Once I have my DVD's on my computer, what is the best way to compress them?

[BigToque]

I've finally got a decent computer, a large hard drive, and Windows Media Center (Win7 RC) and wanted to find the best way to make my media library.

I know how to get the DVD onto my computer, but am pretty clueless on where to go from there.

I want to get rid of all the menu's, trailers, 2nd languages, etc, and just have the main movie file and the english multi-channel audio track.

Once I have those, I'd like to compress them as much as possible while still retaining most of the original quality.

What programs do I want to use? I've been doing some reading and it seems like there are many programs, but I can't seem to tell which might be the best for what I want to do.

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The "Software for Windows," sub-forum will net you better results and is where this thread belongs IMO.

Zim Hosein

Off Topic Moderator.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

I like to use a vice, but depending on how many DVDs you need to compress it might be easier to rent a garbage compactor.

 

[vshah]

i think there's a h.264 encoder called "handbrake"

 

[ric1287]

handbrake x 1000000000000000000

 

[robphelan]

i may be showing my age, but fair use wizard was my fav.

 

[minendo]

handbrake