Roxio introduces alternative to DVD2One

[Frobozz]

Roxio is now selling an application they call Popcorn that simplifies copying of DVDs and also compresses dual-layer DVDs to fit on single-layer media. The cost is $50, or $30 for Toast owners.

http://www.roxio.com/en/products/popcorn/index.jhtml

I'm using it as we speak. It's amazingly simple.

I don't have any ties to Roxio although I'm a longtime fan of Toast.

[badtz]

i just saw this also and was about to post it up


seems VERY interesting.


i wonder how good the quality will be

[WiseWeasel]

HOLY CRAP!!! I think the sky just fell. Someone please try this one out and let us know how it compares to DVD2OneX. It's funny how they say you need a ripper for this to work. I hope their app likes ARccOS rips.

[820am]

It's funny how they say you need a ripper for this to work

You like that too?

They said something similiar when they announced their Dual Layer burner.


I'm shocked they don't provide people with links on their website.

Though MacAddict does write articles advocating backing up DVDs for travel-ease. They mention you're allowed to under copyright law, but don't discuss dcss.

[Frobozz]

i wonder how good the quality will be

I don't have DVD2OneX to compare this to (I don't have a need to backup commercial DVDs) but I am surprised by the good quality I saw on my test.

I tested a 2-hour 41-minute commercial DVD that required more than 31% compression when I selected just the main title and main sound track. Popcorn reports the compression percentage and states whether the result will be "excellent", "very good", "good" (and maybe less than good but I didn't go that far). The 31% compression was rated "very good" by Popcorn and I agree after watching it.

I also tried compressing the entire 7.8 GB DVD to my single-layer disc. This retained all the menus, sound tracks and titles of the original. The compression was 44% which Popcorn rated as "good." It looked like I'd made a standard play VHS tape of it, so yes it was good but not "very good."

When you choose to burn only the main title you get a DVD that has no title menu at all, but the chapter markers remain.

I found one glitch. The long movie I tested had a director's commentary soundtrack as the top-most soundtrack in the DVD's menu. Popcorn chose that one as the "main" soundtrack. In order to get the 5.1 soundtrack I had to have Popcorn include all the soundtracks and then use the audio button on my DVD player's remote to cycle to the 5.1 soundtrack when playing the DVD. I think most commercial DVDs put the 5.1 soundtrack first so this normally wouldn't be an issue.

Popcorn does burn to dual-layer media with dual-layer burners.

One use I can think of is when someone wants to burn a DVD from their home movies that is longer than Toast will fit to a DVD. They can use Toast to encode and author the DVD as a disc image, and then use Popcorn to fit the oversized disc image to their media.

[badtz]

^ how did you get Popcorn?

there's not a link to download on their webpage?

?

[Frobozz]

^ how did you get Popcorn?

there's not a link to download on their webpage?

?

Worked for me. Try it from this page:
http://www.roxio.com/en/store/index.jhtml


Okay, now it's not working. To get the discount I went through the Toast registration and after accepting the registration it gave me a page where I could purchase the Popcorn download at a $20 savings. But I can't seem to get back there again right now.

[badtz]

^ how did you get Popcorn?

there's not a link to download on their webpage?

?

Worked for me. Try it from this page:
http://www.roxio.com/en/store/index.jhtml

i still don't see it

The only option I see is if you pay for it ........?

[Frobozz]

The only option I see is if you pay for it ........?

There is no way to get it without paying for it.

[galactica]

hahahahah
Frobozz, you dont have dvd2one? can you post a screenshot or something of the film you did. Perhaps one of us also has the same movie and we can see if there is any visible difference
can you get any sort of frame rate info etc on the "compressed" dvd? compared to its dvd source?

[820am]

Avoidy-poo.

I just got it (for $30 thank goodness).

Offers no subtitle control. Also wants to compress when you've got it set for DL. (I haven't tried that yet).

Might be impressive someday, but for now, avoid.

[WiseWeasel]

Why would you want to eliminate subtitles? To save all of a dozen MB or so?

[Frobozz]

hahahahah
Frobozz, you dont have dvd2one? can you post a screenshot or something of the film you did. Perhaps one of us also has the same movie and we can see if there is any visible difference
can you get any sort of frame rate info etc on the "compressed" dvd? compared to its dvd source?

