Handbrake [open source]

[Tami]

[url=\"http://handbrake.fr/\"]HandBrake[/url] is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded DVD to MPEG-4 converter, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows.

Supported sources:

* Any DVD-like source: VIDEO_TS folder, DVD image or real DVD (encrypted or unencrypted, but protection methods other than CSS are not supported and must be handled externally with third-party software), and some .VOB and .TS files
* PAL or NTSC
* AC-3, DTS, LPCM or MPEG audio tracks

Outputs:

* File format: MP4, MKV, AVI or OGM
* Video: MPEG-4 or H.264 (1 or 2 passes or constant quantizer/rate encoding)
* Audio: AAC, MP3, Vorbis or AC-3 pass-through (supports encoding of several audio tracks)

Misc features:

* Chapter selection
* Basic subtitle support (burned into the picture)
* Integrated bitrate calculator
* Picture deinterlacing, cropping and scaling
* Grayscale encoding

Credits

HandBrake uses a lot of (L)GPL librairies from the Linux world:

* liba52 (AC3 decoding)
* libavcodec (picture cropping, scaling and deinterlacing, MPEG-4 encoding)
* libdvdcss (CSS decryption)
* libdvdread (DVD navigation)
* libfaac (AAC encoding)
* libmp3lame (MP3 encoding)
* libmp4v2 (MP4 muxing)
* libmpeg2 (MPEG-2 decoding)
* libogg (OGM muxing)
* libsamplerate (audio resampling)
* libvorbis (Vorbis encoding)
* libx264 (H264 encoding)
* libxvidcore (MPEG-4 encoding)


[url=\"http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/ipod/review/techspansion-visualhub-v-123/\"]Review on iLounge[/url] comparing VisualHub, iSquint and Handbrake.

A worthwhile quote from the article:

[quote]...the copyright laws of your country may limit your right to transcode DVDs or other copyright-protected content into other formats; consult your local laws before using any program capable of removing copyright encryption.[/quote]

[Jim]

*downloads*