Six DVD Rippers, which one best for Valentine’s Day?

Valentine’s Day is getting close; if your loved one enjoys movies and you have a lot of DVDs, it is good time you get a right DVD Ripper to convert the DVDs for playback on portable devices like iPod and enjoy hours of sweet time snuggling up to each other in the park, on the beach or somewhere romantic you can think of. Today, I will compare six DVD Rippers and let the truth tell you which is best for your DVD movie enjoyment on romantic Valentine’s Day.

Name	Version	Price	Website
Cucusoft Ultimate DVD Converter	8.01	$45.95	www.cucusoft.com/
Magic DVD Ripper	5.4.2	$34.97	www.magicdvdripper.com/
Leawo DVD Ripper	2.2.1.0	$29.95	www.leawo.com/
Pavtube Video DVD Converter Ultimate	3.3.1.844	$49	www.pavtube.com/
Wondershare DVD Converter Ultimate	5.3.0	$65.95	www.wondershare.com/
Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate	5.0.62	$55.95	www.xilisoft.com/

Since there is no standard for what DVD Ripper software should look like, it makes no sense to compare between their functions. But one thing is clear, are they adequately fit for the task of DVD to video conversion? Concerning common urgent needs, I will give benchmarks to each DVD Ripper on installation, user interface, conversion flexibilities and output quality.

Part One: Installation

All six DVD Ripper software companies offer trial copy download on their websites. As for trial limitation, Magic DVD Ripper will suspend the use after five conversion tasks, Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate allows for conversion of 5 minute length of each DVD video, and the rest DVD Rippers will put a watermark on output videos. Here is a simple chart comparing the size of each program before and after installation.

During installation, there were no alarms for virus or adware detection. All DVD Rippers are all instantly functional without restarting the system.

As the smaller space the program takes, the better it is for users to get and install. So here I give my points for the benchmark of installation.

Part Two: User Interface

• Cucusoft Ultimate DVD Converter

The user interface is gloomy; however, the functions are in proper positions. The Load entry, Chapters list, DVD info, Output profiles, and Convert button are discernable. We just need to make a selection of the DVD chapters and the desired output profile, and then simply begin the conversion without any hassles. By the way, this DVD Ripper has an interesting function that can switch it between player mode and converter mode, which means we can use it to enjoy but not just to preview the DVD movie.

• Magic DVD Ripper

Thanks to the simplistic user interface, Magic DVD Ripper is the most space efficient when installed on our PC. Since it sacrifices user experience for smaller setup size and faster response, we have to spend some time to figure out the desired conversion settings before the big start. Fortunately, the settings are not flooded with geek’s terms. But pitifully no built-in player is to help us identify the desired chapters. It has left out this feature assuming we should have installed some DVD player software in advance.

• Leawo DVD Ripper

Leawo DVD Ripper looks much better, although this is its only skin. The operation procedure is comfortable like drawing a tick: from the chapters list, via profile and settings, all the way to the start button. In the menu bar, the language item suggests the program is thoughtfully adapted for users of different languages. In the player control, a camera button implies the screenshot feature upon playing the DVD movie. Meanwhile, the program sets up shortcuts to the folders where the screenshots and converted videos are stored respectively. The straight forward interface also tells the program can choose to merge all chapters into one single video file or not and provides some video edit functions.

• Pavtube Video DVD Converter Ultimate

Pavtube Video DVD Converter Ultimate looks almost the same with Leawo DVD Ripper, except this program can convert AVI, MP4 videos as well.

• Wondershare DVD Converter Ultimate

Wondershare DVD Converter Ultimate also possesses the capability to convert AVI, MP4 videos as Pavtube does. The style of interface is not much different from Pavtube and Leawo, but most of the interface is enhanced with animated transitions, which contributes to greater user experience and maybe a little inflation of setup size. Besides, this DVD Ripper is versatile as it can burn video to DVD and transfer video to USB devices.

• Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate

Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate gives a very professional impression on the first glimpse. The program embraces a CPU usage monitor to keep itself from hogging too much system resource. When loading a DVD, the DVD cover information will be clearly displayed. In the right extension panel, it greets us with a flock of options and controls, which is good for the professionals, but for beginners it fails to give equal thoughts on easy navigation, as we see, the buttons for Load DVD and Start Conversion are barely icons without straight forward identifications.

