Ripping DVDs... now I'm getting upset

What program do you use for DVD to AVI conversion? I have WinAVI, but every time I try to convert something, it always ends up being unplayable. I have tried to convert to both mpeg and avi, and neither works at all. I have even downloaded a few different codec packs, and still no result. Is there a better program out there? Or do you think I might need to reconfigure WinAVI?

I can't remember what I was using at the moment... I'll look in my other HDD later to see if I can find the program. It sucked though, it was slow and clunky.

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› See More: Ripping DVDs... now I'm getting upset

I managed to make a copy of Batman Begins using WinAVI, but it ended up as a 3 part file that totalled like 1.36 gigs. I've seen copies of DVD rips on the torrents that are only 700 MB, but I can't figure out how to achieve that with WinAVI. I was hoping to find someone that could shed some light on this subject. The main reason I want to convert my DVD's to avi files is because I'm uber lazy and hate having to switch disks, and even though I have over 600 GB of capacity on my server at home, it doesn't take long for gig and a half sized files to eat up that space...

Originally Posted by MotoMadMan

I managed to make a copy of Batman Begins using WinAVI, but it ended up as a 3 part file that totalled like 1.36 gigs. I've seen copies of DVD rips on the torrents that are only 700 MB, but I can't figure out how to achieve that with WinAVI. I was hoping to find someone that could shed some light on this subject. The main reason I want to convert my DVD's to avi files is because I'm uber lazy and hate having to switch disks, and even though I have over 600 GB of capacity on my server at home, it doesn't take long for gig and a half sized files to eat up that space...

Right, then you burn the 3 part file (chapters 1-3) on a DVD-R (4.7gb) and pop it in you stand alone DVD player, and pop some popcorn.

Originally Posted by camstuf

Right, then you burn the 3 part file (chapters 1-3) on a DVD-R (4.7gb) and pop it in you stand alone DVD player, and pop some popcorn.

I don't want to burn them back to DVD. I want to make them into 700 MB files and put them on my server. I have an Xbox that I use to stream my movies to the tv, then I pop some popcorn and sit and watch movie without having to get out of my chair to switch disks.

so convert to .avi and put on server, pop popcorn: Oops, too lazy.
what format is used on servers???

You can put any type of file on a server to be streamed with Xbox Media Center. It has pretty much every kind of codec you can imagine. It will play Divx, Xvid, avi, mpg, wma, m4a, bin, etc. It plays more files by default than WinAmp or Windows Media Player. Bin files won't even play on my computer, unless I first mount them in a virtual drive, which is a pain to do. But as far as converting DVD's to avi, I haven't quite figured out how to do it with the result of a 700 MB or less sized file. The only ones I have been able to successfully convert have ended up as 3 part files that are about 1.35 GB in size. What I want to know is, which program is best to use to yield the results I'm looking for?

Just an update. I found a copy of AoA DVD Ripper, which is supposed to be able to convert dvd's into a 700 MB avi file, even though it can take five or six hours to do so. (Sounds like something I'll most likelu set to do overnight.) I'll give it a shot and let you guys know what kind of results it yields.