Handbrake
Picture Settings
When using Handbrake you can set a Source Disk and an output filename and click "Start" and Handbrake will automatically create a suitable file of abut 10 MB per minute. This is te default. However you may want to change the Picture Settings to specify more acurately what kind of file you would like to create.
The picture settings section is at the bottom of the default screen of Handbrake. You should be able to see it by default when you open up the application. However if you have altered other settings then you will need to click on the Picture Settings tab as show below.
Image Size and Shape
If you don't enter a size for Picture Settings then Handbrake will try to work out the most appropriate size. I would reccomend not changing the size here as doing so creates unpredictable results.
If you do enter a size then only enter the width that you want the video to be, and let Handbrake work out the appropriate height - this will save you having to calculate this manually.
Handbrake recognises the shape of the DVD and it illustrates this in the Size section below the width and height. The shape is know as the Apsect Ratio. In the above example it shows ('1.78' which is also known as 16:9 and is a kind of 'wide screen'. 1:33 also known as 4:3 is normal old TV shape.
In the Size section there are some more detailed settings for Anamophic or Widescreen. You may want to specify the exact size of the target file that you create and define the way that your video file is encoded. If do this you may get a better quality playback image. If this is something that you want to find out more about have a look at the resources here. http://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/AnamorphicGuide
Adding a Deinterlace Filter
Adding a deinterlace filter is often one of the most overlooked steps when encoding video for the internet. Getting it wrong leads to badly encoded video files. If you have created the DVD yourself then it is likely that your video will be interlaced. If you are not sure what that means then you should look at the next image.
You can see jagged lines on the screen where ever there is motion. These lines are caused by interlacing. If we don't add a filter then the file we create will be much more blurry than it needs to be.
In the Picture Settings tab of Handbrake add a deinterlace filter by selecting "Fast" from the drop down menu in the Deinterlace section :
You can then adjust the other Handbrake settings to your needs before clicking on "Start" to encode your video.