Friday, June 27, 2014

Best Mac Blu-ray Ripper for OS X 10.9 Mavericks


Getting hands-on a Mac, you may be get stuck by the incapability of watching Blu-ray on Mac 10.9 Mavericks. In this article, I'd like to share Blu-Ray Ripper for OS X 10.9 Mavericks to you, which allows you convert and rip Blu-Ray for easier playback.

Mac OS 10.9-Mavericks has come for a long time, but we still can't play the Blu-Ray easily on Mac os x 10.9 or other portable devices. If you want to watch Blu-ray movies on the go or go disc-less to save space, you’ll have to rip Blu-ray disc first. Thankfully, there are plenty of great utilities designed to make the process easy and give you files that are playable on any device you choose.



Here recommend Pavtube BDMagic for Mac which is constantly updated to fit with the latest technology and fully compatible with Mac’s latest OS X 10.9 Mavericks. It will definitely be the best solution for Blu-ray ripping and copying in Mavericks.

The software provides me an easy way to rip, convert and enjoy your huge DVD’s and Blu-Ray collection of movies and concerts. With it, you can effortlessly make your Blu-ray and DVD movies playable on almost all popular devices in just a few click mouses. User-friendly interface and powerful Blu-ray ripping capacity.

Now just download it and follow the tutorial below.


Rip Blu-ray movie on Mac OS 10.9 Mavericks with Mac Blu-ray Ripper for Mavericks

1. Click the "Load file(s)" icon to import Blu-ray disc (need an external Blu-ray drive), Blu-ray ISO image files and Blu-ray folder.
 

2. Click the drop-down list on the bottom; choose proper presets according to your device.

If you just want to play the Blu-ray files on Mac with QuickTime or iTunes player, MOV or M4V is the recommended output format.

If you want to convert Blu-ray to play on iPhone, iPad or some other mobile devices, just specify the corresponding optimized presets as the output format.

Basically the “H.264 Video(*.mp4)” is a universal format for playback.



Tips:

a. You can check the pencil-like icon to activate the editing function.

Here you can trim video for your needed length, crop video to get rid of annoying black edges, join multiple video clips into one, add text/image watermark and add subtitles.



b. If you want to output video in specific size, bitrate or frame rate, click “Settings” and change the digits as you need.

Pls notes that the video quality improved with the bitrate, but not the higher the better. You need to consider your device configuration as the high bitrate required higher read&write speed.

3. Ok now click the “Convert” button to start converting/copying Blu-ray for playing on Mac 10.9 Mavericks.

After conversion, click “Open” to locate the converted video directly and you can enjoy the Blu-ray movies on Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks without any hassles.
Additional Tips:

If you want to do more than Blu-ray ripping, you can try Pavtube iMedia Converter for Mac which is best integration of a blu-ray ripper, a dvd ripper, and a video converter to quickly complete BD/DVD to video and video to video conversion.

More related:

5 Tips You Should Keep in Mind While Selecting Reliable DVD Ripper
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Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Film Review: ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’

Directed by Michael Bay, ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’ tells a story that an automobile mechanic and his daughter make a discovery that brings down the Autobots and Decepticons - and a paranoid government. Read the film review here.



Details

Official Sites: Official Facebook | Official site

Country: USA

Language: English

Release Date: 27 June 2014 (USA)

Also Known As: Transformers 4

Filming Locations: Austin, Texas, USA

The Bottom Line

Occasional glimpses of hope for a fresh reboot are extinguished by a generally bloated and dull spectacle.

Opens

June 27 (Paramount)Cast

Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor, Sophia Myles, Li BingbingDirector

Michael Bay

Mark Wahlberg and Stanley Tucci head a completely new (human) cast in Michael Bay's fourth installment of the intergalactic robot film series.

"The age of the Transformers is over," announces counterintelligence agent Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer) in the fourth entry of the Paramount/Hasbro-backed fighting-robots film series. But don't you believe it: He's the villain of the piece, and, given Paramount's recent announcement that a fifth installment will ship in 2016, it's clear the mutating androids' reign, onscreen and at the box office, is far from finished.

