WinX DVD Ripper Platinum 7.3.2

Overview

WinX DVD Ripper is the perfect example of a decent DVD ripping software that works well both for advanced and amateur users. It has plenty of features, including DVD ripping to AVI/MPEG/WMV as well as video conversion for playback on portable devices such as iPhone, iPad, iPod, Android, Samsung, PSP, Blackberry and others. Preset profiles with specified settings exist for each device to save you time from configuring them yourself. You can also edit the video/audio by splitting and cropping it, or by adjusting several parameters like bitrate, resolution and frame rate.

Installation

To install the product simply run the installer and follow the instructions. No need to make any configurations, apart from the typical ones (shortcuts, menu entries etc.). The process only takes a few seconds. No malware or other kinds of software (e.g. toolbars) are included in the program.

WinX DVD Ripper can run under Windows 98, NT, 2000, 2003, XP, Vista, 7 and 8. Both 32 and 64-bit versions are supported.

Interface

The interface is has a silver-ish look that gives a nice, elegant feel to it. At the top you can see the toolbar, which has various buttons: DVD Disc, ISO Image, Folder, Clear, Options, Check New Version, About, Contact and Help. The first three buttons are used to start ripping from a DVD, an ISO image or a Folder with DVD information respectively. After choosing the appropriate function, the middle area of the window will change and show a video preview on the left and the chapters on the right, along with some other information and options. The bottom part of the program is divided into many tabs: Copy, to AVI, to MP4, to MPEG, to WMV, to FLV, to MOV, to Music, to iPod, to Apple TV, to iPhone, to iPad & Tab, to HTC, to Samsung, to PSP and to 3GP. The first tab is used when you want to make a 1:1 DVD copy without quality loss, whilst the rest are used for ripping to popular video formats, or portable devices with pre-configured settings. From the Music tab you can rip DVD audio to MP3.

Version 7 comes with a rebuilt core and a brand-new UI. It's now even more friendlier, works faster and runs more stable.

Pros

Copying a DVD suffers no quality loss if you make a 1:1 rip. You can select which of the DVD’s contents you want to rip as well; you can copy the whole disc to an ISO image, copy only the main content and save it as a MPEG2 video file or make a full title copy and save the contents to a multi-track MPEG2 file. Advanced settings allow you to remove DVD region code, CSS encryption and UOPs. Selection of the subtitles you want to copy is supported too.

But that’s not all there is to it. It is also possible to copy the DVD to many different video formats: AVI, MP4, MPEG, WMV, FLV, MOV and 3GP. In addition to that, there are templates for ripping to portable devices (iPod, Apple TV, iPhone, iPad & Tablets, HTC, Samsung, PSP) so that you don’t have to manually make advanced settings yourself. Of course advanced users can change a lot of settings regarding audio/video bitrate and frame rate, video resolution, aspect ratio etc. but the average users can just select a profile and start the ripping process. There is an option to copy only the DVD’s audio to MP3 as well.

Profiles for newly released devices are constantly being added. Since our initial test in 11.15.2012, more than 300 profiles has been added including profiles for iPad Mini/4, Galaxy S3/Note, Nexus 7, WP8, Surface tab, Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One, HTC Butterfly, Xbox One, Nokia Lumia 925, iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C, Kindle Fire HDX 8.9, Microsoft Surface Pro 2, Nokia Lumia 2520, Transformer Pad and PS4, and more.

Cons

The trial version limits DVD ripping to 5 minutes only. However it is not much of a con, since it’s enough to test the program and its features.

Alternatives

A lot of ripping software exist, but here are the top products in this category: DVDFab DVD Copy (paid), DVD-Cloner (paid) and WinAVI Video Converter (paid). But WinX DVD Ripper is actually a tough challenger, lacking nothing than the others.

Conclusion

There is nothing in WinX DVD Ripper Platinum can’t do well, or can’t do at all. It has many features, is highly configurable and is not expensive at all. Giving this one a 5-star rating is a must.