Stuck trying to decide on DVD to DVDR software...

[wgb113]

Hello everybody!

Thanks to this very helpful forum I've ordered all of the necessary hardware required to begin backing up my growing DVD collection.

I'll be using an NEC ND-3500A writer and ripping my originals to an external 250GB hard drive before manipulation.

I've ordered a "sampler" DVD-R pack from SuperMediaStore to try and find a disc my DVD player, a Denon DVD-2900, will like.

The only thing I'm hung up on is which software package(s) to use to create the best possible backup of my DVDs.

I'm looking for something that will give me:

1) Perfect picture quality. It must be indistinguishable from the original when viewed on my 55"HDTV.
2) Perfect sound quality. It must retain all of the dynamics and clarity of the original when played over my sound system.
3) The "basics" when it comes to menus. All I'm looking for is something that retains the main menu, functions to navigate throughout the chapters, and the ability to return to the main menu at any time.

Initially I was looking at DVD Wizard Pro as it consistently gets rated high. The more research I do the more "this one's best" type results I find. Everyone seems to swear by their favorite.

The one thing I don't like about DVD Wizard Pro, if I understand it's capabilities correctly, is the fact that it "guesses" what you won't see/hear or miss, removes that information, and then compresses it to fit on a 4GB DVDR. I want to be in control of what gets cut before compression takes place.

That leads me to my current favorite solution, DVD ReMake. I love the fact that this program allows you to pick and choose what you keep so that you can get the file size as close as possible to the 4.3GB limit. The only aspect I'm not crazy about is the need for (I assume) two other programs in order to burn a disc. If I'm not istaken I'll need a program to then compress the file down after "editing" and then a third program to actually burn the disc on the writer. Is this correct?

Are there any "all-in-one" software solutions with the extensive editing abilities of DVD ReMake? Is DVD ReMakePro even better?

Thanks in advance,
Bill

[BJ_M]

don't fool around if you want the best picture and sound, just split the disk onto two disks if you need more than 10% compression ...

you can do all this wih dvd shrink - the whole operation and splitting ..

[wgb113]

I was under the impression that I would need to use other programs with DVD Shrink in order to complete the entire process. Is that NOT the case?

Bill

[BJ_M]

not the case

[Richard_G]

The latest version of DVD Shrink will do everything from ripping to burning (provided you have Nero installed as it uses tyhe Nero burning engine). I have backed up most of my DVDs by re-authoring them and removing everything except the main movie. No menus, no foreign subtitles, no 2 channel audio directors commentary, just the main movie. In many cases removing all the rubbish gets the size down to less than a DVD-R disk so the quality of the backup is identical to that of the original. Those that are still too big only need a very small amount of compression so any degradation is minimal (I haven't seen one yet that looks any different on a 32" wide screen Sony!).

[skebenin]

Technically you do need burning software in addition to DVDShrink. If you have Nero, Shrink controls it via the Nero APIs (Application Programer's Interface).

If you don't have Nero, you can burn with DVDDecrypter, which is free. Shrink doesn't integrate so tightly with DVDDecrypter, but you can set it up to kick off Decrypter to burn at the end if you desire, so it seems like a full end-to-end one-click backup tool.

[wgb113]

So DVD Shrink will allow me to go through and remove anything/everything I want before commiting to disc? Why would someone bother with DVD ReMake? When reading the "dummies guide to backing up a DVD" on the Dimadsoft site they use it in conjuntion with DVD Shrink and Nero?

Please excuse the noob questions...just confused about this part and want to make sure I get it right the first time.

Also, what about compatibility issues between programs/writers, programs/media, programs/players???

I've borrowed a neighbor's backup on a DVD+R disc that played fine on my player that claims to only accept DVD-R(W) discs.

Bill

[BJ_M]

DVD ReMake allows you to use a mpeg encder vs. an trancoder , which will get better quality IF you use a lot of compression.

but like i said , you can just split into two disks instead if you need over a certain amount of compression . which is always the highest quality ...

[wgb113]

I just realised my NEC-3500A comes with Roxio Easy DVD Creator and not Nero...am I screwed?

