Video compression software - what do people use?

[TEKNOPUG]

I've got a new 1TB HDD and I want to back up my DVD's. What video compression software do people use? I tried the AVS one as recommended on the sticky - it isn't free and it kept crashing! There seem to be loads out there but I can't find much of a consensus. Also, what settings do I need (or should I consider) if I want to compress a DVD down to say, less than 1GB?

All thoughts welcome!

Edited by TEKNOPUG on Tuesday 9th February 17:14

[marctwo]

http://handbrake.fr

[philthy]

http://www.dvdshrink.org/what_en.php

[TEKNOPUG]

marctwo said:

http://handbrake.fr

Giving this a go now, although it seems very Mac-centric

[TEKNOPUG]

philthy said:

http://www.dvdshrink.org/what_en.php

Will try this next