Yeah don't ask me to judge Popcorn compared with DVD2OneX. In fact, I've already erased those first couple DVD's I made with Popcorn and created another that had 23% compression (which Popcorn said is excellent quality). Comparing it with the source looks essentially the same. My Pioneer DVD player shows the bit rate to be similar. In fact, both the copy and the original top out at 10.08 mbps although that maximum is more common on the original.

You can only choose if you want the entire VIDEO_TS (nothing is removed) or just what Popcorn thinks is the main title. If you choose just the main title you have a choice of all the soundtracks or just what Popcorn calls the main soundtrack. You also can select which languages you want. That's all the options. I'd recommend it to someone who wants simplicity and nearly foolproof ease of use.

By the way, selecting DVD DL (just above the burn button) tells Popcorn to realize you are using dual-layer media so the compression option goes away.

As for comparing Popcorn screen captures with DVD2OneX hopefully someone will do that even though there's no compelling reason to own both.

[820am]

Why would you want to eliminate subtitles?

No, not elimate subtitles.

Save them.

It also takes 40+ minutes to copy on VIDEO_TS to another...

Very upset. Expected a lot more from Roxio.

[macuser25]

Just a few comments...

1. It does save subtitles - you can copy the entire disc (which includes all titles, audio formats, languages, subtitles, extras, menus, etc.) or just extract the main movie, primary audio format and the language of choice

2. It says it compresses if necessary - based on the source size - and if you use DL media, then it will bypass that step. Since it doesn't know if you are using DL media until you actually insert it into the drive (since DL drives use DL and SL media) it lists that compression may be needed

3. I think what's particularly interesting about this is that it includes DVD2One type features and the Toast burning features in a single application - making it easier to use and fewer steps.

4. For someone who doesn't own Toast or DVD2One, you can get the functionality you need now for nearly 1/3 the price (e.g., Toast for $80 + DVD2One for $60 = $140 vs $50 for Popcorn) and for someone who already owns Toast you can get the DVD2One functionality for 1/2 of the price (e.g., DVD2One for $60 vs $30 for Popcorn).

[Frobozz]

Why would you want to eliminate subtitles?

No, not elimate subtitles.

Save them.

It also takes 40+ minutes to copy on VIDEO_TS to another...

Very upset. Expected a lot more from Roxio.

I'm sure people are getting tired of hearing from me about this. When I copied the main title only it retained the subtitles. I got to choose which languages to keep.

The time it takes to compress and write the image file before burning depends on the speed of the computer. But 40 minutes sounds about right. It was faster when I wrote to my external Firewire hard drive than to my iBook's internal hard drive.

I must have lower expectations because I'm not upset. But if I were I'd contact Roxio about a refund.

[820am]

It does save subtitles - you can copy the entire disc (which includes all titles, audio formats, languages, subtitles, extras, menus, etc.) or just extract the main movie, primary audio format and the language of choice

Not on any of the six discs I've tried, all with multiple subtitle streams. I get a greyed in checked box on a bunch of VIDEO_TS.

I guess I ought to e-mail roxio.

4. For someone who doesn't own Toast or DVD2One, you can get the functionality you need now for nearly 1/3 the price (e.g., Toast for $80 + DVD2One for $60 = $140 vs $50 for Popcorn) and for someone who already owns Toast you can get the DVD2One functionality for 1/2 of the price (e.g., DVD2One for $60 vs $30 for Popcorn).

No, I agree with that. I was shocked at the price. So long as it works for you, it's a great deal.

[macuser25]

No, I agree with that. I was shocked at the price. So long as it works for you, it's a great deal.

Yes, the price is certainly right.

Actually, it seems to me that Roxio is aiming to appeal to a less tech-savvy crowd than the type on these boards.

They seem to have provided options in this software that gets the job done for most people most of the time, with a minimal number of settings and options, focussing on ease of use, and providing it inexpensively.

[820am]

Well, I'm hoping they add an advanced option. Just a tab, like Toast has...

I just did a comparison between Popcorn and DVD2OneX.

From a 6.48 VIDEO_TS, with a feature and three featurettes.

I tested just doing the title.
DVD2OneX created a 4.97 folder. Popcorn created a 6.48 disc image.

