Removing menus without degradation

[multiplex]

Hi all!

I am new to the forum, and new to DVD "editing" as well. I have a project coming up with the local film festival and we are having a slight problem:

Everyone coming to the film festival is expecting to see "films" instead of DVDs. This requires us to make the movies look as "projector-like" as possible. The DVDs that we are using have menus, and we are looking to simply to remove the menu and reburn the discs (going straight to the movie instead of selecting "play movie") without any degradation in quality; removing the menu at the beginning and leaving the rest of the movie exactly how it is (as far as quality goes). I was wondering what the best way to go about doing this would be. I hope that I have provided enough information in this post, but if I haven't, feel free to ask for more details.

Thanks so much in advance!

[minidv2dvd]

dvdshrink can do what you need fairly easily. put your dvd in the drive, open it with dvdshrink. click the re-author button in the top right. in the dvd browser tab left click and drag the main movie from the right column to the left re-authored dvd column. click on the compression settings tab. set the drop down tab to "no compression". click "backup". set the output to hard disk folder. select the drive and folder to write it to. put a check mark in write audio_ts and video_ts folders. click ok.

use imgburn in build mode to burn those folders back into a dvd.

there will be no change in quality. there are other ways of doing it but you'd need to know how to use ifoedit, pgcedit, or rip the vobs and re-author with a program like dvdlab.

[tinker]

If you know very little about DVD commands, than DVDShrink is easy way to extract movie only and author new DVD.
Otherwise PgcEdit will do, just edit command in First Play to go to your Title, export and burn.

[AlanHK]

Be aware that many commercial DVDs are "double sided", having up to 9.4 GB of data. Common recordable DVDs are single sided, 4.7 GB.

If you have more than 4.7 GB of data, you can let DVDShrink shrink the video (thus the name). This is generally still excellent quality, especially if you drop any extras on the disk (making-of, extra soundtracks, etc).

You can also buy double-sided recordable DVDs.

[multiplex]

Thanks so much for all of the information!

I did a test run with one of the movies to see how it would turn out, but sure enough it was 5.94 GB even after the menu(s) and extras were removed. I think that getting some DL discs would be a great idea. Is there anything that I should know beforehand about what to buy - and also - which burners to use?? Are all DVD burners capable of burning to store-bought Dual Layer DVDs that I could pick up at a local store, or will I need to ensure that I have a capable DVD burner?

Thanks a million!

P.S. If I have to go out and purchase a DL burner [which I would be more than happy to do for the event], which brand would you recommend, and which "features" or "things" should I be looking for in that drive?

Take care!

[minidv2dvd]

almost any drive made within the last 4 years or so would be dl. current drive makers like pioneer, sony, lite-on are usually fine. my preference is pioneer, the 116/216 would be the newest drive, and you can find them for $30 or so.

as for dual layer media, there has always been only one reliable disc, the verbatim +r dl. anything else is second best. you can find them online at most tech stores.

[multiplex]

Well thanks to everyone for providing me with so much great information. My gratitude goes out to you.

Is there anything else that I should know or be aware of?

Thanks again,

Take care!

[fritzi93]

Is there anything else that I should know or be aware of?

Yes. Just to re-iterate, use ImgBurn . This is particularly important when burning DL discs, as nothing else is as reliable for correctly placing the layer break. Don't be tempted to buy anything but Verbatim +R DL discs. Good luck.