The user interface is the most important factor for user experience, in which in my opinion the easier to operate the better.

Part Three: Conversion Flexibilities

In many occasions, the demands for DVD to video conversion vary by objectives. For example, getting DVD movie to play on iPod or PSP or insert to a presentation file requires the modulation of encoding parameters such as the choice of video codec and the size of video frames. It is necessary the DVD Ripper software is flexible to provide pertinent options and controls. Profiles or presets are indispensible part of DVD Ripper software; they are convenient for repetitive use or novice use.

Here is the table where each DVD Ripper counts their profiles.

Compared to its counterparts, Magic DVD Ripper is certainly embarrassed by its sparse profiles, of which Pavtube is about ten times and the rest DVD Rippers are around five times. However, profiles are not always the more the better. Pavtube is thoughtful to set up that many profiles, but it also kills the user’s patience in looking for desired profiles. In my opinion, the golden number of profiles is in the proximity to 100.

In addition to profiles, it is also necessary for the DVD Ripper software to provide advanced settings to refine or even build custom profiles. Without surprise, these competing DVD Rippers are also varying in the advanced settings provided.

• Cucusoft Ultimate DVD Converter

Cucusoft Ultimate DVD Converter’s advanced settings panel looks dilapidated, but it manages to put essential parameters like Video Bit Rate, Frame Rate, Video Size, Audio Bit Rate and Sample Rate in the front and keep those minor ones in Advanced Video Options.

• Magic DVD Ripper

Magic DVD Ripper provides nothing fewer than we have expected, but also nothing more.

• Leawo DVD Ripper

Leawo DVD Ripper clearly offers only these essential settings. It has drop down box for each parameter for us to choose a value from and also allows us to type value to our own desire.

• Pavtube Video DVD Converter Ultimate

Pavtube Video DVD Converter Ultimate resembles Leawo DVD Ripper, except the values are restricted from the dropdown boxes.

• Wondershare DVD Converter Ultimate

Wondershare DVD Converter Ultimate also restricts the parameters except Resolution and Frame Rate. But I can’t see why it doesn’t set Video Bit Rate free likewise.

• Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate

Once again, Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate amazed us by its overwhelming Advanced Profile Settings. It is more like an extended version of that of Cucusoft Ultimate DVD Converter. In my humble opinion, we have complete control over the video conversion as long as we know how to make from all those parameters.

In this part, I have reviewed the core of DVD Ripper software: profiles and settings, which can suggest the professional level as well as the flexibilities of each DVD Ripper program. Xilisoft is no doubt in the best taste of professionals, and the rest DVD Rippers provide essential parameters to meet sufficient demands.

Part Four: Output Quality

All DVD Ripper software should strive to provide output quality as good as possible and make this an easy target for users to reach. To compare the performance, I specify a DVD to video conversion task below to each DVD Ripper.

By monitoring the process of each conversion, I have garnered information on CPU Usage, Memory Usage and Total Spent Time. Here is the chart.   

The lower means the better, because it tells how much the program occupies your system resource and your time. As for output quality, let’s make a straight forward judgment from the screenshots below.

• Original DVD Screenshot

• Cucusoft Ultimate DVD Converter Screenshot

Compared to the original screenshot, it is obvious that the left man’s beard, left collar of his suit, and the right man’s neck get blurred and lose details.

• Magic DVD Ripper Screenshot

The quality gets worse as more details in the left man’s hair and both men’s faces are gone.

• Leawo DVD Ripper Screenshot

The details are actually increasing in this video picture as we can see the layer of the left man’s hair is more distinguishable than the original. Some video enhancing technology must have made the video picture look sharper.

• Pavtube Video DVD Converter Ultimate Screenshot

The picture quality is almost the same as that comes out from Leawo DVD Ripper, except there is no way to keep the original aspect ratio in this DVD Ripper.

• Wondershare DVD Converter Ultimate Screenshot

Details in shadows and faces are given away. The video picture looks blur and unclear.

• Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate Screenshot

The video picture quality is enhanced likewise, evening with Leawo and Pavtube.

The output video size and the playback smoothness are revealed below:

Based on the picture quality, output file size and playback smoothness, this is the benchmark for this part.

Conclusion

Let me wrap up with benchmarks from four parts: installation, user interface, conversion flexibilities and output quality.

