Hello all - first post here so be gentle.

I'm looking for advice on ripping DVDs (both 'normal' and blu-ray) onto the iPad. I'm currently running WinXP on my laptop.

I've read a few posts and people seem to suggest quite a few different programs, but being new to the iPad world i'm not sure which is most popular?

I've also seen it mentioned that some programs can split a movie into numerous chunks - is it possible to avoid this?

I'm happy to pay a few ££/$$ for the program if it'll actually do what i'm after, so what do people suggest? I assume these programs just work by creating a file which the iPad recognises, and then you just add it to the iTunes library..?

Any advice or opinions would be appreciated.

The best one out there is Handbrake. It is very powerful and FREE.

HandBrake

Use HIGH PROFILE for the iPad.

Thanks very much for the reply, i'm ripping a standard DVD as we speak. It currently states and ETA of about 10 hours and an fps rate of 4-5fps - is that standard...?

My laptop is 4 or 5 years old now mind you, so could just be that.

Gixxer, let me know how it works please, I am interested in the same use for the ipad.

I'll let you know how i get on as/when/if it works. I'm not the most technically gifted of people but will give it a whirl.

I did a rip using handbrake and the start was just a green screen, it also stopped after it had ripped 21 mins.

I downloaded the trial of Cucusoft's DVD to ipad converter and that's worked a treat.

Was in the same position a few weeks ago, I tried Handbrake but it takes waaaay too long so I'm using DVD Catalyst Free Plus iPad (tools4movies.com) now which is much faster

There is a free version available but its only £3.90 or so to register and get the paid version which lets you control the bitrate/quality. It can convert to .mp4 from a DVD or from a file such as an .mpg

The developer is also very good at responding to support emails

Don't think it will do Blu-Rays though, you may have to get the more fully featured DVD Catalyst 3 for those

Originally Posted by chall5

Was in the same position a few weeks ago, I tried Handbrake but it takes waaaay too long so I'm using DVD Catalyst Free Plus iPad (tools4movies.com) now which is much faster

There is a free version available but its only £3.90 or so to register and get the paid version which lets you control the bitrate/quality. It can convert to .mp4 from a DVD or from a file such as an .mpg

The developer is also very good at responding to support emails

Don't think it will do Blu-Rays though, you may have to get the more fully featured DVD Catalyst 3 for those

Catalyst 3 Does not do Blue-ray movies. However There is several flavors of Cataylst 3.

Catalyst Free (it's free)
Catalyst Free Plus (4.95)
Catalyst (9.95)

All will convert for iPad, but the differance gets to options, and speed of conversion.

Try the Catalyst Free for iPad, and if you liek it, bump it up to Full Cataylst for more options, and a fast ripping time.

as i type im in the process of ripping a DVD using FormatFactory. I will post my findings as soon as its done...

Time wise its at 35% with an elapsed time of 28 minutes. fairly quick from what i see.

Originally Posted by ocuriel

as i type im in the process of ripping a DVD using FormatFactory. I will post my findings as soon as its done...

Time wise its at 35% with an elapsed time of 28 minutes. fairly quick from what i see.

That seems pretty slow to myself. However it will depend on your system you are using to Rip a DVD. Mine takes about 20-35 minutes to Rip DVD back to iTunes.