DVD to Hard Drive

[ChrisRS]

I've recently got a new laptop with a mahoosive hard drive, as i travel a fair bit i'd like to copy a load of DVD's to the laptop to save me carting loads of dvd's around.

The new laptop comes with some pre-installed import software which wont let me inport copyright protected dvd's.

My understanding was that as the dvd's belong to me and i'm only taking a copy for my own personnel use this is perfectly legal?

Whats the best freeware available? I've heard good things about handbrake but i'd like some advice from the guru's on here!

[Simon Says]

V.good http://download.cnet.com/CyberLink-PowerDVD/3000-7...

[The_Jackal]

To be honest any free dvd ripping software will be fine. A lot of the main dvd copiers use DVD Decrypter.
You will also find a lot of the commercial products are actually just fancy front ends with free software components behind them.
Personally I always use DVD Shrink, it allows you to easily strip out menus, adverts and extras.

[GR33NIE]

Got a mate who does this at work and he uses DVDShrik too, I've got a mac and use HandBrake. I actually recently ripped ALL of my DVD's and stuck em on a hard drive. Just need a NAS drive now to stream the lot to my PS3

[marshalla]

ChrisRS said:

I
My understanding was that as the dvd's belong to me and i'm only taking a copy for my own personall use this is perfectly legal?

Technically, it isn't - copyright law prohibits any copying without permission. The enforcement agencies and copyright holders have a general agreement that they won't prosecute in the situation you describe though.

The USA, OTOH, has an explicit "fair use" ruling enshrined in law.