DVD to DVD-R

[whalersd27]

OK I am considering buying a new G4 imac. There is one drawback. I have yet to see an easy tutorial or guide that would backup the dvd to dvd-r. The one semie easy guide I found involved buying Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro which are expensive as you know. So if anyone has an easy and with the exception of Toast free guide could you let me know.
Thanks,
whalersd27

[Pepzhez]

Use DVD Backup 1.1. Run a Google search and you'll find it. It will back up the DVD. Then all you have to do is drop the VIDEO_TS folder in Toast and burn to DVD-R. Works perfectly and couldn't be any easier.

[AntnyMD]

Keep in mind it is a 1:1 solution for DVD-Videos of 4.3gb or less.

[zia101]

I have Toast and DVD Back Up, but some of the files i have on my HD are over 5GB.
So what can i do?

I am thinkg of getting DVD Cut Pro 1.5 and Final Cut Pro 3, any suggestions on what i can do with this once i have it?

Thanks.

[erzimeriah]

dvd back up sounds like a good alternative to the usual method of ripping but is it a pure dvd rip? and does it do subtitles?

[KyteStar]

Another way is to use a VCD ripper like DVDx and rip in the DVD-r format for your country (PAL or NTSC). This file can be found on www.doom9.org

This will not give you subtitles though

Once you have got your mpeg from DVDx, drop into TMPGenc and recode the file so the audio is 48khz. Use the wizard on TMPG to do this and check the file size at the given point during the wizard and amend so that your file is around 4.0gb (alter the VBR rate until its small enough, the gauge will tell you when its okay).

Encode and you have your DVD-r compliant stream which is small enough to fit on one DVD-r. Drop this into your authoring package and create your DVD-r. Whole thing takes about 15 hours on my P4

[Eug]

dvd back up sounds like a good alternative to the usual method of ripping but is it a pure dvd rip? and does it do subtitles?

Yes and yes.

[erzimeriah]

ok, where do i get it? and does it have a version for os 9.2?

[AntnyMD]

Again, DVDx is a program for PCs, and will only work on your Mac if you're also running Virtual PC. DVDBackup 1.1 is a program for OS X only. It does the job brilliantly for 1:1 backups of DVD-Video titles of 4.3gb or less. If in OS 9, I think your only solution is to rip the movie out and re-author the disc.

[erzimeriah]

i've tried to reauthor the dvd using the usual methods ( mpeg2decoder, ac3, quicktime, ect.) is there a way to just keep the final audio/video sync whole and burn to a disk that way?

i've also tried to ripping the dvd and then taking the .mov and ac3 files into dvd studio pro. i can import both of the files and see them but i cannot get my dvd studio pro to preview either of the files.

i have heard people talking about doing this, and some have said it will work, but i have yet to be able to make it work.

any ideas?

my whole goal is to just be able to make a straight dvd copy, is dvd backup my best bet? how come it will only do up to 4.3 G? most movies are going to be a little bigger than that. how do i get around the size factor?

[AntnyMD]

Commercial DVDs are often larger than 4.3gb, but consumer blank DVD-R/-RW is limited to 4.3gb (the label will say 4.7gb; the gigs are measured differently) to prevent widespread copying by people like us. Fortunately enough, people like us can get around such sillyness.

When you run into the occasional commercial DVD that is 4.3gb or less, you can do a straight 1:1 copy of the DVD using DVDBackup. This will allow you to retain the original DVD's structure, menus, extras, blah blah blah.

When you try to copy a DVD that is greater than 4.3gb, you have to decide if you want to rip the whole thing and spread it over 2 or more DVD-Rs; if you want to have just the movie and do what you can to cram it onto one DVD-R at DVD quality; if you want to re-encode the movie to a lower bitrate and/or resolution to fit the movie (and/or extras) onto one DVD-R; or, finally, if all the effort and cost of reliable media makes copying cost ineffective.

If a movie I'm copying is DVD-worthy and has kick-ass extras, I rate it a purchase and give my Visa number to amazon.com.

If I want the movie only, but can't bring myself to purchase it, and I still consider it DVD-worthy, I will rent it, rip out the movie and the 5.1 English audio mix, and use DVD Studio Pro to re-author my own disc. Most of the time, the movie plus one audio track will fit on a DVD-R.

