Convert DVDs into Avi

As you might know I have a modded xbox that has a replaced bigger hard drive and I use it to watch movies from my Xbox Media Center. I dislike watching downloaded movies on my computer and transfer them to the Xbox via ftp to watch them on tv instead. I was looking for a solution to add some of my DVDs to the Xbox as well which has the main advantage that I have them accessible all the time from there. No matter if I lend them to someone for instance.

Please note that the following method to convert DVDs into Avi files works only with DVDs that are not copy protected. I will take a look at the possibilities to convert copy protected DVDs in the coming days. The freeware that we are going to us is called Auto Gordian Knot. It is a very simple utility. You basically select an input file from the DVD that has been inserted into your dvd drive.

You will find a so called IFO file on most DVDs and that is the file to choose normally. Sometimes you have to choose a VOB file instead. As a rule of thumb you should view the VOB files that you want to choose before you actually select them to avoid errors such as selecting a menu to be included in the rip.
Once that is done the contents will be read and you have to choose which audio tracks you want to rip as well. You may choose up to two audio tracks, the first audio track is always preselected.

If subtitles are present on the disc they can be included as well, same principle as with audio tracks. After that you define the output size of the movie, the default value is 2 CDs but you may choose anything from 1/4 of a CD to 2 GB.

Size is up to you of course. The smaller options such as 1/4 or 1/2 of a CD should only be applied to single tracks such as  episodes of tv series for example. It does not really make sense to add five episodes of a tv series and make the output size 1/4 of a CD which is only about 200 megabytes.

AutoGK has many advanced settings which are not that relevant if you want to quickly rip a DVD. You might want to take a look but you have to know what you are doing in order to change the settings there.

I especially like AutoGK because you may rip DVDs in one go easily. It takes between three and six hours normally depending on the source files and settings that you have choosen. Faster computers will probably need less time.  Oh, all codecs needed in the converting process are included which is another great plus.