Can someone tell me how to work Handbrake for Mac?

[ThePeterNetwork]

So I downloaded Handbrake for my Mac computer, and I tested it out with a Looney Tunes Gold Collection disc (just for fun, so you know). My first attempts didn't work so good. It was as if I had no idea what I was doing (because I wasn't, really). In fact, the only DVD movie clip I was able to digitize was a homemade DVD.

Is this because of the MPAA's stupid anti-copy protection encoding that prevents people like me from ripping DVDs for their own personal use and not to violate copyright by posting the cartoon on YouTube, because that is not what I'm using Handbrake for. Sure, I may say that copyright law is totally bogus and should be repealed, but I know better, and I already know what the responses to that would be.

[Bradskey]

Most commercially pressed DVD's do have a very old and weak form of content protection. Your new-to-DVD Hollywood movies may have some additional protections, though hardly very effective, but most discs of catalog material have nothing special in the way of protection. Still, they cannot simply be "read" by just any program.

ANYWAY, this protection has to be removed (typically the disc is "ripped" to your hard drive) to be able to use and re-encode the contents of the disc. Handbrake itself does not include this functionality, which is why you were only able to work with your homemade DVD. However there is a way (which I have never tried) to configure Handbrake to use VLC's ability to decrypt pressed DVD's so that they can be read in Handbrake. VLC (videolan.org) is a free self-contained media player application that supports numerous codecs and can play DVDs. There may even be an option in Handbrake on Mac to have it download and setup VLC for you.

[ThePeterNetwork]

Well, it's a start. I do have VLC, but I only know how to make it play video formats that iTunes won't (WMVs, AVIs, etc.). What would I need to do with VLC to make it digitize DVDs with Handbrake?

[Bradskey]

It just needs to be installed and Handbrake needs to know how to find it. You might poke around in the settings for Handbrake. I don't use a Mac so I don't know the exact details, I'd suggest asking at the Handbrake forums, but I do know its supposed to be possible to convert discs with Handbrake by having it go through VLC to access them.

[ThePeterNetwork]

It turns out all I had to do update my VLC to the latest version, and Handbrake did the job just fine. Now all I need to do is figure out which cartoon is which on the disc. It's not easy to find when all cartoons are about 6-7 minutes in length. :D

Sorry to have bothered you all. You may resume your regularly scheduled water cooler discussions.

[rodney]

I use Mac The Ripper. It works great.