AutoGK, will always make B-Frames in movies (XVid or DivX)
I have tried this one, and it wouldn't play on my clix2.
Also I just hate all those "auto" steps that happen before each encode, and if you have multiple similar sources it is wastefull as far as time is concerned to do all that pre-process every time.
I have expressely left out the DVD-Ripping guides.
This is so much better explained all-over the www (doom9 forums etc), with lots of good FREE tools.
And as long as you have 0 (zero) B-frames (100% progressive streams) MP3 CBR audio (just to be safe) and 320x240 video res you can use whatever too you like.
Problem with shareware tools is that they do not let you disable B-Frames or have poor support for A/R conversion, cost money and do less than free (open-source) ones.
The one you mentioned (except for AutoGK) are not even the best out there.
Here are some that I have tried with positive results:
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AutoGK v2.45 (free)
::link:: - excellent for dvd-rippping for standalones, but not a "mass" conversion tool.
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HandBrake v2.40+v0.90 (free)
::link:: - this one has binaries for mac / linux as well
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SimpleDivX 1.40.25 (free)
::link:: - similar to AutoGK
I know also of some RETAIL softwares, but their primary goals have to do more with DVD-Back-up than iRiver video playback, and are not very cheap.
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Fair Use Wizard v2.6 Full (US$ 19.99)
::link:: - BEST I've seen so far. (more like a frontend, but can rip to mkv, x264, HD has chapter extracting tools, cropping, subedit tools, fully configurable, only non-prot DVDs)
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DVDFab.Platinum ::link:: - up to date, slightly more options than SlySoft, also better rip-engine. US$ 49.99
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SlySoft.CloneDVD.Mobile ; US$ 39.00
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Nero.Recode ::link:: ; (only un-protected DVDs)
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InterVideo DVDCopy ::link:: (this one gets very big, slow and annoying after v3.0) v5.0 is US$ 49.95 also no copy-prot removal.
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TMPGEnc.Xpress ::link:: (something like Avidemux but more "commercial" and polished) US$ 99.99. (same, un-prot DVDs only)
I have never tried them for iRiver, but they work excellent for DVD to DivX/XviD for standalones playback.
About Fair Use Wizard v2.6, if you happen to have 19.99 US$ and belive that the extras form LITE (free) edition are important to you, do not hesitate.
Light Edition has the folowing limitations :
- no iPod Video encoding (we have no use for that anyway on iRiver...)
- encoding target file size limited to 700 MB (that's not an issue for iRiver)
- no range selection (that can be annoying)
- no quality based encoding (no 2-Pass encoding is quite limiting)
"Furthermore, the full edition is optimised to fully exploit Dual-Core, SMP, and Hyper-Threading CPU architectures, resulting in much faster encoding and has an auto-update feature not available in the light edition."
- I have tested it and ideed uses both cores and speeds up encoding with ~ 30%. It will only convert from a DVD or an ISO image.
NONE of beforementioned apps will circumvent copyprotections. You will have to know how to copy (make an image) of your DVD before conversion.
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If it is ok you could add your findings / tutorials for the sofwares you have succesfully used for your DVD to iRiver video conversions, and if it is ok with the staff I will add it on the main page.
But as far as I have understood, we should keep the guides focused on iRiver, free tools and not to make "yet another" DVD-RIP thread...