DVD to DVD - MEGA MADNESS....

[Cunhambebe]

It seems I'll have to stay reading all the guides before ripping a DVD (for learning purposes) and I'm sure that'd take a looooooooooooooooong time.
I'd like to make u noteice that I would really want to make things easier...with your help, of course. Let's see:

Goal numer one: I'd like to rip dvds with the 3 most known progs, such as
DVD Decripter;
Shrink DVD;
CLone DVD.

Questions:

-General
Why are there so many guides teaching how to do the same thing with almost infinite settings of progs?
Do I have to use all these progs to meet my goal?
Can't I make it easier, using only those 3 progs described above?

-Ripping
How to choose among all files, the correct ones (would be: Edit>Select Main Movies?) with DVD Decripter?

-Shrinking
Is the quality nice when u try to shrink to a single 4,5 DVD disc?

Goal number 2:
I'd like to rip and convert the dvd main movie file (home movies, not commercial ones- absolutely legal procedure ;0) to an avi file for editing purposes and later convert the final result to MPEG2 (DVD set) intended for burning.
I've just found out I can use DVD2AVI, but I can't succeed converting anything with this prog.

Goal number 3:
Set definitely the NTFS FAT32 thing: My XP Pro system is formated as FAT32 and works well. I know the FAT 32 4 gb limitation. I'd like to know whether this limitation is only for capturing from a dvd cam tru firewire or it also affects dvd ripping.

Thanks in advance for the valuable help

[northcat_8]

I've never used cloneDVD but I have used the other 2.

There are so many guides because each person has a slightly different method. Some also have slightly different aims for output.

Do you have to use all these programs to meet your goal? No. Actually DVDshrink will rip, encode and burn all by itself. I still use Decrypter to rip anyway and I also do not let shrink burn but that's a personal preference.

Can you make it easier just using those 3 programs? If that's what works for you.

Is the quality nice when u try to shrink to a single 4,5 DVD disc? There has been some debate over this. I personally think DVDshrink does a heck of a job on anything under 90 minutes in length. However, I think anything over 90 minutes I get better results with Instant Copy 7. Actually the length of the movie doesn't have much to do with it, it's file size and how much you have to compress but time length is easier to site and its close enough.

Goal number 2:
I'd like to rip and convert the dvd main movie file ..... found out I can use DVD2AVI, but I can't succeed converting anything with this prog.

~hmmm, would need some specific of your settings and the program, I convert things all the time with it.

Goal number 3:
Set definitely the NTFS FAT32 thing: My XP Pro system is formated as FAT32 and works well. I know the FAT 32 4 gb limitation. I'd like to know whether this limitation is only for capturing from a dvd cam tru firewire or it also affects dvd ripping.

~you aren't getting around the 4 GB limit. It's universal. FAT32 will not allow a file on your HD bigger than 4 GB. You will need to convert to a NTFS format. I did this to my OS drive not too long ago and believe it or not it worked just like microsoft said it would. No problems what so ever. I used partition magic 7.0 to convert it, it converted and booted just fine...and actually ended the problems I was having with my OS drive. You'll need to convert...15 minutes of DV-AVI video is approximately 4 GB.

The best advice is to buy a couple more HD's. For example, in my box I have a 60 GB OS drive, a 120 GB drive and a 160 GB RAID array. I capture to the RAID array, then I encode to the 120 GB drive...that way you are never reading and writing to the same drive. Partitioning a drive is not the same thing.

I'm not saying it can't be done on a single drive but I wouldn't if I didn't have to. Video takes up huge amounts of room and since you are going to edit the video you are going to want to work with it in a codec with the least amount of compression and that means bigger file sizes.

On a side note, since I converted my OS drive to NTFS, my OS drive does not fragment very much at all. I just defragged it last night...2 months of use, 6 DVDs made in that time, heavy heavy use on the drive....2% fragmentation.

You will want to read some guides, the best way is to just pick one, try it, figure out things you don't like about that process (program) and then substitute different programs until you find the process that works best for you.

[jimmalenko]

Try the DVD Backup link in my signature. All you need to remember is that there are three processes to backing up a DVD:
1. Ripping
2. Transcoding if necessary
3. Burning

You can have 1 program to do each of these tasks or you can use DVD Shrink to do Steps 1 & 2. It depends on how in-depth you want to go - if you want a one-click solution then it might be wise to stick with CloneDVD. If you would like to get a better feel for the whole process, use 1 dedicated program for each process.

[Cunhambebe]

Northcat_8,
Thank you, very very much for taking time to respond. Have finally found out a way to fix the problem with DVD2AVI. That was only a matter of configuring the right things....About ripping and burning dvds: I'll keep studying and reading. Thanks again for the valuable help.

Thanks to jimmalenko for the valuable advice too.

C ya around!

[northcat_8]

Northcat_8, Thank you, very very much......

Thanks to jimmalenko for the valuable advice.......

C ya around!

No problem...we'll be here