I've Nero's Burning Rom loaded on my PC now that came with my CD-R(W) drive...can I upgrade it?

Bill

[BJ_M]

no -- just see above or burnwith Roxio instead (though i do not recomend Roxio for much of anything)

[wgb113]

See EDIT about Nero CD Burning Rom...

[macleod]

Well, when you said that you want perfect backups (i.e. no quality loss, audio,etc.) you should just do dual layer backups. Beyond that, my personal recommendation would be to use DVDshrink with dvddecrypter. As the previous poster mentioned, its a seemingly one click solution. With shrink, you can control what video and audio you want. It, however, doesnt retain menus if you do anything less than full backup.

using the dvdshrink/dvddecrypter combo, your dvd should play on ANY dvd player than plays dvdr. I have heard of "issues" with some folks that used nero to burn. Probably 1 person, but figgered I'd include that tidbit.

Since shrink/dvddecrypter is freeware, give it a shot and see what you think on the 55". IMO, after you do this, you'll wonder why you paid good money for other packages.

[skebenin]

I think you've confused DVDReMake with DVDReBuilder.

DVDReBuilder let's you rebuild a DVD using re-encoded video assets (rather than just transcoding the video). It's pretty amazing what DVDReBuilder does, but the publically available version doesn't yet support all types of disks.

DVDReMake allows you to, in effect, perform surgery on a DVD. You can, for example, replace the copyright warning and any introductory previews (commercials) on a DVD with 1/15 second black blanks, then edit the commands on the DVD so even the black blanks don't play.

You can replace those things with DVDShrink too, but whatever you replace them with will play for as long as the originals did. And short of a full re-author, you simply can't bypass their playback using DVDShrink alone. However, there are other freeware tools that will let you replace those things with small blanks, and tools that will let you edit DVD commands to bypass their playback.

All of that said though, it sounds like you're just starting out, so I don't recommend and of the advanced tools like DVDReMake, PGCEdit or VOBBlanker. Try DVDShrink and DVDDecrypter first, which are pretty easy to use. You may find you don't need any of the advanced tools at all - that's pretty much what I've found.

[wgb113]

I think it would be silly not to try the freeware programs out first and see if I'm satisfied with the quality so that's what I'll do.

So DVD Decrypter is good at reading poorly cared for discs, a better "ripper", and DVD Shrink is recommended because of it's editing (surgery) capabilities.

DVD ReMake is definitely the one I was talking about after reading the dummies guide on their site that was linked from an article here.

Does anyone know about the upgradeability of the NERO version that came with my CD burner?

Bill

[budz]

Does anyone know about the upgradeability of the NERO version that came with my CD burner?

do a search at the NERO website on upgrading but i doubt you'll be able to upgrade because your Cd burner probably has a OEM version of NERO. which means it's not a full version of the software.

[skebenin]

...
So DVD Decrypter is good at reading poorly cared for discs, a better "ripper"

Yes, and it's also a pretty good burning tool if you can't get the full version of Nero.

... and DVD Shrink is recommended because of it's editing (surgery) capabilities.

Well, yes and no. You can, for example, split a disk by putting only the movie (called re-author in DVDShrink) on disk one. If you remove some of the audio tracks (DTS and foriegn languages) you can often do this with no compression. Then you did disk two by replacing the movie with still pictures (saying something like 'title removed"). This usually lets you back up the extras with no compression (because the still pictures take up so little space).

I'll also mention DVDFab. If you don't mind making flippers (where you have to get up half way through the movie to change the disk), DVDFab is another good way to split a disk.

[wgb113]

Thanks everyone for all of the help so far.

I'm going to try out the DVD Shrink/Decrypter combo and see how it turns out. I'll try to use a "reference quality" DVD to really test the picture and audio quality. The worst that could happen is I don't like it and I end up paying for something more substanital like DVD ReMake.

My playback equipment will be:

VIDEO:
Denon DVD-2900
Mitsubishi WS-55411

AUDIO:
Rotel RSP-1066
Rotel RMB-1075
Paradigm Reference Studio (V3) 100/CC-470/20
SVS PC+2039

Any recommendations for a challenging DVD to use?

