DVD to AVI conversion on Vista?

[shira]

On my XP machines, I always used to use DVDx for conversion of video footage from a DVD to AVI files on my hard disk. Now that I have a Vista machine, I tried installing DVDx 2.9, and it doesn't play very nicely with Vista.

My questions:

* Is there another DVD-to-AVI conversion tool that is "friendlier" to Vista?
* If not, any suggestions on how to make DVDx behave better with Vista?

One problem is that the Vista operating system doesn't seem to have the Microsoft Video 9 codec, which was on the one I used to use on my XP machine. It seems to have only Microsoft Video 1, the Intel IYUV codec, and the Cinepak codec by Radius. When I try to use the Intel IYUV codec, DVDx aborts once I click on the button to actually do the record. When I try to use the Cinepak codec by Radius, it seems to work, but it's painfully slow as compared to what I was used to with the Microsoft Video 9 codec.

[celtic_druid]

I wouldn't really recommend WMV 9 in an avi container. That said, try installing Windows Media Video 9 VCM.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/codecs/vcm/faq.aspx

Doesn't mention Vista though. Like I said not really recommended. Better to use the DMO encoder and output to WMV.

[buttzilla]

I experimented with vista and a lot of video related programs I use have problems with vista so I went back to xp and don't plan on trying vista again. It sucks.

[guns1inger]

AVI Demux and Virtualdubmpeg2 both work with Vista.

[shira]

Guns1inger, thanks so much for your suggestions of alternate tools. May I ask a follow-up question?

You mentioned "virtualdubmpeg2" - when I went to the download site, it said, "Note that this version cannot decompress AC-3 audio. If you need AC-3 support, try my AC-3 ACM Codec."

Isn't AC-3 support the usual audio format in MPEG? So don't I need AC-3 support if my aim is to convert a file on a DVD to AVI format?

[mats.hogberg]

Just follow the instructions, and get the AC3 ACM codec, and all will be fine.

/Mats

[John]

Ive started to use flaskmpeg again, with the latest divx codec, its fast. faster than most other programs ive tried. 62 fps at full 720 576.