Best program for ripping dvd's/blurays?

I took on this task for my DVDs about 3 years ago (in an effort to get rid of them all). I started off using Handbrake as well, and then realized that I could easily download a HD/BD torrent of the movie faster than ripping them to my computer.

What was nice though was when I finished, I took all of the movies to FYE to sell them back. They gave me the offer of cashback, or store credit (which was about 25% more). I took that store credit and turned right around and bought iTunes giftcards.

OP,
I recommend you check out this video before you attempt to rip a DVD via handbrake. You need to drop a file into the program that strips away the DRM protections.

It's easy and this video shows you how to do it.

MACWorld

ETA:
I just noticed you are on a mac

to you & tiger alum. I definitely needed that info.

Just as an FYI, so you are prepared for the enormous amount of time involved to do what you're planning:

Ripping a Blu-Ray with MakeMKV.

You must download the program. Every now and then, the license will expire or the program will become outdated and require an update. You will need to go to the MakeMKV website and download the new program version. No big deal. Takes a little time to download, close the existing program, install and open. But.. you also need a new registration. If you go to the announcements section of the MakeMKV Forum, you will find the current Registration Key. This changes periodically. You will need to copy this key and add it to the product registration, close the program and then restart it.

MakeMKV will read through your disc, strip out DRM, throw out the false chapters and leave you with a list of 'Titles' to choose from. All 'Titles' are selected and there's no "uncheck all" button. It can be a tedious task on some discs of scrolling through upwards of 100 (unusual) titles and unchecking all of the titles except the one you want (the largest one). Even then, you have to uncheck all of the various audio languages and subtitles. Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you don't. Also, sometimes movies have 'forced' subtitles, like, for example, in Captain Philips where the Somali pirates speak Somali and you want the Subtitles to be forced so that you know what they are saying, but you don't want English subtitles for all the English speaking parts. Like I said, sometimes you get it right, sometimes you don't. Most of the time it's not an issue.

Then, once you have that done, you want to be cautious in where the new file is saved. You want to select the folder you save to and give the file a name. Then, you are finally set to convert the file. Depending on the processor of the computer and whether or not you are using an internal or external hard drive, and if external whether that is a USB 2.0 or a 3.0, the time can take anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes.

Once that file is completed, congrats! You have a movie on your hard drive at full uncompressed (at least, uncompressed any different than the Blu Ray movie already is) glory. Now, you have to decide whether or not to compress that any further with Handbrake.

Handbrake is a series of successes and failures until you get a good set of operating parameters and compression down. It can save an enormous amount of room on your hard drive, compressing a 34Gb movie down to a file size of anywhere between 12 - 7 Gb where it is barely discernible that the file has been compressed. You have to be cautious, again, in how you handle audio and subtitles.

You can reduce the file size further, and many do, but this becomes a game of balancing out quality vs. file size. Experience will teach you what to do. There are lots of places to gather advice on the Internet.

What you face, though, is a daunting amount of time. Compressing a full HD movie, some of which can be as high as 38 Gb of data, can take many hours per movie. I've had some take between three and four hours.

So when you look at 500 movies and the amount of time involved, ask yourself if it's worth it. Of course it is! It's great having a home network full of high quality movies that you can stream all over the house or back out to your mobile devices (using Plex, for example). Just be prepared to spend years doing it. As someone with about 850 movies that I've ripped and compressed, believe me, it takes many years to do this when you consider all the rest that life has to offer that takes your personal time.

As has been suggested, you likely could save yourself a lot of time by subscribing to a VPN service and a Torrents service and downloading them. That's a choice you have to make.

Good luck!

Get a copy of anydvd for removal of protection and dvdshrink.
Never been disappointed.

How does the picture quality compare from blue ray to ripped to torented?

Damn, this will be quite a project.