When do I need an .IMG file?

[ambrosechapel]

I've been ripping and burning DVDs like this:

* Rip with Mac The Ripper
* (assuming it fits) Make DVD disk image with the VIDEO_TS folder etc
* use Disk Utility to burn from that image

but my friend just said he doesn't do the second step, he puts a blank DVD in, drags the VIDEO_TS folder to it and hits "Burn".

Now I feel stupid! I can't even remember why I've been making those images. I must have read it somewhere, and I'm sure I've tried it the other way and had the DVD not work in my player.

Does OS X (10.3) automatically "know" it's a DVD, not a DVD-ROM, and burn in the right format just because I've put a VIDEO_TS at the top level?

[Case]

To make a proper DVD-Video, the file system has to be UDF (Universal Disk Format). If the file system is HFS/ISO 9660 hybrid, then a lot of standalone DVD players won't 'see' the disc. If you play the disc on a computer, then the player software won't care or know about the file system, so your friend's DVD will play fine on just about any computer, as well as some standalone DVD players that have features that support other file systems.

So the problem isn't as much in the creation of a disk image or not, but in the Finder/Disk Utility's inability to create disk images in UDF format, or burn in UDF through drag-and-drop.

As a side note, many DVD players require the presence of a AUDIO_TS folder, even empty. Neither you or your friend seem to be including that.

There are, however, 3rd party utilities that create UDF disk images, e.g. 'Disc-o', 'ffmpegX' and of course 'Toast'.

[ambrosechapel]

Thanks. So my friend is lucky his DVD player accepts these disks, and it might not work in mine, that's the story?

BTW: I skipped the AUDO_TS part to keep the question brief.

[ambrosechapel]

There are, however, 3rd party utilities that create UDF disk images, e.g. 'Disc-o', 'ffmpegX' and of course 'Toast'.

I use DVD Imager -- http://mac.sofotex.com/download-128878.html -- which does one thing and one thing only...

[Case]

So my friend is lucky his DVD player accepts these disks, and it might not work in mine, that's the story?

Yes, that's what I think.

DVD Imager is an excellent app, that one should've been included in the examples I mentioned.

[cd090580]

As a side note, many DVD players require the presence of a AUDIO_TS folder, even empty. Neither you or your friend seem to be including that.

Is that true ??

I have several commercial dvd which don't have the AUDIO_TS folder and they play fine.

[Case]

If you try to find user complaints on InstantCopy when it first came out, you'll see that it poses a real problem for some.
I've read that Disney's Ice Age doesn't have a AUDIO_TS folder. I wonder how many discs were returned because of that. Or how many consumers were suckered into buying a new player.