Handbrake remains my go-to DVD ripping and video conversion software of choice and it is free. Unfortunately, they do not provide a decrypter so you need another program such as DVD43 (hasn't been updated since 2009) or Slysoft's AnyDVD to be able to rip encrypted DVDs.

Another one I have been trying recently has been Freemake. It works well but Handbrake is easier for me to queue up a mass of dvdrips to be converted for my HTPC. When I have a multi-disc movie though Freemake allows me to join the video files and is the only free software solution that I was able to find to do this.