DVDs use MPEG 1 or 2-encoded video and PCM, DTS, MP2 or AC-3 audio.
Commonly encountered discs use MPEG2 video and DTS or AC-3 audio.
Multithreaded
GUI and CLI
deb + rpm
Containers:
mkv & mp4
Video:
MPEG-4 Part 10 (H.264/AVC) (x264 - slow)
MPEG-4 Part 2 (H.263) (ffmpeg – fast)
Theora
Audio:
AAC, MP3 (lame), Vorbis (aoTuV), pass-through AC-3 or DTS
Subtitles:
Flexible subtitles
Slowest creation time – about 70 minutes average for H.264/audio pass-through.
Encoding Queues
Encoding Previews
Apple Presets
H.264 options can be tweaked
Containers:
mkv
Video:
Passthrough from source
Audio:
Passthrough from source
Subtitles:
Passthrough from source
No transcoding. By default everything is copied, but individual tracks and titles can be disabled.
No preview.
Can decrypt most blu-ray discs. All features free during beta – unknown what will cost for final version.
Built in streaming UPNP server
Fast creation time – 20 minutes average.
Lossless backup – everything on the DVD is kept, including menus and special features. Many video players can play iso files directly. Fastest creation time of the 3 tools - 14 minutes average.
Here's a sample script to create iso files. It should be run with 1 argument – the title of the DVD.
#!/bin/sh
mkdir dvd
dvdbackup -M -n "$1" -i /dev/dvd -o dvd
genisoimage -dvd-video -o "$1.iso" dvd/* && rm -rf dvd
If you want to future-proof your collection and have the disk space, use dvdbackup. If you want to create high quality mkv or mp4 files, try Handbrake. If you have blu-ray discs or just want to copy the main feature content without transcoding, try makemkv.