If I still want the movie but know I will probably only watch it five times over the next fifty years, I'll rent, rip and re-encode. On my computer, which is a slower g3 iMac, I find the conversion process to be a bit cumbersome (what, with all the different programs, and switching back and forth between OS 9 and X), and also encoding to MPEG-2 is slow. I recently discovered that DVDSP will let me author a DVD with MPEG-1 video which encodes much faster for me, so I've been doing that lately. Using MPEG-1 at bitrates of 1.4Mbps - 1.7Mbps allows me to cram about 6 hours of material onto one DVD-R at a resolution I'd formally used for XVCD and was very satisfied with the results.

One of the most valuable things you can do is just hunker down with the HOW TO section of this site and read everything. Literally. Even if one thing doesn't apply to what you're trying to accomplish, the guides will give you insight into the process, which helps you [a] exorcise unreasonable expectations, [b] learn from others mistakes so you dont repeat them, and [c] develop a working knowledge of homebrew videography which will enable you to have an informed conversation about ... nearly everything.

[erzimeriah]

thank you for the feedback. i have gotten a copy of dvdbackup but whenever i try to rip a movie it just errors and i end up with only the smallest data files (i.e.: menus, ect) and not the movie itself, so i gave up on that.

i decided to see if dvd studio pro would work and once i rip the audio and video i can import them into dvdsp without making any kind of time consuming conversions (i was able to use the .mov and ac3 files). right now i am multiplexing my first attempt, i hope it works out well.

one question though. i use yade to rip most of the time i ripped two movies and i noticed that it ripped both at 30 fps,one was in sync and the other wasn't, is there a way to find out what frame rate and movie is and have yade rip it at that rate, or am i stuck with getting everything at 30 fps?

i would greatly appreciate any further feedback you have for me on these subjects.

[AntnyMD]

As far as I know, YADE doesnt give any info on framerate, per se ... However, its a safe assumption that if the DVD is of a theatrically released film from a major studio, the DVD was encoded at 23.976 frames per second with 3:2 pulldown applied to the final video so that it plays back at either 25 frames per second for PAL, or 29.976 for NTSC, as these are the only two frame rates supported in the DVD specification.

You only have to worry about compliant framerates when you're encoding. To rip out a video stream for remultiplexing in DVD Studio Pro requires no adjustment to the framerate; whomever encoded the video originally for DVD took care of that for you.

The larger problem you'll run into is, for some DVDs, neither YADE nor DVDExtractor can deal with titles that have been encoded in such a way that it defies ripping with these programs. Three titles I've come across that are impossible to copy are Enemy of the State; The Sixth Sense; and Bandits. Bandits crashes both programs, while Enemy of the State and The Sixth Sense have a/v sync problems after ripping.

My guess is there is some weird delay or gap in the ac3 audio tracks for these films to help them maintain sync depending on the default language of the settop DVD. I noticed in both The Sixth Sense and Enemy of the State, the opening credit sequences are available in both English and French, with the French being in Angle 2 of the opening video stream. If you help YADE or DVDExtractor compensate for this multi-angle mess, the audio sync gets worse. I gave up on these titles; I don't need copies of them that badly.

[erzimeriah]

ok. i got dvdsp to author movies and they work good. what do i do if there is a movie i want that is too big for a dvd-r?
what is a good burning software for burning dvd's?

[AntnyMD]

If they are too big for one DVD-R, you can cut the movie into two chunks for two DVD-Rs, re-encode the video to a lower bitrate that will enable you to fit it onto one DVD-R, or you can buy the original DVD and be done with it.

Since you're using DVD Studio Pro, you can use it to assemble your DVD project and, on most machines, you can burn that project right from within DVDSP. If you can't (like me), once DVDSP has assembled and multiplexed our project, use Toast Titanium to burn the AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders DVDSP makes for you.

[erzimeriah]

what software would i use to reencode the bit rate of a movie that is too big for a dvd-r?

is there a bit rate calculator for mac?

thanks

[AntnyMD]

I still use Astarte M.Pack for creating DVD compliant MPEG-2 video (it also makes DVD compliant MPEG-1 video also). This software is no longer commercially available, but you can ask "a friend" to let you demo their copy. It won't create video files larger than 2 gig, though, so your SOL if you want full resolution full bitrate video. Oh .. it only works well in OS 9 (in Classic a 2 hour movie takes nearly two days on the highest quality setting).

