Windows Tools, Help & Guides

Aimersoft Blu-Ray Ripper

Usually when reviewing Backup Sofware, we talk about DVDs. This time I’ve reviewed a true Blue-Ray Ripper that promise to be “a powerful Blu-ray tool to crack AACS and BD+ protection from Blu-ray disc, CSS encryption from DVD. It allows to backup Blu-ray content to quality lossless MKV files and rip Blu-ray/DVD to almost all popular video and audio formats seamlessly and effortlessly.” Well, don’t they all ?

Interface

The interface is clean and tidy. It takes about 30+ seconds to know how it works. This is often where a truly great program stands out from the lesser ones. When the people behind a program take the end user into consideration they usually get a program that can be used straight out of the box and one that will be used over and over. In that manner, Aimersoft has scored jackpot. Except for one thing. At first glance Aimersoft Blu-Ray Ripper looks to be a movie copy and converter program. Studying the interface for a few more seconds, reveal a more “hidden” feature, the Disk Backup Feature (by “hidden” I mean, not as visible, it’s just a button). This feature let you take complete backups of your Blu-Ray (and DVD) disks, and should you be so lucky (or rich enough) to own a BluRay Burner, well …

Why Aimersoft has chosen to “hide” this feature in the interface is beyond me, because this is the feature that; to me is the most interesting. The Convert-to-Other-Formats is more of a plus. The ability to store a copy of the entire Blu-Ray Disk makes sense, because it protects your investment. When and if the disk gets scratched or damaged beyond repair.

Creating Backups

Creating a disk Backup is very easy. Insert the Disk, and Click “Backup”. Be aware that you need at least 20GB of free diskspace to be able to make a backup copy.

Converting Movies

Making a copy (and converting) it to another format is truly easy.  Insert the disk and let the program scan the disk for you. As with other competing programs,  Aimersoft Blu-Ray Ripper displays a list of the available movieclips on the disk and let you choose which ones to backup. The main movie is selected by default.

Once you have the movies selected, choose the target format by selecting a predefined Profile (Such as iPhone, HTC, Blackberry, iPad, PSP etc.) or you may define your own. At this stage you may press Convert and start the process but there are a few more options for you to choose from. Clicking the Settings-Button next to the Profile Selection Button, will give you a few more options.

Crop (available on the interface menu)

One of the biggest problems when it comes to converting a movie from one format (or gadget) to another is the different screen sizes. On a small screen like the PSP, wide black bars can be quite annoying, making the actual movie size too small for comfort. I hate it when it required a magnifier of sorts to see the movie. The embedded Crop function solves this perfectly by letting you manually adjust the movie image size to fit your preferences.

Image Adjust  (available on the Interface Menu)

Sometimes a movie can get quite dark (I’m not referring to the plot), which is fine in a movie theater, but not on your PSP, iPhone and whatnot.  Aimersoft let you adjust the image brightness and contrast to better suit your needs.

Watermark  (available in the Crop Menu)

A functionality that is great for any corporate (or home) movies is the ability to add a watermark (like a logo) to the converted movie. This is especially a great feature if you plan to distribute a movie on YouTube or any similar platform.

Audio settings  (available in Settings)

Different Profiles, gives you different Audio Settings. Some Profiles have different Audio Settings to choose from. The HD Movie Profile gives you AC3 sound with the option to use Surround or Stereo (depending on your Movie), the Xvid Profile will convert the sound to Mp3, PSP Profile use AAC Encoder using Mono as optional. If you prefer to have other settings than the Profile Defaults you have to create your own Profile.

FileSplitting   (available in Settings)

In the Settings Window, you may also choose to split files by time or filesize.

Subtitles  (available on the Interface Menu)

If you are converting a foreign movie, you may want to add subtitles. Be aware that, the subtitles are embedded into the movie, and not stored as separate files.

The Test

In my test I tried to backup (and convert) a store bought movie (from Disney). These disks are known to cause backup problems due to different copy protection features and is therefor a great test subject. I also Selected the HD Movie Platform, making the copy viewable on my BenQ Projector. I added subtitles and used standard Crop settings.

The conversion process is promised to be swift and powerful. On my system (64 bit AMD Athlon, Windows 7, 4GB RAM) it took about 2,5 hours to complete. On the upside,  Aimersoft Blu-Ray Ripper, used little CPU power, and very little RAM (about 120 000K). It did not render my computer useless, and I was able to go about my business as usual. And that, to me is very important. Too many good programs like this, use so much resources that you have to run them at night when you don’t use the computer for anything else.

The Result

The finished product was superb. A clean and sharp image, with crisp sound. The subtitles was not embedded into the movie, but was added as a separate file.  I’m not too fond about the embedded subtitles. One reason is that I cannot switch the subtitles off during playback, another is the font size, which I think is too large. Another thing I discovered was that the program didn’t warn med about the different Subtitles available for my language, so I ended up selecting the subtitles for the Directors Comment, which lets say made the entire movie unwatchable, seeing as I cannot turn them off.

The Wish List

• Native 64 bit support would  make my day ( Although 2,5 hours to complete may be acceptable speed, I would like to see it even faster).
• Better control with Subtitles (Font, size etc) and the option to save it as a separate file
• Option to use original Audio, no matter which profile I choose

 

Conclusion

The price is a bit steep (almost $50), but in the long run, it keeps your BluRays and DVDs safe. If this program saves you from having to re-buy your entire movie collection (should anything happen to it) then the price isn’t all that bad.

The program is easy to use and offers everything you need in one package (Except for a large enough Hard-Drive). It produce a truly lossless result. Images are clean and crisp and the audio is perfect (with no audio sync problems). You will never need another backup/ripping program for as long as there are BluRay disks.

You may read more about it here, Or..

Chance to win prizes and a free copy of the Blu-Ray Ripper

Aimersoft is currently hosting a Roulette Competition where you can win several prizes, amongst them a free copy of the program.
The contest is open to September 2nd, so there’s not much time left. So make sure you head on over to the:    Blu-ray roulette game

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