New macbook Pro. looking for some good free apps

[mada81]

i got me a new macbook pro. im looking for some accessories and some good apps that are free or cheap.

Dvd ripping. my dad is wanting me to take some old videos from a dvd that he has made from some old vhs tapes that he had. i have tryed handbreak and it takes for ever to do a 45min video.

video converters. I have a iphone and a ipod touch.

if you have any other ideas i would appreciate it

here is the specs for my macbook pro. i have had it for about 6 months now


Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP51.007E.B05
SMC Version (system): 1.41f2
Serial Number (system): W89140R78Q2
Hardware UUID: 88F0FE3D-DF7A-5423-8171-E90254609484
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled
Hard Drive: 250GB eSata then i put in a 640gb eSata and partitoned it into 2 partitions a 400gb for mac os x 10.6.2 and a 240gb partition for windows 7 ultimate 64bit

[arkayn]

It depends on what options you selected for importing the video from the DVD. I can do a 2 hour DVD in about 1.5 hours or so with a fairly high quality rip.

[mada81]

Originally Posted by arkayn

It depends on what options you selected for importing the video from the DVD. I can do a 2 hour DVD in about 1.5 hours or so with a fairly high quality rip.

is that with handbreak? and im saving it to .mov.

[arkayn]

I always save to .mp4 on my systems, mainly because I am importing the movies into iTunes.

[mada81]

Originally Posted by arkayn

I always save to .mp4 on my systems, mainly because I am importing the movies into iTunes.

i do that too but i have to do it to .mov so it will work in a ms powerpoint. for my dad