In this article I will discuss about Aimersoft DVD Ripper and I will show you how to use it for ripping DVDs and editing DVD Movies. Aimersoft DVD Ripper is a great tool that allows you to easily rip a DVD to many formats, such as: AVI, MP4, WMV, MOV, MPG, MPEG, 3GP, 3GPP, MPG, ASF, FLV, VOB, WMA, M4A, MP3, etc. After reading this article you will learn the following:

• How to convert a DVD to iPhone/iPod/PSP/Zune/Apple TV/Phone/Xbox/Zen/AVI/MPEG
• How to edit, combine and crop a DVD movie
• How to extract audio from a DVD to MP3 for iPod Nano, Shuffle, Zen and other MP3 players
• How to put DVD clips on Youtube, Myspace

Aimersoft DVD Ripper costs $35 but the trial version can be downloaded for free. The limitation is an 'Evaluation copy' watermark on top of the output video, for the entire length of the movie, and a 3 minutes limit for the audio rip. Still, this doesn't stop you to give it a thoroughly test before deciding to purchase it.

How to convert a DVD to iPhone/iPod/PSP/Zune/Apple TV/Phone/Xbox/Zen/AVI/MPEG

Step1. Insert your DVD disc into the DVD-Rom, run the software, click the 'Load DVD' button and add the DVD file. You can also add a DVD/IFO from your hard disk by clicking 'Load File'.

Step2. This software can convert the DVD format to various output video formats such as MPEG-4, AVI, WMV, FLV, 3GP, VOB, etc. Click the 'Format' drop down list and select the output file type. If you want a copy of the DVD on your computer in 1:1 loss-less quality, you are recommended to select 'Lossless DVD Copy (*.vob)'.

If you don’t know much about mobile players, just select a format according to the name of your mobile player. For example, if you want to copy a DVD to iPhone, just select 'iPhone Video MPEG-4 (*.mp4)', and the default setting works great. If you want to customize the output video, you can click the Settings button next to the format field to open the Settings window and set features like: video resolution, frame rate, bit rate, encoder, etc. See the figure below:

Step3. Regular DVD movies usually have several subtitles such as English, French, German, etc. You can select the one you prefer. You can also delete the subtitle by selecting 'No Subtitle'. Choosing Audio works the same.

After the above steps, click “Start” to start the conversion process.

Tips: If you want to copy a DVD to an iPod, this software has a free iPod Copy Manager; it can help you transfer the converted video to your iPod directly, without using iTunes. Just connect your iPod to the computer and click 'Tools -> iPod Copy Manager'. Then you will see a pop-up window: the left pane shows the video and music list on your computer, the right pane shows the file list on your iPod. You can also copy files from your iPod to the computer. Select the files you want to sync and click the right arrow button to finish the transfer.

For PSP users, this software provides a PSP Video Manager. To access it, click 'Tools-> PSP Video Manager'. The steps to transfer files to a PSP are similar to the ones described above for the iPod.

How to edit, combine and crop a DVD movie

After you load the DVD file, if you want to cut the black edges of the DVD movie, you can click the 'Crop' button, and then you will see a pop-up window. There is a frame in a dashed line around the movie video - you can drag it to cut the black edges.

Also, you can click the Crop drop-down list to select the crop model you prefer. For example: 'Cut off top and bottom black edges'. You can even type the number in the box to cut off the black border accurately.

If you want to combine several DVD chapters into one file, on the main interface there is a check box called 'Merge into one file'. Select it and you will only get one output file instead of several files by chapters.

You can click the Effect button and customize the brightness, saturation, contrast, volume, etc. By selecting an effect from the drop-down list, you can even apply special effects such as: Emboss, Negative, Old film and Gray.

How to extract audio from a DVD to MP3 for iPod Nano, Shuffle, Zen and other MP3 players

This software can extract and rip DVD audio tracks to MP3, WMA, WAV, AC3, AAC, M4A, etc. This can be useful when you want to rip the music from a DVD to your MP3 players such as iPod Nano, iPod Shuffle, Creative Zen, Zune, etc. After you load your DVD movie, go to the main interface, select the output format as MP3 and then start the conversion. If you want to get better music quality, you can select a higher audio bit rate and sample rate from the Settings window.

After the conversion, drag the audio file to iTunes library, connect your iPod Nano or iPod Shuffle to your computer and sync your iPod using iTunes. For PSP, just copy the audio files to the Music folder on your memory stick. For Zune, drag the music to the Zune software, and click on 'Start Sync'.

How to put DVD clips on Youtube, Myspace

This software can also convert a DVD to the FLV format used by Youtube, Myspace and other video hosting websites. After your movie is imported, select FLV as the output video format. Then log in to Youtube or Myspace and simply upload your video.
Keep in mind that a entire DVD movie might be very large. By default, this software will convert the entire DVD to one file. If you just want several chapters of the DVD, you need to select them first. Alternatively, you can click the Trim button and drag the trim bar to set the starting and ending time. You can also type the exact time values in the Set Start Time and Set End Time fields.

The friendly interface and the accessibility of functions make this software a valuable application for your personal use, so don't hesitate to buy it so that you can enjoy using its full features.

Related articles:
Windows Movie Maker
How to burn a Video DVD using Windows DVD Maker
How to connect a video camera and import a movie