What I'm currently using to convert my DVD's:

DVDFab HD Decrypter (Free, limited version)
VOB2MPG (Free)
Nokia Video Convert (Free)

Very easy and straight forward. So far, I have had one DVD that DVDFab wouldn't even read (Sixth Sense). In fact, WinXP wouldn't read the disk either. Obviously it's a non-standard DVD (bastards).

For other MPG, AVI, DivX, etc. files, all you need is Video Convert. For some reason, it won't read FLV, even though the backend is FFMpeg. If I use WinFF as a frontend to FFMpeg, the FLV converts fine.