Looking for Mac Tools

[robert_aronson]

Recently, I've switched over to a Mac from Windows. I no longer own a Windows computer, but I really miss one of my most favorite hobbies: DVD ripping. After long years of research and tinkering, I got DVD ripping down to a manual science and a beautiful art. I learned unholy amounts about DVDs in the process, and, I miss it. I miss it very much, even though I thought I wouldn't.

I've tried searching around for Mac tools, but I admit I've not had too much luck. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

(Of course, I will continue to look for myself...)

Below is a list of things I need to be able to do on my Mac. All the following tools were free for Windows and allowed me total control:

Smartripper
VirtualDub
AviSynth w/ filters DGDecode, ColorMatrix, DeComb and TDeint
dgmpgdec
BeSweet w/ BeLight GUI
CDex
OggDrop
SubRip
MKVtools
MeGUI
XviD encoder
x264 encoder

The following list assumes I have manual control over everything; settings aren't fully automated, and can be altered.

Each list item is followed by paranthesis containing the name of the tool for which it was accomplished on Windows.

RIPPING
. extract/rip specific DVD titles and chapters to my hard drive (SmartRipper)

AUDIO PROCESSING
. extract/demux individual AC3 audio streams (dgmpgdec)
. determine audio delay of AC3 audio (dgmpgdec)
. convert AC3 audio to WAV format (BeSweet w/ BeLight GUI)
. delay WAV audio (BeSweet w/ BeLight GUI)
. normalize WAV audio (BeSweet w/ BeLight GUI)
. compress WAV audio to MP3 or OGG (CDex [LAME] or Oggdrop, respectively)

VIDEO PROCESSING
. view DVD video stream (dgmpgdec with AviSynth DGDecode filter)
. delete frames on an individual basis in an editing environment
. convert color sampling of video stream (VirtualDub and AviSynth ColorMatrix filter)
. cropping of video frames (VirtualDub and AviSynth)
. lanzcos resizing of video frames (VirtualDub and AviSynth)
. decomb video stream (VirtualDub and Avisynth filters DeComb and/or TDeint)
. compress to XviD or h264 video format (VirtualDub and XviD codec or MeGUI with x264_CLI codec respectively)

SUBTITLE PROCESSING
. extract DVD subtitles into a text file (SubRip)
. convert subtitle format into Subtitle Rip (SRT) or Sub-Station Alpha (SSA) formats (SubRip)
. Modify subtitle times globally (SubRip)

CONTAINER
. mux audio, video and subtitle streams into the Matroska container (MKVtools)
. set display resolution for playback (MKVtools)
. add playback chapters to file (MKVtools)

INFORMATION
. read video and audio stream information, including framerate (MediaInfo)
. read specific color format of video stream (dgmpgdec)
. parse video stream to determine, on a frame-by-frame basis, what's interlaced, telecined and progressive (dgmpgdec)
. auto-read if a video stream can be safely auto-decombed by merely ignoring pulldown flags (dgmpgdec)

[Case]

RIPPING
- extract/rip specific DVD titles and chapters to hard drive (MacTheRipper)

SUBTITLE PROCESSING
- Modify subtitle times globally (Jubler)

CONTAINER
- mux audio, video and subtitle streams into the Matroska container (MKVtools Mac (MkvMerge GUI))
- set display resolution for playback (MKVtools Mac (MkvMerge GUI))

INFORMATION
- read video and audio stream information, including framerate (MediaInfo Mac)
- read specific color format of video stream (MediaInfo Mac)

[terryj]

VIDEO PROCESSING
. view DVD video stream (MPEGStreamclip, Quicktime Player[both with QTMpeg-2 Component], Mplayer, VLC)
. compress to XviD or h264 video format (ffmpegx, VisualHub {using Advanced Tab],QTPro, MPEGStreamclip)

AUDIO PROCESSING
. extract/demux individual AC3 audio streams (MPEGStreamclip)
. normalize WAV audio (Amadeus II)
. compress WAV audio to MP3 or OGG (Amadeus II, Audacity)


SUBTITLE PROCESSING
. convert subtitle format into Subtitle Rip (SRT) or Sub-Station Alpha (SSA) formats (Subtitler, TitleLab)

[pixel zombie]

RIPPING:
YADE once the encryption is gone if you only want specific scenes
DVD Copy for those stubborn discs

myDVDEdit deserves it's own category as it gives you very deep control over the content of a DVD