DVD Ripware

summarised from listmail: various authors

Q1. > (do you have a) recommendation for a Windows-based DVD ripper program? I'm running a fairly current XP platform.

Q2 On a similar note, is there a quick and easy way to rip audio off of a DVD on a Mac OS X system? I have a bunch of concert DVDs and I'd like to rip the audio to individual mp3 files. The PC seems to have several dedicated applications that'll do this, but on Mac it looks like a messy, multi-stage endeavour ...

A1. I haven't come to a definite favorite OSX aud/vid ripper/converter yet (there are so many file formats that a process you've gotten to work with one dvd won't work the same on another...) but ffmpegx does certain tasks well. http://homepage.mac.com/major4/
I've read threads suggesting Handbrake
http://handbrake.m0k.org/
and when all that fails; and you just want the audio anyway:
http://www.rogueamoeba.com/audiohijack/
Basically this program just intercepts the audio of any program and saves it. as long as you can find something to play the original, your good to go. (free version allows for 10 minutes before it adds static)

For general video/audio questions these two sites are great resources.
http://www.videohelp.com/
http://www.doom9.org/

A2. Fair Use Wizard. fairusewizard.com

A3. another on OSX is "mac the ripper" and Osex (slow but deals with the copy protection)

A4 The best DVD ripper, bar none, is DVD Decrypter. Does away with copy protection, region encoding, etc. It's freeware, and really simple to use.

A5. DVD Shrink: Excellent and free. http://www.dvdshrink.org/ "DVD Shrink is software to backup DVD discs. You can use this software in conjunction with DVD burning software of your choice, to make a backup copy of any DVD video disc." Coolest thing is that it automagically shrinks your DVD files to fit on the capacity you can burn (i.e., 8 gigs of DVD video will be shrunk to fit your 4.5 gig blank DVD if that's all you can burn).