Hands on Review: Sothink DVD Ripper

We are continuing our review of DVD ripping software to help our community understand how they can build a digital library of the DVD titles that they own. 

DVD ripping software permits a user to copy their DVD video to a file on a hard disk.  The advantages to ripping the DVD title is that the file that is created is used to locate and view rather than to find the DVD disc and replace it in the DVD box after its use.  As a result, there is less potential to cause scratches and damage to the original DVD disc.  It is legal In many countries of the world to make backups of your own DVD disc for personal use.

The ripper should remove any country restrictions and be able to defeat the copy protection scheme used by the studio.  A successful ripper must be able to to produce a file that, when played back, is indistinguishable from the original meaning that the audio and video is free of distortion.

We were contacted by Sothink, developers of Sothink DVD Ripper, and were given a full version copy in which to perform an evaluation of their product.  We were pleased to find out that Sothink will make available to us several copies for us to give away to our members.  We will mention more about the giveaway later in this blog.

First Impressions

Sothink DVD Ripper is available as a Windows only product.  The full version costs $34.95 US and there is a free trial offer that expires 30 days after installation.  The web site for DVD Ripper is http://www.sothinkmedia.com/dvd-ripper/.

The interface of Sothink DVD Ripper is simple and intuitive, allowing the user to rip a DVD immediately upon completing the installation.  It rips DVD to all popular file formats including DVD to AVI, DivX, XviD, MP4, WMV, MKV, MOV, FLV, VCD/SVCD, decrypts DVD to HD videos, and DVD audios to MP3 and M4A.  The output DVD video and audio are perfectly playable on your computer and mobile device, including iPod, iPad, iPhone, Apple TV, PSP, PS3, Zune, Xbox 360, Wii, Creative Zen, iRiver, Archos, Android, BlackBerry, Nokia, MP3/MP4 players, and smart phones.

The computer used to test Sothink DVD Ripper is a home built system consisting of an EVGA 780i motherboard, Intel E8400 Core2 Duo 3 GHz processor, 6 GB RAM, 2x EVGA 9800 GT video cards, 500 GB and 1 TB Western Digital hard drive, and Windows 7 Professional 64 bit.

DVD Ripping Tests

Three movie titles, “Toy Story 3”, “The Invisible”, and “Evan Almighty”; and the TV series “Lost” were chosen to compare the time to make a copy of the movie title in MPEG and iPod (MP4) format.  Sothink DVD Ripper successfully ripped files for The Invisible and Evan Almighty. Only the first the episodes from the Lost DVD was correctly ripped while the remaining three had English subtitles that could not be removed.  It was not able to identify the appropriate title on the DVD for Toy Story 3.  The following are the times and file sizes recorded for each title and format.

To create a backup file copy, first insert the DVD disc in the optical drive. In Sothink DVD Ripper, select the Open DVD button from the top menu.  The proper main title on the DVD is predetermined by the DVD Ripper software. Second, select the format of the output file from the Target profile.  Third, press the Rip DVD button to initiate the creation of the backup file.  This process is easy to use and produces a backup file of the movie title that has high audio and video quality.

The Target profile section has many predefined output formats that can be selected depending on the device that will play back the file.  This allows the user to customize the audio and video properties to according to either the computer or mobile device that will be used to play back the movie title.

The preview window displays the video content of the title.  The title can be controlled by play, pause, and stop buttons.  The preview window can be used to edit the title with precise start and end times, crop the video image, add effects, and attach a watermark to the video.

Wrap Up

Making digital copies of your DVD movie titles is very easy using the Sothink DVD Ripper.  These files can be placed on your Windows Home Server and be streamed to Media Center devices that are connected to your TV or can be loaded on many popular mobile devices.  By using the high definition DVD converter, the clarity of video and audio output makes it difficult to distinguish between the original DVD content.

As mentioned earlier, Home Server Land will be conducting a giveaway of the Sothink DVD Ripper.  Later this week we will unveil how you can win a free, full version of Sothink DVD Riper.

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