• The Mac-Forums Community Guidelines (linked at the top of every forum) are very clear, we respect US law and court precedence when it comes to legality of activity.

    Therefore to clarify:
    • You may not discuss breaking DVD or BluRay encryption, copying, or "ripping" commercial, copy-protected DVDs.
    • This includes DVDs or BluRays you own. Even if you own the DVD or BluRay, it is still technically illegal under the DMCA to break the encryption. While some may argue otherwise, until the law is rewritten or the US Supreme Court strikes it down, we will adhere to the current intent of the law.
    • You may discuss ripping or copying unprotected movies or homemade DVDs.
    • You may discuss ripping or copying tools in the context that they are used for legal purposes as outlined in this post.

How do I copy my movies?

Joined
Feb 20, 2007
Messages
54
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Can anyone give me advice on how to copy my DVD's to my computer so I can back them up on my external hard drive? Do you need a special program to decode store bought DVD's? I put Road Warrior in my new LaCie external DVD burner but it said it wasn't able to copy the contents of the disk.

Thanks for any help! :D

ZDW.
 
Joined
May 10, 2007
Messages
502
Reaction score
13
Points
18
Your Mac's Specs
Mac pro quad 2.66 / G5 1.8
Can anyone give me advice on how to copy my DVD's to my computer so I can back them up on my external hard drive? Do you need a special program to decode store bought DVD's? I put Road Warrior in my new LaCie external DVD burner but it said it wasn't able to copy the contents of the disk.

Thanks for any help! :D

ZDW.

Mac the ripper seems pretty good. I normally try to rip a copy of DVDs I buy, as both me and my 3 year old daughter are rabid DVD scratchers.

It's actually getting more and more tricky to do now though. I can rip older DVDs with no problem, but a lot of new releases are pretty well protected - sometimes you just can't copy them, as far as I can tell.
 
Joined
Apr 11, 2007
Messages
361
Reaction score
13
Points
18
Location
New Mexico, USA
Your Mac's Specs
15" MBP 2.0 GHz, Core Duo, 2 GB Ram
If you want to make a compressed .avi or .mp4 version, use Handbrake.
 
Joined
Jun 4, 2006
Messages
31
Reaction score
1
Points
8
Location
HK / Philippines
Your Mac's Specs
12" iBook G4 / 12" PowerBook G4 x 2
Mac the ripper seems pretty good. I normally try to rip a copy of DVDs I buy, as both me and my 3 year old daughter are rabid DVD scratchers.

It's actually getting more and more tricky to do now though. I can rip older DVDs with no problem, but a lot of new releases are pretty well protected - sometimes you just can't copy them, as far as I can tell.

I agree with you.. I use mac the ripper and it's working just fine. I also use DVD Copy which also converts all types of movie files.
 
Joined
May 10, 2007
Messages
502
Reaction score
13
Points
18
Your Mac's Specs
Mac pro quad 2.66 / G5 1.8
I agree with you.. I use mac the ripper and it's working just fine. I also use DVD Copy which also converts all types of movie files.

Any idea what the restrictions are on the trial version? I'd be interested to see if it will do the ones Mac the ripper won't.

I wish companies would tell you what they've crippled . . . I can't stand downloading and installing a trial version to find out it'll only rip 10 minutes or something!
 
Joined
Mar 26, 2007
Messages
60
Reaction score
0
Points
6
does anyone think buying some dvd copying software can rip the newer releases that mac the ripper seams to be slipping up on?
 
Joined
Oct 10, 2004
Messages
10,345
Reaction score
597
Points
113
Location
Margaritaville
Your Mac's Specs
3.4 Ghz i7 MacBook Pro (2015), iPad Pro (2014), iPhone Xs Max. Apple TV 4K
The current MacTheRipper Beta can handle most of those, but it's not free. The "suggested donation" is $34, or wait for MTR 3 to be released, which will be the second Tuesday in whenever....
 
Joined
Mar 23, 2007
Messages
34
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
MARYLAND
Your Mac's Specs
PowerBook G4 1.25ghz 512mb RAM 250GB hard drive
I just downloaded handbrake but the process takes so long for one dvd. I was wondering once I copy it from handbrake what do I have to do to get the mpeg 4 on to a psp? Can this be done? I want to watch movies on my computer and buy a psp because it has the bigger screen then and ipod. Does anyone have any suggesstions. I don't want to have to purchase multiple formats of movies. Just dvd's and maybe an occasional itunes movies purchase however I can't convert those from what I have been told.
 
Joined
Oct 10, 2004
Messages
10,345
Reaction score
597
Points
113
Location
Margaritaville
Your Mac's Specs
3.4 Ghz i7 MacBook Pro (2015), iPad Pro (2014), iPhone Xs Max. Apple TV 4K
I just downloaded handbrake but the process takes so long for one dvd. I was wondering once I copy it from handbrake what do I have to do to get the mpeg 4 on to a psp? Can this be done? I want to watch movies on my computer and buy a psp because it has the bigger screen then and ipod. Does anyone have any suggesstions. I don't want to have to purchase multiple formats of movies. Just dvd's and maybe an occasional itunes movies purchase however I can't convert those from what I have been told.

Check the Handbrake forums. There are threads about what the settings need to be for the PSP IIRC.
 
Joined
Jun 4, 2006
Messages
31
Reaction score
1
Points
8
Location
HK / Philippines
Your Mac's Specs
12" iBook G4 / 12" PowerBook G4 x 2
Any idea what the restrictions are on the trial version? I'd be interested to see if it will do the ones Mac the ripper won't.

I wish companies would tell you what they've crippled . . . I can't stand downloading and installing a trial version to find out it'll only rip 10 minutes or something!

Mac The Ripper is a freeware and it only rips DVDs not CDs. So it'll let you rip the whole DVD:Smirk: Then you can use quicktime pro or reelbean to encode them to a smaller file size so you can burn it faster in Toast. Normally one movie with a two hour show rips 30mins. to 1hour.

I hope this helps.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top