Have you made personal "collectors" dvds?

[yoda313]

I'm thinking of trying to merge multiple movies onto one disc. I think I'm gonna do it for Back to the Future, Star Wars, Jurrasic Park and a few others I have on dvd.

I know i'll sacrifice video quality to squeeze onto one disc but I think I'd like to try it. I figure if I do movie only with just the dd5.1 track I should do pretty well. Also I only have a single layer burner so I'll have to reencode the movies to 1.5gb each or so for the trilogies and 2gb for the duologies like Bill and Ted's and Ghostbusters.

I think this will be fun to make my own "collectors" menus.

On a side note I just bought the divx 6 codec pro edition and saw it finally does menus. Too bad I don't have a divx compatible dvd player or that would be a perfect way to do it.

[lordsmurf]

I never waste my time. I'd only do it if I found they used bad source, and I had a better version from my own recordings, or maybe a VHS release. There's a number of DVD releases that are butchered or botched. I usually spend my on new things, or fixing things. Not fixing what's not broken.

Just my thoughts.

[Shadowmistress]

Halfway through reading your post, Yoda, I thought of a frustrated Lordsmurf who might probably respond like this. Then I scroll down and see his post.

Ah, poor smurf... I hope it's not too lonely at the top of the standards scale.



And Yoda, I fully support you of course. 8) Custom dvds with custom menus are the only way I go. I use Dvdlab and find new ways to get creative all the time.

[yoda313]

good link sm

Yeah I figure it'll be fun to tweak it a little

[Noahtuck]

Ah, poor smurf... I hope it's not too lonely at the top of the standards scale.

Nah.... cause i'm actually right up there with him 8)
I am "obsessed" as some of my friends say, because i always want the absolute BEST possible quality and source's for anything i do in video....

If I could put all 7 seasons of ST:TNG on one disk and never have to worry about which ep is on which disk, I would. That would totally rock! But even I realize that's just a pipe dream.

Just wait for 50GB Blu-Ray.

Then you might get close :P

@ yoda313

Have you made personal "collectors" dvds?

That title did not even come close to making me think of what you are talking about, it makes me think of DVD's i have done for myself that are "my personal collectors" version, not a multi-episode/movie dvd.

IE:
I transferd the directors cut of "The Lawnmower Man" from LD to DVD
because it had a diff. version of the beginning of the movie (it was included in the official dvd release but only as an extra, not part of the movie) and it also had a "director's commentary" as the 2nd audio track which i included on the DVD i made, that is a "personal "collectors" dvd" as it has never been released on dvd with the alt. beginning

[Shadowmistress]

Just wait for 50GB Blu-Ray.

Then you might get close :P

I'd prefer to wait for this disk changer instead. :P

Niveus Ice Vault 200 DVD-changer

While true techies are only satisfied by ripping their entire DVD collections to humongous hard drives, the majority of people just want a simple way to organize and play back their physical discs. With this in mind, high-end audio/video manufacturer Niveus has just announced a 200-disc DVD-changer for the (very rich) everyman which allows for on-screen selection of the desired movie. The Ice Vault 200 (also the name of the safe where we store the Engadget diamond collection), as it’s known, hooks up to any Niveus Media Changer PC (sorry HP fans, not compatible with the new z556 desktop or any other Media Center PC) through a FireWire connection and displays its disc selection as a catalog of movie posters in the “my DVD” section of Windows Media Center Edition. Several Ice Vaults can be daisy-chained together, giving you access to over 1000 titles, and metadata is automatically updated as new discs are added. Niveus is shooting for a November release date, and although price has yet to be announced, we are speculating that it will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of a million billion dollars.

[Shadowmistress]

Hey, wait. Imagine if in about 5 years time these two technologies were combined.

Then I'd be complaining I don't have enough "stuff" to fill all this space.

[Noahtuck]

Just wait for 50GB Blu-Ray.

Then you might get close :P

I'd prefer to wait for this disk changer instead. :P

Well, I have a 100 disc changer, juke box, carousel, Whatever you want to call it, and i have to keep a list of what is in it & they make double a 200 DVD disc changer also :P

Sony 400-Disc Progressive-Scan Multiformat DVD Player with MP3/JPEG/SACD Playback
Although i soooooooo hate sony and mine is a Pioneer 8)

Then I'd be complaining I don't have enough "stuff" to fill all this space.

I so feel your pain!!!!!!

[Shadowmistress]

Sony 400-Disc Progressive-Scan Multiformat DVD Player with MP3/JPEG/SACD Playback

I want one!
That puts any stinky divx player to shame. (Man, I gotta start surfing more. I had no idea this existed.)
But I'll wait for Blue-ray compatibility as well. :P

[Faustus]

I agree with the linked LS post. Its crazy stupid. Like all the poeple I know who look at me like I'm stupid because I don't like transcoders. They look almost offended and say "I can't tell the difference" and I say to them that I've been doing this alot longer then they have and I CAN tell the difference. Which only confuses them more.

[Noahtuck]

Sony 400-Disc Progressive-Scan Multiformat DVD Player with MP3/JPEG/SACD Playback

I want one!
That puts any stinky divx player to shame. (Man, I gotta start surfing more. I had no idea this existed.)
But I'll wait for Blue-ray compatibility as well. :P

A blu-ray 400 disc dvd changer......
Here.... let me hand you the whole universe on a silver platter....

