I have a few DVD movies that I'd like to rip them to videos for backup purposes, and would also like to watch them on my laptop when I go on business trips. The software that came with my laptop isn't able to do it though. Is there an easy way to do this?
You'd think it would just be a simple matter of plugging the DVD into the DVD drive on your computer, and clicking a "Create Backup Copy" menu somewhere in in the Finder. It turns out however that copy-protection and encryption on commercial DVD movies have made it a lot harder than that.
Your operating system will not let you make backup copies of your favorite copy-protected commercial DVD movies without the help of third-party software programs. You'll also most likely need to find software made outside the United States. Thanks to some confusing legislation, and the fear of copyright law suits in the states, companies like Roxio, Nero, and others have removed the ability to copy commercial DVDs. Is it legal to rip dvd movies?
Finally I found a tool called iFunia DVD Ripper Pro for Mac with Google. This software is a free trial application for Mac OS X that accomplishes this task quickly and easily. It even has some preset format options to set up for iPod, iPhone.
Step 1: Download & install iFunia DVD Ripper Pro for Mac
We’ll be using a very nice DVD Ripping tool for Mac OS called ‘iFunia DVD Ripper Pro’ for ripping our DVD, head over here and download the free trial version. Next step is to install the program.
Step 2: Run iFunia DVD Ripper Pro for Mac
Now get your DVD disc and insert it. Then run iFunia DVD Ripper Pro on your Mac and click the big button "Load..." to load your DVD disk, you may see the name of DVD Movie disk if you insert DVD disk before running this DVD ripper tool (see the image below to have an idea). 
Step 3: Select the titles you'd like to convert
A protected movie DVD usually has several titles. However, only the first title is the content of the protected DVD movie ( you may recognize it from the 'Length', see the image below), the other titles are the theatrical trailers. You may remove these titles. Just check the first title option and convert all chapters of DVD movie content to one single video file.
The shorter titles on the DVD are usually the video backgrounds used in the DVD menu screens and DVD extras like movie trailers. Unless you are a graphic artist, you probably don't want to convert these titles.
Step 4: Change the output settings
There are almost all common video formats available for you to choose to convert to. You may convert DVD movie to different video formats for video editing or playback on your computer.
Step 5: Start converting DVD movies
Now click the big button "Start" to begin converting DVD movies into your hard disk.
DVD Ripper Pro for Mac is a professional DVD ripping software to rip protected dvd movies into your hard disk. It helps you rip and convert DVD content to any common video formats for playback on media players and mobile devices, such as iPod, iPhone, iTunes, PSP.
(PC user? Get Windows version here)
(File Size: 5.4MB)