Tutorial: DVD backupping to DVD-r (FAST)

[Wizeman]

Tutorial: Copying a DVD to a DVDr (Mac)

Introduction

There are many ways of making backups of your DVDs using only the Mac. This is just one of them. I'm not saying it's any better or any worse than others, I'm just saying this the way *I* do it, and these are the tools *I* use. After explaining the process more than a dozen times, I got so tired of it I decided to write a tutorial, and here it is.

What you need in order to do it my way:

For copying a DVD-5:
* OSex (DVD ripping software)
Hard to find, in my experience. Do a Google search, that's my best bet.
* A DVD writer and Toast or Disk Copy
Yes, this is a must. I don't care what your friend told you or what you think you've read on the Internet – there is no patch that lets a CD writer work with DVD discs. Not reading, not writing, not ever.

Additionally (for copying a DVD-9 to DVDr):
* a G4 w DVD Studio Pro installed (req. for DVD-9 copying only)
My method of transcoding requires the QuickTime MPEG2 export function, which will not work without the Altivec feature of the G4 processor. Also, the only way I've found of enabling it is installing (not copying!) the DVD Studio Pro application.
* Mpgtxwrap
* MPEG Append
* Mr BitBudget
* An absolute minimum of 5GB HD space (for DVD-5 copying) or 13GB HD space (for DVD-9 copying)

NOTE ON DVD-r
A burned DVD-r has an average stand-alone DVD-player compitability of 85%. It doesn't matter how you burn it, which platform or program you use. The truth is DVD-r was never intended to be used as a mass distribution medium. The only way to make a DVD with 100% compatibility is to *press* it, not burn it. For that you need hardware amounting to – literally – hundreds of thousands of dollars.

DVD-5 OR DVD-9?
A first-time backupper might well ask: "How do I know what format my DVD has?" That's easily controlled. Plop it in the DVD drive of your Mac, cllick on the DVD icon and use "Get info". If the amount of data is 4.4GB or less, it's a DVD-5. If it's more, it's a DVD-9. If you know your disc has data on both sides, you have a DVD-10 (double-sided DVD-5) or maybe even a DVD-18 (double-sided DVD-9). You might want to consider ripping both sides.

Part 1: DVD-5

This is dead easy. Use OSex to rip the DVD to your HD. I choose to rip to "DVD Folders" because it's the fastest. When it's done, simply drop the AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders in Toast's DVD window and burn. (I assume Disk Copy can burn too, never tried it.) A friend of mine claims to have had problems with getting these to play on his Pioneer DV-444, so he rips to "DVD Image" (which requires a lot more time and en extra 5GB HD space), but I've done over 50 "my way" and never had any problems on my Pioneer DV-350, my parents Denver DVD-141 or any others tried by me and my friends. In the unlikely event you encounter problems when having ripped to "DVD Folders", you might want to try "DVD Image" just to check.


Part 2: DVD-9

So you've got a DVD-9. Bummer Assuming it's the film itself you really want to backup, the first thing you should do is see whether or not it will fit on a DVD-r immediately. It's not uncommon that the video track and one (or even more) audio track(s) weigh in at under 4.4GB, and that the rest of the data is extras (documentaries, trailers etc). In OSex, select the Title that contains the movie (you should find it easily; it's bound to be the only one with the same running time as your feature – and more likely than not the largest by far). Even if it appears to be slightly over the limit (say 4.8GB or something) it's well worth ripping to Elementary streams (deselect all subtitle streams) to see if you can cram it onto a DVD-r using only 1 audio track - perhaps even downsampling it (see FAQ). If it works, then great. Just import the video and audio track as Assets in DVD Studio Pro (or the freeware program Sizzle for that matter), and start building your DVD. For chapter markings, menu creation etc – consult your manual.

There will be cases when even the videotrack itself is far more than 4.4GB though, and this is where we need to transcode/degrade it enough to fit. It sounds worse than it is; more often than not your finished film will have a far higher bitrate than any SVCD, and be done far quicker too. Use MrBitBudget to calculate what bitrate you should be aiming for, and then you're all set.

The transcoding will be done by QuickTimes own MPEG2 encoder. It's fast, it's (actually) quite good, and it's dead easy to work with. Only two problems though; 1) QuickTime can't handle files larger than 1.95GB even though it may appear to at first sight, and 2) QuickTime has a built-in copy protection routine to prevent transcoding MPEG2 to MEPG2.

The first problem is pretty easily solved by using mpgtxwrap to split the large .m2v (which is the MPEG2 video file) into manageable chunks. Now, some of you might be tempted to try transcoding the entire file in one go despite me telling you it won't work. And you'll feel great once you get started, because it actually *seems* to work. Until you check the results... One of two things will invariably happen. Either a) QT will freeze sometime throughout the process, or b) your finished film will get stuck on one frame and stay there throughout the running time. You have been warned.

