Best DVD Backup Option?

[tom855]

I'm sure that the experts on here will have no problem pointing me in the right direction on this one......

I have some DVDs that I burned with home movies on them. I want to back them up and store them offsite. I have the .iso files that they were burned from, but would like to have a version of the files that I can occasionally bring up on the PC to watch..... or at least I think I do.

The DVD plays fine in the PC on Windows Media Player, with decent audio and video quality considering it originally came from a Hi-8.

I backed up a DVD w/ Handbrake (mpeg4) and then played it back on Windows Media Player. To me the audio and video quality was degraded, and there were some bouncy bars across the very bottom that told me the conversion was anything but clean.

I then backed up the same DVD with Freemake, and converted that to "MPEG," thinking that might be MPEG2 or something like that and it would look better. Although the program was a dream to use, the replayed video looked exactly like the Handbrake version.

My question is simple..... with all this freeware and great technology out there, what is a backup format / methodology that will give me a backup with equivalent quality to the DVD itself. Having a backup is great. Having a backup that is poor quality is really not so great.

Could somebody give me some guidance on the best path forward?

Thanks!

Tom

[steptoe]

Have a look for DVD-RB

There is a free version that's quite old but should give you an idea of whats possible. It uses HCEnc which is a free encoder and all the software it uses is also free


It basically takes the DVD apart and rebuilds it to match a given bitrate, which is better than most others that do a similiar job to MP3 and removes the things it 'thinks' you won't notice, but ends up with poorer quality, which is where they get their speed of conversion from

DVD-RB is much slower, but the final quality is much better

http://www.jdobbs.com/

DVD-RB Pro hasn't been updated in a very very long time. Not because the developer has stopped working on it, but the majority of his time is now taken with his next project. BD-RB .... for converting a full blu-ray disc to fit on a standard DVD with as close as possible to the original quality, but is very slow due to the huge amount of work it has to do to maintain that final quality. Time isn't important when you want the best possible result

DVD-RB is still in development, its just reached a level where not much more needs doing to it, and bugs are very few, if any major ones now. I used it for DVD's and the quality is about as best as you'll get

[tom855]

Thanks for the reply. I'm burning the DVD with that program as we speak. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out. Can you tell me what format the output will be? I'm assuming it will run on Media Player? Or, is Media Player itself low quality? Again, just looking to see what the highest quality way is to view the backup files. Thank you again for your advice. I'm looking forward to seeing the output..... when it finally appears.

Have a great day!

Tom

[jman98]

If your DVDs are all single layer DVD size already, steptoe's advice accomplishes nothing. DVD-RB won't make any changes.

Need more info really.
1) Roughly how many DVDs do you have?
2) Are they all single layer, all double layer, or some of each? Approximately what percentage are single layer and what percentage are double layer?
3) Do you have a reason that prevents you from being able to just store the ISOs as they are? Because no conversion is ALWAYS better for quality than doing a conversion. The best you can hope for in doing a conversion is that the copy will be so close to the original that you can't tell any difference, yet it will technically be somewhat less in quality, even if you can't tell.

[tom855]

I have about 10 DVDs, all what I believe are single layer. (4.7G, 2hrs). Actually maybe storing the ISOs is the best choice, as like you said they are the "original" files. I can move those somewhere offsite without a problem. My concern on the discs themselves was degradation or some calamity. I guess I was looking for a backup method that would allow me to occasionally view them on a PC, but I guess the only reason to do that is ease of viewing. IF every conversion loses fidelity, then perhaps the right answer is to store the .iso files someplace really safe, and keep the discs and some easier to view backup format locally, knowing of course the converted files will never look as good as the .iso files if I reburned them to a disc. IF I do that, what is the file format that is easy to view, but the "closest" to the original fidelity?

Thanks!

Tom

[Trippedout]

ive allways keept mine on sepret hdd 20 80 gig so on and atached when needed i now have external hdd from seagate that is now internal love the go flex range but hdd can fail experts say safest way is metal tap or something like that google it pc world has a topic on it simple way to put them on drive is dvd decyter

[jagabo]

Since you already have ISO files you can just use a player that plays ISO images. VLC for example.

Or you can use Daemon Tools to mount the ISO file and make it appear as a DVD drive.

[steptoe]

ahhhh, you didn't mention they were already 4.7GB discs

In that case DVD-RB will basically do nothing but copy them as it already fits on a single DVD and burn them with IMGBurn (which is better the the vast majority of burning software for producing quality burns and compatible with almost all players everytime)

Like suggested, as you have the original ISO's, you can also use IMGBurn to 'read' your DVD's that have been burnt and create those ISO images. Just just the 'read' option from IMGBurn (which is 100% freeware also) to create your ISO image

Have a look at PotPlayer or MediaPlayerClassic for more compatible playing software that isn't overbloated, over complicated software that does exactly what it says doesn't try to be more than that. Both are free as well


For yet more FREE software, have a look for SlySoft Virtual CloneDrive to 'mount' the ISO so as far as any software is concerned it is a disc, if the player software can't play an ISO image directly

http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html

I've used all of the above in the past, and use PotPlayer and MPC personally

[tom855]

This is all fantastic advice. Thank you very much. As suggested I'll just keep the .iso originals, and when I want to use them I'll use an .iso viewer. I really appreciate all the help.