Newbie HELP!! DVD to AVI

[Bolisk]

Ok, so I'm not completely ignorant to video conversion. . .and I know how to simply concert VOB's to AVI's. I'm looking for a specific solution.

When I see versions of tv-shows on bit-torrents. . .the AVI always seems to be about 300 - 400 MB. And the video quality is DAMN good.

I want to convert my Smallville DVD's to individual AVI's for use in XMBC. I'd like to convert a 1.8 GB vob file to an AVI of 300-400 MB with good quality.

So basically I'm trying to figure out how those guys who rip TV shows get the AVI down to 300-400 MB with such good quality.

Any help would be apreciated.

NOTE: I know how to get the files down to a VOB. No need to explain that. I just need to now what software to use, codec, generic procedure.

Every time I make an AVI it winds up being about the same size as the damn VOB.

[guns1inger]

I see this claim all the time, but objectively, it simply isn't true. Files compressed down to 300 MB are reasonable, with several caveats.

1. The resolution needs to be no wider than 640 pixels.
2. Dark scenes or high action scenes will exhibit some artifacts.
3. They can in no way be called "DVD quality" or even "Near DVD Quality"

Simplest method is to use AutoGK or AVI.net, which will work out most the nitty gritty for you. You can do quality or size based encoding with these tools.

If you want to do it manually then learn some avisynth and use virtualdub for re-encoding.

As for filesize, the universal rule for digital video is

Filesize = Running Time X Bitrate.

Given running time is a constant, you have to reduce the bitrate to reduce the filesize. Use a bitrate calculator to work out what bitrate you need.

[lowellriggsiam]

The simplest method is to rip the dvd to iso using dvddecrypter then use fairusewizard to convert to avi.