First time user of DVD to DVDR

[mdubnik]

This is my first time posting to this website, let alone this forum, so I hope I don't anger anyone with a misplaced post.

My first question is this:
I just bought my first burner (Pioneer 105 from newegg.com), and it should be here in a day or two more. I have read TONS of articles on the net regarding how to backup movies, which is the only thing I will be using my burner for. I have received a copy of DVD-decrypter, and from what I've read, it's a very simple process: put in the DVD, select read mode, rip an image of the movie to my hard drive, change to write mode, put in a blank DVD-R, and burn the image. End of story (I know DVD-9 will be a different story). Is it just me, or is this the easiest way to do things for what I want to do, or am I TOTALLY missing something big?

Next question:
I read tons and tons of articles on media, and it seems that some people have luck backing up with cheap media and some don't. I don't mind spending $1.25-$2.00 for good, reliable media, and burn speed isn't too awfully important to me, but if I can get media dirt cheap (less than $0.80) per disc, why should I pay more for it. Can anyone offer some reviews of some reliable media that is cost effective? I have read many good things about burning the Ritek G03 at 1X (and possibly 2X) with few errors.
I have a Pioneer 105 on the way from Newegg.com. Everything I have read points to the Ritek G03 1X or 2X, or the Ritek G04 4X as the way to go with my burner. I want to be able to watch it in my DVD players (Xbox, Pioneer DV525, and Apex system) which all show to be playable according to this website's DVD media guide.

Final question:
Point blank question: what is the easiest way (using freeware) to edit all the extras and/or audio out of a DVD-9 to get it onto one disk, while still preserving quality.

I know this is a lot of questions, and I hope they are not misplaced. Anyone with expert knowledge, I would greatly appreciate your opinions on the matter.

Also, what is the difference that I see people talking about in the different color DVDs and stuff like that...is there anything in particular I need to look for when I go to these places to buy media?

[Vejita-sama]

1) Yes (for DVD5 backups)

2) Use what ever works for you, I have no problem with Princo media others do. No one cn answer this but you through trail and error.

3) DVD Shrink is the only freeware tool that can do this. If you're willing to spend some money DVD2One and Instant Copy. See the guides to the left and do a forum search. There is NO ONE BEST WAY, everyone has an opinion about time vs. speed vs. quaility vs. money.

[mdubnik]

Thanks for all of your input...I have actually received a copy of DVD2One, so I will try all of them out.

Any one else who has opinions on my original questions...I am all ears!!

[NYPlayer]

Take a look at this guide.


http://www.mrbass.org/dvdshrink/

[FT Shark]

I will only buy ritek. I have had problems with alot of other media types (Princo, Optidisk, ect.). I haven't had a bad disk yet (I've burned about 500 dvd-r's).

Since you already have DVD2One, I would stick with that. I use it for everything now. The newer versions have alot of good features.

[ddlooping]

mdubnik, for media I'd avise you to use Ritek, and to backup DVD9s, DVD Shrink.
If you've got DVD2One already, just try them both and see which one you're happiest with.

[DeleriumMDK]

If you find them cheap, TDK 2X DVD-R's have been nothing but perfect for my data storage, video backups, and PS2 game backups. They average $2 per disc in store but if on sale you can usually get them at slightly over $1 per disc.

[Gurm]

If you're willing to spend some money, my personal favored combination is CloneDVD+AnyDVD.

But it WILL set you back a few bucks.

Quality is roughly the same as from DVD2One or DVD Shrink, with the added features that:

- CloneDVD gives you more control over features to include/exclude than DVD Shrink does. It lets you do a partial re-author and transcode at the same time, whereas DVD Shrink forces you to choose one or the other. If you want to make a DVD-9 into a two-disc backup with movie on one disc and extras on the other, and preserve the menus, CloneDVD is the way to go.

- AnyDVD gives you better ripping than DVD Decrypter. For one thing it doesn't puke on tough CSS encryption (DVD Decrypter has a few cases where it'll fail in the DeCSS stage), and for another it removes both Macrovision AND those irritating "can't do this operation now" spots like the FBI warning.

I'm a big fan of Elaborate Bytes, I've used CloneCD forever, so don't think I'm some salesman. DVD Shrink is FREE, and for simple backups it's the best and I still use it due to incredible speed. For movie-only backups I still use DVD2One. But for anything more complex, I use CloneDVD now.

And for DVD-5's, I just leave AnyDVD running, drag the movie to the desktop, and then use CopyToDVD to burn it back out.

- Gurm