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Every time tech formats evolve you’re left with out-dated stuff. Vinyl albums were replaced by 8-track tapes, then cassette tapes, then CD’s, then digital files on iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play. You can go broke trying to keep up with the different types of media.
With videos the investment becomes even more expensive. As video cassette tapes went the way of the Model T, people invested in DVD’s.
But now people want to watch their videos on the go and are buying digital video files instead of DVD’s. Replacing all of your DVD’s with digital copies could be very expensive if you had to re-purchase them. You may look at your stack of DVD’s regretfully, wishing that you had saved your money to get the digital versions instead so you could play your video collection on your iPad or have them handy on your laptop when you travel.
Good news! You can convert your DVD’s to digital files easily in just a few steps by using software called a DVD ripper. SoThink DVD Ripper from SoThink Media makes converting your DVD’s into digital files easy.
SoThink can convert your DVD’s into video files that can be watched on your iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV, Android device, Windows Phone, Wii, PSP, Xbox 360 and many other devices. You can then watch these files wherever you are, even if you’re not connected to the Internet.
How to Use SoThink
After you download the software from the website, open it and load a DVD into your computer. Click on Open DVD and the title of the DVD will appear. Choose the format you want on the left side bar based on where you want to watch the video. SoThink guides you through the choices so that if you want to watch the movie on your iPad, SoThink shows you that you want an .mp4 format.
You can also choose other settings, such as the quality of the audio and video. Remember that the higher the quality of the audio and video the larger the file will be. You can also choose the language as well as whether you want subtitles (if these options are available on the DVD you’re ripping).
At the bottom of the screen you can indicate where you want your video file saved in the Output Folder box. You can save it to a folder on your computer, to your Dropbox folder, or to a folder on an external hard drive.
When you’ve adjusted your settings and selected your output folder, you click the Rip DVD button and the ripping will start. A status bar appears, as well as a counter that shows you how much time has elapsed and how much time is left. You can also check a box so the computer turns off or goes into sleep or hibernation after the conversion is complete.
Here’s a video showing how to convert a DVD to a video file to watch on your iPad (this instruction also applies to different formats):
Where to Store Your Video Files
Video files tend to take up a lot of space, so you may want to store them on an external hard drive if you don’t have a lot of room to spare on your computer. You can take the hard drive with you when you travel or bring it in the car or a plane to entertain kids on long trips. You can also store the files in your Dropbox so you can have videos handy wherever you have access to the Internet.
My Test
I was provided with the full version of SoThink by Thomas at Techworks DK Link as the Grand Prize in a contest held earlier this year.
I was impressed with the versatility and the ease of use with SoThink. I had tried a different DVD ripper years ago, but found it extremely complex. With the other software I used, some DVD’s would be converted successfully but others had video but no sound.
If you don’t want to spend a lot of time fussing with your video conversions, you will like using this software. SoThink also has advanced features, such as video editing, so that you can do more with your video files than simply converting them.
How Does SoThink Compare to Other DVD Rippers?
The SoThink website provides a DVD ripper comparison chart showing that their software is compatible with more formats than other popular DVD rippers.
What Else You Need to Know
Using SoThink you can also convert audio files from one format to another or get an audio file from a CD. You can
SoThink is available free for a 30 day trial period. After that, you pay $34.95 to use the software indefinitely.
The software is available for Windows 7 and Vista. There is no Mac version available.
Bottom Line
Have your videos handy wherever you travel by converting your DVD’s into video files.
Do you own DVD’s you would like to convert to video files? Have you ever tried to convert them? Would you like to watch your videos on your mobile devices? Let us know in the Comments section below!
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Hi Carolyn–thanks for posting about this. I will definitely try it. It’s so nice to have my extensive collection of DVD’s ripped to a portable hard drive for traveling and so much cheaper than re-buying everything on itunes! I’m glad you found software that’s so easy to use so that even a non-techie like me can figure it out….!
Hi Carrie, I’m so glad you found this helpful. I had struggled with this years ago unsuccessfully. It takes a while to convert video so it’s frustrating to try converting only to find out that it didn’t work.
I had given up trying to rip my DVD’s until I won this software at Techworks DK. I gave it a go and was delighted to discover how easy it was to convert my DVD’s, so I was excited to share this with Wonder of Tech readers.
Happy ripping, Carrie! 🙂
Wonderful information Carolyn!
Oh yes! We do have a whole lot of old DVD’s lying with us that aren’t really used now with so many other options available nowadays. But yes, I miss watching those and some of them date back to our parents time so those are really treasured pieces that one wouldn’t really like to get rid of.
I did try once to get them all converted to a video, though we had to give them to a shop for getting it done. Besides the cost, the result wasn’t all that good. Haven’t really tried out anything after that. But SoThink sounds interesting the way you described it.
I loved the information shared and am going to pass it onto my better half to have a look at it and see if it’s of use to him now.
Thanks for sharing about yet another wonderful software. 🙂
Hi Harleena, Yes, it’s very disappointing and frustrating when you try to convert videos but it doesn’t work or the quality is bad. SoThink is about as easy as you can get and I’ve encountered no problems with the quality of the video files.
You’re right, converting personal videos from DVD to digital files is a great use for this software.
I hope that you enjoy your new video files, Harleena!
