Problems with Convert/Save

[hairy_scot]

As a newb when it comes to converting video formats I would like some advice on a couple of issues.
I run Windows Vista Business 64 bit. System is bang up to date and VLC Media Player is 1.0.5 Goldeneye.

1. I tried converting a DVD movie to ASF using the supplied DIV3 + MP3 (ASF) profile and specified the start as 1.
The conversion ran for about 2 hours (the elapsed time of the movie) and then seemed to go into some kind of loop with the process indicator bar moving back and forth a little and nothing showing in the elapsed time or buffer windows.
Had to close VLC to terminate convert. Resulting file seems OK apart from the odd video "break up" if the seek button is moved forward.

2. Set up an AVI profile based on the DIV3 + MP3 (ASF) profile, the only difference being AVI instead of ASF as the container, and used this to convert an MKV file.
Conversion ran for about the elapsed time of the movie and ended normally, however the resulting file was unusable and in fact resulted in VLC Media Player and Windows Explorer hanging when any attempt was made to access the file.

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks in advance for any input.

[VLC_help]

1. ASF/WMV seeking isn't frame accurate in VLC 1.0.5, might be better in VLC 1.1.0

2. AVI output of VLC is broken.

If you want to do some quality conversions, use Handbrake for DVD ripping or AVIdemux for other conversions.