Some viewers, though, will probably side with Attinger as they leave theaters after Transformers: Age of Extinction finallydraws to a close. True, there's a lot of state-of-the-art 3D chicanery, and the film is a marked improvement over the wholesale inhuman chaos of the last two installments, 2009'sRevenge of the Fallen and 2011's Dark of the Moon. But the bloat of this latest entry — at 165 minutes, the longest of the lot — suggests that Michael Bay and his team are struggling to rejuvenate the whole premise.

PHOTOS 'Transformers' Hong Kong Premiere

Despite boasting an entirely new human cast and many a new onscreen mechanical warrior, plus a half-hour grand finale set in very different Hong Kong locales, Transformers: Age of Extinction isn't the breath of fresh air vitally needed by an aging franchise. No matter that these films set the tills ringing — all things come to an end, and if this is a reboot, Extinctionpromises the series will go out with more of a whimper than a bang further down the line. Still, the current film is very well-placed to rake it in big time in China and could surpass Dark of the Moon's record takings.

Sadly, Age of Extinction is neither controversial nor disturbing, but mostly just dull and middling — which is just so not done with a sci-fi action blockbuster designed to blast and titillate. It has neither the first film's sporadic comedic pleasures born of the interactions between its humans and robots, nor does it attain the hyper-sensationalism that makes the second and third installments utterly over-the-top showcases of gratuitous demolition.

It's perhaps not a good sign that Ehren Kruger's screenplay is laced with a slew of ironic, self-reflexive gags about the film's premise and its director. In an early scene, a former cinema operator laments how "crap" sequels bring disrepute and ruin to the business; later, a camera-wielding geek is heard dissingArmageddon — one of the hits that cemented Bay's standing as an ace in unleashing onscreen mayhem. Such attempts at whipping up a cheap laugh reflect a lack of confidence in the film overall. In the same way, the script aims for kudos in its allusions to John Ford when the honorable robots team up in iconic Monument Valley, and Stanley Kubrick when, in the opening scene, a prehistoric, dinosaur-populated Earth is visited — and decimated — by a phalanx of alien warships.

PHOTOS Mark Wahlberg's Road From Movie Star to Mogul

Though converging fanboys may not tune in to The Searchersor 2001: A Space Odyssey homages, they should connect to the broad sentiments shaping Age of Extinction: that times (in the U.S., at least) are tough, the government is bad, and men (and only men) should fight for their heath, home and automobile. All this is embodied in Bay's new protagonist, Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg). Unlike the middle-class, suburban Sam Witwicky — whose mix-up with the Transformers began when he bought a flashy car to fish for a hot date — Cade is a broke Texan who gets into trouble buying a patched-up truck he intends to dismantle and sell off to pay the rent and future college fees of his daughter, Tessa (Nicola Peltz).

But the vehicle is none other than Optimus Prime (again voiced by Peter Cullen), the leader of the Autobots. Set several years after Dark of the Moon, in which the Decepticons were defeated by the human-robot alliance, Optimus and his world-saving colleagues have been shunned by those in power for being a threat. They are hunted down by Black Ops squadrons led by Attinger and Captain Savoy (Titus Welliver), not to mention the harrowing Decepticon bounty hunter Lockdown (voiced by Mark Ryan). Their patriotic veneer naturally conceals a darker motive — they are hocking parts of the captured robots to Joshua Joyce (Stanley Tucci), a Steve Jobs-like egomaniac hoping to build "better" Transformers.

What follows is a de rigueur runaround as the good guys (with Tessa now joined by her race car-driver boyfriend, Shane, played by Jack Reynor) are caught and freed a couple of times in the midst of screaming and carnage. They then travel to Hong Kong, where they join their robot friends in pursuit of Joyce and his dangerous energy source.

Being the only character whose personality arc actually changes within the film, Tucci is given a wealth of opportunities to ham it up, just like John Turturro, John Malkovich and Frances McDormand have done before; his clownish antics while racing for survival in a Hong Kong tenement block are probably the highlight of the film. Unfortunately, Wahlberg is given far less space to maneuver. His troubled interactions with Tessa and barbed exchanges with Shane are cliched or underwritten, and his ability to morph into a bazooka-wielding warrior ("This alien gun can really kick ass!") limits his register further.

