Do not re-encode

[NixNeon]

I have been advised not to re-encode the dvd once it is "backed up" to my hard drive if I want the best quality. My question is how do i play it then? I know it will play in media player from just the VOB files but it doesn't play at regular speed and the VOB files are not connected so I have to click each one?

[jggimi]

Try Doom9's HD Playback Guide (http://www.doom9.org/mpg/hd-playback.htm).

Good luck!

{Just a followup: I saw your earlier posting about quality. While it's true that disk space may not be an issue, at 6-8 GB per backup eventually it may become an issue. Lots of people find that single-pass DivX .avi at 100% quality provides a massive reduction in disk space, while producing acceptable quality. Here's a link discussing it in the DivX 5 forum: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=41264. Gknot doesn't do single-pass encodings, but you can load the .avs file from Gknot into Vdub and do it manually, or use the "DivX 5 Enc" GUI tool from Jonny. It's not in the download section, but can be found in this thread: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22532. When I do this, I typically just use the .avs in Vdub, myself. If I'm really going for highest possible DivX quality, I turn off B-frames and eliminate the resizing filter, though the latter requires an .avi player (such as BSPlayer) capable of altering the display aspect ratio to 16:9 or 4:3.}