AVI to MP4 Converting Headache

I recently purchased an Ipad 2 to pass the time at work and when travelling.  Trouble is I own plenty of DVDs and I can not watch them on the iPad as it has no disc drive and when trying to copy them over you come up against Apple's pain in the ass mp4 only policy.  No problem I thought, I'll use Apple's QuickTime software and convert them in there.

 Wrong. This is only an option in QuickTime Pro with RRP  $29.99.  Now I do know about you but I don't have £20 to just throw away on software that I've not been able to trial before. 

So on to the internet to search for a cheaper solution, Download.com is where I normally find decent software, free from virus' and does the job.

After a few dud downloads that just haven't been up to the job I discovered 
Win X Video Converter

I could not recommend this product enough, okay its not the quickest but it is simple to use and effective. This is exactly what I needed, looks nice, doesn't crash and the mp4's that I got from it were very good. 

This was until I went to use it the other day after not using it for two weeks. My 15 trial had expired, crap, they now, like Apple, wanted a figure of around the £30 mark to upgrade, sorry no can do. 

I would be happy to donate some money for the work that went in to it but can't pay out £30 when my laptop is so temperamental the hard drive is on its way out. 

So I am back on the web to look for another solution, even another 15 day trial will do as long as I can convert enough films for my flight and holiday, as I am not the sun worshipper that my girlfriend is.

I am up to about 11 different downloads of software that range from £30 to more or that only offer you 5min conversions or apply a visual or audio watermark on your conversion..

Step forward VideoLAN, this forum that has been hiding information on converting avi. to mp4 with VLC Media player. A media player that has been sitting on my desktop the entire time.  

Now the details of converting are for an older version of the Media player, still worth a go, but I kept getting error messages when ever I tried to convert.  As with the internet don't beat around the bush, chances are if you want to search for it then someone else propably has too. I done a simple google search for using vlc 2.0.2 to mp4..  I read through it and someone else was having the same problem as me. Every time I save a converted file hoping it will be mp4 it saves as a .ps. file.  What the hell is a .ps, never heard of it.  Any I waited for VLC to convert Season 5 Ep1 of The Office, this was test as its only half hour, after this I should know if it works with 2hr long films.

Trouble is it loaded in VLC and played perfectly until loaded intil itunes and on to my ipad where I had know sound and the picture was very stuttery.

The search continues....