I have searched in vain for a definitive program or software method to simply take an entire decrypted VIDEO_TS folder and convert it to a .avi file, or some other single file such as a .WMV, .MPEG, .XviD, .DivX, etc. Many solutions seem promising, such as AutoGK, VirtualDUB, TMPGEnc, etc., but it seems like all involve some form of DVD re-authoring. Is there a solution that offers (for lack of a better description) a "one click" approach to take the entire VIDEO_TS folder and make a single file out of it?
AGK, select the main title (usually VTS_01_0.IFO) then choose a custom size. To clarify;none of the programs will retain the menu, trailers, or extras and they all take hours to process the files. The likes of AGK makes two passes - thus longer time than some others - and arguably produces the better content.
It's a 2 step process but you will get a perfect finished avi with no audio sync problem. 1. use the free dvdshrink to backup your video_ts folder to ISO, usually takes less than 5 minutes. 2. then use the free fairuse wizard lite to convert your ISO into a 700mb avi (pick your flavor divx/xvid/x264). This produces a flawless avi everytime. It's always a good idea to run your video files through dvdshrink anyway, if it can't read them your avi will not come out good. (if dvdshrink has problems reading your video files use the free Fixvts to clean them up). http://www.fairusewizard.com/lang_en/fairuse_wizard_dvd_divx_xvid_backup_tool_light_edition.html
Why choose 700MB? The days of burning to CD's is long over. 1 to 2 GB Xvids can look quite good and can easily support 5.1 Dolby.
700 mb avi is the defacto standard use by everyone. I admit on my favorite movies I encode to 1gb which produces a better quality picture. Once you cross the 1gb barrier your getting into dvd quality territory. Another reason is the the free version of fairuse wizard only allows a max file size of 700mb. Most people are happy with that.
Thanks for all the info guys...I will look into AGK as it seems to be held in pretty high esteem. I'll see how it goes... ***edit*** Oh...forgot to ask...is there a particular version of AGK that is good to use? I see a bunch of Betas out, but I was wondering if one of the stable versions may be a better option. ***edit***
