I am trying to create a library of cartoons and other short animated films so I can easily play one or two for guests before a feature. Ideally from Plex or Front Row (the movie would still be played from DVD or BluRay). The ideal thing would be a 1:1 copy from the dvd, no further transcoding or compression. But I don't need or want to rip an entire DVD, just selected tracks, and then have access to them from Plex or Front Row, rather than a copy of the DVD's menu. I've tried several ripping software packages, Handbrake, Mac the Ripper, DVD Ripper & RipIt. On almost all the results have what appear to be interlacing artifacts that aren't visible when played directly from the DVD.

Any help on the best software (and settings) to use would be most appreciated.

The ideal thing would be a 1:1 copy from the dvd, no further transcoding or compression...I've tried several ripping software packages, Handbrake, Mac the Ripper, DVD Ripper & RipIt.

Well, throw out Handbrake for the time being, because that rips and transcodes. Both MTR and RipIt should give you what you want, which is a VIDEO_TS folder.

On almost all the results have what appear to be interlacing artifacts that aren't visible when played directly from the DVD

Then you're doing something wrong, because that's not how it's supposed to work: with the same Mac and with a given software player--Apple dvd player.app, Front Row, etc--you'll see the same artifacts whether you're playing back the original commercial dvd in the optical drive or the "ripped" VIDEO_TS folder because they're identical digital data--the software can't tell where it's coming from.

Given your goal--my workflow would be first rip the whole disc with MTR, then go in with DVD2OneX to extract the individual titles you want--which would be saved as VIDEO_TS themselves, without loss. (Later you could recombine these titles in any sequence you like without any loss or compression as well.)

Then you're doing something wrong, because that's not how it's supposed to work: with the same Mac and with a given software player--Apple dvd player.app, Front Row, etc--you'll see the same artifacts whether you're playing back the original commercial dvd in the optical drive or the "ripped" VIDEO_TS folder because they're identical digital data--the software can't tell where it's coming from.


I have no doubt I'm messing up somewhere! I used RipIt, which near as I can tell will only make a 1:1 copy of the entire DVD with a single DVD Media Player Icon, not create a Video_TS folder with the individual chapters inside. When I play it with Apple DVD Player, it's perfect, but when I play it through Plex I get the interlace artifacts, and Front Row won't see it at all.

I used RipIt, which near as I can tell will only make a 1:1 copy of the entire DVD with a single DVD Media Player Icon, not create a Video_TS folder with the individual chapters inside.

Right, RipIt is nice, and simple. You don't have to use its .dvdmedia extension, you can change that in preferences, and/or option click to expose the VIDEO_TS and pull it out.

Like I said, my workflow is MTR and DTOX, I only use RipIt for the odd problematic disc. But RipIt and MTR full disc extraction achieve the same end result.

When I play it with Apple DVD Player, it's perfect, but when I play it through Plex I get the interlace artifacts, and Front Row won't see it at all.

Dump the .dvdmedia extension and FR will see it just fine. And it's entirely possible one player will do a slightly better job handling certain content than another; I suspect many of us here use several different players and front ends.