DVD to avi files

[Kiraneo]

Hi everyone,
I am a newbie so hopefully my request is not too silly...

I would like to convert episodes of my favourite TV shows from my DVDs to a portable hard drive so I can watch them on my laptop when I am on the go. Since my TV can play avi as well, I decided to go with the avi format. I tinkered with Format Factory and DVDFab but there are simply to many options for the output file for me
Therefore, would someone out there please be so kind to give me some idea what options to choose (framesize, fps, decomporessor, bitrate and so on)? The file should be about 350 to 450MB in size and as I said, it should be good quality for an average laptop.

Thanks so much for any help!
Best Regards
Kiraneo

[hech54]

I tinkered with Format Factory and DVDFab but there are simply to many options for the output file for me

DVDFab is about as easy as they get....you're in trouble.

The file should be about 350 to 450MB in size and as I said, it should be good quality for an average laptop.

Who gave you these numbers? And file size has ZERO to do with the quality of the laptop.

[yoda313]

Your main restriction here is what format your tv can play. You have to use that as your baseline. Your laptop should have no problem playing whatever your tv can.

Just a notice here - chances are your tv can't play ntfs harddrives so that means you can't put files larger than 4gb on it - but you don't want it that large anyway so you should be good (harddrive SHOULD be fat32 for the tv to use it - but again check your tv's specs to be sure - the laptop will be able to use either format).

use a bitrate calculator to determine your file size. There are many in the tools section on the left of the screen. Many conversion programs offer internal ones as well.

Good quality is entirely subjective. You'll have to do tests on different outputs to determine what is acceptable to you. Just remember all things being equal in a given format that the higher bitrate you use the larger the file size will be. And of course you can not get better quality than your source file (aside from slight tweaking to augment the look but it won't magically make it look dramitcally enhanced - for instance you can't make a dvd look like a bluray by simply changing the resolution - it doesn't work that way).

Edit - format factory has standard templates available. If you were making dvds or if you wanted files for a zune or ipod it has presets. However you will most likely have to fiddle with it unless you're lucky enough to have a preset in format factory for your brand of tv. Chances are though since you mentioned avi you could try a avi output and select 720x480 output for avi and give it a go. You will have to experiment a bit though.

Another option is to check your manufacturers website. They may have tools you can download for video conversion. You'll have to rip the dvd yourself of course but they may supply you with a program that can convert video to its specifications.

[Kiraneo]

@hech54
sorry for the confusion... it is not the handling that is the problem. I am simply looking for the best settings for my purposes. And as for the numbers, lots of episodes from the Internet (that work well on my TV) are around that size. Besides, I do not want them too big so my collection will still fit on the hard drive. However, I am absolutely open to suggestions. As I said, I am a newbie at this and simply trying to figure out how things work best for me.

@yoda313
thanks for your comments. I will try the bitrate calculator! And I will see if I can find out something on the manufacturer's website

[lowellriggsiam]

You can get reasonably good results using the default settings in fairusewizard, you just need to rip your dvds to iso first.