From the chart, we can tell Leawo DVD Ripper, Pavtube Video DVD Converter Ultimate and Wondershare DVD Converter Ultimate are well qualified for the task of DVD to video conversion. Should you pursuit picture quality, Leawo DVD Ripper is your choice; should you go after better user experience, Wondershare DVD Converter Ultimate surely satisfies you; should you look for an integrated solution for both DVD and video conversion, Pavtube Video DVD Converter Ultimate suits the job.

The versions and prices of the DVD Rippers are the latest for Valentine’s Day.

Name	Version	Price
Cucusoft Ultimate DVD Converter	8.01	$45.95
Magic DVD Ripper	5.4.2	$34.97
Leawo DVD Ripper	2.2.1.0	$29.95
Pavtube Video DVD Converter Ultimate	3.3.1.844	$35
Wondershare DVD Converter Ultimate	5.3.0	$65.95
Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate	5.0.62	$55.95

Wish you find your greatest joy in this holiday for the lovestrucks. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Top 5 DVD Rippers 2010

After testing lots of different DVD Rippers, we found some efficient ones which help us Rip DVD movies and convert them for iPod, iPod and other PDAs. Following are the top 5 best DVD Rippers, go and get yourself one.

Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate

Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate is one of those applications: a full featured DVD ripper than can extract all data inside your DVD movies and convert it right away to another video format, including the most popular ones and – of course – video formats for mobile devices such as the iPod, the iPhone and the PSP.

Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate lets you choose the video size, image quality and audio quality, and also create and use different profiles according to the target format or device. Also, Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate lets you trim specific video fragments, edit video effects, adjust subtitles and even add a watermark so that you obtain fully customized DVD video and audio files.

With Xilisoft DVD Ripper Ultimate you can rip the contents of your favorite DVD movies and convert them to different formats–including mobile video – in just a few easy steps.

• Rip Different Files for Different Multimedia Devices
  Rip DVD movies to videos, audio and pictures to be enjoyed on diverse multimedia devices
• Clip, Merge and Split DVD Movies
  Customize DVD files your way by clipping, merging or splitting
• Diversified Options and Profiles
  A wide range of options are provided to facilitate and diversify your output
• Batch Conversion with Top Quality
  Easier operation and handier settings to simplify DVD ripping
• System Requirements
  Microsoft® Windows XP (SP2 or later), Windows Vista, Windows 7

Home Page : http://www.xilisoft.com/dvd-ripper-b.html Price : $55.95

Leawo DVD Ripper

Leawo DVD Ripper allows you to do are cropping, trimming, and combining different DVDs. The program rips the DVDs very fast without sacrificing their quality in the process, and it can rip several DVDs simultaneously. You will thus be able to watch them in a variety of devices, including portable or handheld ones. It also allows you to save images as thumbnails or wallpapers.

This best DVD ripper provides more powerful and customizable movie-editing functions than others, like setting the target subtitle, merging several into one, trimming and cropping video, and so on.Then together with the super fast DVD ripping speed and excellent output quality, you can get maximum satisfaction, freely and easily transforming and enjoy DVD to PC, Laptop, Cell Phone, iPod, iPhone, Zune, PSP, Apple TV, Xbox360, Blackberry, Creative Zen and so on.

• OS Support for Leawo DVD Ripper
  Microsoft® NT/2000/XP/Vista/Windows 7
• No other codecs is needed
  DVD disc can be imported into the program and convert to the format you want, no other extra codecs is needed.
• Can decrypt CSS DVD and trim video at millisecond accuracy.
• Able to remove the letterbox
  You can get the black margins around the video removed by the powerful video crop function.

Home Page : http://www.leawo.com/dvd-ripper/ Price : 29.95

Magic DVD Ripper

Magic DVD Ripper is a very easy and powerful DVD ripping software, which can convert DVD to VCD, SVCD, AVI(DivX), WMV, MP3, iPod and PSP formats or backup DVD to hard drive without any loss of quality. You can then enjoy them anytime without DVD discs or burn them to blank DVD or CD discs using burning software.

Compared with competitors, Magic DVD Ripper has both convert function and backup function combined with faster ripping speed. While other software may be unable to rip some certain DVDs or yield unsync audio/video, Magic DVD Ripper almost always functions perfectly.

