What is a really good DVD/video converter?

[angere]

I downloaded "Total Video Converter" and I can't get it to convert the video files from my DVD into a common format such as WMV, MPEG, or AVI, or into sound such as MP3 or WMA, which it says it can do.

I'm not sure what the problem is. Thte files are in a form called ".IFO" which I could only get to play on InterVideo WinDVD, and nothing else.

I'm trying to convert it so I can upload (part) of it on to YouTube, but nothing is working. So, any advice is greatly appreciated.

[ATannahill]

There are security guards in place to beat up any program that tries to convert the videos, what kind of protection is on the DVD?

[Joe Matt]

If you had a team video that was on DVD or some sort of other material that you had the ownership rights to distribute (*cough*), try HandBreak for the Mac and PC. Rip it into .mov format or something like that and upload to YouTube. Allows you to select chapters and sections and all sorts of adjustments.

[Jonathan Norris]

I also recommend Handbrake for mac/pc. If you download it here it can actually handle more then just a DVD as input, you can basically bring any file into it now and re-encode it.