Maybe it's no surprise that the robots keep asking each other why they should care about these silly humans. The clatter of metallic mano a mano remains Bay's calling card, while the robot dialogue (from the good guys, at that) includes lines like "Die, bitch!" or "This one's for you, A-hole!" as they cannonade their targets into, well, extinction.

PHOTOS Most Anticipated Summer Blockbusters of 2014

Even when the action switches to Hong Kong — a twist designed to qualify the film for Chinese co-production status and a bigger slice of the Asian box-office pie — the noise never abates. Though basically superfluous, the last 40 minutes of the film should please the Chinese co-financiers, including the state-owned China Movie Channel, as well as the authorities. For a change, there are no Chinese villains and the one significant local character, Joyce's English-speaking deputy Su Yueming (Li Bingbing, Resident Evil: Retribution), is presented as a swish executive and a dexterous fighter who saves her American boss. The fictional Chinese defense minister can also be heard proclaiming the country's ability to protect Hong Kong, as he promises to send fighter jets to the city in a show of Beijing's military might.

True, the film never actually shows the jets being dispatched to fight: Age of Extinction is, like all the other Transformers films, not about details but about the grand scheme of things. Its grandiose mission statement is, "The biggest robots fighting the biggest fights" — and it does the job by reducing everything to a drone. Aurally, Steve Jablonsky's nearly omnipresent musical score merges with the sounds of CGI pyrotechnics in one giant cacophony. Visually, the product placements eventually begin to blur, and not even the glimpse of a Chinese bank's ATM in the middle of Texas or the meaningless scene of Joyce drinking a Chinese soft drink while being pursued by deadly killing machines comes as much of a surprise.

Belying its ominous title, Age of Extinction barely skirts the idea that humankind and planet Earth are about to be totally annihilated. What is extinguished is the audience's consciousness after being bombarded for nearly three hours with overwrought emotions ("There's a missile in the living room!" Tessa hollers — twice), bad one-liners and battles that rarely rise above the banal. A trio of editors make a technical marvel out of the fight scenes, but can do little to link the story's multiple threads into something coherent.

Production companies: A Paramount Pictures presentation in association with Hasbro of a Di Bonaventura Pictures, Tom DeSanto/Don Murphy production
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor, Sophia Myles, Li Bingbing
Director: Michael Bay
Screenwriter: Ehren Kruger, based on Hasbro's 'Transformers' Action Figures
Producers: Don Murphy, Tom DeSanto, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Ian Bryce
Executive producers: Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay, Brian Goldner, Mark Vahradian
Director of photography: Amir Mokri
Production designer: Jeffrey Beecroft
Costume designer: Marie-Sylvie Deveau
Editors: William Goldenberg, Roger Barton, Paul Rubell
Music: Steve Jablonsky
Special effects supervisor: John Frazier
Rated PG-13, 165 minutes

Source: The Hollywood Reporter | IMDb

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Monday, June 23, 2014

How to Play and Watch purchased DVD Movies on Android Tablets/Phones

Watching your purchased DVD movies on Android devices can be a hassle, but it's not impossible. This article will give you the best DVD Ripper that can help you rip and convert the DVD videos to Android-compatible video formats.

Android phones and tablets , such as Samsung Galaxy TabPro, Galaxy NotePor, BlackBerry, Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S5, etc. are the market hot spots. They are all perfect for watching videos on the go. However, Android accepts various video formats H.264, MPEG4, WMV, AVI, MOV, 3GP, etc. It don't have the DVD drive for playing your purchased DVD movies. Besides, it is not necessary for us to load DVD to Android device or phone.



