Wow. That was fast.
I’ve previously written about the AppleTV, and how there was significant potential for the idea to work if there were simple ways for people to convert their existing DVD libraries to iTunes.
The problem is, due to legal liability, Apple likely has no intention to integrate DVD-ripping into iTunes. So much for Rip. Mix. Burn.
Well, it’s the day after the AppleTV shipped, and already there is a third party application available specifically to rip DVDs to AppleTV supported formats.
DVD to Apple TV Ripper by WonderShare
Ironically, it’s Windows-only. 🙂
Psychohistory 
I downloaded their trial software, and it took nearly 2 hours to convert one DVD (without any of the special features). Kinda limits the usefulness of it, unfortunately.
Using Handbrake, on my dual-2.5Ghz G5 PowerMac, it takes me about 30 minutes to rip a movie like X-Men 3 (approx 105 minutes). My guess is that this third party software isn’t optimized well.
Given the increases in speed of desktop machines, I’m wondering how fast a 8-core Xeon Mac Pro will handle it…
– Adam