Backing up DVDs to mp4? - Lemmy.World

Maybe the wrong place to ask, so sorry to the mods if thats the case. I’ve a load of movies on DVD and wonder if its worth converting to mp4 and building a personal media centre to save loading each and every disc. I’ve tried to convert a movie I like to mp4 today using VLC but that crashes. I then downloaded winxdvd ripper - that worked better but cut the movie off after 10 minutes (I fail to see why I should have to pay 40 quid to get more than 10 mins of video). I also tried an old Ubuntu install on another laptop and Handbrake and VLC there but got no video at all. Is there any app/program that is open source/actually free where I can just drop in my DVD and create an easy mp4 file to be viewed via my media player/TV?