I am trying to turn a DVD that has multiple TV episodes into multiple mpeg files with just the episodes. I don't care about keeping the menus. What would be the best program to accomplish this? I already used DVD Decrypter to rip it to my hard drive. Thanks.

Are you trying to generate DVD/SVCD (high quality, large filesize) or VCD (low quality, small filesize) mpegs?

I would like to have decent quality. I'm not sure what would be considered high quality, though. Maybe 350mb per episode or so? Something that would still look good watching it on a TV.

have you got TMPGenc. That will encode to both .avi and .mpg quality setting of your choice..

I do have TMPGenc, but I have not been able to figure out how to use it for this. It wants me to load a video source and audio source files, but I don't know where I would find those. I have AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders where the DVD was ripped. How would I go about creating a mpeg for each episode from that? Thanks.

Easiest way (& the one I use) is to just use Eazy VCD with the original disc.

Whilst Eazy VCD will select the longest episode when scanning the dvd, you can manually select each individual episode with ease.

OK, it works with Eazy VCD, although very slowly. Will that program bypass any copyrights like DVD Decrypter? That is the main reason I was planning on ripping to my hard drive first. Thanks.

Eazy VCD uses Vstrip to remove the Macrovision protection which, in fact, rips somewhat faster than DVD Decrypter.

The time taken by Eazy VCD is mostly taken up with re-encoding with TMPGEnc to mpeg format.

What quality setting do you typically use? I used normal and it made a 438MB file that is pretty poor quality. I have other episodes that I have seen that are around 350MB with much better quality. Is there a way to rectify this?

Yeah, normal can produce mpegs of fairly dubious quality. I normally use high (slow). I don't bother with highest quality for episodic tv series because the improvement, if any, in quality rarely justifies the extra time.

In many cases, you're dealing with episodes of an old series (such as Fawlty Towers or Blackadder) where the quality at which the program was originally recorded wasn't all that flash by modern standards anyway.

The show I am using is CSI Season 3 so it is not an old show. I have seen 350MB versions of the same show and they are much better quality than what I am producing.

Anyone else have any suggestion other than Eazy VCD? I would be willing to try TMPEnc, but can not figure out how to make that work. Thanks.

Hi, i just noticed this on a different forum and wondered if it was any use to you! -
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=69357

Wow, that is one heck of a process. Thanks for the tip. I may give that a shot if I can't find an easier/better way.

yeah no probs, i didnt even look at the link i just noticed that i thought it was the problem you were having so i thought you should give it a look.
Good luck anyway!