New DVD2One Vers. 1.5

[golfnut]

Anyone tried it yet? Would be very interested to hear comments. Also which setting did you use or like, low, med., or high. Thanks for your feedback.

[SaSi]

I am test driving it at the moment.

Have read the release notes on the site and I got even more confused. If you read through the lines, you get the impression that the high setting compresses the "important" frame contents even more leaving the background uncompressed which "yields a better result".

Will try all three settings on a large 8Gb disk and see which setting is better and if any of these are better than "constant".

[golfnut]

SaSi thanks for the reply, looking forward to hearing your results.

[Gurm]

The authors of DVD2One will, of course, tell you that this confusing description is their idea of "good interface design".

A**holes.

This is the reason I don't like DVD2One, but please let us know so that we can keep the newbies informed when they drop in and ask.

- Gurm

[SaSi]

I tried DVD2One v.1.5 with several large and complex DVDs.

DVD2One remains still, for me, much better than DVDShrink in terms of final video quality.

The new transcoding schemes, well, we could very well do without them.

I tried all combinations and they gave results of varying quality, all of them vastly inferior to the constant quality mode.

I will go on using DVDShrink to remove extra audio and subpicture streams I don't need, plus pre-transcode portions I don't really care for while leaving the main content uncompressed and then take the DVDShrink result through DVD2One for the final output using constant mode.

This approach gives, in my opintion, the best possible result.

[RottenFoxBreath]

i gave it a test run on the return of the king dvd,and found that movie only highest,was strangely similar to variable on version 1.40.
not really much different.
am now testing it again on other settings too,as well as constant compression(which ive never tried).
i always used variable,it always seemed alright to me.

[wulf109]

I can see no difference in selective modes. The author should explain new features but doesn't. Don't bother contacting him,he wears blinders and only sees what he wants to.
Constant mode,I see people praising it. I've never gotten anything but dreadful garbage using it. It reduces peak bitrate but the results are so pixelated there un-watchable.

[RottenFoxBreath]

^^ yeah after giving it a test run,i notice now that "constant" mode is utter shite.
far far too blocky and grainy-i tested it with "Indiana Jones and the last crusade.
especially blocky when he meets sean connery in the castle.
i tried it with variable and its a lot better.
as for the new modes,it appears that the only difference between the modes is that on my ROTK,the mountains etc,in the background get a lot more blocky the lower i went.
i think ill stick to variable for the meantime.

[Gurm]

The authors of DVD2One are idiots.

They have a halfway decent program which is crippled by poor interface design, and you can't talk to them about it.

They have options like "corrupt all data", which does not, in fact, corrupt all data. You have to have it ON in order to NOT corrupt the data on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, but every other day it has to be off or you WILL corrupt the data.

Unless, of course, you have "ignore corruption checkbox" enabled, in which case it USUALLY won't corrupt data, unless "frenulate" is checked.

And all of this on ONE little box, the size of the "ok/cancel" dialogues in most other programs.

And they WONDER why they are losing revenue to other transcoders?

- Gurm

[RealaT]

i would happily test the new version out, except that i can no longer retrieve my password from the official website because it's been over a year since i paid for the software

i guess this is my reward for happily purchasing the very first version

[Gurm]

Wow, they're arrogant AND greedy. Who knew?

- Gurm

[QuaiBoy]

I like programs that are a total of one file and 68k in size (v1.3.0). Easy to run, multiple instances work great (I've run about 20 or so at once). I enjoy the minimalist interface... what more do you need anyway? Who needs big fancy menus and animated crap... throw that junk away. The resulting IQ is just as good (in my setup and to the eyes of myself, my girl, and my friends) as any other app including ones that take half a day to process a disc. No complaints here... well worth the asking price IMO. To each his/her own.

-Evan-

[Gurm]

Try making a suggestion on their forums, see how well they treat you, and come back here.

- Gurm

[QuaiBoy]

Try making a suggestion on their forums, see how well they treat you, and come back here.

- Gurm

What suggestion should I make? I really don't have anything to ask for. I think any issues I might have had with the program would've shown up by now... been using for awhile and through several machine upgrades. I have no experience with their customer support, so my comments are based on my experience with the program alone and not with the company. Sounds like you got burned Gurm, and if that's the case it's inexcusable. To be clear, I am not defending their business practices (whatever they may be) in any way.

Still think it does a great job though.

-Evan-

[Gurm]

No, I never got burned.

But there are several things that they could do to improve the interface, make it a LITTLE more friendly, etc. - without making it huge or totally flying in the face of their design philosophy.

And when anyone suggests this to them, they get hostile, call that person an idiot, etc.

Add to that the fact that they change the meaning of various options from build to build (what meant one thing in 1.4.0 means something else in 1.5.0 or else JUST ISN'T THERE ANY MORE), and you have a recipe for a program with a dwindling user base.

They got to where they are by being THE BEST back when there were only a couple of options. Now that there are MANY options, I don't see them hanging on that much longer.

- Gurm

[RottenFoxBreath]

yeh,gotta agree there,just had a scout at there forums,and well,they really dont like suggestions.
one guy asks about more settings instead of low,medium and high for the compression.
hes politely told to piss off,what does he know,there were many,many more settings than low,medium,and high in dev stage,and well,thats all they think we need.
someone else asked if there was a user guide,told no,some of the forum members have done one,and the admin removed the link.
and about suggestions for one click affairs,they shot that guy down too.
what a bunch of tossers,seems as though money breeds the ability to disappear up your own arse.

