hi i realize that this question was answered in a 2002 thread but i was wondering if there is a better dvd ripper to use than dvd decrypter. i already used it and i got a bunch of vob files that were different languages and where do i go from there to burn the vob files from my laptops hard drive to my stand alone dvd recorder? sorry for the multipart question.
Try DVD Shrink. It is a great program that will shrink the whole dvd on your hard drive.
Set your destination from the dvd disk to VIDEO_TS and than burn that folder with Nero or another authoring program.
I know what you mean by problems - most likely CSS errors. however, I have not experienced this with DVD Ahrink v3.0 Beta 5 and find that it cuts down on the time needed than the Smart Ripper/DVD Decrypter >> DVD Shrink method.
Dvd shrink has a great advantage that when you are done with encoding you can view your movie to see the result. Although sometimes I get tiny little timebreaks within the movie (not with all movies) I believe DVD Shrink is among the best. Also after burning with Nero 6:-) those breaks are not appearing anymore on my standalone Panasonic player. I tried several encoders but non turn out to be so efficient. Pinnacles Instant is good but does not work with encryption which doubles the work and the resulr is also a burn image which cannot be tested before burning!
I noticed that you are not considering some of the new "instant" rippers such as dvdregionfree and any DVD. Would you consider these programs in place of the two you mentioned?
To be honest, not really. I work on the principle of: 'If its not broken, dont fix it' and i am happy with DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink. That is not to say that the two you mentioned are not good, but i just have no need for them. Also, im not sure if they are free or not, and the ones mentioned are, and thats always a factor with me.