I want to put dvd's on my hard drive in mpg format. i think.

How would I go about doing this , where would I get the software to do it.

What is the difference between avi and mpg ? they both compress right? which one is better?

and lastly, if I want to make copys of my dvd's into vcd's how do I do that. ? how do I know when to stop recording and break up into two. I'm real grean when it comes to that.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

I used to come here last year but something happened to my computer and I lost all my passwords and email. so I had to start all over.

Guides on ripping DVDs, creating avi & mpg files , converting & burning to VCD or SVCD is a lengthy process, however www.vcdhelp.com has some excelent tutorials including links to most of the software you will need.


avi (Divx) and MPG are both compressed video formats, Divx having higher compression than MPG. Which is better depends on what you want to do with it. If you're making VCDs then MPG is what you want, if you only want to store and play the files from your PC then avi is 'better'.

The Basic steps of DVD to VCD are
1) Rip the VOB files to the HD (ie with DVD Decryptor or smart ripper etc)
2) convert to d2v & wav files (with DVD2AVI)
3) convert the d2v & wav to mpg with TMPGEnc
4) Cut the MPG in half with TMPGEnc
5) Burn MPGs to VCD with Nero


Where to cut is a personal choice, a standard CDR holds 74 minutes of VCD, so when you use TMPGEnc to cut the MPG the largest file you should create is just under 74 minutes, if you want to get clever you can choose a point in the film where the scene changes. TMPGEnc allows you to view the MPG a frame at a time so choosing the right point to cut it is quite easy.

hth

thank you.