[Tiresias]

This is--let it be said in passing--a purely hypothetical question, but is it possible to rip rented DVDs and burn them to disk in DVD format?

[Weezer]

yes

[angelmb]

MacTheRipper is your friend.

Then if you want to burn the extracted movie to a DVD disc, DVD2One would also help since usually a ripped DVD doesn't fit on a single layer 4.7 GB DVD media disc.
DVD2oneX 2.0.6 - MacUpdate

Then you could convert those ripped DVDs to something like mp4 movies with the help of HandBrake, cool for watch them with QuickTime Player without the letterbox format.
HandBrake 0.7.1 - MacUpdate

Please note than HandBrake does stress the CPU -if your Mac is kinda old at least-, I don't mean it is going to hurt, just that the Mac could become kinda slow once it is processing the DVD movie to mp4 (mine is a single 1,25 G4 and it gets 100% CPU use by HandBrake).

[Tiresias]

I have an Alfred Hitchcock Box Set I bought in Asia with a different DVD region-code. Does MactheRipper really let me burn DVDs into a different format? That's wicked!

[angelmb]

Sure, you can set a new region code or not code at all. Mind you the issue here is to use yours computer DVD drive with a different region code for once, there is a limit to this -can't recall right now- so I would rip all those DVDs and then get the region code back to your 'everyday' world zone, so you would avoid switching from 0 to 2 to whatever, which is what is really limited.

[Dark Helmet]

Popcorn or toast is great for compressing them and burning them once you ripped them.

[Tuoder]

It is possible, and easy. It is also theft. That is not to say that I have never done it, but you get the picture.

[zerostar]

I use mactheripper then popcorn as it seems to be the quickest. I mean my friend does.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by Tuoder 

It is possible, and easy. It is also theft. That is not to say that I have never done it, but you get the picture.

Well run for the hills Bob Barker! Thanks for pointing out the obvious but we like to live dangerously just like the tapping of the radio and tearing off mattress tags crowd.

[Tuoder]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet 

Well run for the hills Bob Barker! Thanks for pointing out the obvious but we like to live dangerously just like the tapping of the radio and tearing off mattress tags crowd.

If you ask me, piracy amounts to more than ripping the tags off of mattresses.

[DoctorW]

Originally Posted by Tuoder 

It is possible, and easy. It is also theft. That is not to say that I have never done it, but you get the picture.

I'm not trying to be argumentative, or condoning the copying of rental DVDs, but it's not theft. Theft would be taking the DVD itself from its owner with the intention of never returning it. Copying a DVD you don't own, while illegal, is not the same thing. It's the equivalent of taping the movie off of TV, or, for instance, borrowing a book from the library and Xeroxing it.

[wataru]

Originally Posted by Tuoder 

It is possible, and easy. It is also theft. That is not to say that I have never done it, but you get the picture.

DoctorW already said it, but more simply:

That's not theft. That's copyright violation. They are not the same thing.