What am I doing wrong ?

[AlanS]

I've got a Liteon-411s DVD writer with DVD+RW media ( Mr. DVD bought from Makro )

I've tried making backups of DVD films I have using a variety of software detailed in the dvdrhelp website but, so far I've been unsuccessful.

So .. I thought I'd try something simple instead.

Using Sonic MyDVD (which came with the DVD writer), I tried to make a DVD with a 30 second mpeg I had and also tried to make a slide show with some pictures. The process seemed to go smoothly ( i.e. no problems reported ), but the resulting DVD won't play on any DVD players or even on my PC. On the PC it makes an attempt but then just sticks.

Obviously, I'm doing something wrong somewhere, but I'm running out of ideas.

Any help ?

[Bob W]

A typical set of DVD files looks like this.

VIDEO_TS.IFO
VIDEO_TS_BUP
VTS_01_0.IFO
VTS_01_0.BUP
VTS-01_1.VOB
VTS-01_2.VOB
VTS-01_3.VOB

Those files should then be put into a VIDEO_TS folder (you may have to create the folder) then you burn that folder. So what ever program you're using look for these type of files. you can test the file set by using PowerDVD or WinDVD on your computer to open "DVD files on computer" and click on the "VIDEO_TS.IFO file.

[steptoe]

For backups of DVD's, the simplest and free software I suggest you have a look at is DVDShrink for a full DVD including titles and extras

Also, have a look at DVDDecryptor, free again, for ripping DVD's and making them regionfree and macrovision free

Together you should be able to backup virtually any DVD, from any region, and it won't cost you anything

For burning, try the software thats fairly new called AutoShrinkISO that only works with DVDShrink


Using these 3 bits of totally free software should get you going


For backups of just the movie and nothing else, I personally use DVD2One, but that ain't free

My software I use to create 2 movies on a single DVD is :

DVDDecrytptor
DVD2One
Nero
TMPGenc DVD Author

Have a look through the guides, some may seem confusing at first, but a lot are very helpful and should give you good ideas about what you are doing right or wrong

There is a guide in the guide forums for how to put 2 movies on a single DVD, which was updated with quite a few tips and suggestions using the above software

It needs updating with screenshots to help even more, which I'm in the process of doing, and adding alternative software to those that don't have what I used

[AlanS]

Thanks for all the advice, but I've tried all this.

The ripping/shrinking bit works OK. I can use PowerDVD to view the movie from my disk drive.

It seems to be when I create the DVD that it all goes pear-shaped. I tried the trial version of DVDXCOPY, the trial version of CloneDVD and the latest one I'm trying is the trial version of DVDFab. I've yet to have my 1st success !

But ... forgetting the backuping up side of things for a moment.

Surely using Sonic MyDVD to create a DVD containing a slide show of pictures or a 30 second MPG file should be fairly straight forward ?

I'm beginning to suspect either the hardware setup or the media.

I've managed to create VCD's in the past using a CD-Writer, but since upgrading it to a DVD writer I encountered failure after failure !

[AlanS]

Finally had a success using Nero 6 !