DVD Copy Quality with AnyDVD and CloneDVD

[SSN]

I'm relatively new to the DVD burning scene, and I've used several different software programs to burn. I've used nero, alcohol, and dvdxcopy xpress. I've also used anydvd and clonedvd. I'm interested in making the highest quality copy possible, and I'm willing to strip out the extras, and commit to one of the audio formats over the other. Basically, I'm wondering if there's any particularly good way to do this. In CloneDVD, I have the option to pick and choose which elements I keep/remove, and there's a little bar at the bottom of the screen which says "quality" and a percentage. How accurate is that scale? Are there other methods to preserving quality? I've heard of "9-pass encoding" and I'm just not sure what that means, and why people would do somethign like that if it takes more effort. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks guys.

[SSN]

I guess the real question is how does CloneDVD stack up in terms of producing high-quality duplications and how would you suggest optimizing the settings in that program to produce high quality (not necessarily fast) DVDs?

The follow up to that would be, what other programs are superior in producing high-quality DVD's and how should those be optimized. I'm not willing to make 1 DVD-9 burned to 2 DVD-5's, so please keep this in mind.

Thanks again.

[tumbar]

you can't tweak clonedvd. it's authors made it to be simple.

that being said, I use it in conjunction with anydvd because I've tried them all, even re encoding with cinema craft encoder, CCE.

try dvdshrink for some additional tweaking, it's free. find it in the tools section.

[Acolyte]

I am new also but I would suggest backing up movies 120 minutes and under until you are comfortable. Try backing up a movie like Titanic (192 min) on a DVD-RW and watch it for quality...

Movie only, no Menus or extras

[noki]

Acolyte
time (movie length) really is just one of many factors that determine the quality of your creation. so a flat statement as yours is totally misleading...i know you are new to this

[bmiller]

Yes, movie length is probably the biggest factor in determining quality,but the bitrate the movie was made in,black and white vs. colour,action movies can also change the quality. The Indiana jones series are only 2 hr. movies,but are over 7 gb.Too much compression for one disk for me,so i copied to 2 disks.Yet the Italian Job went on one disk easily.
It's a personal thing.
Instant copy has size issues.Clone dvd has worked flawlessly for me for 1 disk backups,and intervideo dvdcopy for 2 disk backups.Never had a problem with either program,and ritek GO3's.

[SoCalMK]

I absolutely love clone dvd w/ anydvd since it has a lot of options and it enables me to keep the menus. But I have to say that for quality (with time also a consideration) I have to say that DVD2ONE is the best. If you are willing to gut all of the extras and commit to one sound format, then you will find that you can often get a 1:1 transfer when it comes to the movie itself. Certainly there are many titles that are over 4.7 GB even if you gut everything, but you will also find many titles that fit very nicely into one DVD-/+r when it is processed movie only. I know that there are other software that renders a better video than DVD2ONE, but when you backup as much as I do time does become a factor and for that I don't you can beat DVD2ONE.

[energy80s]

The running time of a movie has nothing to do with the quality of it! It's the bitrate you need to look out for. I have Raiders of the Lost Ark at 7.3Gb for 111mins and Billy Connolly Live at under 4Gb for 144mins! Both pictures are fine, so running time means nothing. Usually the higher the original bitrate the more compression you can apply to the copy before the picture starts to deteoriate. I have a backup of Raiders with something like 46% compression and the picture still looks perfect.

[henry_nettles]

The running time of a movie has nothing to do with the quality of it! It's the bitrate you need to look out for. I have Raiders of the Lost Ark at 7.3Gb for 111mins and Billy Connolly Live at under 4Gb for 144mins! Both pictures are fine, so running time means nothing. Usually the higher the original bitrate the more compression you can apply to the copy before the picture starts to deteoriate. I have a backup of Raiders with something like 46% compression and the picture still looks perfect.

What he said!!! This is a very important point, and one most people seem to overlook, so it is worth repeating.

If the original movie had a very high bitrate, then you can afford to do more shrinking (higher percentage compression), and still have a good looking result.

[SidDan]

is it possible to set an average rate of the bitrate where you can see some qúality loss?... that is what I wonder, cus in CCE you can adjust the bitrate on the last ending credits

[MackemX]

is it possible to set an average rate of the bitrate where you can see some qúality loss?... that is what I wonder, cus in CCE you can adjust the bitrate on the last ending credits

You can with DVDShrink

http://www.dvdshrink.info/mixed-compressions.php

[greggery]

I find that pinnacle instantcopy 8 gives the quality for compressed movies. Anybody agree?