Help with video from DVD and file type to stream

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Hi

About 15 years ago I spent weeks transferring family VHS tapes to DVD. We now find ourselves without a DVD player and no way to access them. I know the easiest way would be to just buy a cheap DVD player, but I'm looking for a solution where I could extract the video files from the (many) DVDs we have in a format that I could stream them to the TV (ideally from my phone). I use VLC to stream from my phone, but its been a bit hit and miss over the past few months, where some file types play with no issue, but others just give me audio with no video/video with no audio.

Can anybody recommend some software (preferably free or with a free trial so that I can see if it works first) and recommendations for a file type that is most likely to be cast from VLC (or a better alternative)

Thanks
 
I've always used Avidemux for things like this but you might find it a bit fiddly compared to some other software.
 
Thank you for the responses. I'm going to try Handbrake first. Are there recommended settings that will make the files more likely to cast via vlc?
 
Outstanding! Handbrake worked with the recommended settings. Thank you.

The files are coming off in separate sections. Any recommendations for software to edit them into one continuous file?
 
If they're DVD files VOB/Mpeg files it would be better to join them 1st using Vobmerge then use handbrake to convert to 1 file.

When I record my VHS tapes to an old Lite-on device I have to take them off the hard drive and rename the files to .vob or .mpeg then use vobmerge to join and use staxrip to convert to what format I want.
 
When using vobmerge just extract your main files off the DVD to your hard drive. Then open vobmerge drag and drop the files in order and click on merge. This does not re-encode it just joins them should take about 30 seconds to a minute depending on your PC.

Once the files are merged open up Staxrip if you want to give this ago. Add the source file and wait a minute and try the different settings for what format you want.
 
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