I have a few videos formatted in mp4 and they play right on windows media player..
There are plenty of free dvd ripping freeware out there..cant think of any off hand..
Once you rip the dvd..I would use Super to convert it to mp4... Ive used Super for a while and love it. Everytime I want to convert any audio\video file it does exactly what I need to do. Lots of options..and its free also.
Link for Super.
http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html