Best DVD to video converter (Not DVDFab)

[skypilotpete]

I'm desperate for some good advice. I have been trying to use DVDFab for about a year and a half. I purchased it and I'm extremely unhappy with it. My main intended use is for ripping DVDs to video formats, and converting between video formats. I have found DVDFab technical support to be absolutely hopeless. I have been corresponding with them for about 6 months trying to work out why DVDFab video converter ALWAYS fails for me when trying to convert between video formats. After exchanging about 10 emails with official technical support, the "help" person is still replying with answers to a question which bears no relationship to the question I actually asked. It is manifestly clear that they don't read help requests, as the replies to my questions inevitably suggest that I do something that I have already described myself doing in considerable detail. Then, 5 emails later, they suggest the same thing that they suggested in their first email, as if it is something new.

So, after venting my spleen - can anyone suggest a really good software suite for ripping DVDs to video formats and converting between formats, that has good technical support, and which is user-friendly to non-experts? I am more than happy to pay a good price.

I run Windows 7 64

[Kerry56]

One thing to be clear about is the term ripping. This is often misused where the actual intended term is convert. Ripping means transferring the data from your optical disc to the hard drive. Nothing more.

When converting dvds to other formats, you should always rip the movie to the hard drive and work with it from there. That is the main use you will have for DVDFab. I don’t recommend it for conversion.

There are a couple of recent threads discussing conversion programs. http://club.myce.com/f32/short-list-good-video-conversion-programs-327000/
and http://club.myce.com/f32/whats-your-preferred-video-converter-326999/

If you are converting to mp4 or mkv files, I suggest using Handbrake. There is a very active group using this free program, with excellent support and documentation.

[cholla]

If it worked DVDFabs’ DVD Ripper would be a great program for those wanting a
[B]one step[/B] solution. It is supposed to decrypt , rip , & convert to the selected format .
The fact is it does this poorly if at all. I’ve had it freeze before completion or finish with an unusable corrupt file .
Might as well add this to the list. It has some about the lack of
quality for DVDFab technical support .

Not impressed with this converter

If you want DVDFab to do a conversion & sometimes complete it you need to rip to the harddrive first with DVD Copy .
Then use either the DVD Ripper or converter depending on what you have. Sometimes it works used that way.
The links Kerry posted have a good list of converters .
You need to use the one that works best with the format you are trying to convert to.
If you are trying to do several different formats then you will need some different converters.
It’s just a fact there is no best for all formats one step solution.
Maybe there eventually will be but I have my doubts . I’m sure there will be some that claim to be.

[StormJumper]

Most of my conversion projects I use ‘Magic DVD Ripper’ it does not have a burn feature, however it does come with a converter with a built-in profile editor and have always been happy with the results of the conversion.

[B]SJ[/B]

[Wombler]

@skypilotpete - If you’re interested in ‘Magic DVD Ripper’ check out the details in our dedicated forum here.

[B]Wombler[/B]