You can either use Handbrake to "rip" the DVD. This is useful for cases where you want to capture the entire piece recorded on the DVD. This will be the most common way to digitize DVDs. You will have to acquire an external disc drive from media services and plug it in via usb to the computer.
The other is to use the DVD/VHS player in the rack and the Elgato capture software. This is useful if you only want to pull partial clips from a DVD. You will have to run this process in real time, meaning that you will find the portion of the recording you want to digitize manually, and then play the part you are digitizing while the software runs.
You must request an external disc drive from media services to use the DVD burning software installed on the machine.
Insert a DVD into the external disk drive. Press the button to release the tray and push it back in until it clicks.
The disk should then appear on the desktop. DVD player may open automatically, you will need to quit if it does.
Open Handbrake software.
The open source window should pop up automatically. Select your DVD and click "Open."
The software will begin to scan the DVD.
Once that finishes, you can change the settings, presets, format, etc. Nothing here is necessary to change. At the bottom of the window you can change the file name and where it is saved by clicking browse.
Click the green play button to start encoding. You can also add things to a queue, you won't be able to copy multiple DVDs at once, but this software is also used to compress video files.
The bottom tab will show you how far into the encoding process and an estimation of the encoding time there is left.
You can stop or pause encoding.
Once Handbrake is finished encoding it will notify you at the top right of the computer screen, so you can browse the web or do other things while Handbrake is encoding. The bottom tab will state that the encode finished.
You can quit the application and copy the file onto your flash drive or hard drive and be done!