The other problem is also an easy fix. What you need to do is fool QuickTime into believing it's not really looking at a MPEG2 file at all. The best way to do this is to create a black .PICT file using your favourite graphic program. Make it 720x404 pixels if your film is widescreen/16:9, and 720x544 if it's regular 4:3. (I know these measurements aren't pixel-on accurate, but width and height must be divisible by 16, otherwise the transcoding process will take much, much longer.) Open the .PICT in QuickTime, drop your segmented .m2v file in the black box and wait. This may take a few minutes, while QuickTime persuades itself that this huge videofile is in fact a .PICT - and since it *is* a .PICT, you may now export to MPEG2. Set it to the bitrate closest to the one MrBitBudget recommended, and start. (Don't worry that the "estimated size" seems larger than you thought, as QuickTime erroneousy assumes the file will be accompanied by .AIFF sound. We will be using the AC3 you ripped from your DVD.)You should keep the preview window closed, as the transcoding goes slower with it open. On my machine (iMac G4/800) it takes roughly double the actual playing time, so a 30 minute clip is done in about an hour. Repeat the above for all the segments of your film.

Once that's done, it's time to join the files together again. Use mpgtxwrap for this too.

Now there's only one more thing to do before we can author and burn – we should fix the time-code. Time-code is vital to DVD Studio pro, and it often gets messed up from splitting and joining multiple files. Drop your new, large .m2v-file (even if mpgtxwrap has renamed it to a .mpg, it's actually a .m2v still and can reasily be renamed to that) on the MPEGAppend icon, and wait while the timecode is reinserted. (Takes a few minutes.)

Then you just import the video and audio file(s) as Assets in DVD Studio Pro, author your DVD (consult your manual) and Build your Disc. I advise burning it using Toast rather than DVD Studio Pro, as I've always gotten better results that way (discs aren't as likely to hiccup or pause when fast-forwarding etc).


FAQ

Q: Why rip a DVD-5, can't I just copy it with Toast?
A: Not if you ever want to be able to watch the backup. It's copy-protected in a way that guarantees your copy will be unwatchable, and a complete waste of a good DVD-r.

Q: I don't have a DVD burner – what can I do?
A: If you have a DVD reader, you can use an app such as Forty-Two or ffmpegx to make SVCDs, DivX or the likes. Takes longer, quality is lower but it's still worth it for backupping important films.

Q: My DVD is another region and I'm out of changes.
A: Again, Forty-Two is the way to go. Takes much longer, but it is the only app I know that can rip a DVD from *any* region regardless of the hardware settings on your DVD drive (!). Pretty amazing actually.

Q: I only have a G3. Isn't there anything I can do to go DVD-9 to DVD-r?
A: Yes, but not this way. This enginge relies upon G4/Altivec support. Your engine should probably be mpeg2enc or something like that. Download Forty-Two.

Q: Isn't it even faster using DVD2ONE under VPC?
A: Supposedly, yes. For some reason I haven't been able to get it to work, but that's not to say you won't. I hear a DVD-9 is converted to DVD-5 in 45-90 minutes under VPC on a G4/800. From what I understand, the quality will be lower, but hey - it's a *lot* faster. The newer versions can also shrink an *entire* DVD-9 (incl menus and extras) if that's desired. (Althouch I've heard you need a cracked version if it's to run properly under VPC.)

A: I want to keep the menus (DVD-9- to DVD-r)
Q: Don't we all? Often, the actual menus aren't really that big. If you think there's room, do like this: rip to "DVD Folders", and start chucking out the VOBs of the extra material. With a little but of luck, you'll get to keep the menus, scene selections and subs this way. Needless to say, your player might very well freeze and need a restart if you try to choose an extra that isn't there anymore...

Q: I want the subtitles, how do i get them?
A: There *is* some way you can use a PC-app under VPC ro convert the subtitle files OSex outputs into a format that DVD Studio Pro can handle, but I've never found out how or what app to use. If you know, please mail me and I will include it in this guide.

Q: DVD Studio Pro says my .m2v is invalid, but it comes straight from a DVD?
A: Oddly enough, even though the DVD specification clearly allows a muxed stream of up to 10.08 Mbps (though not all players can handle them well), DVD Studio Pro often protests when served a video stream of high bitrate (8Mbps and above). Apart from the obvious method of degrading the video, I haven't found a good enough way of making this work. Failed using Sizzle, failed doing it manually. Any ideas are welcome.

Comments, questions, additions – mail me at oldelrocho@hotmail.com
NOTE: For some reason, I get a lot of feedback from these tutorials Please don't think badly of me if I reply briefly or not at all to yours – I tried replying to all but it takes too much time.

[Wizeman]

P.S. I am well aware that there are much, much *easier* ways of doing this, but this is the one that takes the least amount of time imho. That's why I use it. I'd rather muck about with a few simple tasks a couple of times throughout the process and save half a day but that's just me.

Be well

/Wizeman

[galactica]

Wizeman comes and saves the day again. 1st with the ffmpegx how to and now this.

