"Hi, I knew that HandBrake could help us rip and convert DVD movies to MP4 or MKV files. I have used HandBrake to rip DVD for my iPad. Therefore I could play DVD movies on iPad. However, recently, when I use HandBrake to rip DVD movies for iPad, it said some error related to encryption. I have no idea on what this error is and how to fix it. Could you help me out with this? How can you rip DVD movies for playback on iPad? Thanks very much."

Handbrake is best known as a free and open source video converter. But in actuality, it can also be used to rip DVD. It can only rip unprotected DVDs but with the help of a third-party DVD plugin, it can also rip protected DVDs. With Handbrake, you can rip DVD and play the DVD content on iPad with no problem. Follow the instructions below to rip DVD to iPad with Handbrake and wonderful HandBrake alternatives.

Part 1: Rip DVD to Play on iPad via HandBrake

As is mentioned before, Handbrake can't rip DVDs with protections, but most of the DVDs out there have encryptions on them. So we are going to need a plugin called libdvdcss. It's a .dll file that used to help Handbrake to recognize encrypted DVDs.

1. Download libdvdcss online and then put the file in Handbrake's program folder. If you didn't change the default installation path, the folder should be in C:\Program Files\Handbrake.

Install handbrake plugin

2. After putting the .dll file in Handbrake's folder, Handbrake should now be able to load encrypted DVDs. Just open Handbrake and then click Open Source, you should see the disc in the Source Selection menu. Select your DVD and the program will start scanning the disc.

Handbrake load DVD

3. If your DVD contains multiple titles, you can check them out in the Title menu and select the ones you need. Usually the longest one is the movie. Select one title you need and click Add to Queue. If you have more titles you want to rip, select each one of them and click Add to Queue for each one of them. Set the output path for the output videos by clicking the Browse button next to the Destination box.

Select DVD Content

4. On the right sidebar, you can set the quality of output file. One great thing about Handbrake is that you can directly choose an output profile from the provided ones and don't have to go through the complicated parameter setting process if you don't want. Choose one profile from Very Fast, Fast, HQ and Super HQ. As you are ripping a DVD, so choose the output resolution between 480p and 576p would be wise because that's the highest resolution of most DVDs. Choosing 720P or 1080P won't do any good to the quality of the video, it'll only make the size of the file larger.

Set output profile

5. When you are done with the above 4 steps, it's now time to get the whole ripping process started. Just click on the Start Encode button on the top row of buttons and wait for the ripping process to end. The progress will be shown at the bottom where there's a progress bar.

Start ripping DVD

That's how you can rip DVD to iPad with handbrake. The output video should be in MP4 format which is playable on iPad. All you need to do is transfer the video to iPad and you'd be able to enjoy the DVD movie on your iPad.

Part 2: Rip DVD to Play on iPad with Leawo DVD Ripper

We have learned that you have to install libdvdcss file for HandBrake to rip commercial DVD movies to iPad videos. Is there any DVD to iPad converter tool that enables you to handle both commercial and non-commercial DVD movies together? Of course, yes.

In case you need, here's an excellent alternative to Handbrake for you to rip DVD. It's called Leawo DVD Ripper. It's a program designed specifically for the purpose of DVD ripping. It can decrypt, rip and convert any DVDs with protections and region codes without needing a third-party plugin or help from other programs. It can basically rip all kinds of DVD you can find. Better than HandBrake, Leawo DVD Ripper offers you 3 different DVD movie conversion modes to meet your different needs, an internal DVD editor to let you edit DVD movies before converting, a 3D movie converter to easily rip and convert DVD movies to 3D videos in different 3D effects.
Here's how to rip DVD to iPad with it. You need to firstly download and install it on your computer. Note: Leawo DVD Ripper is a module built in Leawo Prof. Media.

1. Open the software suite that contains Leawo DVD Ripper, and then click DVD Ripper on the interface to load it. Click Add Blu-ray/DVD to load the DVD content to the program. Or open the DVD content in Windows File Explorer and drag them to the interface to import them.

add-source-files-04

2. After importing, the program will load and list all the titles on the left side. And on top of the list you will see 3 buttons which represent 3 different modes. Main Movie mode imports only the movie; Full Movie loads the whole disc and Custom Mode allows you to choose which title(s) to load. After choosing the titles, click OK to let the program load the titles you've chosen.

