i'm trying to understand how one can convert a dvd from the disc and pt the content onto their n800 to watch through mplayer?

HandBrake works generally.

I have already posted my own solutions on the ITT forum as have many others. There is actually a wealth of information already available here in response to this very question.

Have you tried a search?

People have their own pet faves and you might like to try out a few of them to see what suits you. My favourite is AVI.net but that needs MsWindows.

I like HandBrake as well, but since the XviD encodes it makes don't play on my DivX standalone, despite my best efforts (muxing issue I think) I use dvd::rip. Pretty much the same features, but HandBrake uses libxvidcore or libavcodec as the encoder while dvd::rip is a frontend for transcode.
Both are great examples of OSS which are quite competitive with commercial offerings, and either will do you well so long as you keep the pixel count sane for the Nokia. (~400x240 (depending on source aspect ration) is what I see mentioned here.)

so i have used handbrake to put a dvd onto my computer and then i use a usb to put the conversion onto the n800, but it say either doesnt play that resolution or that it doesnt play the format. i have tried converting it a few different ways but i find myself stuck at understanding what i need to do with converting it to the n800 so that media player will play it.

I bought and downloaded DVD catalyst 3. Works for all of my older DVDs but some new DVDs are better protected.

http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=n800+dvd+convert

Have you tried ripping the DVD with Handbrake and then passing the result file to ITVC for conversion? See my sig for ITVC link.

This is a perfectly good question. If you google it you'll get a hundred different solutions...some of them very complicated...requiring multiple steps and reassembling video and audio. Surveying the group, with their favorite solutions IS legitimate and doesn't deserve a "use the search engine" answer.

Personally, I like the simple solution. I use FairUseWizard; MS Windows, try to buy ware. It does the job simply, albiet slowly. You can even leave all the settings on the default, if I recall. Mplayer plays the Divx results just fine. I liked it enough to upgrade to the full version which lets you further optimize the file size by trimming off starting and ending credits. One caveat, the author, is totally unresponsive to help, but there is a forum should answer most of your questions.
http://www.fairusewizard.com/lang_en...t_edition.html

mencoder... and some bash scripting that helps me crop, resize, batch-encode (nice for DVDs with episodes of TV series) etc.

i dont trust "one step" solutions that don't let me play with settings.