Quote:Hypothetically. If I wanted to copy a rented DVD. How would I go about it? Of course I have no plans on doing such I thing.
Hypothetically I would use a mixture of freeware. DVD Shrink to resize and shrink the movie for DVD-5 discs and DVD Decrypter to burn it. If I had Nero 6.x I ight use it to burn the files DVD Shrink makes.
CloneDVD2 and AnyDVD (both commercial products) would also work well.
Quote:My understanding from reading postings is that when a rental DVD is copied it can only be played back on the computer but not on a DVD player.
Why wouldn't it work on a DVD player and only the computer? How would a person go about playing it on a DVD player?
There is no reason it shouldn't work in a DVD player. Rented DVDs are no different than the ones you buy. If the hypothetical copy went ok, it will play in a DVD player, hypothetically.
Not looking to copy a copy. Just hypothetically looking to copy an original.
Should mention that I am only using the DVD X Copy PLatinum software.
1st problem - when I copy a rental DVD I can copy it, but cannot play it on a DVD player but only on my computer. Also, because I choose the splitting option, only the Disk 1 seems to work on my computer.
2nd problem - when I try to copy one of my DVD's - with splitting - the first DVD does work on my DVD player, but the second does not.
Do you know the most efficinet way to use splitting? What could be causing the problems with watching a copied rental DVD on the DVD player? And, it compression a goof alternative?
If you are having problems with DVD X Copy Platinum, Shrink and Decrpyter are very good 'free' alternatives - both avialable from this site with excellent guides also available.
Playback problems on standalone could be related to the use of poor quality media or attempting to playback in an older standalone.
sounds like compatibility issues with your media/standalone player, will it work on another standalone? If you look on the 321 forum you will find that there are few people who have had much success with spitting discs & Platinum. I wouldn't bother if I were you. I would use simple mode & just copy the film alone. I love DvdXcopy, it is simple to use. It can be rather fussy, but when it works it works really well. I copy my copies with either Alcohol 120% (recommended), Nero (it's OK) or I use simple mode (you have to find the movie with the browse button - but that is as complicated as it gets. If you do this the system reads the film a lot quicker that using other software.) I have had little success with DVD Shrink & Nero, (that's probably me though!). I prefer to compress & burn the originals with Platinum or Simplemode & copy copies with whatever Takes my fancy!
I've always found it is worth trying lots of different progs & use the one that suits your need. You could argue the toss over who uses what etc 'til the cows come home but at the end of the day you have to find the ones that suit you & your system. (I apologise in advance for all the cliches used!) You should be able to play copies on virtually any of the latest dvd players. Most of the early compatibility issues are a thing of the past. If someone tells you that a copied disc cannot be played on a standalone - that person either works for Microsoft or for the film industry. I wouldn't trust that lot as far as I could throw them.
Quote:Hypothetically it only seems to work on the computer and not on the DVD player.
Could it be the software?
Take your hypothetical copy to a friend's or neighbor's house and try it. It may be the brand of blank media you are using, your burner and/or your stand alone DVD player. I own and have used DVDXCOPY, XPRESS, Gold and Platinum. On players I used to have - a cheap Cyberhome and a cheap Apex - they were picky about the cheap -Rs I copied to. My current players - a 3-disc GE, a Sylvania DVD/VCR and a Panasonic - will play any copy thrown at them regardless of brand or format, +R or -R.
Quote:What are your thoughts on compression? How much does compression reduce the quality of the image and audio? What level of compression is suitable?
I don't get too concerned about compression with my programs (in my signature) until about 50%. Last night I copied Nixon, an Oliver Stone movie, that was 3 hours & 14 minutes long. Compression was below 50% so I tried copying to a +RW disc to test with. It played ok so I copied it to a +R.
FWIW...I removed all my 321Studios software from my computers and now use the software listed in my sig.
DVD X copy will copy the rented movie and compress it for you and record it to a blank DVD disk. it should play on the home player as long as your home player supported the media you are using.
1. open x copy
2. Is this Rented or Barrowed? click NO
3. Click I Agree
4. Insert DVD to Copy
5. when the srart highlights click start
6. the when it is done it will say insert blank:
7. insert blank DVD
8. click continue
9. thats all you have to do and now you have a copy of a DVD