3. You should see an MP4 video button on the left of the Convert button. What you see is the current output format. To change that, click on this Format button and click Change on the menu that follows. Choose a format that's compatible with iPad. Or you can choose from the presets for iPad as well.

choose-output-profile-05

4. To set the quality of the final video file. Click on that Format button mentioned above again and click Edit this time. It will take you to the Profile Settings page where 3 levels of quality are provided: Low, Normal and Best. You can choose from them or adjust them manually from the options provided below. Click OK when you finish choosing or adjusting to go back to the file list.

set-profile-settings-06

5. Click that Convert button mentioned before to move on to the next setting. You will see the default output path on the sidebar that followed. Click the "…" button to change it if you want. And to start ripping your DVD, click on the Convert button at the bottom.

set-output-directory-07

Leawo DVD Ripper is, in genral, a great alternative to Handbrake. The biggest advantage that Leawo DVD Ripper has over Handbrake is that it supports way more output format than Handbrake. With Leawo DVD Ripper, you can easily rip DVD to play on Apple TV and other mobile handsets you can possibly have. And it doesn't have to seek help from third-party plugins to rip protected DVDs.

Part 3: Rip DVD to Play on iPad with StaxRip

StaxRip ia a free and multimedia encoding software that can rip DVD/Blu-ray/Videos to more popular formats like: MPEG-4, Xvid, x264/H264/AVC, x265/H265/HEVC, VP9. It is an all-in-one encoding/conversion tool that has a function to convert DVD/DVB and other video file formats to DivX, Xvid, H.264, H.265. As an open source application, StaxRip is completely free. It supports output in the container formats: AVI, MP4, MPG, MKV, DIVX. Therefore, if you have no idea on how to rip DVD for iPad with HandBrake or you HandBrake just stops working, you could also turn to StaxRip.

The below steps would show you how to rip DVD with StaxRip in detail:

  1. Download and install StaxRip on your computer. And get your source DVD movies ready.
  2. Launch StaxRip on your computer and select "Source" in order to load DVD files to this program.
  3. On the pop-up window, select "Single Or Merge" and select ALL the VOB files that you want to rip from your DVD file. Then click "OK". StaxRip will now demux, index and merge the VOB files.
  4. In the "Target" box, set an output directory.
  5. Click the "MKV" button to choose output format. You could choose MP4 here for iPad. Click the "DivX Plus" button to set output quality and size.
  6. You could also click the "Config Codec" and "Config Container" options according to your own needs.
  7. Under the "Audio" options, you could adjust output audio parameters.
  8. Then, click the "Next" button.
  9. On the new pop-up window, click "Start" to start the encoding process. You can view the H.264 encoding process in the Log screen. And the encoding process will complete itself.

After converting, you will get video files from DVD movies to play back on your iPad tablets.

Part 4: Comparison and conclusion

In order to let you learn more about these 3 solutions, we have made a comparison table for you.

 

HandBrake

Leawo DVD Ripper

StaxRip

Convert DVD for iPad

Yes, no-commercial only

Yes

Yes

Rip and convert commercial DVD movies to videos

No

Yes

Yes

Supported output video and audio formats

MKV, MP4

Over 200+ formats

Many poplar file formats

Edit DVD movies before converting

No

Yes

No

Adjust output video and audio parameters

Yes

Yes

yes

Apply 3D movie effect

No

Yes

No

Select subtitles and audio tracks

Yes

Yes

No

Play back DVD movies

No

Yes

No

Take screenshots

No

Yes

No

Merge DVD files to one file

No

Yes

No

Availability

Windows, Mac

Windows, Mac

Windows only

HandBrake could help you easily convert non-commercial DVD movies to MP4/MKV file. And with extra plugin like libdvdcss, HandBrake could convert commercial DVD movies. StaxRip could rip and convert DVD movies to videos on Windows only. Other than these, Leawo DVD Ripper could help you do more things like editing DVD movies, applying 3D effect, decrypting DVD disc protection, playing back DVD movies, etc. If you want a professional DVD converter, Leawo DVD Ripper is without doubt the top choice.