In OS X, Quicktime Pro will create full resolution full bitrate video, but only if you have a G4.

I just learned today Cleaner now works in OS X, but I'm not sure what its capabilities are re: MPEG video.

Innobits makes a product to encode to MPEG-2, but I dont have any friends who will let me test their copy before I make a purchase. (*sadness*)

[Rjrpga2]

Can you use DVDbackup 1.1 to make PS2 backups?

[incredible]

Hi,

first of all .....
try to avoid using M-Pack from Astarte! The encoders don't give such a quality as for example Missing Mpeg Tools! Even Cleaner is much better but too slow if yo don't use the charger plugin!

If you intention is to rip DVDs on a Mac you will have to use OSx!
OS9 is not supported by DVD- or VCD Shareware at all like OSx!!!

I tried several things to backup a DVD to a DVD-R or to a VCD. Finally I come to the conclusion that you will do the best job with "extractor" and MissingMpegTools under OSx!

Its fantastic that MissingMpegTools (http://homepage.mac.com/rnc/MMTools.html) is able to encode directly from VOB or MPV Files!
First do a DVD Rip using extractor with "mpv" and "ac3" decoding enabled, also use "single file" option to avoid getting lot of files.
For me Extractor is the only Rip-Utility which is able to rip a DVD without having trouble passing the 2GB of a DVD content and which gives you ONE file for Video and ONE file for audio (mpv & ac3)
after the 2 files are extracted you run MissingMpegTools but be sure the the latest version of Mediapipe and the Apple developertools are also installed on your OSx System!
In MissingMpegTools you go to the MPEG2 encoder section. Here you have all you need to reencode to a smaller mepg2 movie or even to a ready VCD or SVCD mpeg file. In the case of DVD-R set the type of source to mpv or to vob (depending of what type of file you got from Extracor) and the reencode format to MPEG2 and choose your resolution depending of NTSC or PAL in my case it needs to be set to 720x576 (PAL). Choose your framerate (in case of PAL 25.000). Also you have to watch out what kind of aspect ratio your movie has. A lot of movies have 16:9!! (During the mpeg2 reencode-process in MMT you can watch your file with the VIDEO LAN Player to check if the aspect ratio is ok!
Now you have do calculate a little bit to get the best bitrate of your new mpeg2 file which fits to your 4.3GB DVD-R!

In the Case of a 180 Min Movie:
You have a ripped DVD with for example a 4GB Video mpv file and a 1GB Audio ac3 file (just an example to calculate, maybe its longer or shorter).

If the Audiofile (which you can directly import to DVD Studio Pro and so it is not neccesary to reencode it) is 1GB you have to calculate the bitrate that the entire videotrack won't be larger than 3,2GB! So that you will not get over the 4.3 GB of your DVD-R Media!

3,2 GB are 3276,8 MB (one GB = 1024 MB)
divide it by the Length in minutes of the movie (in this case 180 Min)
= 18,20 Mbyte/Minute (divide it by 60 Seconds)
= 0,303 Mbyte/Sec
Now one Mbyte is 1024 Kbyte, so multiplcate it by 1024
= 310,68 Kb/Sec
One Kb = 8 Kbit .. multiplicate it by 8
= 2485 Kbit/sec

Well this is the bitrate you need to reencode your m2v to the size which fits to your DVD-R including adding the Audio ac3 file in DVD Studio Pro! So fill out the "video bitrate" in MMT using this value like for ex. 2450 kbit.
Now build the "pipeline" by saving the script on your HD, after this you choose the "CLI" button to choose your DVD-ripped mpv file and the destination on you HD.... now go to sleep and after hours you will have a 3,2 GB Video MPEG2 file on your HD which you can import to DVD Studio Pro adding the ac3 file and build a DVD-R Image to burn your copy to a DVD-R 4.3GB Media.

