What is the best free program to rip a DVD to mp4 files ?

[Digmen1]

I own a couple of DVD's that I would like to rip and save to my to PS.

I have done it a few years ago using DVD decrtypter or rip it for free and then converting the VOB's to avi using avi demuxe.

I would now like to convert from DVD to Mp4

I understand that there are programs that can rip and convert to mp4 in one process eg mpegstreamclip

What do most of you use today (free programs only please)

Windows programs only

[mike20021969]

Try VidCoder (which is basically a more user friendly version of HandBrake).

[Digmen1]

Thanks but I was really asking which are some of the most popular programs, it looks like Vidcoder is only just out of beta.

Surele there must be a few mature, well tested and supported programs that most of you use ?

[Steve(MS)]

A lot of video programs stay in beta all the time.

Handbrake/Vidcoder are top choices for what you want to do.

[TSJNachos]

I mostly use XMedia Recode, as it's simple straight-forward interface makes many tasks quick and easy. I'll also use XviD4PSP 5 from time to time, as I see fit, since it has more powerful post-processing features.

MediaCoder is also common I think, but I haven't found it to be too particularly reliable. There are plenty of other tools on THIS page.

Or, if you really wanted to, you could manually learn the command lines for either FFMpeg or Mencoder. However, the last suggestion certainly isn't for everyone, since command lines tend to be a pain to learn.

[Hoser Rob]

DVD Decrypter hasn't been updated since 2005. Good program (it supports separate chapters) but it won't work with many newer discs. Try DVDFab HD Decrypter instead. It's free. The encoder part (DVDFab) is trialware and it's not as good really.

I'd recommend handbrake or vidcoder too. As mentioned, it's really the same encoder with different interfaces. I think it has the best balance between power and ease of use. Given the inherent complexity of video encoding and the lack of consistent standards, that's hard to do.

Using one program to both rip and encode sounds good, but I've found that using dvdfab decrypter followed by handbrake is actually faster. Even though there's an extra step.

The thing is, optical drives are slow. They're definitely the slowest thing in your machine. I have 2 laptops with dvd drives. One is about 3 times faster than the other. Burning the same size .iso with imgburn in either takes the same amount of time.

So it's good to just use the drive for the decrypting part, since that doesn't take much cpu. Then you can do the encoding, which does use a lot of cpu, from the hard drive. It's actually faster that way and I think it saves wear and tear on the drive too.

[Digmen1]

Thanks guys
Some very useful info

[Ashchaya]

Hi guys. This thread gave me a lot of hope, but unfortunately I still can't get a viewable MP4 of my store-bought DVD of the movie Cars 2.

I mention Cars 2 because I have heard Pixar movies can be especially difficult, so I'm using this as my tester.

I have tried:
- WinXDVD (and boy did this group talk a big game)
- AllFreeVideoConverter
- VidCoder
- XMedia Recode

Each time I get an MP4 that has pixels the size of house bricks.

I should note I don't mind paying money for a solution, as long as I can verify it works with some sort of trial version first.

I'm on Windows 7, Intel Core i5 and 4GB RAM, in case that matters.

I'm about to try DVDFabDecrypter now, but any further ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[Baldrick]

How small are you making the files? What is the video bitrate or total file size?

You should be able to get very good results with vidcoder.

[Steve(MS)]

Use dvdfabdecrypter to copy files to hard drive, main movie, then use vidcoder to convert to mp4.
Vidcoder is easy to use and will give excellent results.

[Ashchaya]

How small are you making the files ?

Quite large actually. I'm just going for maximum quality and opting for "same as original" settings wherever possible. Going by the progress indicator, XMedia Recode was going to make a 2GB MP4 out of Cars 2, but it suddenly stopped at 600MB and declared it was finished.

What is the video bitrate

The last time I saw that setting (I can't remember which application I was using at the time - might have been VidCoder) I left the default of 2000Kbps.

[Ashchaya]

Use dvdfabdecrypter to copy files to hard drive, main movie, then use vidcoder to convert to mp4.

Yep that's what I'm attempting now.

Vidcoder is easy to use and will give excellent results.

I hope so because yeah, it's a very neat and tidy package.

[lordsmurf]

You don't "rip" DVD to MP4.
You "re-ecnode". It'll help to use the right terms, for searching.

Just FYI.

[mike20021969]

You "re-ecnode". It'll help to use the right terms, for searching.

It will... as long as it isn't re-ecnode.

[theewizard]

Rip is 'copy from disc'

any time you change the format from VOBs to something else, that is a Re-Encode

just using DVD shrink to reduce file size of the movie, is Re-encoding , it's the only way to change bit rate and / or codecs

[chillicheeseball]

I have been using makemkv(free) for a while to rip lossless video and then use handbrake to convert to mp4. This has been the best solution I have found to rip my entire dvd and bluray collection. Makemkv will also remove any copy protection.

http://www.makemkv.com/

You may find this useful as well

http://lifehacker.com/5559007/the-hassle+free-guide-to-ripping-your-blu+ray-collection

[surathkal]

I used makemkv to create the video files first and then used handbrake to covert them to mp4. The converted mp4 file only has audio and no video. Can someone please help on what the reason might be?

[Baldrick]

edit: Or just rip with dvdfab decrypter and then open the video_Ts folder with handbrake. Handbrake might not like all mkvs with mpeg2 video.

[surathkal]

thanks

[Ashchaya]

Use dvdfabdecrypter to copy files to hard drive, main movie, then use vidcoder to convert to mp4.

