their videos and rip the audio out for easy listening. Super handles large files quickly, and you can find the settings easily making it convenient for users to set their options and start converting.
Any Video Converter
Any Video Converter is perfect for your younger mother/ brothers/sisters who do not want to be bothered with the myriad of options and just want a fast solution that gets the job done while looking good doing it. The converter handles all popular video files with batch-convert and user-defined options. Any Video Converter also has a dumbed-down interface to make video conversion as simple as possible, although it can handle advanced video conversions if you tinker behind the interface and experiment with options.
MediaCoder
Mediacoder is an open source video converter which works on a large variety of formats. New features, conversion options, and conversions formats are constantly being added to support newly-released devices. Mediacoder dubs itself as the “swiss army knife for media transcoding””¦ simple, quick, and does everything that it is asked. Mediacoder gives straightforward tools that you won’t easily find in other converters like video compression, extracting audio from video files, and repairing corrupted or partially downloaded video files.
Format Factory
This full-featured converter allows conversion to and from popular formats including video formats for PSP, iPhone, and other video formats. The conversion options are easy to find within the interface and you can even perform batch conversion options for mobile video, pictures, audio, DVD videos, and more.
If you can find other freeware video converters hotter than these, just hit the comments button and share them with the MUO community. Cheers!
Source: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-easy-to-use-freeware-video-converters/
