One other question. When I get done backing a disc up, I am left with a bunch of video and audio files, do I need all of these? I am new to this software, but I am getting a good feel for it.
I want to backup the files to an external hard drive for use on a laptop when we are on vacation. If I go this route, will I still need all of the video/audio files?
If you want the files down to the smallest size and only plan on watching on your laptop, You can use a program like AutoGK to convert to a .avi file.. Then just use your favorite video player on your laptop (VLC player is very good and free).
You can plan on approx 350MB per hour (so a 2 hour movie would be 700MB) after you convert to .avi .
If you do a search you'll find guides on how to use the program and you can download the latest version here from A/D.
If HDD space is not an issue for you, then just use Vob2mpg to extract and create a single .MPG file that you can put on your external or lappy's HDD and play with VLC..This way you won't degrade the quality by converting..
JM2Cents..
If you want to save space, follow Joleca's advice and convert to .avi. Most movies at 700mb you will have a hard time noticing the quality loss unless viewing on a large screen, if in doubt just double it to 1400mb. That is still a lot less than 4300mb. If you don't want to go that route, then just use DVD Shrink to create a single .vob file. Go to "Edit==>Preferences==>Output Files==>and uncheck the Split VOB files into 1GB size chunks" box. And then follow the advice attar posted to select the main movie. This will give you a single file to keep. No need to use a different program.
