Just to back up a dvd disc you cant go past dvdshrink + Nero.Shrink can back up just the movie or the entire disc with the help of Nero as the burning agent.
If you want to rip the disc to your harddrive 1st and then do some re editting, then you might prefer AnyDVD from slysoft, it has a ripper attached to it as well as a tool to bypass encryptions which are inherent in all commercially made dvd discs.Once on your hard drive Nero can be used again very simply to get it to another disc
If you want to purchase, AnyDVD and CloneDVD2, free includes DVDFabDecrypter, FixVTS, DVDShrink and ImgBurn. Have a look through the guides here but keep in mind that Ripit4me hasn't been updated in a while and DVDDecrypter (not DVDFabDecrypter) in years: http://webpages.charter.net/bacitup/Guides.htm
when you say the best, I assume you mean best video quality. for 20% compression or less they're all reasonably close quality wise. differences being ease of use, editing features, time required to perform the job, and cost.
for anything requiring more than 80% compression, dvd-rb and an encoder whether it be CCE (fastest), procoder 2, or HC encoder by Hanks wins hands down for the best video quality. the only drawback to using encoding software as opposed to transcoding software is the time required to complete.
I don't call any software best I call them tools sometimes you need a combo of software to do the job so just get used to as many as you can. You need a Tool box full of tricks to stay ahead of the game
i also agree with Mort and Rbrock,
best quality hands down DVD-RB pro W/ encoder
why not have many choices when it comes to ripping, in case one doesn't work.
