You may have thought that you needed some fancy DVD ripping tools to rip DVDs to your hard drive, but VLC can actually rip any DVD with ease. Since VLC plays the DVD in order to encode it, it can bypass any copy protection. Here's how it works:
It's a pretty simple process, though VLC can't automatically determine which file on the DVD contains the actual movie. Instead, you must manually load and preview each file in turn, so it can take a bit of time to get things started. But that's the only real obstacle. When you're done, you'll have an mp1v file you can watch in just about any media player (including VLC, natch). Ah, that VLC—it just keeps giving and giving.
1. Open the Disc and Find the Correct Title:
Insert your DVD and open it with File -> Open Disc. We need to find the right title to rip from the DVD, so at this point we're going to preview titles from the disc one by one. To do this, start with 0 as your title number and increment one number at a time until you find the title you want to rip. I've found it's quicker if you choose DVD rather than DVD (menus) at the top of the Open dialog so you only have to wade through actual video.
2. Pick a Folder to Save the Rip and Name It:
Now that you've find the right track, you just need to tell VLC that you want to save it. To do so, tick the Stream/Save checkbox, then click Settings. Here you need to tell VLC where to save the file, so tick the File checkbox and pick a folder to save it to and then give it a name (e.g., My DVD Rip.mpg).
3. Determine Video and Audio Settings:
Now you're ready to tweak the final settings before it's time to rip. Tick the Video codec and Audio codec, then choose the output codecs you prefer. This is really up to you, and if you don't have a preference I've had good results using the defaults described in this excellent VLC rip guide: mp1v for the video codec and mp3 for audio. If you need a specific file format for a mobile device, you may want to choose a difference encapsulation method and codec. Hit OK when you're done.
4. Rip Away:
You've made it. Just hit OK again (make sure Stream/Save is checked) and it should start ripping. VLC will rip the DVD faster than real-time playback, and you can follow the ripping process in the corner of the VLC window
If you want easier way to rip copyright protected DVD movie, you may take a look at this step by step guide:
How to rip DVD movies to iPod, iPhone, Walkman, Creative Zen, BlackBerry etc? (for Windows)
How to rip DVD on Mac? (For Mac)