:P

Start surfing more ?? try leaving your PC they have had these even on clearance at Best Buy on the shelf for at least a year!!! as they get new models in... this is not a new thing 8) :P

[Shadowmistress]

Here.... let me hand you the whole universe on a silver platter....

'Bout time I got treated the way I deserve. 8)



As for Best Buy, I don't see too many of those in downtown Toronto Canada.

[MackemX]

ahhhhhhh, brings back memories of playing deep within DVD structures for hours on end

I've made a few compilations in the past as it was pretty easy to grab the movies themselves. Grabbing a few original menu's to use in DVDLAB soon produced a decent enough compilation

thinking that one day I would buy a dual layer burner and then burn compo's using dual layer I learned how to put 2 originals onto 1 DVD keeping original menu's. As there was no real easy way of doing at the time and I like a challenge, I thought I'd learn something as one click is too easy and boring. I always wanted to keep the original menus and structure workings. I think the first time I did this was adding Shallow Hal to The Matrix when experimenting and it worked

I then did this with Star Wars Episode 1 & 2 but this time even wrote a flash guide HERE which took even longer!. I must have spent some hours playing with it and then a few more hours creating the 'better' guide HERE. I gave up in the end when DVDremake added the multiple disc feature so it became more or less one click . I'm not saying I enjoyed it at the time as it was cool to do something that very few could do with such ease 8). Man, it's been a long time since I played with DVD's, never mind the years that have passed since burning one that wasn't just for testing

now what would be cool would be DVD's players that have a USB 2.0/Firewire input so you could plug in your small external Hard Drives (not the 3.5" ones) and it could then play them using a folder browser. I know you can get video players with large capacity (that cost an arm and a leg) but can you get stuff like this compatiable DVD player this yet?

[Mister Flonk-Flonk]

After the 1st I'll have all six episodes of the SW epic on a DVD-5 'flipper'.

[Mister Flonk-Flonk]

I suppose technically it's a DVD-10

[AlecWest]

There's only one collector DVD I'd like to author. And, as I understand it, the DVD releases include cut scenes I can interject into it ... so I may try it in the future.

Back in the 1980s, The Godfather "Epic" was released on VHS only. It took Godfather I & II and told the story in strict chronological order. Then, Hollywood got greedy and decided to "cash in" on the success by releasing Godfather III (which, IMHO, sucks) ... and promptly yanked the VHS tape off movie store shelves. The "Epic" version has never been released on DVD.

But, as I said, there's a DVD set that includes cut scenes from Godfather I - III ... and I could use those scenes (and the set itself) to reconstruct a chronological version. I did it once already but in VCD format ... which looks like crap since I had to get some scenes off an aging VHS tape.

Still, for optimal quality, I'd have to split the reconstructed "Epic" into two or three DVDs. But to me, the chronological version is so much richer ... and a few cut scenes from the films should not have been cut (IMO) because they detract from an overall understanding of the story.

[lordsmurf]

Spike aired the chronological one some weeks ago.

[AlecWest]

Spike aired the chronological one some weeks ago.

Hmm ... I watched a few of those airings but didn't see the "epic" version shown ... just 1 & 2 back to back. FWIW, WGN will be airing part 1 on November 5th and part 2 on the 11th.

The "epic" version added back scenes that had been deleted from the individual release of part 2 ... but also cut out some scenes. That's why I think my best bet is to get the most recent DVD collection (the one with deleted scenes). Then, I can splice the whole thing together chronologically without losing any scenes cut from either part 1, part 2, or the "epic" release. Examples of cuts:

In part 2, Don Ciccio's men are shown picking up Vito and his mom at their house to take to Don Ciccio. That scene is deleted from the "epic" version, making it seem like going to Don Ciccio was something Vito's mom did voluntarily. But, the "epic" version has a scene showing where Vito first met Hyman Roth (at a gunsmith's shop) while the same scene was deleted from part 2. And that was a REALLY important scene. Part 2, by itself, gave people the impression that Hyman Roth was just a former business partner of Vito and nothing more. This made his betrayal of Michael merely a matter of "business." But, in the "epic" version (with the scene added), we see Vito "adopting" Hyman Roth into his family. So, the later betrayal of Michael is no longer just a business matter ... it's an "infamnia" (an in-family betrayal) that goes way beyond a business betrayal.

Other scenes were deleted and/or added to/from both part 2 and the "epic" version ... and, to me, they all have value and add substance to the saga. Damn the editor's knife anyway, hehe.

[Heywould3]

Yoda. y dont you spend the 50 bux or so and get a divx player.. hell even the phillips 642 works ok for what it is..

i have one.. and i take my multi EP dvds like mash x-files etc and put whole seasons on one dvd. at around 190mb per hour i can get a whole season on one. might be a bit smaller. but very watchable.. i use about 350mb per hour for things i want HQ like SW etc.

just a thought. ill tell ya if you try to fit 3 movies on one dvdr in mpg format its suck.. i know iknow.. i dont really mind lower quality since i have the originals but it will be real bad.. hell one good AC3 5.1 track can be almost 1 gig by itself

[Xylob the Destroyer]

I haven't put multiple movies on a disc, as quality is definitely an issue for me, especially with a good TV -- they tend to really show of the weakness(es) in any given source.
I have taken the time to put deleted/extended scenes back into movies though.

[yoda313]

Well I put off the mix dvd for now. BUT I finally got fraps working and capped the XWING cutscenes from the video game. I converted them to mpg and made a beautiful dvd. I love it