MacX DVD Ripper/Video Converter Pro VS. Mac DVDRipper Pro VS. DVDRemaster 8

[evenstill]

Hi all,

This is my first post here at MacRumors.

I'm considering purchasing a product for my relatively new (to me) iMac to substitute for the multi-purpose all-in-one programs like AnyDVD or DVDFab for Windows. The three products I've narrowed it down to at this point are the MacX DVD Ripper/Video Converter Pro package (http://www.macxdvd.com/mac-dvd-video-converter-pro-pack/), Mac DVDRipper Pro (http://www.macdvdripperpro.com/), or the new DVDRemaster 8 (http://www.metakine.com/products/dvdremaster/). I've already searched this forum and the internet at large regarding these programs but would love to get some hands on feedback from those of you who have experience using one or more of them regarding their capabilities, pros/cons, similarities, differences, etc. These three programs seem to be the best of the more or less simple one stop options.

Thanks,
~ Nathan

 

[DP812]

I use Mac DVD Ripper Pro and it's been great. My movie collection consists of about 500-some DVDs and I was able to rip almost all of these without any real difficulty (the only problem movie was The Color of Money, which would never rip for some bizarre reason, even stranger considering that it's an older DVD and unlikely to have the kind of copy guards that are on newer ones). There is one kink, though. In the past, despite saying they can't rip DVDs with a region code other than my SuperDrive, I was able to rip Region 2 DVDs just fine. Since the latest update, though, when it scans anything other than a Region 1 disc, it crashes.

 

[frank4]

I've recently ripped a few DVDs with HandBrake, it's free and worked very well so it will likely be my main video processing tool. VLC video player needs to already be installed as Handbrake uses some VLC facilities. It can read DVDs as well as various formats of video files on hard drives. Can be set to optimize output files for iPad, Apple TV, etc.

You can easily tweak HandBrake for the quality/size of resulting video files with the "RF" parameter which is default 20, setting it to 22 or 24 results in almost the same quality and reduces file size significantly. Also you can set it to encode just a segment of the input video. It can be set to process a batch of input jobs. There are lots of other settings that can be adjusted to get HandBrake to do the best job.

 

[phrehdd]

There is of course a DVDFab for Mac now.

Most folks I know seem to like MakeMKV. If you want the entire disc backed up, DVDFab will do it as will some of the other software you named.

As for Handbrake - great tool for compressing movies but then again, if you are wanting a best quality DVD to drive exercise, Handbrake is not the right choice. Handbrake for compressing movies for say - iPad, ATV, etc., is the leader for that purpose.

As for me

MakeMKV (Mac)
ANYDVD HD (Win Virtual along with the rest of the list)
TSmuxer
ClownBD
EAC3to
DVD Shrink (uncompressed setting for one large VOB file)

 

[mic j]

I've recently ripped a few DVDs with HandBrake, it's free and worked very well so it will likely be my main video processing tool. VLC video player needs to already be installed as Handbrake uses some VLC facilities. It can read DVDs as well as various formats of video files on hard drives.

VLC no longer provides the required decryption libraries to Handbrake. The libraries need to be downloaded manually and there is a link for that at the Handbrake website.

Back on to the original topic...I have used MakeMKV(free) to rip about 300 dvd/BR's and have yet to find one that it will not decrypt. It also maintains the original source quality. It does rip only main movie though. So if menu's, extras, etc are critical to you, that is not your best choice.

And I disagree with the the inference that Handbrake only produces quality good enough for and iPad/aTV. In my experience, the output quality is excellent (may I say 99%+ that of BR?). I have encoded all of my library with HB and not had one transcode I thought was of reduced quality.

 

[jlc1978]

I use DVDremaster and a happy with it as well as Make MKV. However. For most rips and conversions I use AnyDVD HD and DVD Catalyst in a VM. AnyDVD solves any region coding issues and DVD Catalyst converts DVD and BluRay easily as well has rename functions that make it easy to produce TV series lists in a format that makes it easy to grab tag data. I have used it for years and the developer constantly improves it and is very responsive to questions.

Handbrake is a good free program that rivals the commercial products in quality and features.

Many have demos; give them a try to see which set of features an usability to like the best.

I'd stay away from the many no name rippers that seem to proliferate; many are just rebundles of the same core program.