Handbrake Tutorial - How to Rip DVD Movies Using Freeware HandBrake

Addicted to movies? You may buy and rent digital movies, or even get digital copies of your films when you buy DVDs so you can watch them easily on your tablets, smartphone, or portable media player, of course--but not all movies offer digital copies, and worse, none of those gadgets have DVD drive, you can't put any of your DVDs into them. Here's how to use the HandBrake application to rip copies of your DVDs into whatever format you like, so you can make full use of new and older DVDs of movies, concerts and operas, to play the movies wherever and however you want.

Disclaimer: To rip encrypted DVDs, you will probably invade the publisher's digital copyrights. But it's a legal gray area if you simply rip your legally purchased DVD collections for your own use, but we're just going to present the instructions and let you decide for yourself whether to follow the steps.

➤ Part 1 Tutorials to freeware Handbrake to rip DVD

➤ Part 2 [Related Software] - HandBrake alternative for faster Video conversion

➤ Part 3 Tips for installing Handbrake on MacOS to backup DVD collections

The go-to tool for ripping DVD and converting video files has long been the freeware Handbrake. This software was in beta for years, and only saw its version 1.0 release by the end of 2016. Recently, in order to fix bugs in the previous version, HandBrake has released its version 1.0.3, and new General/Web/Devices/Matroska presets have been added to this HandBrake V1.0.3 updated.

Step 1: Download and install HandBrake, then insert the DVD you want to rip. This open-source video transcoder is free, and available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Step 2: Ran Handbrake, and click the "Source" button in the upper left-hand corner and choose your DVD drive from the list. It will start scanning your DVD, which could take a few minutes.

Note: By default, Handbrake can rip unprotected DVDs, but most DVDs you buy from the store have copy protection. To get around this, you’ll need to install libdvdcss. If you are trying to rip Disney encrypted DVDs with HandBrake, then you need to installed both HandBrake 64 bit and VLC 64 bit.

Step 3: Head to the “Title” drop-down menu in the upper left hand corner of the window. This is where you’ll select which part of the DVD you want to rip. In the case of movies, it’s usually the longest title, so just pick that one. If you’re ripping episodes of a TV show, it’s usually the 22 or 44 minute ones, and you’ll have to rip them each separately.

Note: Handbrake supported video -DVD VOB files, MPEG-TS, Matroska, AVI, MPEG-4, etc.

Step 4: Once you've chosen the source, the software will automatically ask you to select the destination. The way your picture and sound quality will turn out in the resulting file depends on the settings you choose in this step.

One of the first things you need to decide is what format you'd like the output file to be in. There are some presets that can be found on the "Presets Toggle" bar, and you can select any one of those, such as Apple TV, iPod, iPhone, Android, Chromecast, Roku, Android. If you just want to watch it on your computer, the “Normal” or “High Profile” preset is fine. But if you need rip DVD or convert video to iPhone 7, iPad Air/iPad mini, iPod touch 5, etc, you should change the preset setting according to your device compatible file format like iPhone 7/Plus 7.

Note: If you’re ripping a DVD in NTSC format (sold in the US), then it has 480 lines, so choose one of those presets. (If you’re ripping a DVD in PAL format, it has 576 lines.) Don’t bother using the HD presets (1080p and 720p), they won’t make your DVDs look any better.

Step 5: Hit the "Start" button at the top of the window. A progress bar will show its ripping speed; depends on many factors like machine speed file size, etc.

Step 6: When it’s done, you’ll get a popup notification. From there, you can double-click on your movie file to watch it, and sync it or the alternative Quick-sync to Handbrake to your device of choice.

[Related Software] - HandBrake Alternative for Faster Video Conversion

As we all know, Handbrake is a famous, open-source, cross-platform DVD ripper and video converter. With it, you can convert DVD or video to the limited video formats like MP4 with MPEG-4 or H.264 encoded. However, when ripping a DVD, people often encounter a "No valid source found error".

If you feed up of the DVD ripping error with Handbrake, why not find a Handbrake alternative for you to eliminate all those head-scratching issues. Here, you can have a try at our top-rated DVD Ripping alternative program -Dimo Video Converter Ultimate or DVDmate (both available for Windows and Mac users). The program not only has the ability to bypass all DVD protection including region code, RCE, UOP, CSS, ARccOS, Disney X-project DRM (99 title DVD disc), AACS, BD+, BD-Live, etc for you but also has the ability to edit the output DVD movies like trimming, cropping, merging, rending 3D effects to 2D DVDs. Fast convert any SD, HD and 4K UHD and 8K videos to MP4, AVI, MOV, WMV etc. on your PC/Mac in a flash, to let you enjoy your favorite DVD movies wherever and whenever you want.

Tips for installing Handbrake on MacOS to backup DVD collections

For Mac users, especially those running OS (High) Sierra, OS X El Capitan, have to deal with System Integrity Protection (SIP) which is designed for protect critical system files and processes, but unfortunately, this SIP will remove libdvdcss file that Handbrake needs to run on MacOS. You could disable SIP, but it’s useful, and you shouldn’t have to. Besides, there’s a better way, as reddit.com points out:

1. Close Handbrake, and open a new Finder window.
   
2. Type cmd+shift+G, and paste in this path: /Library/SystemMigration/History/
   
3. Inside this folder should be a folder named “Migration-[random letters and numbers].” Open that folder and you’ll find “QuarantineRoot.” Open that folder, and you should see your libdvdcss.2.dylib file.
   
4. Open a second Finder window.
   
5. Type cmd+shift+G, and paste in this path: /usr/local/lib (If you get an error saying this folder doesn’t exist, go to /usr/local instead, create a new folder called “lib”, and open it.)
   
6. Drag and drop the libdvdcss.2.dylib file from the first window into the /usr/local/lib folder. You should be prompted for your admin password. Type that in and wait for the copy to finish.

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