As the booming development of streaming service, Roku has been an indispensable part for streaming media to TV sets or other video display devices. Actually, Roku, similar to Apple TV and Chromecast, is a series of digital media player set-top boxes, allowing you to stream about everything from 1800+ channels including YouTube, Netflix, HBO GO, Hulu plus etc. Even so, it's a pity that Roku fails to stream DVD. Only MKV, MP4, MOV, WMV video formats are supported by Roku. And you may find it a painful experience to stream DVD movie titles to Roku 4/3/2 via Plex. So if you intend to play DVD on Roku with HD TV, an excellent DVD ripper will helps a lot on streaming DVD to Roku.
What Kind of A DVD Ripper Do You Need to Rip DVD to Roku?
At the mention of ripping DVD, Handbrake may be top of your mind. But it's not the best choice for ripping and streaming DVD to Roku, though it's free. That's because DVD ripper like Handbrake cannot rip protected DVD movies, and on the other hand the new DVD movies that you wanna streaming to Roku are definitely protected with various encryption. Well, what kind of DVD ripper is suitable rip and stream to Roku? Here are some indications: supporting a range of output formats, including MKV, MP4, MOV, WMV etc.; capable of accessing all copy-protected commercial DVDs; within fast DVD ripping speed and high-quality output video/audio quality etc. And of course, it's better if it's free of charge.
MacX DVD Ripper Free - Best Free DVD Ripper to Turn DVDs to Video Formats for Roku
Based on the criteria above, MacX DVD Ripper Free Edition seems to be tailored for converting and copying DVD to video formats accepted by Roku for free streaming to HD TV. It's not only easy to use for DVD to Roku conversion, but also functional and remarkable with some salient features:
- Bypass most of the DVD copy protections, such as region code, CSS, Sony ARccOS, UOPs, APS etc.
- Free convert DVD to MP4, MOV, M4V, WMV, MKV etc., and surely covering Roku Plex friendly formats.
- Rip DVD movies to Mac, iTunes, YouTube, Apple TV as well as iPhone 7/SE/6S, iPod, iPad Pro, Android mobile phone, etc.
- Convert DVD stably with fast speed and high quality reserved.
BTW, the free DVD ripper can decrypt and rip most of DVD movies to stream to Roku media player or Roku TV, but it has gone beyond for the new DVD releases from Disney, Liongate, Sony, Hollywood etc. Thankfully, the advanced edition MacX DVD Ripper Pro works like a charm to convert protected DVD to MP4, MOV, MKV, MPEG2, ISO image, rip DVD to NAS, hard drive, or transfer DVD films to all popular devices etc., in spite of the DVD protections like Disney DRM, Sony ArccOS, region code, CSS, UOPs or peculiar DRM of workout DVDs and adult DVDs.
How to Free Stream DVD to Roku 5/4/3 for Playing on Apple TV, HD TV
To finally cast DVD movies on HD TV via Roku, there're two steps to go: convert DVD to formats compatible with Roku and stream DVD from Mac/PC to smart HD TV for free. Let's go over the step-by-step guide on how to rip and stream DVD to Roku meida player or Roku TV!
Rip DVD Movies to Roku 5/4/3 Accepted Formats
Firstly, download the free DVD ripper and launch it on your Macbook Pro/Air, Mac mini, iMac 4K/5K etc. And you are able to free rip and stream DVD to formats for Roku and playing on HD TV. Ps. If you plan to stream DVD from PCs to Roku Streaming Players or Roku TV, the advanced Windows edition is available to download as well.
Step 1: Load DVD. Insert your DVD movie to DVD drive and click "DVD Disc" button or simply drag and drop to import the DVD source. Video_TS Folder and ISO image are also accessible for this free DVD ripping program.
Step 2: Choose output format. After DVD loaded, there will be an automatically popped up window for outputs selecting. You can go "Mac General Video" to choose MP4, MOV or any other Roku recognized formats.
Ps. Since the wide compatibility of MP4, MOV, you're able to stream DVD to Chromecast, Apple TV etc., as well.
Step 3: Click "Browse" to specify the output folder to save the ripped DVD.
Step 4: Hit "RUN" icon to start ripping DVD to Roku. Thanks to the advanced Intel QSV acceleration tech and multi-core CPU tech, the free Mac DVD ripper will maximize the ripping speed at 250-320 FPS, only 5 mins to transfer DVD to your media server Roku.
Start to Stream Ripped DVD Movies to Roku for Playing on HD TV
Then you can stream the converted DVD to Roku as the normal video files did. Both USB media player and Plex media server are competent to mirror DVD movies to Roku. If you'd like to stream DVD movies with USB media player to Roku, there's no need to go into details. Just plug in your USB drive, open the USB Media Player channel and browse through your movies, music and pictures. As for Plex, perhaps the easiest way to play your DVD on Roku, is to connect it to a Plex media server. Here is the detailed steps to stream DVD over Plex to Roku:
Step 1. Add the Plex channel to your Roku. Then download and launch Plex Media Server utility for Mac/Windows.
Step 2. Right-click to choose Plex Media Manager to set up the media you want to share with your Roku.
Step 3. Click Home Movies, then Add to make your ripped DVD movies selections. If that has been done, click Add Section.
Step 4. Now head to your TV, fire up the Roku, and choose the Plex channel. And you're free to play DVD on Roku with Plex
Finally, apart from streaming DVD to Roku, there are some other streaming choices, for example, streaming DVD to Apple TV, streaming DVD to Chromecast. Roku vs Chromecast vs Apple TV, it's hard to say which one is better. But if you have iOS/Mac and Apple TV devices, DVD movies to Apple TV airplay comes the best choice. If not, streaming to DVD disc to Roku or Chromecast is much easier.
Bella has been working with DVD digitization for over 12 years. She writes articles about everything related to DVD, from disc drive, DVD copyright protection, physical structure, burning and backup tips. The unceasing passion of DVD movies helps her build a rich DVD library and ensure a practical solution to address almost all possible DVD issues. Bella is also a crazy fan for Apple products.
