Hey, thanks for the reply.
Yea, I also found this thread:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1031505/
But it's not much of a thread, as no one really replied there either, but the OP there says that a Handbrake add-on downloads to ripit, so did that download to your program as well? And when you say limitations, I thought Handbrake was able to encode DD 5.1? Or do I have that info wrong?
Well if you ever get a chance to test it out, please do share
Yes, when I tried out the compression feature, it told me that it needed to download the Handbrake CLI to work.
Well, with certain containers, handbrake mixes the audio down to two tracks. If ripit uses those containers, it will also mix the audio down to two tracks. However, Handbrake can also use a passthru audio format, which will preserve the 5.1 DD; therefore, ripit can, too. However, like I said, it really depends on what commands are in the built-in presets for RipIt. The presets are named kind of vaguely (beyond giving you an idea for device compatibility), so it's difficult to tell what kind of audio formats the compression presets use without actually trying them out.
I could probably go ahead and give the program a try either tonight or tomorrow and come back to tell you how it went, assuming that someone else doesn't come in to say whether or not it preserves the 5.1 DD effect.
EDIT: if that thread you posted is accurate (I'd hope so, but you never know), then the answer is a yes, the compression feature will preserve the 5.1 DD audio. However, with the steps involved (opening handbrake and all), it doesn't seem worth it (to me, at least) to bother with the compression feature when you can just open the DVD with handbrake and use your own settings, being sure to select the AC3 passthru option in your audio section.