Rating: 5 pick

Version tested:  2.35b

AutoGK is a free program that will convert DVD’s into high quality .AVI video files using DIVX or XVID compression.

This software is a user-friendly program that streamlines a number of powerful tools into an easy to use and very straightforward front end. This program will work with unencrypted DVD’s or ripped DVD files on your hard drive (you need a seperate program to do this, check out RipIt4Me).

I have used this program for a very long time and seen it evolve. Here’s what you need to know about it: 

• The AutoGK installer will install all the software and codecs that you need to compress your videos, including the DivX and Xvid encoders.
• DivX and XVid are 2 compression formats for video, much like mp3 and flac are audio compression formats. You will need the DivX and/or Xvid decoder codecs installed on a machine to enable it to play these compressed videos. Or you can use a video player such as GOM DVD player or VLC Media player that have these built in. DivX and Xvid are very similar, except that the former is commercial software, while the latter is open source.
• The resulting compressed video files will in most cases fit on 1 or 2 regular cds, rather than DVD’s, but have near DVD quality nontheless, depending on the source files and the settings you use.
• AutoGK will allow you to choose whatever content on the DVD that you would like to compress, including special features. You WILL need to know which VOB files to select for compression, given that most CD’s contain menus, previews, and other material besides the main feature. This is easy enough though, as the main feature almost always is the biggest set of VOB files in terms of size. You can also play VOB files on most DVD software, including GOM player, to see which VOB files are which.
• AutoGK will allow you to choose up to 2 audio tracks to compress into your video file. I’ve never done this myself, but apparently some media players will allow you to choose the track you want to hear. It will also hard-burn a subtitle track for you into the compressed video if you want that. You can use the subtitles files from the original DVD files or otherwise provide an external subtitle file source (you can find everything on the internet).

One of the most important decisions you will have to make when compressing video is the quality settings for your resulting file. AutoGK will give you the option to determine the audio compression quality, as well as optional video width settings (or just use Auto width, which is what I always do). But what I really like about AutoGK is that it makes deciding on quality settings a very simple process, as you can choose from a number of predefined sizes (1 CD, 2CD’s, etc.), or you can set the file size in megabytes. The other option is to set a quality target percentage for your video file irrespective of resulting file size. if you do this you should realize that a quality setting of anywhere between 40-70% should be sufficient for near DVD quality compressed video, depending on your source.

Compressing a typical DVD titles will take anywhere from 3 to 6 hours, depending on how powerful your system is in terms of your processor and memory. The best way to compress your videos, therefore, is to do it when you don’t need to use your computer, such as when you leave for work in the morning or overnight. Please note, however, that this is not a testament on AutoGK’s lack of power or its inefficiency; rather, video compression is quite a processor intensive process (to get high quality AutoGK will perform 2-pass compression, which is to say it will do it twice). In my experience most other similar programs I have used, including commercial ones, take as much time or more for comparable results.

I like this program because (a) it makes video compression pretty straightforward and simple, and (b) I have had great luck with AutoGK video files being 100% in sync with sound, when that wasn’t the case with other similar programs (Note: this is not to say that this will be your experience as well necessarily, as with many video conversion programs you may or may not have audio sync problems which you may need to troubleshoot).

Now if only the makers of AutoGK will add support for Ipod compatable .MP4 video files. (One such program that does exactly that, although I don’t like as much, is called StaxRIP).

Go to download page for latest version. The program home page.