Fastest way to rip DVD to DVD-R

[sids]

Hello
A few questions,

a. Is there a faster,efficient way to rip and compress a DVD (of size greater than 4.7GB) onto a DVD-R (of size 4.7 GB)?
b. What should be the expected time of ripping+compression if the original DVD is 7 GB?
c. Is there a single tool like DVD2SVCD that does this conversion?
d. I read Ripping guide written by Taran which uses:

*SmartRipper (to rip vobs)
*AC3 Decode (to decode .ac3 to .wav optional)
*Mad BIt rate calculator
*ReMPEG
*DVDit! PE

I guess at the end of step 4 (ReMPEG), I would get an .m2v file and .ac3 file. Can I use Sonic myDVD or Prassi Primo to burn the .m2v and .ac3 onto a DVD-R instead of DVDit!?

Your help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Sid.

[ballfam]

The guide you read assumes that you need to transcode it first to fit it in to the 4.7 Gig. A much better option is to strip out the languages you don't need, and then start removing the extras something like 95% of your movies will fit into 4.7 Gig if you remove all the languages but one, and you don't include the extras, just the movie. The best DVD to DVD-R guides are on www.doom9.net (look at "The Guides"). I have a p4 1.8 Gighz and a 16 speed DVD rom, and I can rip a movie front-to-back in about the time it takes to watch it. Rip takes about 15 minues, IfoEdit strip takes about 20 Mins. At this point you're usually left with just the main movie at less than 4.7 gig, spend 5 mins to skip through the chapters testing the result in PowerDVD, and burn (takes about 30 mins at 2x speed). When you read the doom9 guides it will seem a bit bewildering at first, and you might make the odd coaster, but after about 5 times round the process, you can do it in your sleep. IfoEdit is the key to everything...learn to read the output in the lower pane, it pays dividends.