I wanted to rip a dvd with Handbrake, and it had been a while since I used it. I looked at the different encoding options available in the program, and wasn't sure if I remembered what settings I liked. Because of this, I pulled up a few browser tabs and did some googling. I first searched to see if anyone had listed the settings they had used for the specific DVD I was ripping, but didn't find any. I briefly looked into the settings for iPhone video, as I am considering purchasing one and thought compatibility would be a good idea to avoid re-ripping, but abandoned the idea because the format used for iPhone video isn't my favorite, and I could always convert the rip. I read the online manual for several minutes, and learned all about the deinterlacing, audio, and picture options, as well as some interesting details about how dvds work with frame rates, etc.
I then returned to the program and customized the recommended settings to meet what I wanted. I chose optimal quality over speed or small filesize, even though I wanted to watch the movie as soon as it was finished. I spent quite a bit of time testing the different deinterlacing options and comparing the sample picture with the original. I felt a need to retain as much detail as reasonably possible, and emphasized this in my selections. Keep in mind that this is something I'm going to watch today, throw on a hard drive and possibly never watch again.
Eventually I decided my settings were "good enough", and let the program begin encoding. I went to find a snack while I waited."