Backing up Dvds to a hard drive.

[TheDudeAbides]

Let me preface this by saying I'm a bit of a movie fan. I've got somewhere in the neighborhood of 450 dvds. My biggest problem is my son. He is completely unable to put a disc back where it came from. Needless to say I'm sick of combing the house looking for a movie when the need to watch it arises.
My question for all you tech savvy fellows is this: Is there a legal and reliable way to digitize all my movies, put them on an external hard drive, and watch them on my Ps3?
Several years back, I went thru and ripped all my cds, 800 or so, and it seemed like there were several reliable and easy to use programs for ripping and conversion to mp3. Is there anything similar for Dvds?
-Dude™

 

[kockroach]

Check out CloneDVD.

 

[Koujo]

There is a legal way to do this. If you have a Mac then download the software MacTheRipper. It works great and will allow you to rip just the movie and skip all the titles and stuff. It will also allow them to be played on PS3. This program also works with BluRay disks as well if you have a bluray disk reader in your Mac.

 

[AlohaStyle]

Yes, there are many programs that allow you to rip your own dvd's. I haven't done it in awhile so I don't know the best option now, but should be pretty easy.

 

[Angry Bill]

DVD shrink and Dvd FAB are two programs for PC that can help you.

 

[kockroach]

DVD shrink and Dvd FAB are two programs for PC that can help you.

I love DVDShrink, but it went inactive in 2004. There are fakes out there....be careful.

You should still be able to use the last version of DVDShrink, but some newer DVDs may not work. Using AnyDVD along with DVDShrink should work.

 

[Monsterdg]

Check out CloneDVD.

+1 for all SlySoft products.

 

[Clinton]

There is a legal way to do this.

No, strictly speaking, it's not legal. The DMCA forbids circumventing DVD encryption. It makes no provisions for Fair Use, which is one of the many reasons it's a hated law. That said, no one is going to know or care if you copy your own DVDs.

 

[Fourtotheflush]

After ripping these, can they be put onto iTunes to transfer to i Devices?

 

[mthhurley]

After ripping these, can they be put onto iTunes to transfer to i Devices?

If you convert them to MP4 formats, yes.

on my Mac, I use RipIt for a one pass rip, compress, convert.

For two step, I used to use MactheRipper to rip the full size. Then HandBrake to convert to MP4 and shrink.

I have probably a terabyte of movies ripped and served up on my iMac to my tv via my Apple TV.