Magic DVD Ripper also offers us the following functions:

• Designed for Windows XP/2000/2003/Vista/Windows 7
• Convert DVD to VCD or SVCD
• Copy DVD movie to hard drive without any loss of quality
• Remove all the restrictions of DVD (CSS, Region, RCE, Sony ARccOS, PuppetLock)

Home Page : http://www.magicdvdripper.com/dvd-ripper.htm Price : $34.97

Format Factory

FormatFactory is a free, fully-featured, converter that enables you to convert audio, video, and even images, between the most popular formats. These include WMV, AVI, MPG, MP3, WMA, AAC, JPG, PNG, GIF, and many more. Better still, FormatFactory supports media formats used by most major portable devices, including PSP and iPhone.

FormatFactory is very easy to use, although it does have rather an unintuitive interface. The file browser doesn’t appear until you select the target format, which is a bit weird but as long as you know this first it’s no problem. You can select individual files to convert, or complete folders, and also tweak some basic conversion settings.

FormatFactory is an excellent conversion tool for anyone that converts between video, audio and images on a regular basis.

• Supports 50 languages.
• Support for converting audio, video, and images.
• Compatible with most portable devices.
• OS requirements: All 32 windows OS.

Home Page : http://www.formatoz.com/ Price : Freeware

AoA DVD Ripper

AoA DVD Ripper provides a fast and easy way to convert your DVD movies or just the parts of the movie that you want. It copies in high quality AVI (DivX, XviD…), MPEG (MPEG-1, MPEG-2), WMV, 3GP, MP4, Flash Video (*.flv), VCD and SVCD formats. It also extracts audio tracks from DVD movies (to WAV).

With AoA DVD Ripper, you can take your DVD movies on the plane, train or automobile, watch them on your computer, laptop, iPod, PSP or the following pocket devices on vacation, at work or at school, no need to take DVD discs!

AoA DVD Ripper also offers us the following functions:

• Secure your DVD collection. Take up less room on hard drive and keep same quality.
• Incredible Output Quality & Extremely Fast Copy Speedvideos.
• Batch Conversion
  If you have a collection of IFO files to copy, you can transform them quickly in batch mode.
• More Easy Settings You Can Customize.

Home Page : http://www.aoamedia.com/dvd_ripper.htm Price : $34.95

How to get my video file smaller with Leawo DVD Ripper?

Leawo DVD Ripper is a suitable tool to rip DVD movie to all kinds of videos while it can help you adjust the videos size to your content, say smaller file for space saving. Although it involves the knowledge on codec settings that matter in the task, it is nevertheless easy to learn, by following a step by step guide below, how to reduce the size of your DVD movies with Leawo DVD Ripper.
Step 1, load the DVD movie into Leawo DVD Ripper for processing. After import, you will see numbers of titles and chapters listed in order. Select all to get a full length output or otherwise partial output by your wish.

Step 2, select a profile for the DVD conversion output. More than 100 profiles, with reference to common video formats and particular terminal formats, are in distinct order. You may judge on the file extension and the description for one that matches your need.

Step 3, assuming you have assigned a XviD profile, then click “Settings” to open codec settings panel. There is a full list of codec settings, dividing into two parts, for you to make distinct differences.

Video Codec: it is to determine which arithmetic to use in encoding the video. If you have ever uploaded videos to YouTube, you should be acquainted with YouTube’s recommendations on uploaded video format, which are H.264, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4. Leawo DVD Ripper has many codec plugins to cover most picky demands.
Quality: it specifies how much the video quality is to preserve after conversion. High quality usually brings good details on screen with the only holdback of large file size. It is recommended for video backup or broadcasting. When you want to view the video on small screen or memory-tight terminals, low quality is the best choice.
Bit Rate: it describes the bits per second in the video stream, reflects the video quality and video size in number form.
Video Size: namely the actual resolution of the video display in full size. Common DVD video size is 720*480, or 480p.
Frame Rate: it gives the idea of the frames per second in the video stream. A smooth video usually adapts a frame rate higher than 24. If the video contains mostly intense shots, a higher frame rate is required. Otherwise, you can lower the frame rate and reduce redundant frames in a slow motion video.
Aspect Ratio: it affects the display style on your player. 4:3 is preferred aspect ratio for TV or standard CRT screen, while 16:9 is often favored by wide screen LCD screen.

