Problems with conversions

[dkritso]

i have a few problems i am trying to figure out, first off DVD to avi. i have tried tons of different programs, winavi, autogk, Bigasoft MKV Converter, ConvertXtoDVD, XviD4PSP, and i can't get them to work. i don't know if i'm doing things wrong or what. with winavi they convert but then they are all jumbled up and scrammbled, the various other programs won't even convert. i have extensively researched this and the various tutorials are a little difficult to follow and i have no idea what settings to use. i simply want to convert dvd to a 700mb avi. please if someone could give me a step by step example on how to do this with the programs i have listed, and what settings to use.
Next i have an issue with MKV to avi, it takes me forever to convert and when its done i almost always have an issue. again i want to convert to avi witht the simplest of settings.

any help with these topics would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

[guns1inger]

The simple (and hard) answer is that you are doing something wrong.

Start by making sure you use a good ripping tool to get your DVD to your HDD. DVDFab HD Decrypter is the best free solution for most newer discs, although you have to pay for the full version if you want the newest discs supported within a few days of release. Use DVDFab HD Decrypter to make sure all the copy protection has been removed from the DVD files, otherwise all your subsequent attempts to convert the files will fail. If you just want the main movie, do a main movie rip.

Next, use AutoGK if you want Divx/Xvid encoded AVI files. Open the main IFO file in autoGK to see the titles on the DVD, and go from there. Set your target size to 700mb (way too small, IMO) and let AutoGK do it's thing. Another popular choice is AVI.net, which does the same thing as AutoGK, but makes the process a little easier.

Personally, I would not go near WinAVI or Bigasoft (???) or any of the assorted low quality payware applications. The free applications generally do a far better job, even if they don't have the pretty looking buttons.

[dkritso]

i already have the vids as a video_ts folder, and the vob and all that is in there. i wanna go from that to avi. also why is 700mb too small? i have tons of video files both 1080p and 720p which are gigs and gigs of space, but for most vids i don't want to waste so much space. they look perfect to me at 700mb, so why is that too small? sure certain vids i love to have higher def, but most do the trick at 700mb.
so, i need to go from vob to avi at 700mb.
Also can you give me on any advice on mkv to avi?

[manono]

i already have the vids as a video_ts folder, and the vob and all that is in there.

Didn't you understand what guns1inger said? The reason why some of the videos are encoded 'all jumbled up' and others simply don't work is most likely because you decrypted them to the hard drive incorrectly, especially if these are newer movies with newer copy protection. You didn't say how they were decrypted, but you had best start all over again. Surely you didn't just drag-and-drop the files from the DVD-ROM to the hard drive? And when complaining about AutoGK, post a log for one that didn't work.

[guns1inger]

Personal opinion, but for me, 700mb suits something that runs no longer than around 60 minutes. I don't understand the point of converting movies to such low quality. If you care so little about quality, why even bother ?

However that is your choice, so encode them to whatever level of quality (or not) that you choose.

Regardless, AutoGK and AVI.net have both successfully converted millions of videos over the past few years for many thousands of users. Therefore if they don't work for you, either you have a system problems, you installed then incorrectly, you installed a codec pack that fubar'd the codecs they required (AutoGK can be picky about the version of Xvid it will work with), or you are using them incorrectly.

I don't use mkvtoavi, but my guess is that you have screwed your codecs royally if every converter you try fails.