Video Downloading Help

[xmed]

I'm going thru a messy divorce, and my DVD collection, built up over years, is getting decimated. And my new laptop doesn't even have a disk drawer, otherwise I'd try to make copies.

I wanted to try to find as many of them as I can and replace them with video files, for ease of use and access.

I've found a few sites where I can watch movies online, but haven't been able to download them as files. In Firefox extension VideoDownload Helper they show up as lots of small files. I've also tried JDownloader2. But no joy. I've also experimented with VLC.

Short of trying screen capture as the movie plays, can anyone suggest how I might download these movies? Or recommend good sites that have them for downloading. I've found one so far, but their links come with limitations.

I'm not in the states, and finances all tied up with divorce at moment. And watching some of my favorite movies might be theraputic during this time.

Thank you for any suggestions you might have.

P.S. If you prefer to pm links, that's fine, too.

Thanks again.