Audio Codec: same to video codec, except it is dedicated to audio. A moderate choice is MP3 for its widespread popularity around cyberspace. AAC features a better performance in a smaller file size, preferred on memory-tight cell phones or PMPs. AMR is the best choice for carrying voice because of its slim body, but not suitable for music enjoyment.
Quality: same as video.
Bit Rate: same as video. Usually a video file would contain both video stream and audio stream, so the total bit rate will be the sum of video bit rate and audio bit rate.
Sample Rate: a factor that determines the details of audio. It goes the same as Frame Rate.
Channels: an audio stream can be single channel (mono), double channels (stereo) or even 5.1 channels (surrounding). It can be easily determined by how many sub sound boxes you have in your audio system.
Important rules to reduce the size on output:
1. use high compressing codec such as H.264 to convert your movie. The output file size is smaller while the quality is better.
2. do not apply too high settings on bit rate and sample rate. It will increase the output file size and obviously not in the direction to reduce it. A modest advice is to use the default settings to reach the best balance between video quality and file size.
3. do not use overwhelming frame rate. 24 fps can well support a smooth movie playback while more means waste of frames and space.
Now you should get a picture of how the codec settings work and are ready to start conversion. Leawo DVD Ripper provides comfortable experience during conversion, such as batch converting and after done actions, brings the task easier and faster to its goal.

As a professional DVD to any video converter, Leawo DVD Ripper provides efficient and productive solution for users. Anyone seeking an all-in-one converting solution would be remiss to not check it out.

How to crop video for my players?

Some DVD movies are accompanied with black margins, so that they can be comfortably displayed on standard screens without distortion. However, as most PC media players can instantaneously fill empty space with black during video playback, such preset black margins become useless and are in an appeal to be removed. Here we utilize Leawo DVD Ripper to settle this issue.
Open Leawo DVD Ripper and load the DVD resource for cropping.

Then select one of the titles or chapters and click on the Customize button to reveal the video edit panel. The panel packs in 3 video edit functions: Effect, Trim and Crop. The Crop feature is easily found among them.

There are three ways to crop the videos on the panel.
1. Use the Letter Box profile. It provides several profiles to easily pinpoint the black margins in common cases.
2. Adjust the parameters of Top, Left, Right, Bottom to get an accurate crop shape.
3. Most straightforward is to tell apart the black margins with your naked eye and directly resize the frame on the preview window, representing the output video size.
The modification will be reflected on Crop Info telling the cropped video size and aspect ratio. When you need to crop the video to match your PMP’s screen, say 320*240, keeping an eye on this information is really helpful.
After having the video cropped, we have to generate a new video file with this modification. Leawo DVD Ripper embraces more than 100 output profiles you can choose from, ranging from the popular formats to the fashionable portable players.

There you have successfully cropped the DVD movie with black margins thoroughly removed. Leawo DVD Ripper can be a very handy tool in ripping DVD, converting DVD to any other format, and cropping their black margins, because it is a professional DVD ripper all right.

Leawo DVD Ripper: Convert DVD to MPEG4 videos much easier than before

If you have a good DVD movie and want to back it up on your computer, it is a good idea to convert the DVD video to MPEG4 format which can largely reduce its weight. For those who seldom do DVD to MPEG4 conversion themselves, they would feel sleepy when being faced with a bunch of settings making no sense to them. With Leawo DVD Ripper, one can experience a much easier DVD to video conversion than ever before. Simply a few clicks are the essence of the course. With Leawo DVD Ripper, you can also enjoy editing the video through extra functions like extracting soundtrack, adjusting the visual effect, cropping out the black margin, defining a new time length, etc.

How to convert DVD to MPEG4?

Leawo DVD Ripper provides a conceptual ready-to-go interface, on which the immediate settings are well aligned and the pertinent information is clearly shown.

Firstly, load a DVD resource in preparation for the conversion.

It is possible to load DVD resource either from a DVD disc or a folder on your hard disk. When the loading process is complete, a list of DVD video content is shown by titles and chapters. This information is contained in a file by an extension of .inf, so if you don’t see the list, it is probably the inf file is missing or corrupted.

Then, select the need-to-convert clips and apply them with appropriate settings.

You can make selections of whether to convert the chapters. A preview of the video can be triggered by double clicking on the file name. It is a very intuitive way to fix any mistakenly import. Now it leads to the settings as are explained below:

Subtitle: if the movie is multiple-language available, you can select one to combine in the converted video.

