There are a variety of video formats. You have many choices for the
format you would like to convert to. avi files are
essentially a container for video encodings. An AVI file might
contain, for example, a DivX encoded video.
Here is an example of taking a single chapter (happens to be chapter
19 of title 1 of one of my DVDs) and encoding in several formats
(where there is a choice, they are 2620 kbit/s, but VCD is only 1152):
Type
Ext
Time
Size
Comments
VOB
.vob
2m
239MB
Audio somewhat poor.
SVCD
.mpg
23m
99MB
Very blocky.
VCD
.mpg
16m
51MB
No choice of kbit/s.
divx4
divx5
.avi
10m
94MB
xvid
.avi
10m
103MB
xvidcvs
.avi
10m
103MB
ffmpeg
fame
af6
But to determine the best procedure, format and parameters for
grabbing a DVD into a compressed form suitable for hard disk storage
is not a trivial exercise. For example, deinterlacing may be required,
but it is (almost) only needed for material which was shot using a
video camera, or transmitted for TV.