So a DVD to Android ripper is badly needed. You can search the related key words on line, and many results would be available. Here, Pavtube DVDAid is recommended to accomplish your task in a few mouse clicks! With it, you can fast convert DVD movies to Android supported MP4 video files with excellent output video quality. Besides, video presets for lots of Android devices like Samsung Galaxy Tab, Galaxy Note, Xperia Series, BlackBerry, etc. are all provided for you to get videos with best settings for playback on a certain Android device.

If you are using a Mac and want to convert DVD movies to Android on Mac, please turn to DVDAid for Mac.

How to rip your purchased DVD movies to Android Tablets/Phones in clicks

Step 1. Run DVD to Android Converter; load DVD movies

Click the disc button to browse and import DVD disc from ROM, or load the ISO/IFO files that you want to convert for viewing on Android-based devices.



Pavtube DVDAid will detect and list the main title (the full length of this movie with all the chapters) and check it by default. So just keep it untouched and let’s move on to Step 2.

Step 2. Choose export format

You can click the dropdown menu between “Format” and “Settings”, you will see many presets sorted of different device models and programs.

Basically the "Common Video -> H.264 Video (*.mp4)" is a universal format for Android tablets and smartphones. Or depends on your device, you can choose a suitable video format from "Android" catalogue




Step 3. Adjust specs or edit video before conversion (Optional)
Click “Settings” button to configure target file quality. After entering “Profile Settings” panel, you are allowed to adjust video and audio parameters such as bit rate, frame rate, sample rate, etc..

If you think the video size this not suitable for your Android Tablet or Phone, you can first choose any one of the provided type, then change the settings. Generally speaking, the higher video bit rate will result in the larger output file size, and vice versa.

Step 4. Start conversion

Now hit the big red “Convert” to start converting purchased DVD movies to MP4 with best settings for playback on different Android -based devices.

After the conversion, you can get the converted DVD rips in *.mp4 format by clicking the “Open” or “Open output folder” icon.

How to transfer videos from PC to Android Phone/Tablet?


All of the above video(including MKV, AVI, Tivo, VOB, FLV, MPG, DVD, Blu-ray, ISO, IFO, etc.), a software can be completely solved, it is Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate.

Additional Tips

1. Android tablets only recognize SD cards formatted in FAT 32, this limits a single file size less than 4GB. If you worry about getting a big video file larger than 4GB, you can use split feature in Pavtube software to split a large 1080p/720p file into multiple chunks under 4GB. Learn to split a large video file into several small files under 4GB for Android device.

2. Not a Android users? It doesn't matter, the Pavtube Converter also supports "common" video formats like MOV, M4V, MP4 and has presets for all the models of iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and Apple TV, or Surface RT, Surface Pro, Surface 2, Surface Pro 2, so you should be able to create files compatible with your iOS basd devices and Windows RT/Pro devices.

3. I used another Pavtube program called ByteCopy to backup my DVDs without quality loss. Meanwhile, several audio tracks and subtitles are preserved so I can switch language when watching movies.


Read More:

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Pavtube Father's Day Special- 50% OFF Converting DVD for watching on mobile devices

Now it’s time to celebrate that all-important guy in your life—dad. Dad is notoriously the toughest family member to shop for. If you've waited until now to pick up this year's Father's Day Gift, then you're going to need a great idea — fast.

Luckily, to celebrate Father's Day with you, Pavtube Studio launch a huge Coupon Code as the 2014 Father's Day Special Offer. Up to 50% off for your beloved dad! Backup your dad's favorite Blu-ray/DVD movie to iOS/Android gadgets, HD TV, home theatre or game console. Even better you can make a father's day video for your beloved dad on your own! It’s more precious than just picking up something on store casually!

Her are Pavtube Great Deals and Specials at Father's Day 2014 weekend

1. 50% OFF Pavtube DVDAid (Win/Mac) as Father's Day Gift 2014

With this professional DVD ripping tool, playing DVD movies on DVD player at home has never been a problem for you. And you can now freely enjoy your favorite DVD movies on the road without worrying about the issues they jump on the most crucial scenes and are prone to scratches.

