How to Rip DVD's to AVI Files

You've probably seen people backing up there movies to use on there Home Theater PC's (HTPC), quite often you'll see 700mb files, or higher, and were wondering how it's done. This two step guide will teach you how to rip the film to your computer, then shrink and convert it to an .AVI file. The first part is fairly easy, and rather monotonous waiting the two or three minutes for each movie to copy. The second part is fairly easy as you can add several jobs and they will convert, one by one until they are all complete.

First, Download the two programs:
DVD Decrypter
Auto GK

Step 1 - DVD Decrypter

Open DVD Decrypter.

Insert your DVD into the DVD drive.

The files on the DVD will appear in the box on the right hand side. They will be selected automatically, if they are not, select them all now.

Click tools, then select "Settings". Select the DVD's region and make sure that "Remove Macro Protection" is selected. It should look like this:

Select the destination where you want the burnt files stored. You should have at least 4-5 Gb free for one movie.

Click the green arrow and wait for the burning process to finnish.

Step 2 - Open Auto GK

Click on the folder icon next to "Input file" and select the directory where you burnt your DVD with DVD Decrypter. Select the ".IFO" file. If you have several IFO files, select the one that contains the large VOB files. For example, if the large VOB files are VTS_02_1.VOB and VTS_02_2.VOB, you should select VTS_02_0.IFO. See this picture for an example:

Select the destination for the output file (your completed movie).

Select an Audio track. 6ch audio is nice, but if you want a small file size while keeping the quality high, select 2ch Audio.

Most online Rippers use 2ch Audio. Next, select the subtitle track you want, or else skip this box.

For output size, you would select 1CD (700mb) for a movie less than 2 hours. For longer movies (such as "Lord of the Rings" at more than three and a half hours) you should select 2 CDs (1400MB) or 1/3DVDR (1493Mb) Or, you can select a custom size or a target quality.

Select Advanced Options, choose Xvid (Xvid will work slighty better than DivX), select your subtitle options if applicable.

Leave the rest on Auto settings.

Click "Add Job" then click "Start" to start the conversion. It will take some time and open several windows during the process. (Tip: You can add multiple conversions in the job queue at the same time, it's best to do this overnight, in the "When finnished:" menu you can make the computer sleep or shutdown when all conversions are completed.)