I've only ever used DVD Decrypter. It's free and allows you to rip to files or to an ISO image simply, easily, and intelligently.

The only caveat is that the author was shut down a couple of years ago. Do some googling and I'm sure you'll find the last version he released before he was rear naked chokeheld into submission.

SmartRipper is good too.

Here ya go... all in one ripper/encoder/burner

http://lifehacker.com/355281/dvd-rip-automates-one+click-dvd-ripping

www.doom9.org

great depository of info for your needs, you can also find the link to DVD Decrypter that Lucky mentioned there, I also have been using it for years, great simple software.

First you have to decide, are you ripping to:
- an encoded .avi
- a directory VIDEO_TS
- an .ISO

With the ISO you can mount the virtual DVD drive with a bunch of programs and then play it in any DVD player. You can also burn an ISO to DVD-R assuming it is small enough for DVD-R or use DVD-DL for larger discs.

Most players will also play movies if you just point to the VIDEO_TS directory.

The best interface and free ripping is RipIt4Me which is a front-end wizard for using DVDDecrypter and DVDshrink.

For the love of... download smplayer which may even be better than VLC. Certainly for a codec, CPU, features point of view it is.

If you want to play the video across multiple players and platforms, then you'll not only need to "rip" the DVD, but you'll need to transcode the video into something WMP, WinAmp, VLC, etc. will recognize, such as an *.avi as JoeDirt suggested.

Dvdshrink

Thanks to one and all! I'm glad you all chimed in. You've been a big help.

Lucky760: http://www.dvdfab.com/