Here you select the source DVD with a click on the arrow at the end of the Source DVD form and the location for the target ISO image. Most users can leave the remaining settings activated. They remove the DVD region code, FBI warnings and anti-piracy ads that cannot be skipped or fast-forwarded, CSS encryption and checks for Disney’s fake protection.

A click on Run initiates the process, a progress bar indicates the conversion progress. The conversion speed depends largely on the read speed of the DVD drive and a few additional factors like the computer utilization during the process.

The program stores the DVD into the selected target directory. Users can mount the ISO image directly to view it in a DVD-capable media player on the computer, or burn it again to disc to create a backup copy of the original DVD movie.

The second screen, accessible with a click on the ISO to DVD tab basically burns a movie DVD to a blank DVD disc.

BDlot DVD ISO Master is a handy program if you want to rip DVD movies to the ISO format. It is a DVD cloning software that creates 1:1 copies of DVD movies sans the restrictions and annoyances. Options to convert the DVD or save its Video_TS folder would have been handy, as would have been options to support the same operations for Blu-Ray movies. Lastly, an option to create a DVD copy and burn that copy back to disc would be handy as well.

We have covered alternatives in the past including DVDFab HD Encrypter which converts movies into Video_TS or Blu-Ray folders or Auto Gordian Knot which converts DVDs into Avi movies to save space.

Interested users can download BDlot DVD ISO Master from the developer website. Please note that you need to click on the Download link next to the program’s listing on the second page of the download process.

The benefits of creating ISO images and mounting them in Windows might outweigh the negative aspects. The main benefit is file management. Instead of having many folders and files scattered around the hard drive there is only one ISO file containing all the files. It’s not a difference speed wise either because the files are still located on the computer’s hard drive. The only negative aspect of this procedure is the fact that no new files can be added to the ISO image. The user would have to copy all files back to the computer, add the new ones and create a new ISO image.

The Free ISO Creator makes use of an easy to use interface that basically concentrates on adding files and folders using a file browser. It is possible to set a size limit for the ISO image. The three default sizes 700 MB, 4.5 GB and 8.0 GB are available as well as an option to create a custom sized ISO image which can be easily mounted as well.

A few additional options like creating a bootable image or selecting a different file system for the ISO are available. Conversion of the files usually does not take longer than a few seconds depending on the size they occupy on the hard drive and some additional parameters like the hard drive’s speed.

The ISO images can be mounted or burned to CD or DVD afterwards.

ImgBurn supports, among others, the image formats iso, bin, nrg, mds and img which should be enough to burn most images that are out there. More exotic formats are also supported as well as all operating systems from Microsoft from Windows 95 to Windows Vista.

I personally like ImgBurn because of it’s small size (only 1.5 megabytes), the ease of use and the support for all of the mentioned formats. Advanced users will appreciate all the options such as booktypes and bitsettings that ImgBurn offers.

It also offers the ability to queue images which is a feature that is missing in many popular CD and DVD burning programs such as Nero.