Newbie has questions

[Miss Betty]

I am such a newbie at this! Actually, I have built and repaired computers for about 25 years, but have only been interested in DVD’s for the last few days. A friend of mine got me interested even though I am not really a movie buff. I bought a computer two years ago and paid extra to upgrade from a CD Rom to a CD/DVD Rom, and have never even tried a DVD until a week ago. In fact, I don’t even own a DVD, but had to borrow one from my friend – 2001 Space Oddesey. Here are my questions:
1) I was told I needed three or four different programs to rip and burn a DVD. I d/l the suggested ones starting with DVD Decryptor. I ripped the DVD in about 15 minutes but it was not real clear what to do next. Then I found a program called Eazy-VCD which seems to be perfect for me. It did its thing in about two and half hours. Am I missing something or is Eazy-VCD a brand new program? I mean it’s so easy compared to the other way with all the different programs?
BTW – I did notice that it makes use of a few other programs.
2) Is the time to do this about normal for my machine? It is a P4-2.0 with 512k of memory. I have 2 brand new 80 gig Maxtor ATA133 drives. All the messages and How-To guides seem to say it should take much longer – even overnight???

[Batman]

Software such as dvd decryptor is required to remove "macrovision" [and css encryption ] (copy control feature on some dvd's).

There are many guides that you may want to look at. If the resulting file is playable on your PC, then there is "nothing" wrong with what you have done. Depending on the tools you use and the quality you select encoding will vary.

[setarip]

"All the messages and How-To guides seem to say it should take much longer – even overnight???"

Several of the guides were written over a year ago - when an 800MHz system was the "hottedt thing going".

A minor correction regarding "Boy Wonder's boss's (Batman) observation. The PRIMARY purpose of ripping with DVDDecrypter (or similar) is to remove the CSS copy protection - eliminating the Macrovision is a secondary benefit available with such software.


(By the way, I hope you're not just "pimping" for VCD Easy)

[Miss Betty]

I'm not advertising for the software author. It's just that the process was described as very long and complicated. The Eazy VCD software made it quite easy and didn't take all that long.