[chikanakan]

It's been working great for me. I've done several backups already and haven't had a problem. Speed seems to be faster then DVD2One and the quality is just as good. For $30 it's a great deal, especially if you don't have DVD2One.

It doesn't have all the options of DVD2One, but is sure is nice to backup my images without a 2 step process like DVD2One then Toast. Overall I'm pretty happy with it.

[tgpo]

If it ain't broken, don't fix it. DVD2OneX will remain my #1 tool.

[macuser25]

Good for you... but for anyone who hasn't yet purchased DVD2One... and there's probably alot of Mac users who haven't... this is a great alternative for less $ and includes the Toast burning.

[live4ever]

So can you insert a DVD-R>Select VIDEO_TS>choose whole disc or main feature>compress & burn ... all in one step?

DVD2oneX sometimes outputs a VIDEO_TS folder too big for Toast to burn (only on discs >8GB sometimes) for so I have to recompress it again - how's Popcorn in this regard.

Is it a stand alone app or if you own Toast 6 does it show up as another tab?

[geezerbuttz]

ALL of those apps are screwed without YadeX, MTR , or dvdbackup etc.... and they are all FREE. So maybe Roxio should not hype about their apps price.

[macuser25]

So can you insert a DVD-R>Select VIDEO_TS>choose whole disc or main feature>compress & burn ... all in one step?

Yes

Is it a stand alone app or if you own Toast 6 does it show up as another tab

Standalone app.

Also noticed that Amazon and Buy.com have it for ~ $30 after mail-in rebate for Toast, Jam, iLife, DVDSP, Mac OS X owners (just about everyone seems to qualify).

[badtz]

is there anything that DVD2OneX has that Popcorn doesn't?

are you able to choose which audio streams you want transfered?

[WiseWeasel]

Oh boy, where to start... DVD2OneX has a ton of features that Popcorn doesn't, such as the following:
1) 5 different compression modes
2) Support for selecting particular audio and subtitle tracks
3) Title/chapter/layer selection
4) User-selectable output size
5) Joining of titles and chapters, even across multiple VIDEO_TS folders

The only advantage Popcorn has is burning, and even then, it only allows you to burn the VIDEO_TS folder, and none of the extra DVD-ROM content from the original DVD. For now, I would highly recommend DVD2OneX for all but the most inexperienced (or simply lazy) users.

[badtz]

what "extra" content do some DVD-ROMs have? I'm not sure if I've encountered one before (curious)?

Thanks for the list. #2 on the list would be the most important for me. And hopefully the video quality with Popcorn revivals that of DVD2OneX.

[WiseWeasel]

Some DVDs have DVD-ROM content that plays on computers, such as storyboards, scripts, sometimes even random games and advertising schwag. Also, there is the JACKET_P folder which has still images that are displayed when the DVD is stopped on certain players. Basically, everything on the DVD besides the VIDEO_TS folder. While they aren't required for functioning DVD movies, I always like to include them, space permitting.

As for quality, it would be nice if people who have both Popcorn and DVD2OneX would post their subjective impressions of their results. Please include info on what mode you used (film only or disc copy) and the compression method for DVD20neX (variable, constant or selective-low, medium or high). I will try to do this as well, and will post my results in this thread.

[chikanakan]

Well, I've tried both DVD2One and Popcorn, and I have to say the quality is very close from what I can tell. I haven tried every single option in DVD2One on the same disc and haven't seen any difference in Selective, Variable and Constant so I think that is DVD2One hype anyway.

I tried both Movie only and Full Disc. As always, Movie only is better because of less compression, but over all I'm very impressed with the quality of Popcorn.

As for DVD-ROM content, DVD2One doesn't save it either so I don't see the point. A user would have to compress the disc even more in DVD2One and then burn the content with the Video_TS folder in Toast. Big waste of time for me.

If I wanted all that, I would just back up the disc to a DL.

I just don't want my kids to mess up the originals, so Popcorn works great for me. I can just rip the disc and add it to Popcorn and away it goes. Compress, burn, done.

Also, as for speed, Popcorn seems to compress faster then DVD2One.

DVD2One has lots of features which if you need then they are great, but Popcorn is a good alternative for me. I never use most of the options in DVD2One. It always Full Disc or Movie only anyway which is what Popcorn does and it's simpler.

I think I'll use Popcorn most of the time, and then DVD2One when I need more options. I'm Lazy.