Absolute *Best* Quality: 9 to 5

[Timoleon]

OK --- this seems to produce as good a copy as I can make of a long DVD movie:

1) Use DVD2SVCD with CCE at 4 passes. Set size to 4300. Wait about 8 hours.

2) Import m2v (mpv) and ac3 files into DVDMaestro. Use ChapterXtractor on the original ifo files to get your chapters. Set to 16/9 or 4/3 (a little box in the DVDMaestro window --- easy to miss).

3) Compile, and then create the DVD in Nero 5.5.10.28. Leave out the "lay" file.

You end up with just the main movie, of course, but, GODFREY CAMBRIDGE!! , it reeks with QUALITY, QUALITY, QUALITY!!!

Can this be improved upon in any way, or have I reached the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?

[mrbass]

dvd2svcd already exports maestro chapter files. Make sure you make a dummy batch file for bbmpeg. I hear set size to 4300, 4600, 4484, etc. It's not quite as accurate as dvd2dvd-r which always comes out to 4.35 to 4.37GB.

[stream]

I use DVDDecrypter > IFOEdit > ReMpeg > Nero, and it takes about 20-24 hours with ReMpeg set on the highest quality settings. No one I know (including a couple of people who know audio/video stuff fairly well) can tell the difference between the copies and the originals. I'd stack that method up against any other, and bet on myself ;)

-jesse

[Bob W]

I'm lazy so I use SmartRipper, DVD2one, then burn with 4x media. Takes about 45 minutes and the quality is good enough for me.

[adam]

I use a similar method but I prefer to keep all of the extras and menu's as well. I resize them down to 352x480 and that way I can get away with a very low bitrate without any noticable quality loss. This gives me plenty of bitrate for the main movie. I usually get an average of between 4 and 5 mbits for the main movie, which is plenty as far as I'm concerned.

Timoleon: Short of minor tweaks to your encoding method, most of which DVD2SVCD probably already does, I don't see how you can improve upon the quality of your DVD backups. Any possible tweaks would probably be negligable at these bitrates anyway. If you are up for it, I would suggest giving a true 1:1 backup a try. You can keep all of the extra's without losing any video quality, at least on the vast majority of DVDs. You've already got all the software you need, and that's the biggest hurdle.

No offense stream but ReMpeg produces pretty terrible quality. No transcoder can ever achieve the same level of quality as an encoder, so TMPGenc and CCE have a big advantage there.

[txpharoah]

DVD2One and DVDshrink make good quality.
Several problems with DVDshrink, but quality isn't one of them.

[adam]

Quality is relative of course, but at the same compression level there is a major difference between programs like DVD Shrink and DVD2ONE and true encoders like CCE and TMPGenc.

Using anything other than minimal compression in DVD Shrink and DVD2ONE creates very noticable artifacts to my eyes and gives an overall poor image which I find unacceptable. For the average movie, a movie only backup will look fine in these programs. If you prefer to keep all of the extra's then these programs are simply useless, as far as I'm concerned.

Also something I don't like about DVD Shrink is that it doesn't allow you the option to compress all frames. Unless you run multiple passes, you can only compress I, P, or B frames. This means that you have some frames left completely untouched while others may be heavily compressed. This gives you that dancing pixel effect that alot of people have complained about.

[txpharoah]

Since I work a lot in news media, I'm just more used to transcoding methods. It's okay, but yeah, dancing pixels can get old. Never use Level 4 compression on DVDshrink. Stick to 2 or 3, as 1 barely compresses size. Just cut out unneeded audio and extras.

Anybody looking for best possible quality, with a bit of time on their hands should listen to adam. His method is great. It's similar to what I used to do, but DVD backup isn't important to me.

Anybody looking for the quick fix should stick to DVD2one or DVDshrink.

It's time vs quality. The time difference is large. But the quality difference can vary. Sometimes it can get bad, sometimes not even noticeable. It's all about your source and length.

[Pussylips]

I have spent a little time with these simple, put disk in and copy. They do the job, but not that good. I have found that spending time with Avisnth and writting scripts to frameserve to do the work make the difference. Obviously using the other programs as well. TMPG etc....

[Psycho_Dad_Rules]

This works perfectly for me on long movies:

Insert DVD-9 in DVD-Rom
Start DVD2DVD-R with CCE encoder on 5 pass VBR.
10 hours later you'll have a ready to burn DVD-file-set.
Burn with RecordMax

Greetz,

pSyChO dAd

[Faustus]

This is exactly the method I've been using forever, well I only use 2 or 3 passes, but I can personally vouch for its video quality. And its so easy I can teach it to a friend with one trial run.

It is however very time intensive compaired to the "just click here" methods. hrm... maybe if I ordered one of those new P4 3ghz....

[Dcent]

LOL.. you take this to the edge !!... CCE 5 pass ?!?!

I'm very happy with CCE CBR if it goes above 4500 Kbs or with 2 pass below the 4500 Kbs . 8)

Dvd2Dvdr, CCE, Nero/RecordNow ... those are the tools !!!!

Dvd2One, DvdShrink ??... what are those ??? lol

[jtoolman2000]

I just did a backup of Indepence Day which is around 2-1/2hours with none other than DVD x Copy Xpress. Super simple and blind way to make backups to DVD-R. I assume it had to compress quite a bit considering that Shrink rewuired about level 3-4 depending on what you choose to not include. I than took it over to a friend who I call a "Pixel Counter" You really can't watch a regular movie with this guy as he'll drive you crazy pointing out mistakes and digital gitches. He could not believe how good it looked to him on his Panasonic 16-9 HDTV. Unfortunately, he's a MAC man so I could not help with an equivalent program.
Watched it on my crap Panasonic 27" and it looked perfect. Sounds great on my 5:1 sorround sound as well.
So I think for most situations this new version of DVD+Copy does the job. Now if they we could only find a way to remove that laughable warning at the begining, it would be a winner!

