I’ve recently set up a media centre and have begun copying all of my films onto an external hard-drive to save me having to swap discs every time I want to watch a film. I spent a long time looking for a good freeware app that can handle this but none could do the whole process. Eventually I settled on ImToo DVD Ripper which costs about £20, but the trial version rips the first five minutes showing what its output is like. Here’s a quick and dirty guide on how to rip your (legal) DVD collection to your pc.

Download ImToo DVD Ripper Platinum here, the version used in this guide is 4.0.88. Once you’ve finished downloading, install and run the program and you should get a screen like this:

The section on the right contains all the settings for your audio and video output, as well as a video preview window. The bottom section contains your profiles, including the output type and location. Finally the main window will display your dvd title information.

To begin select XviD Movie from the Profile box at the bottom of the screen, leaving zoom and split to letterbox and infinite respectively. Change the destination folder to where you want your ripped movie to be saved. In the right hand window change the video size to 640×360 (assuming you are ripping a 16:9 widescreen film). Also change the bit rate to 900, you will have to type this in manually as the options are only general settings. In the Audio pane change the bit rate to 160, this time selecting it from the dropdown menu. These settings affect the quality of your outputted film with higher being better but at the expense of filesize. You can experiment with different values until you find a combination you’re happy with.

You’re now all set to rip your first film. Insert your DVD and hit the open DVD button (located just above the profile selection box). Select your DVD drive and DVD Ripper will load your disc, displaying each title found, for example the film Fight Club looks like this when loaded:

Some films may have many titles, so look for the one containing the main film, usually the one with the longest length. DVD Ripper will attempt to name the titles but don’t rely on this as some films can be mislabelled. Deselect all titles using the top most checkbox before ticking only those titles you wish to encode. To rename a title press F2 or use the title box just above the DVD titles view window. Your ripped movie will be outputted using the title as its filename.

Now simply hit the red Start ripping button and sit back and wait. Depending upon your computer, the length of the film and the quality settings you’ve entered the ripping process can take several hours to complete. Once it’s completed open the destination folder you selected and enjoy your newly ripped movie.

If your film will not play or only sound is heard etc try using the VLC media player which can handle the XviD codec along with many other formats. If in future you wish to simplify the process you can save your output format and settings as a new profile using the Save As button located next to the profile dropdown menu.

As a final note, the process of ripping ones own collection to their computer may be deemed illegal based upon the copyright laws of their respective country. Make sure you’re in the right before starting and I can not be held liable for any wrongdoing on your own part.