Is it possible to vote a person to be forum admin? If so my vote is on wizeman

Thanks

[bilestyle]

Tutorial: Copying a DVD to a DVDr (Mac)
1) QuickTime can't handle files larger than 1.95GB even though it may appear to at first sight,

correction, the limit is 4 gigs, if you give qt a sole m2v file than its variable, qt REALLLLLLLLLLLLLY doesnt like transcoding mpeg-2->mpeg-2 if its JUST the m2v file you input. But yeh i def know for a fact the limit is ~4 gigs. i know cuz i've written a few tools for personal use that can do all your talking about (well i go about things slightly differently) all automated and i always mux so the first segment is 4 gigs and the second is the remainder of the movie.. in addition sometimes its better to use cat to join rather than use mpgtx. ( but i would have to agree its the fastest way to go about things.. i pop in a dvd, leave for class, come back and i have my new dvd image ready mpeg (so yeh DVD->MPEG in about 4 hours) and no sorry guys i cant release those tools, for too many different reasons.

[Wizeman]

Bilestyle is right. However, before feeding QT a VOB (which is assimilated almost instantly as opposed to the .m2v that takes several minutes) I should point out that it takes far longer for QT to transcode. On my machine, transcoding from a VOB takes 3 x playing time instead of 2 x, so I'd rather wait an extra couple of minutes before pressing Start

Bilestyle, feel super-free to PM me, I have tons of q's I'd like answers to, but everytime I post here asking noone seems to pick up

/Wizeman

P.S.
Don't ask me about NTSC. All my DVD-ripping using this method relate to PAL.

[bilestyle]

ironically it goes 4x as fast for me if i pop in a muxed video rather than m2v alone.. it goes realtime if not faster most of the time. (the beauty of dual processors) .. hey if any of your PC users read i'd love to hear about your stories of DP 800 machines that re-encode mpeg-2 video real time.. oh wait.. u need a dual 2 ghz to do that? (thas just an estimate, i would stop using computers before switching to peecee), and people wonder why mac clock speeds are "slower" yet we are still satisifed. Its all about the altivec

and wize if you have any questions feel free to ask them

[gpimpin]

Wizeman nice tut...

quick question though.. I followed your directions (DVD-9 to DVD-R) and thought I had it all worked out... but when I build the disc image(DVDSP) the audio goes progressively out of sync to about 1.5 secs at the end (estimate)...

When I look at the time codes for the video and audio... the video is about 6 secs shorter.

Do you have any idea where I went wrong?

Thanks

[Wizeman]

Sorry, nothing comes to mind... The only time I got sync issues was the only time I didn't rip the audio all in one go... The only idea off the top of my head (which by the way is heavily clouded today by fever and painkillers) is that all my discs were/are PAL and I've heard horror stories about ripping in sync w NTSC.

/W

[jazzman]

I am in U.S. so I use NTSC and find lots of incompatible files with DVDSP and lots of out-of-synch audio tracks. If the synch is progressive like you say it can be corrected in FCP by adjusting the overall audio timeline. With analog captures I just lock the video track and adjust the total audio time until it matches up. Usually my synch problems with backups though are a small variance of just a tenth of a second of so that is consistant across the entire track. I just lob off a bit of the beginning of the audio track (usually about 700 milliseconds) and all is fine. I have probably done about 50 backups now and haven't had any other type of synch problems than these two types.

[jafo9]

this is a very nice method, my problem is that I can't for the life of me get MPEG append to work. The X trial won't accept the code they gave me. the "free" one for OS9 won't work. It's been a while since i've worked in 9. How do you turn on drag and drop on an app. the instructions just say to drag and drop the .m2v file on the MPEG Append app icon. No joy. I am doing NTSC and find lots of synch issues. I have played in FCP to fix the sync, but I don't like that because you lose the AC3 track. To me backing up a DVD is a waste of time with 2 channels of analog audio. (my personal preference). 42 has yet to work with NTSC. The only success I have had is with MediaPipe though it is somewhat hit and miss and take forever. The Quicktime method is much faster, just need to get the timecode reset. Any suggestions or other programs? thanks.

[jazzman]

Well the simplist way to backup a no frills DVD is to back it up with DVD Backup, make an image of it with Toast, then drag the disc image onto Discomvobulator+, when the chaptering window comes up just skip it and click on "to dvd's" and your there. What you have is a perfectly in synch backup with full soundtrack but no chaptering, searching or fast forwarding (hope Kai is working on that). I usually default to D+ when a disc goes over the single DVD-R threshold. It sure saves time over the OSex method with all of it's synching and appending issues.

[jafo9]

usually for a disk that starts out less than 4GB with the 2 elemental streams I can use DVDSP to build, etc. What I am mainly interested is a better method to downconvert. Can you use FCP to 1 - either change the time code like MPEG Append or to export the whole MPEG-2 just like quicktime does with the 2GB limit.?

[jazzman]

As far as transcoding goes I am in the standby mode waiting for the OSX version of DVD2ONE. From posts in this and the RipDifferent forum it shouldn't be too far off. My fantasy with that is 600 movie titles in a single dual side playing dvd changer. Sure would save the shelf space.