Straight up.....which programs will give me THE clone....

[brick]

OK.....i got dvd x copy platinum and thought i had the ultimate and then i come to a site like this and see all the options!

so here's the deal....i come from a music background where compressing a file is a bad thing to do....mp3s are garbage to me....

so when i first learned that peeps were compressing the movies to fit on one disc i didn't like that...

i then learned that dvd x copy will allow you to put the movie on 2 discs with no compression......that appealed to me..i don't care about the extra discs and what i'm looking for is THE bit for bit CLONE....


now.....YOU guys are the experts....i at this point know NOTHING....


talk to me!

what should i use to get the perfect clone, video and audiowise????

i'm not worried about level of difficulty...time to make and burn etc.

all i want is the best damn burn...

thanks much!

[jimmalenko]

A number of progs will not compromise quality in any way. I prefer to use IFOEdit but there are many other alternatives.

[dafreak]

well if you only care about the movie, you should be able to fit the movie onto a dvd-r pretty easily without having to compress anything.

use dvdshrink in reauthor mode.
-drag and drop the main movie title over
-take out the audio and subtitles you don't want or need.
-make sure compression is at 100%
-click on backup

use dvdfab for movies that may run longer than 2 hours.
use the movie only option and select split to two dvd's.

[bugster]

Please do not cross post. One topic is enough, other topic closed.

/Moderator - Bugster

[brick]

sorry - just didn't know where it would really get attention

i'm looking to do the rips and i'm also a newbie....so i guess either would have been appropriate

keep the comments coming!

is there anything you can say about dvd x copy within the parameters i'm seeking?

[shelbyGT]

1) rip whole disk to harddrive using dvd decryptor
2) open up dvdfab, have it split to 2 disks. This will end up with 2 working discs with 2 working menus, movie on 1 (might continue on 2) and special features on disc 2.
3) there you go, no quality lost.


or

1) wait a little bit, buy a dual layer burner, make a direct 1 for 1 copy of original disk.

[dcsos]

1) wait a little bit, buy a dual layer burner, make a direct 1 for 1 copy of original disk.

If in fact this becomes do-able right off..DONT COUNT ON IT!

other wise USE DVD FAB or IFO EDIT the two ways I know to keep original quality along with functional menus , etc

[Defcon]

One thing to bear in mind is that not all DVD's will take up all 4.7 or 4.3 space on blank DVD media. There are many movies I have backed up w/ DVD Shrink and still had space left and set it to "No Compression" or just left it at "Automatic". Ofcourse there are times where compression is a must.

I personally hate X-Copy as any movie you backup starts up with the obligitory "THIS IS A BACK UP" message

Then again even w/ X-COPY it will still compress some movies as you only have so much disk space. Unless you split them as you mentioned

BTW - Buy good blank DVD media to avoid coasters. I personally only use Taiyo Yuden media... You will get what you pay for !!!!

[jimmalenko]

i'm completely prepared to invest weeks of reading on this site....but i need a starting point....

i'm not about to read a ton about something that i ultimately will decide against using

Dude, start by reading the entire guides section to the left. No one will hold your hand here unless you show a bit of initiative. We only know what we know from doing the wrong thing and not doing it again. You will find many things that you will ultimately decide against using. That is the learning curve you need to take if you have any interest in video. Preach over.

I would use one of these two options - If the movie is small enough to fit on one DVDR, use DVD Shrink in re-author mode with No Compression. If too big to fit on one DVDR, use IFOEdit to split to two DVDRs. No loss at all, except for the extras !

[Vanderlow]

CloneDVD 2 with AnyDVD is an easy compination to use and you can select chapters and burns a movie across several disks. They both have fully functioning trialware.

[fritzi93]

Brick, the "what's best" sort of question tends to get snarky answers. :P Too many valid ways to do any particular process. But you got some good suggestions anyway.

If you're into this as an adjunct to business, or as a hobby, nearly everything on the left is worth reading. If all you're interested in is the end product and look on making backups as a chore, well, it's too easy anymore. Look up a newbie guide and away you go. BTW, you can do just about everything except encoding with freeware. So don't waste any more of your money until you know a lot more.

Too bad I guess that people get roughed up so often over certain questions. (You got off easy, actually). But I can see where it comes from. Good luck.