By using these values you have to know that the average bitrate of industrial DVDs are about 4000-5000 Kbit/sec so it is clear that you will obtain a copy which is a little "bit" less in quality compared to the original .... but who cares!
You see, you don't have to decode to MJPEG in Quicktime before which makes the whole process slower or gives you quality loss or needs much mor HD Space!
:P :P :P [/b]

[erzimeriah]

ok. that sounds easier.

is there anyway to be able to tell if a dvd is NTSC or PAL without looking at the dvd package?

what are the appropriate FPS for each?

can i get a link to mediapipe and Apple developertools?

thanks

[erzimeriah]

i went to apple's web site to look for developer tools. i'm confused as to what software it is that i need?

is that something that comes with OS X, and is installed when you install OS X?

[incredible]

ok. that sounds easier.

is there anyway to be able to tell if a dvd is NTSC or PAL without looking at the dvd package?

what are the appropriate FPS for each?

can i get a link to mediapipe and Apple developertools?

thanks

Ok first go to the ADCMembers site:

https://connect.apple.com/

Join the mebership by signing up.
Then select on the left side OSx now you will get to the OSx Developertools downloads. Choose the Version dpending on your OSx version you're running (I recommend to update OSx to 10.1.5 before!)

Now to the Video format settings:

PAL: 720x567 / 25 Frames per second
NTSC: 720x480 / 29,97 Frames per second

The question with NTSC or PAL not shown at the DVD Package:

Well, try to encode with the settings I explained in the thread above.
After 3 Min. encoding open the destination file during the encoding process with VideoLanClient to see what you will get!!! The optical quality of the compression, if the aspect ratio (19:9 or 4:3) was set correctly or if something else is wrong. If you are in doubt, stop the process bei closing the terminal window (where the encoding via mediapipe works) and try to set up MMT in the encoder section again until you see in VideolanClient a good result ... if yes let it render till dawn

I was never in the situation where I had to convert a NTSC DVD to a PAL format. I think that there are some Postings at vcdhelp.com also in the PC section cause this doesent depend on the operating system of the computer you use to de- and encode.

Greetings ...

[incredible]

ok. that sounds easier.

is there anyway to be able to tell if a dvd is NTSC or PAL without looking at the dvd package?

what are the appropriate FPS for each?

can i get a link to mediapipe and Apple developertools?

thanks

Sorry I forgot the link to mediapipe:
http://mediapipe.sourceforge.net/MediaPipe/

also visit this site:
http://homepage.mac.com/rnc/

this man is COOOOL!
Without him the "mac"-Mpeg-world would be very darker! :P

[erzimeriah]

ok. i went to all the links and got the stuff that you had recomended. i'm now using MMT, and i have gotten everything set. i only have one problem, i can't seem to get it to actually start encoding, i'm having trouble selecting the destination folder.

when it runs the CLI i get a "no match" message, what do i do?

[incredible]

ok. i went to all the links and got the stuff that you had recomended. i'm now using MMT, and i have gotten everything set. i only have one problem, i can't seem to get it to actually start encoding, i'm having trouble selecting the destination folder.

when it runs the CLI i get a "no match" message, what do i do?

Hey, ....

watch at "http://homepage.mac.com/rnc/" in the instructions how to build a correct pipeline with MMT. There everything is explained!

Ive never been confrontated with the message "no match" in the CLI process, so I have no idea but .... go to the link above ...

[erzimeriah]

ok, i guess this guys directions aren't clear to me.

what i want to do is take a m2v file and mearly reencode it to a smaller bitrate so it will fit on a dvd-r. i think i'm getting all the precurser menu items set up right, and i'm building the pipeline and saving it on my hard drive. then when i go to CLI it gives me a "no match" message. i've tried to tell CLI where my pipeline is saved by typing in the directory

ex: name of harddrive/folder/name of pipeline

it then asks me if this is right, and i type yes. it does something and then it says access denied.

i am not at all familiar with scripting or making pipelines, so i apologize if this is frustrating to you, believe me i am frustrated that i cannot seam to get it to work.

maybe you could explain to me how you do it?

i would really appreciate it.

[major]

erzimeriah, an easier and possibly faster way is to use mpeg2decX to convert MPG2 => Quicktime JPG and then use the Quicktime MPEG2 encoder (needs a G4) to convert back Quicktime => MPG2 at a lower bitrate.

[jenc288]

Post edited. One post is enough.

-TGPO

[tumbar]

jenc288

why not just buy the dvd?

[Macnewbie]

Look at the top of this thread for a good tutorial link:

http://www.macdvd.org/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000072.html