Bill

[BJ_M]

LoTR #2 extended or 5th element

[wgb113]

I was thinking LOTR as well, or something like Shrek.

I was reading on the DVD Shrink site that you can make a compilation of scenes from different movies and burn them to one disc? That'd be KILLER for making a demo disc to show off a home theater system!

Bill

[shelbyGT]

Okay, forgive me in advance if I'm wrong, but I didn't think DVDShrink can burn to two discs.

To copy a full dvd9 to two dvd4's, I use dvddecryptor to rip the whole darn DVD to my hard drive. Then, I open up DVD Fab (freeware, you don't need to buy the whole thing), and just set it to split to two discs. A little bit later, two discs, no compression and working menus.


However, I use simply dvd shrink main track only for 90% of my backups.

[BJ_M]

dvdshrink can split to two disks --i do it all the time with it ..

[wgb113]

How much does an average 2 hour movie w/ DTS or Dolby Digital 5.1 sound track take up without anything else?

Bill

[budz]

How much does an average 2 hour movie w/ DTS or Dolby Digital 5.1 sound track take up without anything else?

hard drive space?? i would suggest you try dvd shrink out because that's the only way you'll find out if you like the program or not.

here's a guide you can follow using dvd shrink 3.2
http://www.dvd-guides.com/content/view/16/59/

here's a guide on decrypter
http://www.dvd-guides.com/content/view/22/59/

here's another guide for dvd shrink 3.2 from mr. bass site
http://www.mrbass.org/dvdshrink/

here's another one on dvd shrink the older versions
http://www.mrbass.org/dvdshrink/dvdshrinkold/

some people have problems using the latest dvd shrink. the older version 3.05b is a good one to use if you run into problems with compressing or ripping dvd files.

good luck!

[shelbyGT]

dvdshrink can split to two disks --i do it all the time with it ..

well, I said forgive me if i'm wrong, so please forgive me It gives you working menu's and all?

[BJ_M]

yes - full working menu

[shelbyGT]

looks like I'll have to do some playing around with it.

[wgb113]

So I received all of my hardware yesterday and installed it along with the DVD Shrink and DVD Decrypter software. I'm still waiting on my media variety pack to arrive from SuperMediaStore so I just ripped a qucik movie to my hard drive to try out the DVD Decrypter. It took about 15 minutes to do the entire disc.

I then opened it up using DVD Shrink to see what that program's all about and was experimenting with taking things out etc to see how small I could get the file size down to.

I'm sure I'll have more questions once I do this for real but in the meantime I've printed out the "Using Freeware Utilities to BackUp You Movies" article that's linked to from this site.

Thanks again to everyone on this thead that's helped my out!

Bill

[ddlooping]

Hi all.

Bill, I'd suggest you check the following animated guides to familiarize yourself with DVD Shrink.

http://www.dvdshrink.info/fulldisk_basic.php
http://www.dvdshrink.info/reauthor_basic.php
http://www.dvdshrink.info/reauthor_intermediate.php
http://www.dvdshrink.info/compilation.php
http://www.dvdshrink.info/forcing_subs.php

[Capmaster]

don't fool around if you want the best picture and sound, just split the disk onto two disks if you need more than 10% compression ...

That's because you work in the field BJ_M and have a keener eye for flaws than almost everyone out there.

I just converted a movie from PAL to NTSC, and its compression was 36%. I used DVDShrink. And it was beautiful in spite of a separate framerate conversion and a reencode for NTSC resolution and AC3>MP2 audio.

The person who encoded it to MPEG for me had used Virtualdub, with multiple passes. I used two-pass upon encoding, and the picture quality is gorgeous.

I frequently compress from 10% to 40% with no apparent artifacts ...to my untrained eye, or my wife's

[wgb113]

ddlooping,

Excellent links! Much appreciated...my blank media won't be in until tomorrow but that gives me some time to get some more movies onto my empty 250GB hard drive!

Thanks!
Bill