This software sounds good. I own some VHS videos but not many DVD’s though! It did give me an idea! I could review the software that I use to make videos. I mix my photos with video clips to make a video sometimes and add some music. I suppose if I made one short enough, I might be able to embed it into a blog. I do have a video on my old website that I made. I put it on Facebook and then linked my website to the Facebook video. That worked quite well.
I’ve been doing frugal blogs today and so I’m in no mood to spend money. I just had a bill for £220 drop through my letterbox too for car tax, another timely incentive to save money.
I’ve just added a widget on a Zillion Ideas for people to get an estimate how much they spend on eating out, snacks and other little things that add up. I used to spend a lot, but now I prefer to have a stock market portfolio!
Hi Mike, Wow, you’re still using VHS video tapes. They do have some VHS to DVD units to convert those if you want to do that someday.
For videos on your blog, try using YouTube. Videos can be very effective at bringing traffic to a blog. Embedding from YouTube is incredibly easy. You just put the URL from the video on YouTube in a separate line in the HTML view in your dashboard.
Great idea to invest in the stock market instead of in snacks. I will have to check out that widget! 🙂
Hi Carolyn
So nice to see that you are using the SoThink software you won and thank you very much for mention my Blog in this post 🙂
I really love the way you have put this post together with guides, pictures, videos and headlines. It makes it very easy to read online and it is still very informative.
Have a great weekend Carolyn.
Hi Thomas, Thank you very much for your software. I was a big fan of Techworks DK even before winning the grand prize in your contest.
I really appreciate your giving that software to me. Without getting it for free, I probably wouldn’t have tried it because I had been so very unsuccessful years ago in trying to convert my DVD’s. I had given up. But SoThink is so easy to use and hasn’t caused me any problems that I am now happily converting my DVD’s to files I store in my Dropbox so I can access them on my iPad or laptop. So cool! :-bd
Hmmm…..don’t know if I need anything converted, but if I do I will certainly know where to turn to. Sounds like a pretty simple process once you have everything downloaded.
I want to win something.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Bill, Yes, you’re so far ahead of the game, you probably have your DVD’s already converted to digital files. But keep this software in mind should you ever find a need to transform a DVD into an iPad video. 🙂
I have been using Handbrake to convert various files. I’m not sure if its the same type of software as SoThink, I haven’t converted any dvds yet. What I have been thinking about is to convert the DVDs my kids are watching in order to protect the DVDs – ill be taking a closer look at SoThink.
Thanks Carolyn. Have a wonderful weekend.
Hi Jens, If you have software that you’re already using successfully to convert your video files, you probably don’t need SoThink. But I think you’ll enjoy having your kids’ DVD’s converted to video files so they can watch them on an iPad. Of course, you may never be able to use your iPad again then…. 😉
Hi Carolyn,
First of all congrats that you won a full version of SoThink DVD ripper.
I have always found ripping DVD and converting videos to different format.But i guess i have to try this now for sure.Will let you know if it works for me.
Hi Aditya, Yes, ripping DVD’s can be challenging and frustrating. I am very pleased to report that SoThink makes the task about as easy as possible.
Let us know how you like it! 🙂
Hey Carolyn,
Just downloaded Sothink DVD ripper and i have to tell you that it has more features then i think it will have.I am amazed by seeing that it can rip videos of Xbox too and the Sony PS.
Not only videos it has a feature to rip audio also.And its quite easy to do ripping now.
Hi Aditya, Yes, SoThink does rip to many different formats including video game consoles. You can rip just the audio from a video or both the audio and the video. You can choose the language (as long as it’s an option on the DVD) and include subtitles.
SoThink is very powerful software but extremely easy to use. This is the type of tech I love to share with Wonder of Tech readers! 🙂
With no doubt Carolyn it is a powerful software and i recommend this tool to everyone who want to Rip their stuff.
I’m glad you’re pleased with it. 🙂
Well isn’t it time to do away with DVD’s and their playback problems.
Thank you for writing about this SoThink software, I must say that this is the most comprehensive converter I have seen and yet is still relatively simple to use. I’ve yet to put the video editing to test but I can certainly do with this facility for our home-made movies!
Hi Melody, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Yes, I was impressed with the power of this software, being able to convert to so many different formats. SoThink also has video editing capabilities which may also be useful to you. I suggest you download the software and try it out for free for 30 days to see if it’s what you’re looking for in video conversion and editing.
Thanks for stopping by and joining in the conversation, Melody!
The technology is moving soo fast. I still remember the video cassette which were used to watch movies. & now the CD’s , DVD’s , Blu-ray’s… I have been liking this method of storing the entire disc’s in the hard disk by ripping them! 🙂
Hi Zainil, Yes, the video cassette was an incredible innovation, allowing us to time-shift TV shows and bring movies into our home. In a relatively short time, this technology has evolved into digital files. To buy new media each time would be very expensive, but with this software, you can just convert your DVD’s instead of having to buy your videos all over again! 🙂
I think this is awesome, I have lots of DVDs that might be better off as digital files. We often tend to become lazy with all the new smart-devices which is supposed to make us ‘smarter’!!! Who has the time to watch on your DVD player when you have a smart-phone on hand.
Yes, i think this should do the trick for me…
Hi Praveen, Yes, when we want to watch a video, we probably won’t have the DVD with us that we want. Converting your DVD’s to digital files means that you can keep them handy wherever you go. This software is so easy to use that you can be very lazy and still get the job done! 🙂