Audio: if the movie is dubbed in multiple languages, it is possible you select one from them to be the audio of the converted video.

Angle: when the movie is filmed in different angles, you may choose one as your favorite output.

Profiles: this is a simple way to go through conversion without touching the complicated settings. Leawo DVD Ripper has an incredibly large volume of profiles. You can deal with several types of MPEG4 conversion whether the quality is lossy or lossless. If you have devices that support the playback of MPEG4, you may find a corresponding profile in the library directly set you free from further settings in line with the specifications of your device.

Video quality and Audio quality: this is the most intuitive way to determine the output quality. They are graded in three levels each: high, medium and low. Generally, the high level will generate high output quality but result in large file and high requirement for playback on CPU computing ability. Simply pick a choice that would best match your need.

Finally, give it one click on the Start button to begin the DVD to MPEG4 conversion. Believe it or not, it takes only a few minutes to let you convert your DVD to MPEG4 videos. Much easier than before. And beyond that, Leawo DVD Ripper has some helpful tricks for you.

1.If you want to process a bunch of titles and chapters in a considerable long time, you can use batch feature to do the conversion one by one, and before you leave, check the option to shut own computer after conversion.

2. Extra useful video editing features are provided. Users can change the visual color through Effect feature, cut a clip of favored duration with a precision of millisecond by Trim feature, and resize the video by Crop feature. Edit your video so as to cut the waste and enhance the visual quality.

3. Users can set up to 3 simultaneous processing threads to finish the task faster.

4. During the preview of the video, you can also capture a thumbnail for later use.

Happy birthday, Michael

A person sells buttons as fans celebrate the life of singer Michael Jackson during a concert by various disc jockeys remixing the King of Pop’s music on what would have been his 51st birthday, in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, in New York, August 29, 2009.

Fans celebrate the life of singer Michael Jackson during a concert by various disc jockeys remixing the King of Pop’s music on what would have been his 51st birthday, in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, in New York, August 29, 2009.

Fans celebrate the life of singer Michael Jackson during a concert by various disc jockeys remixing the King of Pop’s music on what would have been his 51st birthday, in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, in New York, August 29, 2009

Fans celebrate the life of singer Michael Jackson during a concert by various disc jockeys remixing the King of Pop’s music on what would have been his 51st birthday, in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, in New York, August 29, 2009.

A combination picture shows Michael Jackson fans attending an event celebrating the late singer’s 51st birthday at the Monument of the Revolution in Mexico City August 29, 2009. Over 12,000 fans danced to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” at the event, breaking a Guinness world record.

Michael Jackson fans hold up his poster as they dance to “Thriller” in celebration of the late singer’s 51st birthday in Mexico City August 29, 2009. Over 12,000 fans danced to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” at the event, breaking a Guinness world record.

Michael Jackson fans dance the routine from “Thriller” to celebrate the late-singer’s 51st birthday in Trafalgar square in London August 29, 2009. Pop star Michael Jackson’s death was ruled a homicide from drug overdose on Friday, fuelling speculation his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, may soon be charged with manslaughter or another crime. Jackson would have turned 51 on Saturday.

Michael Jackson fans dance the routine from “Thriller” to celebrate the late-singer’s 51st birthday in Trafalgar square in London August 29, 2009.

Michael Jackson fans dance as they celebrate the late King of Pop’s birthday anniversary in Paris, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009. The Eiffel Tower is seen at background.

Michael Jackson’s fan Li Wei performs at a party celebrating the late-King of Pop’s 51st birthday in Guangzhou, south China’s Guangdong Province, Aug. 29, 2009. Local Michael Jackson fans celebrated the late singer’s 51st birthday here on Saturday.

Mourners bid farewell to Edward Kennedy

The coffin of Senator Edward Kennedy is carried by an honour guard at the entrance of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston where his body will lie in repose for two days. Crowds flocked Thursday to pay tearful last respects to late Democratic lion Edward Kennedy as his body lay in the oceanside library he built to honor his slain brother.

The family and friends of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, watch as his casket is moved to a hearse at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.

