Video Files

[wenrob]

Maybe you guys can help me. Last year I spent a couple of days with the VCR/DVD combo and converted all the old tapes of my DD and Nephew to DVD. At the time I had Pinnacle on my laptop so had no problem viewing them. Without a long story, let's just say I do not want to reinstall Pinnacle. All I want to do is copy the DVD for my sister and put a copy on my EHD for extra back up. Can you suggest a program? Really, I'll only be using it for a couple of hours or maybe a day or two so free would be nice.
Another question: I assume since I want to put them on my EHD I'll have to convert the files. What would be best in terms of quality?