2. 30% OFF Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate/iMedia Converter for Mac as Father's Day Gift 2014

An all-in-one solution to fast convert Blu-ray/DVD and various videos to virtually any video/audio format for watching on any Android/iOS/Windows devices. Save a 100% intact BD M2TS/ DVD VOB movie without extras.Backup 3D Blu-ray movies to 3D video for watching on 3D devices with pleasant quality. 

3. 20% OFF Pavtube ByteCopy (Win/Mac) as Father's Day Gift 2014

An easy to use Blu-ray and DVD movie ripping program is capable of ripping 3D Blu-ray discs, 2D Blu-ray Discs and standard DVDs to required video formats. Most important, it can lossless BD/DVD to MKV backup with multiple audio/subtitle tracks and convert BD/DVD to Multi-track MP4, MOV, AVI for watching on Plex, Roku 3, WDTV Live, Popcorn and more HD media players.

Like our Facbook page to get it Now! Expires on June 21, 2014. Never miss it!


More money saving bundles can be found here: 


Differences between HD-DVD and Blu-ray DVD?


Question: What is Blu-ray and What Was HD-DVD? - What Is The Difference?

NOTICE: HD-DVD is now officially discontinued. However, information on HD-DVD, and its comparison to Blu-ray, is still contained in this article for historical purposes, as well as the fact that there are still many HD-DVD player owners, and HD-DVD players and discs will continue to be sold and traded on the secondary market for some time.

Answer:

HD-DVD (now discontinued) was the second major High Definition Disc format (see Blu-ray, above) that was vying to replace the current DVD standard in the U.S. market, and was a direct competitor of Blu-ray for two years.

HD-DVD was supported, during its brief time on the scene, by Toshiba (its major developer and backer), LG (also supported HD-DVD), NEC, Sanyo, Thomson (Note: Thomson also supported Blu-ray), New Line Cinema, Paramount Pictures, and Universal Pictures. Microsoft was also a major supporter of HD-DVD. It is interesting to note that although HD-DVD has been discontinued, Toshiba has not switched to the Blu-ray camp and is persuing its own course with a re-emphasis on improving standard DVD upscaling technology and other products.

In terms of technology, Blu-ray and HD-DVD both utilize Blue Laser and sophisticated video compression to achieve high definition video playback on the same size disc as a standard DVD. However, neither format is compatible with the other.

Blu-ray is one of the two major High Definition disc formats (see HD-DVD, below) that were vying to replace the current DVD standard in the U.S. market. As of February 19, 2008, only Blu-ray is left. However, information on both formats is being included here for historical reasons, and the fact that there still HD-DVD player owners and several hundred films available in the format. 

Blu-ray is now supported on the hardware side by all major manufacturers and movie studios including: Denon, Funai, Hitachi, LG, Matsushita (Panasonic), Onkyo, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, HP, Dell, Apple, TDK, Thomson, and Yamaha. Blu-ray is also supported on the software side by Sony/Columbia, Twentieth Century Fox, Walt Disney Studios, MGM, Paramount, Warner, and Universal, and others. Apple Computer also supports Blu-ray. 

Rip the Main Movie from Blu-ray to MP4

Monday, June 9, 2014

What is Blu-ray?


Blu-ray is an optical disc format designed to display high definition video and store large amounts of data.

Blu-ray is the successor to DVD. The standard was developed collaboratively by Hitachi, LG, Matsushita (Panasonic), Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, and Thomson. It became the default optical disk standard for HD content and optical data storage after winning a format war with HD-DVD, the format promoted by Toshiba and NEC.


The format's name comes from the fact that a blue laser reads from and writes to the disc rather than the red laser of DVD players. The blue laser has a 405 nanometer (nm) wavelength that can focus more tightly than the red lasers used for writable DVD. As a consequence, a Blu-ray disc can store much more data in the same 12 centimeter space. Like the rewritable DVD formats, Blu-ray uses phase change technology to enable repeated writing to the disc.

