The bottom line: Except for its limited-function ripper utility (created mainly to work around certain issues with third-party utilities, such as inability to understand DVD structural protection), AnyDVD is a decrypter--*NOT* a ripper. Adding those kind of functions would turn AnyDVD into bloatware, much like the competition.
:rock:
Perhaps you're misunderstanding. I don't want to turn AnyDVD into a "ripper" that will extract a specific title from the disc, transcode it to MKV, compress to MP4 for my iPad etc.
AnyDVD's "limited function" ripper is what I am currently using, and all that I want or need. I just want an ISO of the disc, without even stripping away the copy protection, nothing more or less.
I have no desire to install other ripping software (and from the sound of things, certain software can interfere with AnyDVD) I'd just like the option to have ripping start automatically once AnyDVD has scanned a disc (but only with physical drives, not virtual ones) and even better would be to have it eject the disc when it's done, so I can be in the room where my tower is with a stack of discs and just swap them out, rather than having to put a disc in, go through to the TV room, start the rip, go back through, wait 10-60 minutes, check and see if it's done, hang about until it's finished, go back through to the tower room to eject the disc, put the next one in and start again.
If you're just sitting at a desk working on the PC with the tower right next to you, it's trivial to just sit there, keep an eye on the ripping progress and swap out discs as they're done, but when your HTPC tower is located several rooms away from the display and you have a large library of DVD and Blu-ray discs, it becomes a nuisance.
I could be wrong, I'm not a software guy, but it seems like it wouldn't be that difficult to include automation options for AnyDVD? Surely the ability to rip the discs is the hardest part, and that's already done.