Senator Edward Kennedy’s sister Jean Kennedy Smith, his widow Vicki Reggie Kennedy, and his son Congressman Patrick Kennedy watch as an honor guard carries the senator’s casket into the John F. Kennedy Library and Presidential Museum in Boston, Massachusetts August 27, 2009.

Senator Edward Kennedy’s grandson Edward Kennedy III (L), his sister Jean Kennedy Smith and his widow Vicki Reggie Kennedy (R) watch as an honor guard carries the senator’s casket into the John F. Kennedy Library and Presidential Museum in Boston, August 27, 2009.

Edward Kennedy began his final journey Thursday as America mourned the passing of a political giant whose family has helped shape the nation’s history for half a century.

Convert DVD to iPhone with no watermark

New semester is coming and everyone is going to get a gift. Most of the young people will get an iPod or PSP or other portable players for back to school gift. But not all the people know how to enjoy DVD movies and videos downloaded from Youtube and other online sites on iPod, PSP, my iPhone, computer, Zune, Creative Zen, walkman, PS3, etc.

Today I will teach you how to do that with free DVD to iPhone Converter.Before we start the guide, here is something about iPhone supported video format that we should know:

Video formats supported:

1. H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats;
2. H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats;
3. MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats.

DVD movies cannot be transferred to iPhone via iTunes directly, so I had to find a converter to do that. I have used a few converters and the one I am using now is Leawo Free DVD to iPhone Converter. It is a real free DVD Converter, because it has no time limit and doesn’t leave a watermark. If you don’t want to put a whole movie, you can just convert part of a movie onto your iPhone with this app. My OS is Windows, so I use the Windows version.

For windows users what you need is Leawo Free DVD to iPhone Converter.

For Mac users you can use another freeware which called Handbrake.

Step 1

Download and install Leawo Free DVD to iPhone Converter.Click “Load DVD” button to load the DVD file from your DVD-Rom or hard drive:

Step 2
Click “Profile” button from the drop-down list to select the output video format iPhone MPEG-4 (480×320)(*.mp4), iPhone H.264 Video(480×320)(*.mp4), iPhone MPEG-4 (320×240)(*.mp4), etc.

Step 3

Click the “Start” button to start the conversion.

Do you think this DVD to iPhone Conveter is easy to use?If  you have any problems,please leave a comment here.I will feed you back as soon as possible.

Licesed All-in-One Leawo Video Converter is Available on Giveawayoftheday.com Now!

It is told by an inner official of Leawo software Co.,Ltd today that the licensed copy of the latest version 1.9.1.5 of the company’s leading product – Leawo Video Converter – will be provided on http://www.giveawayoftheday.com on (Aug 19th,2009). If you need a video converter solution, it is a never-come-back chance for you to enjoy a professional software which you have to pay for otherwise.

Leawo Video Converter is an all-in-one video converter for converting videos and audios among popular formats like AVI, MPEG, WMV, MP4, RM, MOV, XviD, 3GP, etc. It can transform between MP3, WMA, WAV, M4A, AAC and AC3 audios, and create fascinating videos from photos. With this video converter, you may get the specific format to watch on TV, play on portable media players, load to mobile phones, or put on websites, etc. More features of Leawo Video Converter are shown on http://www.leawo.com/leawo-video-converter/

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‘Potter’ fans urge drivers to ‘Stop Voldemort’

Fans of the Harry Potter franchise are suspected of vandalising a series of traffic stop signs in the small suburb of Wauwatosa, Milwaukee.

Police have discovered that several signs have had the word ‘Voldemort’ added in permanent black marker so that they now read ‘Stop Voldemort’ in reference to the fantasy film’s main villain.

“Is it the crime of the century? No. But the problem is it’s starting to add up,” patrol specialist Paul Liest told the reporters.

It is thought that around 80 signs have been vandalised in the city, although similar markings have also been spotted across the US and in England.

Leist added: “You couldn’t find a more important sign to vandalise. It’s imperative people can read a stop sign. We’d like to see this come to an end. Besides we’ve got more important things to attend to.”

Speaking to the Chicago Tribune, Captain Jeff Sutter admitted that officers had only realised what the vandalism meant when one policeman’s young son came forward to enlighten them.

“It took a seven-year old to tell us what [the graffiti] was,” he explained. “We thought it was just some type of new tagger.”

Residents have been offered cash rewards for any tips that lead to an arrest. It is estimated that each sign will cost $80 to replace.