[Gurm]

No, they were like that BEFORE they made a lot of money - just now that they have customers that they're responsible to, it seems more obnoxious. Back when it was either them or DVD XCopy, they COULD be ********.

- Gurm

[QuaiBoy]

Gurm,

Do you know of another program similar in size and overhead that works as fast as DVD2One and allows multiple instances? This is just a hobby/necessity and I really don't have interest in going through any more steps than I do with DVD2One to backup a DVD - I've already been down that road. Your thoughts?

Thanks,
-Evan-

[Gurm]

No. And I'm not saying you shouldn't use DVD2One. You've paid for it, it works well, it does what you want - don't let the fact that I think the authors are ******** dissuade you from using it.



But on the whole no - DVD Shrink is probably the closest, or maybe one of the lesser-well-known ones like... err... DVD9to5 or some crap like that (I'm probably getting the name wrong!)

- Gurm

[lordsmurf]

I still think DVD2ONE gives best quality for movies, but I really don't backup movies too much.

Constant, variable, new one ... I see no difference really.
I have 1.5, but I've only used it once.

This looks interesting: http://www.just1click.batcave.net/

Although the guys at DVD2ONE may be a bit ... err ... stiff sitting ... some of the questions they get asked ARE pretty stupid. Satellite to DVD? WTF?

[jakol]

i use nero recode to backup my dvds and works pretty good,dvd9 to 5 with vbr 2 pass with excellent results.

[MJPollard]

Although the guys at DVD2ONE may be a bit ... err ... stiff sitting ... some of the questions they get asked ARE pretty stupid. Satellite to DVD? WTF?

A truism for any software. But, on the other hand, I've seen them receive perfectly sane questions and completely valid suggestions, and watched Erwin and his henchman, Rene, blow them off and act like they, the paying customers, were wasting their precious time.

(Just one example: there's absolutely no excuse for a program in this day and age to forcibly start up in the upper left corner of the screen. It should ideally save the last position it was in, or at the very least, start up in the center of the screen. That's been suggested many times, and as a programmer who's written more than a few Win32 applications, I know that it's a trivial thing to do and takes very little code to accomplish. Yet each and every time, the person making the suggestion was essentially told to **** off, that the author knew what was best for us, so shut up and take it up the ass with a smile. [Well, okay, not literally, but that was definitely the attitude that was conveyed.])

I think DVD2one is a great program, I don't regret spending the money for it (I'm more than happy to shell out the bucks for software that works well for my needs; heck, I forked over $600 for Vegas and DVD Architect, and haven't regretted it). But I'll be damned if I ever approach those two stiff-assed jerks for anything even remotely approaching support. If I want to be treated like garbage, I'll go to a family reunion.

[dvdguy4]

I love DVD2one. I have them all. I think they should give you some more choices when you use full disc mode but hey Im just a consumer.

[GKar]

I started using DVD2One a while back when I began experimenting with 98Lite and found that DVDShrink 2.xx on up would not work with the Sleek or Micro shells but DVD2One would. Been using DVD2One ever since I was forced into buying it due to my OS choice and have been happy with it. Fast and good quality backups, I don't however recommend it over DVDShrink because of the cost factor and Nero Recode that comes with alot of OEM versions of Nero Suites are also cheaper and as good.

PS: I use the Selective - High settings only and like it.

[Gurm]

And the award for dredging up old threads goes to... dvdguy4! WOOHOO!

Anyway, Gkar... you're using 98Lite? To ... do ... DVD stuff? Dude, you're aware that Win98 isn't supported any more right? Like as in defunct? Dead OS? Get with the program, man!

[GKar]

And the award for dredging up old threads goes to... dvdguy4! WOOHOO!

Anyway, Gkar... you're using 98Lite? To ... do ... DVD stuff? Dude, you're aware that Win98 isn't supported any more right? Like as in defunct? Dead OS? Get with the program, man!

LOL Gurm! I have ventured into the future and preferred the past. Unfortunately some of my old favorite games wouldn't work in Win XP like Tie Fighter, but fear not I still have a Ghost image of my last installation of Win XP (along with the venerable Ghosted Win ME) and I bounce between the Future and the Past at will. I even torture myself with an occasional install of Linux just for laughs.

[Gurm]

I bet I could make Tie Fighter work on XP.

[dvdguy4]

Id like to thank the academy for giving me DVD2one.

[proxyx99]

DVD2One 1.5 very often outputs wrong disc size (folder too big). Tinkering with size is a hit and miss. Switched back to 1.4 and waiting for an update. Issue was confirmed by DVD2One makers. Very annoying as you never get (me in this case) proper disc size. My suggestion: stick to 1.4. Output quality is equal in both IMO. 1.5 allowa for some tweaks but I just don't care.

[GKar]

I bet I could make Tie Fighter work on XP.

I found the fix Bro, but didn't want to mess with it, Ghost OS swapping was easier (2-3 minutes)! It was a sound card issue if I remember correctly, something about the way XP doesn't allow direct access to the hardware, everything must go directly thru Bill Gates or it won't work.