[brick]

all i'm asking is that yall cut me some slack when i am in this very initial discovery phase!

thanks for those providing advice here....

let me clarify my question::

obviously to get the bit for bit damn near identical clone i speak of it will usually require 2 discs.......or often....

my question is......if that is the method i am using...is any program better than another doing that same function??

i.e. if i put it to 2 discs with dvd x platinum....will it give the same exact results as putting it to 2 discs with dvdshrink?? or does one program just do a better job of extracting/burning the movie???



anyhoo - please don't think i'm a freeloader here.....and realize that what i'm looking for is opinions...which i doubt is in the guides section or what have you.....i did read a week or so ago one report that a guy on cdfreaks made comparing a couple programs and he said that Pinnacle InstantCopy yielded the best results although it's very slow.......but even in his article with a comment section plenty of people pointed out how subjective his results were......so for this reason i am asking your opinions to get a consensus.


some "opinions" are so known they are almost fact.....like NERO being the obvious leader of burning with countless fab comments about it's perfection........and PHISH being the best band in the world....ok...so that's more of an opinion

another example is TY as being the best blanks to get.....there is no guide or tutorial section on this site to tell me that.....i read a bunch of threads and posed the question myself and the overwhelming responses supporting it gave me my answer

i'm rambling.....please see my clarified question above! :P

thanks!
and hey now! if anyone needs private help with XBOX backups you know who to ask!

[LRD]

Let's cut Brick some slack. I have read alot on this forum, and do not recall a comparison of 1 to 1 copy programs. I suspect that is because it is pretty basic--if no compression is done then no transcoding algorithm is used. It is the algorithms that change the output of each program qualitywise for compressed data.

So Brick, the simple answer to your question should be: It doesn't matter what program you use for non-compressed backups in terms of quality. It is not unlike the various burner applications that all turn out the same quality disks. The difference is in the decryption capability and menu splitting features.

But for those who just crawled out of their mothers' basements pissed off that you did not read the guides, it wouldn't hurt to look at what others have spent thousands of hours of hard work to produce before the next question.

LRD

[fritzi93]

Alright then, if it's just an opinion you want, I'll second those who recommend DVD FAB and IFOEdit.

But now I usually just use DVDShrink to reauthor main movie and chuck unneeded audio/subtitles. Usually, very little compression is then necessary, if any. I used to care about keeping cool menus & stuff, but have found that after the first viewing, I just wanna see the damn movie without waiting. And if you can tell the difference between the original and, say, a 95% DVDShrink backup, you got a hell of a TV! And much better eyes than me.

[Defcon]

Like my previous reply, most of the DVD's I have copied did not need compression. Some movies are close and if you remove the movie extras, subtitles, etc.... You can usually copy the movie itself w/o compression.

I can also tell you that some movies I have backed up needing minor compression, I was never able to notice any difference in quality....

As you mentioned you (COULD) split the DVD onto 2 disks, but I think that kind of sucks IMO.

Give DVD Shrink a try, and if a disk needs a little compression, test and compare.

Once again also use good media.....

BTW is your DVD burner G-14 rated ?

[dead_indian_walking]

CAlm down peopple, we are all here to help one another, DVDxCopy is excellent and you can take the warnings off by using IFoEdit and Vobrator.

[gaffarat]

Here's the deal...there are a number of programs including dvdxcopy that will
do the job and so will ifoedit & dvdtoolbox. However, do realize that in a few months Sony (among others) is releasing a burner that will burn DVD-9 disks so the point may be moot. All you will need then is a ripper and just burn back. A dvd9 should burn in around 45 min or so. Hope this helps.

Have fun stormin' the castle!

Rog

[lordsmurf]

This thread is a perfect example ... of what NOT to do at dvdrhelp.com.

I'm always amazed at how many learned to type/write without ever having learned how to read.

www.mrbass.org has info on programs that do what is needed for this task. Many good suggestions have been given.

[Craig Tucker]

I have removed all irrelevant posts, which as you can see is most of the thread. Please keep things civil from this point.

[brick]

hey craig - is it possible that you could PM me the contents of what you deleted?? there were some good suggestions and links amongst the nonsense that i really could use

[Craig Tucker]

I tried to make sure I did not delete anything relevant, but there was a lot of waffle to wade through. There are a few links I overlooked, they were.

http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/mpg/ifoedit-2dvdrs.htm
http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/mpg/dvdshrink31-main.htm
https://www.videohelp.com/tools?section=7#7
https://www.videohelp.com/tools?section=19#19

[brick]

thanks dude!