Try this...

[craigslee]

Read this only if: you own DVD's and you want to create good quality backups to CD because your children have a tendency to trash your original purchased copy (thereby destroying your original home use only investment)...

And ...

you want to know what other people are doing regarding DVD conversion to 2 CD's (3 CD's for 95+ mins) minsfor playing on PC or TV and where stereo is not that much of an issue(and getting great results)...

Here is what I do

1. I rip with Smartripper 2.41 using "movie"
2. create a .d2v file with DVD2AVI (audio disabled)
3. create a .1st file with notepad
4. rip the .wav with Graphedit using the 1.st file
5. maximise .wav and change level to "2" using Goldwave
6. save the Goldwave .wav to 16 bit mono (halves the file size)
7. load the KVCD3x mpeg 1 template to TMPGenc 2.58 (disable project wizard)
8. change the audio bitrate to 128
9. create New project with TMPG
10. load the .d2v to video (use browse)
11. load the .wav to audio (use browse)
12. set output filename and location.
13. save project to .tpr
14. repeat process for other dvd's
15. when you're done, go to batch encode in TMPG
16. add your .tpr files
17. press start and leave your PC alone!
18. get your new mpeg1 and use the cut and merg facility in MPEG tools in TMPG to cut your movie to the desired size to fit on to your CD
19. Burn with NERO VCD option and disable standard compliancy box

(Important! - Make sure you have enough hard drive space - approx 5-6 Gb per movie)
Rule of thumb - I have AMD 1700, 512 mb RAM and batch encode for six 90 minute movies takes around 22 -24 hours

I'm sure the experts have bigger and better and faster and more fantastic ways, but this works brilliantly for me - and the results are spot on!

P.S. thanks kwag

[easydvd]

Or, as an alternative, you can go to the following site

http://www.easydvdcopy.net

You can download a one file installer that includes SmartRipper, DVDx 1.6, VirtualDub and VCDEasy as a complete rip pack. Any of Sefy's guides covering these apps will be a great help to a true newbie. They are very comprehensive and filled with info that I still use after ripping 100+ DVD's for conversion.

You can also try Easy VCD, there is a link somewhere in the forums for it. I tried it and it's a great thing for any newbie. Load your DVD and hit "go". That's about it. Not a bad piece of software!!