Hello. I am not quite a newbie and have been backing up my DVDs for about three years now thanks to these forums and Afterdawn.com.
I want to buy a dual layer DVD and want to know if there are any guides to using these for Backing up my DVDs.
Here are some questions I have.
1. Do you still need to rip DVDs. I mean, one would think if you use a dual layer dvd burner you could copy the whole dvd without ripping anything out and with out losing any quality. Am I right? Or am I clueless like my gut tells me?
2. What type of blank Dual layer Disks are recommended. I currently use Taiyo Yuden single layer but I have'nt seen any dual layer ones out there yet.
3. Can I just use DVD Shrink with no compression and use Nero to burn it?
Originally posted by SJBaller: Here are some questions I have.
1. Do you still need to rip DVDs. I mean, one would think if you use a dual layer dvd burner you could copy the whole dvd without ripping anything out and with out losing any quality. Am I right? Or am I clueless like my gut tells me?
With DL capability you can preserve everything; no need to cut anything out. However, some kinds of copy-protection use bogus title sets (or, anti-copy-protection software may mistakenly think there are bogus title sets present, when, in fact, they are legit. AnyDVD is known for making that mistake.) You would use DL discs when your source material is a DVD-9 and you can have an exact backup with no quality or feature loss. You would still use regular single-layer DVDs for backups of source material contained on DVD-5s (like a lot of older movies.)
About "ripping" though, that term refers to getting the material off the original disc, not to cutting out unwanted parts. "Ripping" is necessary when using any copying program: the program will "rip" the source to your hard disc and then burn it to the backup disc.
Quote:2. What type of blank Dual layer Disks are recommended. I currently use Taiyo Yuden single layer but I have'nt seen any dual layer ones out there yet.
Verbatim DVD+R DL. Do not mess around with DVD-R DL (the dash format).
Quote:3. Can I just use DVD Shrink with no compression and use Nero to burn it?
I guess if you use RipIt4me as your ripper of choice, though Nero does not handle layer-breaks well, so don't use it. The layer-break on a DVD-9/DL is where the transition from reading the lower layer of the DVD (L0) or the upper layer (L1) occurs. If it's not set correctly, you will get freezes, perhaps even lock-ups at the transition point.
There are basically three ways to rip: The first is the "one-click" tools like CloneDVD2 from Slysoft. With this, you simply put your source disc in your drive, start the ripping process, and then put a blank DL disc in when it's done ripping to do the burning. If you have two drives (e.g. a DVD-ROM reader and a burner) then it's even more convenient because you can just walk away and in an hour or so you'll have a complete backup. The only problem with this method is that CloneDVD2 isn't much better at handling the layer break as Nero.
You can rip your source disc to your hard drive in ISO format (a favored practice is to use AnyDVD and DVD-Decrypter, though there are certain settings you must be aware of for this to work). DD will create an ISO file and a companion MDS file. The MDS file contains all the layer break info from the original disc. Once ripped to your hard disk, you'd simply start IMGBurn and open the MDS file (not the ISO!) and let IMGBurn burn.
On the other hand, if you ripped to your hard disk in Video_TS format (you have a VIDEO_TS folder, IFOs, BUPs, VOBs, as DVDShrink would), then you'd want to use PGCEdit to set the layer break. Here's a guide-http://www.digital-digest.com/~blutach/dl_burn_guide2/dl_burning_with_pgcedit_v2.htm
Note that the modern versions of PGCEdit use IMGBurn for the burning. In essence, you use PGCEdit to make your own MDS file, whereas with the former method, you already have that.
Believe it or not, this isn't as complicated as it sounds, and once you get all your software set up correctly, it's pretty easy.
-Do you believe you own your computer and shouldn't be told what you can run and do? Then say *NO* to Microsoft Vista!
-Since half the questions here involve media problems, here ya go: Only use Verbatim or Taiyo-Yuden discs (get your TYs from Rima.com, not Supermediastore or meritline). Forget the rest, no matter what "brand" they sell under. Always burn at 4x speed regardless of the speed rating of this discs or your drive. If you have burn problems with these then you have to update your drive's firmware. For double-layer discs, only use Verbatim DVD+R DL and burn them at 2.4x speed.
