Free for a limited time!! WinX DVD Ripper/ Expires May 1st

[GoCubsGo]

I'm testing it now. I have to say that thus far it's kind of a nice program but I am not sure I'd let it replace handbrake 100% of the time.

I do like that there is already a preset for iPad in WinX, I may just have an older version of HB so who knows. Their GUI is not half bad, it's less daunting than say HB was when I first opened it.

Some things to note while I rip the same movie in HB to compare quality:

WinXDVD audio quality codec could go up to 320 Kbps in AAC format, whereas it is limited to 160 in HB. Does this matter? I am not 100% sure I care really.​

Did not see video codec options in WinX. There are some options but specifically I can't seem to choose my codec. This may mean I rely heavily on the presets, which when I rip one of my DVDs for my media center PC or for viewing through AirShare (I don't like to do things that are specific to iTunes) I may be limited. The jury is still out on this one.​

WinX allowed to specify core usage (nice feature)​

Seemingly less control over WinX but this is not necessarily a bad thing. Knowing how the developers feel about video and audio quality of their own movies may help. I believe the developers behind handbrake are touted as audiophiles or something like that.​

Thus far I believe WinX took about 26 minutes for 1 hr 51 min movie to MP4 with the following settings:
Audio Quality: 320 Kbps
Audio Sample Rate: 48000
Format: AAC
Video Quality: 2000 Kbps
Video Frame Rate: 29.97
Format: MPEG4
Use high quality engine: Off
Output Image Setting: Keep aspect ratio
Video Resolution: 720 x retain aspect ratio
CPU Core Use: 8
Use Advanced De-interlace Accelerator: Off
Use Intelligent A/V Synchronizer: Off
Run as Safe Mode: Off

The movie is an old movie (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band from 1978 so DVD quality isn't going to be what we have today obviously. Once HB is done I'll compare quality. I tried to mimic the settings as much as possible, however, the encoding of the first pass is taking 27 minutes and the second pass will take slightly longer. In hindsight I should have only done one pass as I believe WinX only does a single pass.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Update: Top is HB rip and bottom is WinXDVD rip. FWWI, WinX wins in sound hands down. I can hear the difference without headphones between 160 Kbps and 320 Kbps. Quality however appears the same but the way the aspect ratio looks is different. Both QuickTime windows are scaled to the same width but you only get black borders around the rip from WinXDVD. Another thing I do notice is the dynamic range is a bit higher using WinXDVD, meaning I have more detail in blacks, almost as though the images are brighter. May be nice to see these on my HD TV.

Time is off by 1 second between the two movies as well, not that it matters but I noticed it.

 

[Macnator]

Where are you guys getting the serial numbers?

Nevermind. I found it.

 

[alphaod]

WinXDVD audio quality codec could go up to 320 Kbps in AAC format, whereas it is limited to 160 in HB. Does this matter? I am not 100% sure I care really.​

You can choose 320kbps if you use Core Audio in Handbrake.

Sort of irked that it doesn't work on 10.4 even though they advertise it as such.

They did say it's to get feedback, so that's the kind of feedback that should be given.

 

[MrMister111]

Just read the tip and downloaded thanks

Can someone help with settings though please? I use Handbrake and use Apple TV preset, which plays on my Apple TV, iPhone 3GS and Sony PS3. is there a comparable setting in WinX? I love the preset ability and dont mess with advanced settings as not sure what they do!

Also is there a way to RIP the DVD straight to HDD for converting later?

Is there a way to queue jobs up?

Is it faster than Handbrake?

Are the video presets similar quality of Handbrake? and look the same?

Hope someone with more knowledge can help me
chers

 

[macrazee]

Yes, can this rip the VIDEO_TS or make an ISO of the DVD image? I don't need MP4 conversion, I will stick with Handbrake for that.

So far the Mac DVD Rippers I've tested pretty much suck. MacTheRipper (even the latest 4.0 iteration) has some issues with protected DVDs (I actually prefer 3.0...), RipIt has TONS of output issues (with reauthoring softwares)...the only one I have found and been using with high success is Mac DVD Ripper Pro, which is also the cheapest (like $9 or $10).

Anyone tested the ripper on this?

 

[GoCubsGo]

Just read the tip and downloaded thanks

Can someone help with settings though please? I use Handbrake and use Apple TV preset, which plays on my Apple TV, iPhone 3GS and Sony PS3. is there a comparable setting in WinX? I love the preset ability and dont mess with advanced settings as not sure what they do!

Also is there a way to RIP the DVD straight to HDD for converting later?

Is there a way to queue jobs up?

Is it faster than Handbrake?

Are the video presets similar quality of Handbrake? and look the same?

Hope someone with more knowledge can help me
chers

There is an Apple TV preset. Whether it will play on all devices is something you have to try yourself. It is free so I'd think anyone would take the time to download it, try it, and make their own decision.

From what I can tell you cannot do a straight copy from DVD to hard drive leaving you with a Video_TS folder. To do this I highly recommend Fairmount.

There does not appear to be a way to queue up jobs. If I am correct then HB prevails here as I queue each episode from Television DVDs. If this is unable to manage that then I'd use HB as it'd have better workflow.

