Personally , I like the combination of DVD-Decrypter(free) , DVDx 2.2(free) and DivX5.05 at the moment.
Results are acceptable , and encoding can be done in almost real time on my XP1800+.
@Solaris: You need to play the first few mins of the dvd first, you can use either Windows Media Player or Win DVD or just about any other dvd playback software. This will get rid of the 2 errors you are reporting