the best format for windows media player

Recently I moved my old PC out to the living room to watch tv shows via the internet and to watch my old DVD movies on my tv. I am having a problem with finding a file to put movies in that Windows Media Player will detect. I used DVD Shrink to back up the file to my pc and the file plays on WMP, but I am trying to find a format that it will detect and place a file in the library so that I can just search through my movies, click, and watch. Can any one help me with this. Also if I need to convert to another file any good links to free software would be appreciated.

 

http://www.videohelp.com/ for converters and guides

 

Another great site for video (and audio) guides and how-to's is http://www.afterdawn.com

Many great free converters can be found right here at Major Geeks in the Multimedia section. Here's a few:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Dr._DivX_d5208.html (converts to DivX format; requires the DivX codec)
http://www.majorgeeks.com/K-Lite_Video_Conversion_Pack_d5768.html
http://www.majorgeeks.com/MediaCoder_d4987.html
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Quick_Media_Converter_d6065.html
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Super_d5117.html
Format Factory: http://www.formatoz.com/

For best results, you should have a good, complete codec pack installed. Halo linked to a good one above (don't let the name mislead you, it works for Vista, WinXP, and Win2000), I personally use this pack, but they're both fine.
:-D

 

:-o Ooooops! rolleyes I forgot to mention the excellent program AutoGK for backing up ripped DVDs to AVI (XViD or DivX) files. It's free and one of the highest quality conversions out there, paid or free. Another good free program is EasyDiVX. It goes straight from your DVD movie to a DivX file, doing all the decrypting and converting, but the freeware version has not been updated in a couple years so it may not do all movies...