Mark,
I believe if you read both threads, the OP states he doesn't have a reliable DVD Ripper solution. I use the following:
Any DVD - from Sly soft
DVD Shrink - free
DVD Decrypter - free
I start AnyDVD and have it running in the system tray prior to loading the DVD I want to "backup", once AnyDVD has scanned the protection method, I fire up DVD Shrink and open the disk to analyze the disk in the drive. You can then control the file size of the movie by compressing the image, or cutting out menu's etc. DVD Shrink will then burn the file as an ISO to your hard drive without any copy protection that was present before. DVD Decrypter can be set in DVD Shrink so that it opens automatically when DVD Shrink is done creating the ISO image. Simply put a blank DVD in your drive, and burn to disk. You now have your "backup" of your original DVD.
There are plenty of sites to visit to get detailed instructions of all three of these programs. AnyDVD will also rip to the hard drive and has many other features; you cannot however compress the image if space is a factor.
Once you have a DVD without copy protection, Handbrake for example will convert your files from the DVD you “backed up†to work on the Ipad directly. I’m not sure Format Factory does this, but I’ll bet it does. Once you have burned to disk, you will have a VideoTS folder, and AudioTS folder on the DVD. Don’t bother with the audio folder. You will find a few VOB files in the VideoTS folder, use a free program called “joinvobfiles†to make one file to convert on Format Factory, it works great. That way you don’t have to convert each VOB file individually, and you have the complete movie in one file.
Hope this helps.