Trying to make sense of DVD ripping

Who's come up with a bomb-proof method for ripping DVD's?
Ultimately I'd like to burn copies, but as a first step I'd be thrilled to just encode a copy in some format that I could watch off the HDD.
I just encoded (if that's the correct term) "V for Vendetta" using AcidRip. I didn't know what I was doing, just poked thru the menus and asked it to do its thing with the largest file.
Ended up with an .avi file in the home folder. The video looks fine, but the audio is French! No menus or options that I could figure out. Just play or stop.
I imagine the menus are in those other smaller files?

Stuck with dial-up at home, so going into town for wi-fi to download new programs or watch YouTube guides adds a level of difficulty when trying to learn something new

 

DVDFab is the current king as an all-in-one utility. DVD Shrink is older but still very good. Jump into google and search DVD Shrink and DVD 43 as well as DVD Fab. DVD Shrink has built-in tutorials, and the rest is all online. Good luck.

 

Dial-up? Awww.. Man.. I miss the sound of dial-up.. *EEEWWWGGARZZREEE-BEEPBEEPBEEP-ERGWRARAEEE* heheheh...

What about Brasero, is that good for ripping and copying? Even the dvd menus and stuff?

 

zeph, I don't know. I've been poking around on Ubuntu Forums Multimedia and Video subforums. Nobody's mentioned Brasero for DVD ripping. I've heard Handbrake, k9copy, AcidRip, k3b, DeVeDe, dvd::rip, thoggen, and a few others.
I went back to "V for vendetta" and ripped the second largest file. It was the "making of" featurette. It played fine, too, and in English. There are folks out there who have figured this out, but I think I'm going to have to try some more on my own, and keep reading existing posts.
One interesting thing I've noticed from some of the posts was talk about having your rip application double-sample for better results during action sequences. Takes twice as long but supposed to give better results.
I have a lot to learn..

Yeah, dial-up's killing me. Broadband just isn't available on our road 'cept for satellite and I'm not gonna pay that much. But wi-fi has been popping up here and there in town, making the laptop purchase a year ago look downright prescient.

 

I'm gonna try this guy's instructions.
http://lifehacker.com/software/linux/rip-dvds-in-linux-the-semi+easy-way-330983.php
Found the correct ManDVD package for Hardy 32-bit. Double-clicked on the download, it installed after grabbing some dependencies.

Not while on dial-up...

 

I tried sorting this out for myself and while using programs like Acidrip, worked ok, (the one in this camp I liked the best was OGMRip), I ultimately decided the easiest thing to do is create an ISO image file of the DVD. That way I get all of the audio tracks, subtitles, menus, and most importantly, the DVD extras, at the expense of space of course. It means instead of ripping a DVD to a 700mb AVI file, I need 4gb of disk space for 1 DVD ISO. But this was the method that made most sense for me. BTW, the best Linux DVD to ISO tool (or DVD shrinker) by far, is the one quoted in the article you linked to, k9copy. The best DVD shrinker tool I've found is a Windows tool called CloneDVD from Slysoft. It was able to shrink a couple of DVDs for me, when k9copy couldn't.

Good Luck..

 

Thanks, jas -
Nothing is ever as simple as I want it to be.

You make a good point - ripping a bit for bit .iso is not at all the same project as ripping/converting to a more compact AVI file. The end goals are entirely different. If I just want to drop a couple of movies onto the HDD for watching while we're traveling, then it sounds like making an .iso may be the best way to go.

 

i use k9copy and it just works .. i can rip a dvd to any format i want without any problem. perhaps you should give it a try.

 

I downloaded k9copy from the repos and will give it a try. I don't really like installing KDE apps to Ubuntu but k9 didn't install a truckload of dependencies...

 

I second k9copy. It's awesome. Best DVD ripper out there, IMHO. And if you're burning, I'd recommend k3b... best burning app out there.

 

Hi, Pita -
I'm not on the Linux lappy right now, but pretty sure I d/l'ed k3b too. I'd heard that you needed k9 for one half of the operation and k3 for the other...

I have a feeling it's gonna be coaster time pretty soon.

Making CD coasters is one thing, but DVD coasters - ouch

 

GTK/Gnome needs a better ripper and burner :X.

 

DVD coasters cost $0.10 instead of $0.05?

 

I know, I know, it sounds silly. Just grit my teeth and do it. After the first dozen or so it won't seem so bad