Yep that's what I'm attempting now.

Vidcoder is easy to use and will give excellent results.

I hope so because yeah, it's a very neat and tidy package.

Just FYI, I finally got this method to work using the LATEST DVDFab. The other versions kept complaining about not being able to connect to the internet.


I copied Spaceballs to a 1.6GB lossless MP4. The real test will be a Pixar DVD like Cars 2.

[Ashchaya]

I copied Spaceballs to a 1.6GB lossless MP4. The real test will be a Pixar DVD like Cars 2.

Me again.


I got Cars 2 into an 8.5GB lossless MP4. Only problem is I did this on a laptop with 32-bit Windows XP as the operating system, and it appears to be having trouble copying or even opening the file. I'm assuming this is because the file size is greater than 2^32 bytes. I'll have to try it on the work PC next week as it has Windows 7.


Everything else has been working so far using the DVD -> DVDFab -> HDD -> Vidcoder -> MP4 method.

[hello_hello]

It shouldn't be an XP problem. The 4GB file size limit is a FAT32 one, not an XP one. I assume the drive is NTFS?
I rip/copy/play large files using my XP computer regularly. Often 20GB or more if the source was Bluray.

[Ashchaya]

It shouldn't be an XP problem. The 4GB file size limit is a FAT32 one, not an XP one.

Yes, you are of course correct. FAT32 is the limitation here.

So now that I am an unstoppable DVD -> MP4 machine, the last hurdle has presented itself.

Given that FAT32 limits file sizes to 4GB, how can I plug in a USB drive to my TV and watch +4GB MP4 movies that way? The TV won't recognise any of the extended file systems (NTFS, exFAT).

I thought I had a solution in UDF, but Windows 7 can only format in UDF version 2.0, which I've learned is likely way too recent for TVs to read. Indeed, I've read that your only real hope of success is to format the drive in version 1.02 of UDF.

Is anyone aware of a formatting utility that will format in older versions of UDF?

Otherwise I'm forced to compress all my movies to be under 4GB, and quite frankly, I'd rather leave them on DVD if I'm going to have to take a hit in the picture quality department. You might be thinking "I really doubt you'll notice the lack of quality", but when you watch very dark movies that require 50,000 shades of black all the time, you can see the "JPEGing" sometimes.

EDIT:
Nevermind. Solved the issue with Western Digital TV Live Streaming as the middle man between NTFS HDD and TV USB port.

EDIT 2:
Just wanted to say thanks again for all your help with the ripping and converting. I'm actually going to buy DVDFAB

[VeniVidi]

DVDFab and DVD Decrypter are the best ones if you want to rip a DVD

[hello_hello]

So now that I am an unstoppable DVD -> MP4 machine, the last hurdle has presented itself.

Given that FAT32 limits file sizes to 4GB, how can I plug in a USB drive to my TV and watch +4GB MP4 movies that way? The TV won't recognise any of the extended file systems (NTFS, exFAT).

I know you have a solution/workaround, but if you want to play MP4/MKV files via USB you can always split them. I hardly ever work with MP4s but for MKV, MKVMergeGUI can easily split them. MKV also supports linking. Whether your TV supports it is another story, but when you split MKVs they can be split as individual files or as linked files. If the linked files are together and you open one, a player which supports linked MKVs should either automatically open them all as a single file or it should automatically play them in sequence.

[jimbo002]

Will DVDFab or DVD Decrypter rip dvds with multiple tv episodes?

Also, what about subtitles? Is either able to capture the subtitles?

Thanks

[manono]

Will DVDFab or DVD Decrypter rip dvds with multiple tv episodes?

Into the individual episodes? Yes, DVD Decrypter can easily enough, when set up in IFO Mode. And, once decrypted to the hard drive so can DVDShrink. I don't know about DVDFab HD Decrypter as I don't often use it.

Also, what about subtitles? Is either able to capture the subtitles?

Yes, both will, if all you're doing is decrypting. And DVDShrink, too, once the DVD has been decrypted to the hard drive if, for example, you're splitting out the episodes.

[Unscruffed]

Hi all.

I know this is an old thread now, but I've just come across the same need as the OP, but I only have access to Windows XP.

Since vidcoder is Vista upwards, can anyone recommend an MP4 encoder for XP?

Specifically, I'm looking at encoding TV episodes (3 or 4 per DVD) to store on a PC that is exclusively used as a media player.

I already have the DVD files on the hard drive, so copying/decrypting is not an issue. I just need to encode each title (or for some discs, each chapter) to a separate mp4.

I used to use AutoGK for this stuff, but as you all probably know, it doesn't support mp4.

Any suggestions?

[Baldrick]

Have you tried an older version of vidcoder or handbrake?

https://www.videohelp.com/software/VidCoder/old-versions#download
https://www.videohelp.com/software/HandBrake/old-versions#download

But be sure to try latest versions and see if they work in xp....if you haven't done that already.

[Unscruffed]

Baldrick,

I did try the latest version, but it errors with "XP and Server 2003 no longer supported, download version 1.4". So I checked the Vidcoder website, but couldn't find any old versions.

Thank you very much for pointing out that old versions are hosted here. I missed that when I downloaded the latest one.

It looks like version 1.4.25 is that newest I can use, so I'll give that a try.

Update:

1.4.25 works beautifully (nice clear picture using default settings, and good size at around 380mb for a 50 min episode).

Thanks again.