Blu-ray's standard storage capacity is enough to store a continuous backup copy of most people's hard drives on a single disc. Initially, the format had a 27 gigabyte (GB) single-sided capacity and 50 GB on dual-layer discs. Single-sided Blu-ray discs can store up to 13 hours of standard video data, compared to single-sided DVD's 133 minutes. In July 2008, Pioneer announced that they had found a way to increase capacity to 500 GB by creating 20-layer discs. These discs are not, however, expected to be commercially available in the near future.

Blu-ray also features data streams at 36 megabits per second (Mbps), fast enough for high quality video recording. Blu-ray discs will not play on current CD and DVD players, because those players lack the blue-violet laser required to read the discs. If the appropriate lasers are included, however, Blu-ray players can play the other two formats. Blu-ray disc players (BDPs) are available from a number of manufacturers, including Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung and Sony. Sony's Playstation 3 also has a Blu-ray drive installed.

Friday, June 6, 2014

What DVD formats are recordable?

This article will give you basic knowledge of six DVD format, and tells you the difference, which are recordable, how to get DVD video playable without limitation.

What format does your burner require? DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, or DVD-RAM?


DVD-R Media: A write-once, recordable format. DVD-R drives can write DVD-R discs, which can be written to only once, as opposed to a DVD-RW drive, which can write and rewrite to RW media multiple times. The Authoring Use Drive (635nm Laser) was introduced in 1998 by Pioneer, and the General Use Format (650nm Laser) was authorized in 2000. DVD-R offers a write-once, read-many storage format akin to CD-R and is used to master DVD-Video and DVD-ROM discs.

DVD-RW Media: DVD ReWritable. A rewritable DVD format that is similar to DVD+RW, but its capability to work as a random access device is not as good as that of the +RW. DVD-RW has a read-write capacity of 4.7 GB.

DVD+R Media: Short for DVD+Recordable, a recordable DVD format similar to a CD-R. A DVD+R can only record data once and then the data becomes permanent on the disc. The disc can not be recorded onto a second time. DVD+R and DVD+RW formats are supported by Philips, Sony, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Ricoh, Yamaha and others.

DVD+RW Media: The DVD Plus RW Alliance is a group of companies that includes Philips and Sony. They propose standards for recordable and rewritable DVDs.

DVD+R Dual Layer / Double Layer Media: Double Layer DVD+R media has an amazing 8.5GB of storage capacity. This incredible capacity is enough for up to 4 hours of DVD quality video, 16 hours of VHS quality video or over 120 hours of MP3 audio. Compatible with all current DVD video players and DVD-ROM drives as well as new DVD+R DL drives, the disc is ideal for virtually any business or household application.

Dual-layer DVD-R media offers genuine advantage over the current single layer 4.7GB DVD. The new dual-layer recordable DVD-R disc allows users to read, write or view almost twice the amount of data that is currently possible with the single layer. The advanced technology means that material can be read or recorded on one layer without affecting the other. There's no need to flip sides or change discs.

DVD-RAM Media: DVD Random Access Memory is a rewritable DVD disc endorsed by Panasonic, Hitachi and Toshiba. It is a cartridge-based, and more recently, bare disc technology for data recording and playback. DVD-RAM bare discs are fragile and do not guarantee data integrity. The first DVD-RAM drives had a capacity of 2.6GB (single-sided) or 5.2GB (double-sided). DVD-RAM Version 2 discs have double-sided 9.4GB discs. DVD-RAM drives typically read DVD-Video, DVD-ROM and CD media. The current installed base of DVD-ROM drives and DVD-Video players cannot read DVD-RAM media.


When choosing a format to use, note that DVD-R/RW won’t record in a DVD+R/RW recorder or burner, and vice-versa. This is not an issue when using a Multi-Format recorder or burner, and most DVD players and DVD-ROM drives will read either format.

Tip: 

If you find issues when playing DVD video, try Pavtube DVDAid or DVDAid for Mac – a must-have DVD ripping & coping tool with strong ability to remove DVD protection, transcode DVD to any video and audio format for viewing on various mobile devices, and edit DVD to create personal movie.

Read more: 

5 Tips You Should Keep in Mind While Selecting Reliable DVD Ripper
What is DVD and Why DVD is Popular
Rip DVD movies to your portable media players