i guess i don't understand how to use handbrake, because i downloaded it but never got anywhere.
Alrighty then, let me give you a quick walkthrough.
Lets say you are ripping a DVD, which Handbrake is ideal for (IMO)
Insert the DVD into the drive. If you have DVD player set to auto-launch, let it do so, then quit DVD Player.
Now, launch Handbrake and select the DVD from the drop down menu. Once it analyzes the disk, it auto-selects 'Normal' from the presets.
This is an MP4 file (meaning immediate compatibility with iTunes, iPods, Quicktime, AppleTV, and FrontRow [someone please correct me if I am wrong about the ipods and ATV]) that is set at 1500Kb/s (definitely watchable given the file size) with h264 and 2 pass encoding.
h264 is a very, very high quality codec that allows you to maintain the low file sizes that people are used to with AVI, but yield much higher quality files. 2 Pass encoding means that Handbrake analyzes the video in depth before actually encoding it. This allows it give you better video quality than a 1 pass encoding since it now knows what areas of the video it can reduce bit rate on, but still maintain quality. I am fairly certain that you will see the most benefit from 2pass if you are trying to hit a target file size, rather than a target bit rate, but I could be wrong.
Press Start and be prepared to leave your computer alone for a while... I would suggest starting the rip before you go to sleep. Handbrake is multi-core aware however, so if you have a quad-core or octo-core, you will rip faster than I can. I get about a 1:1 ratio per pass (1 minute of video = 1 minute of encoding) on my 1.83GHz Core Duo.