CloneDVD or CloneDVD???

[dmk1974]

I have found two programs with the same name, but they of course appear to be different. Has anyone used both? Is there a preference?

CloneDVD http://www.elby.ch/en/products/clone_dvd/

CloneDVD http://www.clonedvd.net/

[tompika]

The true CloneDVD is Elby's

The second one you mentioned is fake...

[dmk1974]

What do you mean by fake? It doesn't work or something?

[Bodene]

Welp...this answered some questions for me. I've been seeing folks talk about using CloneDVD for months. I downloaded it but it would not rip an encrypted DVD, so I deleted it. Just now I checked out both those links. Now I see what the deal is. Apparently I downloaded the one with the lamb face on the webpage, and that version is not the one that will decrypt a DVD.

I wonder why the heck they both have the same name. If one is the legal holder of the name, you'd think the other software company woulda named their stuff sumthin different. Anyways....thx for putting both of those links up there.

[Laddydaddy]

It appears that the clonedvd available from clonedvd.net splits a dvd9 (dual layer) into two discs. From what I gather from info taken from their web site this is mandatory. You can't compress the film to one disc. The other dvdclone (the one with the lamb's face) from elby will compress your movie to to fit on one dvd5 (single layer) disc.

[dmk1974]

Why would one want to compress a DVD-9 to a single DVD-5? Wouldn't you lose picture quality? Perhaps if the TV you are watching on is small it's not noticible I'm guessing.

[Laddydaddy]

Of course you are going to lose quality when you compress a film. The more you compress a film, the more quality you lose. The deciding factor is how much you have to compress a film. Some programs will let you copy the film only and leave out the menus and extras, thus saving the amount of compression they use. I have a 36 inch TV and have gotten great results with clone dvd and dvd shrink. Try dvd shrink as it is free. You can copy the whole dvd or just the film if you like. Use the deep analysis option for better results. See what you think.

[dmk1974]

Can the "sheep" program split into multiple DVDs without compression?

[ironetik]

I compressed as much as around 35%-40% and played it on my 55" tv and it looked fine, couldnt tell really. Usually I compress around 20% or lower.

[dmk1974]

I also see that the sheep verision is about $51 vs $99 for the other. Is that as good as the prices are from those vendors or are there other sellers or promo codes out there? Thanks for all these replies!

[Gurm]

Ok, FULL STOP.

The "Sheep Program" is the REAL CloneDVD. It is made by Elaborate Bytes, the makers of CloneCD.

Due to a legal SNAFU involving German and US copyright laws, another company released an el-cheapo POS program called CloneDVD.

Now... ALSO due to German law, the Elaborate Bytes CloneDVD will NOT rip protected discs. However, its companion program AnyDVD will handle that on-the-fly.

http://www.slysoft.com

I hope this clears things up.

Programs which slice a DVD up into two DVD-R's are pretty much frowned upon in here.

- Gurm

[djelimon]

It appears that the clonedvd available from clonedvd.net splits a dvd9 (dual layer) into two discs. From what I gather from info taken from their web site this is mandatory. You can't compress the film to one disc. The other dvdclone (the one with the lamb's face) from elby will compress your movie to to fit on one dvd5 (single layer) disc.

Actually, it does allow the shrink option.

Where it really falls down is burning and image makin in my experience. But as a splitter, well I tried ifoedit, dvdsplit, and this did the best split job. Basically separates one disc layer from the other, adjusts the ifo's, seamless. Bloody expensive, but with this you can 1:1 just about anything on a DVD-9, I reckon, as long as you have a good ripping strategy and a good burner (Nero works for me, it's a matter of using it right).

So I reckon this 2nd cloneDVD is a viable tool for people too lazy for ifoedit or teasing apart titles individually on a per-movie basis. At $99, you gotta be reeeal lazy, I'll admit.

[Bodene]

I simply refuse to back up to 2 discs. The extremely small (and most of the time ZERO) loss in visual quality that CAN occur when compressing video is a small price to pay. I mean.....u have the original, and it's not like watching a compressed version will burn yer retinas. When I'm watching a movie, I enjoy the story rather than critiquing every second of video quality.

Gawd...I couldn't imagine how miserable I'd be having to keep up with 2 discs per backup. Why anyone would actually make a conscious choice to do that when they own the original is beyond me. To each his/her own tho I spose.

[dar dorn]

CloneDVD needs AnyDVD to decrypt the copy protection to work properly so you wind up buying two programs or use some other program to remove the copy protection and then you have lost the advantage of fast and simple. Also you can't register and purchace them online if you use a free email account like hotmail or yahoo etc or like me, netscape.

My thoughts, it is better to use DVDdecrypter and DVDShrink, then burn with Nero version 6. I get better copies, and no hassles.

[djelimon]

'The extremely small (and most of the time ZERO) loss in visual quality that CAN occur when compressing video is a small price to pay. '

Depends on the movie. I dig some of those making of... documentaries, extra scenes, follow the white rabbit, etc. etc. OTOH, they might be there, but I might not care, because I sort of know how it's done already. If I was to back up crouching tiger, hidden dragon and they had a section on how they did it, I wouldn't care so much, because I already know from years of watching kung-fu flicks. Lord of the rings, I'd be curious about. Also some titles really do span more than 1 layer by a good chunk - Buena Vista Social Club for example. When you have a 3 year-old who gets into everything, and moves like a ninja, you want backup.

My take. I like my options open.