Converting DVD's to .avi

[blockers]

Hi.

I have loads of DVD's that i want to put on my computer to save me moving the entire collection to uni and back.

I was wondering what free software there is that will let me to convert my DVD's to .avi?

Thanks very much
Will.

[Marcos]

DVD Decrypter and AutoGK will do the job

Pretty sure both are free, surprisingly good quality conversion i thought

[rajagra]

I was wondering what free software there is that will let me to convert my DVD's to .avi?

Do you really need AVI?
Try DVD decryptor
Lots to read at http://www.doom9.org/

I'm still trying to find an easy way to copy films onto my Archos AV380, so I'm no expert.

[blockers]

Thanks for the links guys. Worked/ing a charm

Will.

[autopilot]

Another option, which some people might find useful (which i figured out on my own one rainy sunday) is this...

Get AnyDVD - a true killer app any PC owner who uses this forum should have.

Then use something like CloneDVD2 to shrink the DVD down (or not and keep full quality) but keep all menu's feature you might want to keep (or remove extra features you don't want). Then burn to an image rather than a physical disk.

Now use a virtual DVD emulator program to mount the image and play with PowerDVD/WinDVD or whatever you use.

And there you have it - a collection of DVD's on your PC (compressed to save space if you want) which you can play with menu's, extra's etc and even burn off to disk if you want (For legal backup's of course).

Might not be usful to everyone and dropping features will save space (which you can still do), but I thought I would share that for people who had not thought of it. Having the menu's etc can be nice and good if you do keep features or if the DVD is made up of episodes like a TV series.

Even if you don't see any point in all that, still take a look at AnyDVD.

[Knoxville]

Vidomi will convert into .avi at decent quality and for free, what I wanna know is how to get divx's to ready to burn dvd format tbh.

[Byatt]

Vidomi will convert into .avi at decent quality and for free, what I wanna know is how to get divx's to ready to burn dvd format tbh.

D.I.K.O (you may need to combine this with dvd authoring software, I can't remember, sorry) - google it, there's several pertinent guides iirc.

[autopilot]

Vidomi will convert into .avi at decent quality and for free, what I wanna know is how to get divx's to ready to burn dvd format tbh.

I just use Nero usually, very easy and works great. Does the conversion on-the-fly. You may need the DVD plug in. More than I will ever need anyway.

[Marcos]

Another option, which some people might find useful (which i figured out on my own one rainy sunday) is this...

Get AnyDVD - a true killer app any PC owner who uses this forum should have.

Then use something like CloneDVD2 to shrink the DVD down (or not and keep full quality) but keep all menu's feature you might want to keep (or remove extra features you don't want). Then burn to an image rather than a physical disk.

Now use a virtual DVD emulator program to mount the image and play with PowerDVD/WinDVD or whatever you use.

And there you have it - a collection of DVD's on your PC (compressed to save space if you want) which you can play with menu's, extra's etc and even burn off to disk if you want (For legal backup's of course).

Might not be usful to everyone and dropping features will save space (which you can still do), but I thought I would share that for people who had not thought of it. Having the menu's etc can be nice and good if you do keep features or if the DVD is made up of episodes like a TV series.

Even if you don't see any point in all that, still take a look at AnyDVD.

Whats a small, inobstrusive drive emulation program? I have Alcohol120% but i cant remember if thats small or not since i havent installed it in a while.

thanks

[Knoxville]

Alchohol 120% is a 70mb install, cheers for the advice guys

[Akumu]

Alcohol 52% is just a few mb's, a does just drive emulation, no more, if that's what you're looking for...

[Jonny M]

Daemon Tools is an even more lightweight drive emulation package.

[charltonfan1]

another vote for anydvd, great app!