Any recommendations on programs that will let me take my dvd collection and burn them to files on my hard drive to use with the photobridge. I have done some research and there are a LOT or programs.
What file format is recommended?

In my opinion, the two best ones are DVDDecrypter and DVDShrink. I use DVDShrink for 98% of my DVDs. For the few that require more "intervention", I rip the whole DVD with DVDDecrypter and then use DVDShrink on that. The extra DVDShrink step is mainly because the interface is much easier, and I want to make sure I'm not missing anything in my rip. For a couple of DVDs, I've had to run AnyDVD in the background while using DVDDecrypter.

Note that both of those programs have been essentially outlawed by Macrovision and their authors threatened with lawsuits if they did not cease and desist in the development and distrubution of the program. I believe Macrovision even took control of the DVD Decryptor web site and is able to collect information if you try to "look for update". Bah!

I use them both as well though and they work awesome.

Just used DVD Blanker (similar in some ways to DVDDecrypter) in conjunction with the latest version of AnyDVD last night to rip a difficult DVD. Worked like a charm.