As previously stated I believe this is faster than HB but I also believe that HB gives you the option to do two pass encoding whereas WinXDVD only does one. If it does do two pass encoding then it is not giving any indication of such (that I found).

The video presets are similar. You clearly did not bother to look at the post just above where I provide actual images.

Yes, can this rip the VIDEO_TS or make an ISO of the DVD image? I don't need MP4 conversion, I will stick with Handbrake for that.

So far the Mac DVD Rippers I've tested pretty much suck. MacTheRipper (even the latest 4.0 iteration) has some issues with protected DVDs (I actually prefer 3.0...), RipIt has TONS of output issues (with reauthoring softwares)...the only one I have found and been using with high success is Mac DVD Ripper Pro, which is also the cheapest (like $9 or $10).

Anyone tested the ripper on this?

There does not appear to be a way to rip the DVD so you're left with a video TS folder. It's free you know, probably worth trying.

Mac The Ripper was good in it's time. I now use Fairmount. I am able to copy a fair amount of DVDs this way that I own but there have been a few that I've been unable to copy. I believe that in some cases AnyDVD for Windows is the better way to go but since I don't really use windows for personal use I just copy what I can. My purposes of copying are to take my DVDs and put them on my iPhone, iPod, or iPad. Not so much for pirating.

I don't see that it has an actual "ripper". It seems as though it has a ton of presets and the "copy" tab says this:

Mac DVD Ripper Pro is cheap at $9 or $10, but this is free ... not sure it can get cheaper than that.


I successfully managed to copy Avatar (straight copy from DVD to hard drive) but using WinXDVD to encode for the iPad using their preset 720p HD seems to be just sitting there. Not sure what the issue is there as I'm not reading from a DVD.
I can't imagine that there'd be some sort of protection on the files but none on the DVD. That'd be a first.

 

[Consultant]

Thanks. I love their $259.70 but NOW it's $99! YAY! **** them if they think they'll get $99 let alone $259.70 for any app like this.

On that note, can't wait to try it.

But still, Handbrake is free even after May 1.

 

[GoCubsGo]

But still, Handbrake is free even after May 1.

I understand, but I like alternatives really and what I was trying to say to people was all of the questions are fine but in the end how difficult is it to actually download the app and try it? I'm in love with handbrake but I thought I'd try another app to see if there were major quality differences. To my lazy eyes there doesn't seem to be. However, the iPad tab in WinXDVD seems to be non-existent in handbrake thus far.

I started a 720P encode from a Video TS folder (avatar). In nearly 2 hours it was not even 50% done. Having never done an encode with these settings before I was unsure this was right as my MP seems to handle things in under an hour, even high res encodes. So I let it go overnight but evidently when I tell my Mac not to sleep it thinks I'm kidding and it went to sleep. So now WinXDVD isn't "stopped" it seems to still be working somehow but it is only at 47%. I'm about to stop it and move on to handbrake.

Edit: here's something that is different with WinXDVD. If I stop an encode then the file is useless. I am watching the first hour and 15 minutes of Avatar in 720P, it's obviously not the full movie but the video file is useable. That's kind of cool and the 720P rip is beautiful.

 

[gnasher729]

WinXDVD audio quality codec could go up to 320 Kbps in AAC format, whereas it is limited to 160 in HB. Does this matter? I am not 100% sure I care really.

The best choice would be to take the audio from the DVD, unmodified. If your DVD contains audio in 128 Kbps AAC, then converting it to 320 Kbps AAC is just losing quality; leaving it as it is would be better.

Handbrake has an option "AC3 Passthru", so it will make an identical copy of whatever audio is on the DVD if the DVD uses AC3.

o but I may try today using the presets that are given with WinXDVD. Except I am unsure HB does 720p, I've never tried.

720p is absolutely pointless when you convert a DVD. The material on the DVD is much lower quality anyway. So what you are doing is:

1. Read the original 480p or lower image from the DVD
2. Scale it up to 720p size
3. Encode the 720p image to h.264 using Handbrake
(later when you play the movie)
4. Decode the 720p image from h.264
5. Scale 720p image to whatever size your monitor or window is.

Instead you should use the resolution on the DVD, so you do:

1. Read the original 480p or lower image from the DVD
2. Encode the original image to h.264 using Handbrake
(later when you play the movie)
3. Decode from h.264 to original size
4. Scale from original size to whatever size your monitor or window is.

You get the same result, but you need much less space, and it is a lot faster because Handbrake can encode a much smaller image.

Another problem that you get is that scaling always introduces some errors; that is unavoidable. When you encode in 720p, the encoder will desperately try to reproduce those scaling errors as well, so you waste space on encoding errors that you didn't even want. Of course you will get the same errors if you use the DVD resolution later when you scale to the monitor size, but you don't waste space to encode the errors in the h.264 file (or alternatively, you get slightly better quality at a fixed bit rate because you wasted no bits on encoding scaling errors). So you _will_ get scaling errors on your monitor eventually, that cannot be avoided, but you don't have them in the h.264 file where they just waste space.

 

[hobbes4]

I have some movies in .avi format. Can i use this software to convert them to play on my iphone? And if so, how would i go about doing that?