Hello all, this is a great site. There is tons of info, and I'm kinda overwhelmed by all of it. Perhaps some of you guys can help straighten out a few points for me. I read the "FAQ: DVD to DVD-R (or DVD+R/RW) copying thread" and have some questions:
1. I have XP operating system. The thread says that if the DVD I want to record is larger than 4.36GB in size then I need to use IFOEdit. But that does not work with XP, so what do I do? The original DVd is 5.62 GB, and I imagine others I will want to copy in the future are in the neighbourhood of 5-6 GB as well.
2. I do not want to strip the DVD of features, if possible. Or am I livin' in a dream world?
3. When I say I am new to this, I mean it. I plan on ordering a DVD burner (either NEC ND3550A or BenQ DW1655--not sure which is better, though I am getting a really good deal with the NEC: any comments?), but I wanna find out first whether I can actually copy the DVDs with the XP system I got since IFOEdit will not run on it.
If there are other things I need to be aware of or should think of please let me know.
Hello and welcome to AD. All of the information can be a bit overwhelming when it comes to backing up DVD's. There are some things you need to do and some things you don't need to do. For starters IFOEdit is an advanced program for advanced users and can be very complicated and for most people not a required program. Let's get down to you questions.
1. Most new DVD's are DVD-9's and can range in size from 5 gigs to over 8 gigs. Typically store bought blanks are dvd-5's or 4.7 gigs in size. So you need to compress your data from the DVD-9 to fit onto a DVD-5. There are several free tools available for you to accomplish this task.
a. DVD Shrink-ripper, transcoder. This program will rip many movies to your HDD, it will also allow you to make a backup of the entire disc or the movie only. It is very easy to use and there are numerous guides online to help you sort it all out.
b. VobBlanker-Allows you to cut/blank cells contained in the DVD structure such as FBI warnings, trailers etc. to ultimately reduce your target size. This program will also correct/clean the structure of a DVD which has various copy protection embedded withing the DVD files. Similar to IFOEdit, but easy to use.
2. DVD Shrink and VobBlanker should allow you to strip enough material to backup an entire DVD, special features and all. What you should be concerned with is quality. Obviously the bigger the DVD, the more compression will be required to fit onto a DVD-5, thus affecting the quality of your backup.
3. I'm an NEC user, so I would lean towards the 3550. But my next drive may well be a BenQ. I don't think you could go wrong with either one of those drives.
1) Shrink will handle them easily. Make sure you got at least 10+ free gbs of harddrive space.
Dvd shrink has extra quality enhancements to improve the quality of highly compressed backups. You Tv sets will also show the compression affects if you have a big screen.
2) Backup entire disc or reauthor main movie only using DVD Shrink.
Just remember: The higher the compression-the longer it takes. Using the quality enhancements-will take even longer. All depending on your Ram and processor.
3) Benq all the way. The 1655 has the lightscribe capability. If that is no biggie,check out the Benq 1650 at newegg.com or supermediastore.com
After booktyping the plus format to dvd-rom,good luck on finding a dvd drive that won't play them.
Quote:If there are other things I need to be aware of or should think of please let me know.
The main things to know:
1) Size of the original dvds. If they need compressed-use DVD Shrink. If they are dvd-5's or you are backing up onto Dual layer media- use DVD Decrypter. Iso read and write is a very effective program for a 1:1 copy. IMGburn also a good burn enging for using with dvd decrypter's ISO mode.
2) Media quality: There are some crap media out there. Media quality is the #1 issue for- Burning/longevity/and most important- Stand alone playability.Start out with a couple of rw discs.Once you got it figured out,then stick with taiyo yuden or verbatim. Those 2 brands of media will prevent a slew of issues.
Poor quality media has to be burned slower/at a reduced target/or both.
3) DVD Shrink only rips and copresses. You'll need a burn engine.You can use DVD Decrypter. I favor Nero6 and higher. If you got a Nero oem disc,then try it out. Nero6 should come with the Benq 1655 and 1650. I rip with DVD Shrink and let nero6 autoburn for me. No extra step. CopyToDVD also works,in case you have that one.
4) Quality burner: Very critical. Helps for stand alone compatability. If your backups are going to be played on a lot of drives,then get one that booktypes. Benqs can booktype.
5) No muli-tasking. No need to be on the net while you backup dvds. Set it and forget it.
6) Avoid paper-sticker labels. Major no-no and can cause playback issues.
7) Stay away from max speed burning. Depending on media quality,try 4x. Make sure that backup plays ok in all your drives. Then you can bump it up to 8x.
Thanks for the detailed replies, Locoeng and Saugmon. This gives me more confidence. I will proceed with my adventures in burning DVDs and post back once I get my hands-on experience. Gracias
