edit - only to rip none commercial none copyrighted works.
I'm writing this for myself really as I always forget the names of the programs, and they're super easy to use
DVD decrypter : will rip the DVD contents to your HDD
http://www.dvddecrypter.org.uk/ (you can also use IMGBURN I believe)
AutoGK (auto gordian knot) : is a simple tool to convert above files to a nice .AVI
http://www.autogk.me.uk/
CCCP-Codec : is a good codec pack incase you need the codecs to convert/play back
http://www.cccp-project.net/