For ripping the disks, I’ve found DVDFab to be reliable. The other big name is AnyDVD. I rip to .iso images, then mount them as a virtual disc using DVDFab’s Virtual Drive, then encode them to work through the ATV2, using Handbrake. Handbrake mostly works great for me, with some blocking/pixellation, and an occasional error in the audio.
DVD Shrink for me, producing a .VOB file. Out of 200 or so discs that I have, there was about 5 or so that it couldnt rip for what ever reason but the ones that are ripped have absolutly no playback problems what so ever (of the ones I have viewed of course).
I’m a DVDFab guy. I rip DVDs to ISO images then break those down into avi divx files all using DVDfab. I’m sure alot of people will argue against avi files, but the quality is good enough for me and I had other devices that I needed the files to be compatible with.
you will need to create a batch script from it’s CLI to a specific profile and then use eventghost to run this batchscript on hardware-event close disc tray!