[Psycho_Dad_Rules]

I know they say that anything above 4 pass isn't noticable, so to be on the sure side i use 5 pass

This way i've copied a dvd with episodes with 3 hours of movie in 4:3 resolution with almost no loss at all

Greetz,

pSyChO dAd

[jtoolman2000]

Holy C***!! Can you guys truly see the diffrence in a 1:1 non Compressed ( not transcoded ) copy from commercial DVD to DVDr which takes me 1:30 hrs total to rip and burn as opposed to these long comvoluted, multi program, multi pass methods. I'd love to see that, as what I can produce right now abosutely matches the original dvd quality and I have a pretty good TV and sorround sound system!

Am I being unreasonable?

[adam]

I don't understand your question jtoolman2000. If you were able to fit the movie on a dvd5 without compressing it then obviously there is no difference in quality. It is a digital transfer. The problem is that this cannot be done with most DVD9's, and can almost never be done with any DVD9 if you want to keep all the extras.

For those people who only want the main movie, these simple transcoders often work ok because you are only lightly compressing the movie. If you have to compress by much more than 30% than yes, I can absolutely see a very noticable decrease in quality everytime when using somthing like DVD Shrink, DVD2ONE, or even Instant Copy. When you choose to keep all of the extras, you rarely are able to do a DVD9->DVD5 without compressing the main movie 30%, 40%, or even 50%. For my purposes, these applications are simply useless for backing up a DVD9.

3 or 4 pass encoding obviously takes longer, but the process really is not much more difficult than using one of these all-in-one tools. There are very advanced tools out now which automate much of the process. I spend 1 min making my settings in Dif4u, hit "Do It" then wake up the next morning ready to author, which only takes me about another 5 mins of work. I get a 1:1 copy which, to my eyes, is truly indistinguishable from the original. This is something I have yet to achieve with any all-in-one tool.

[Crash-n-Burn]

What about instant copy? how does that compare to all these new progs with quailty when your keeping all the menus. Thats the only 9 to 5 iv used, and the quailty is awsome.

[jnk76]

I have used almost all programs above and I have found reasons to use all. DVD2one, DVDshrink is great if there isn't much compression needed.
IC7 is also good if you can keep the movie @ 70% and higher and menus @ 80% and higher. CCE is just awesome.....I use that method when compression is high and do not want to use more disks.
I have run into stumbling block though.....Maestro doesn't seem to want to work on my system. I loaded it and it gave errors when dragging files from asset window to movie window. i un installed and now it won't even install anymore. Any other programs that are more feature based than Spruce up and Ulead but not as complicated as Scenarist?

[adam]

Crash-n-Burn

In my opinion, Instant Copy produces the best quality compared to others in the field. It still has alot of bugs though. Its biggest problem is undersizing. If you can get a decent compression level in IC then you can make a nice 1:1 backup, but I still find manual re-authoring just as easy.

[Bullworth]

My Method of backing up DVDs is as follows:
1. Smartripper, DVDecrypter or vStrip; depends if one doesn´t work for some reason.
2. IfoEdit when necessary to remove FBI warnings, etc.
3. DVD2AVI
4. CCE with 3-pass VBR for main movie.
5. SubRip for subtitles.
6. DVD Maestro to reauthor all that good stuff
7. IFOUpdate to update movie IFO
8. DVD Shrink for extras that cause it to go over 4.7G
9. ImgTool for image file
10. DVDecrypter to burn.

Altogether one movie takes about 7-8 hours. May seem like alot but for me it is well worth it. My biggest problem was when I wanted to keep extras and it wasn´t feasible to do in Maestro because of all the PGCs and I thought that ReMPEG took too long. With DVD Shrink a single extra is done in minutes, not a couple of hrs. I know it´s alot of steps but it´s the method I like right now for a quality/time balance until these other 9 to 5 programs get a little more advanced re-encoding/transcoding options. I think they´re all pretty good but I want some other options before buying one.

[dssgorila]

The Best Tools For DVD9 2 DVD5 ARE: (FULL BACKUP) BEST QUALTIY
Drum Roll Please
DoItFast4u for ripping/demuxing/and subrip/
DoCCE4U Recieves a file from doitfast to automate the process of CCE
Reauthorist Once your done encoding Reathourist makes a script for scenarist to compile your final project

And these ladies and gents are the best tools for backups with superior quality.

[jnk76]

dssgorila,

Reauthorist Once your done encoding Reathourist makes a script for scenarist to compile your final project

When did this come out? I found I did not have time to play with scenarist but if it is automated......I would love that. I make habit to check on doom9 site but did I miss it? Is it free?

[dssgorila]

well its not really out yet its still in beta but so far it works pretty good. some titles must still be done with scenarist manually (seamless branching) but for the most Reauthorist does its job. you can seek a copy in efnet in the doom9 channel

enjoy

[F-ING HOSTILE]

Movies over 1.5 to 2 Hours, or movies with action:
I use DVD Decrypter, DVD2AVI, TMPGEnc (2 pass VBR), DVD Maestro, and Gear Pro or Prassi Primo! The quality is superior to all other methods I have tried! I cannot distinguish between the Original DVD and the copy!

Movies under 2 hours (without much action) , or animated films:
I use DVD Decrypter, DVD2ONE, and Prassi Primo. Since I do not "push the limits" with DVD2ONE (just "main movie"), the resulting DVD is excellent. This method is SO QUICK and simple. The whole process usually takes under an hour (from rip to write), and is completely adequate for the films I choose to copy with it!