ripping DVDs

[Dmitriy Kropivnitskiy <nigde mitechki net>]

I am looking for a reliable way of ripping a DVD onto hard drive. I have tried to use mencoder and transcode with and without GUIs, but I get rather
mixed results (mostly video is fine, but the sound is all jumbled). The re-encoding is not a requirement, I can keep the original VOBs as long as
there is some way to rip and use subtitles. I have tried and tried and to no avail. If someone has suggestions, tried and proven commands or any other
help on the subject I would truly appreciate.