Media Center

Thanks to those who commented in my last post. I did try everything, but still could not get what I wanted out of Linux. I have a version of XP Media Center I’m playing with now. Everything works but the IR setup. I can’t change channels on my DirecTV set top box with the Hauppauge IR blaster. I ordered a differrent IR blaster that will hopefully rid myself of that problem. We’ll see.
Here’s a question for you, though…
Do you rip DVD’s (that you own, of course!) and what do you use for it? I’ve been playing around with AutoGK and some other apps, but I wanted to know if anyone used anything that they absolutely dug. Lemmeno.