What does everyone use to rip DVD's and get them in a compact form for your websites?

I recently purchased Dr. DivX and Wildform FlixPro. Dr. DivX works great for ripping, but I need to encode them into another format because DeluxePass doesn't allow DivX movies on their servers(they suggest the Xvid codec). Deluxe Pass is a movie AVS that has a freehost.

Ok, so I have the video ripped from DVD, but I want to put the videos on some sites where I actually have to pay the hosting bill. So super high quality video/large file size is out of the question. I have used M$ Movie Maker 2 to convert to .wmv and I like the file size and quality.

But that leaves my members areas urls unprotected because you can't view .wmv's if the directory is protected by .htaccess. So I bought FlixPro that converts movie files in Flash movies... Flash movies play in .htaccess protected areas, don't they. But so far, I can't get it to function properly... the video looks nice, but it takes FOREVER to convert the files! Also, the files are way bigger than a comparable .wmv file.

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions? My movie sites are kicking ass and I want to safely expand my empire!