A newbies dumb story and analysis

[Defcon]

First and foremost, I really wish to thank everyone who posts here and links their guides, because I would be dumb and ignorant (still am) on this subject. I just want to share my experience and story w/ suggestions for other newbies...... And a few questions thats are still on my mind

I started my DVD backup adventure about 1 week ago today. Spent most of my time observing the posts here and reading guides and installed a Memeorex burner. Bought a pack of blank DVD's and started backing up my films (Adventure/Comedy Begins)

321 Studios has a free demo of DVD XPress Copy. I used it first and backed up my first two movies perfectly (Yeah !!!) But when I went to back up a DVD that had slight scratches (original still played ok) the back up froze and pixelated like crazy. Then I went to backup my Full Screen Special Edition of The Predator, Xpress Copy gave me errors.

Then I remembered hearing about DVD Shrink.... Downloaded, followed the instructions, was easy to use but this movie still froze on my DVD player. (Darn !!!)
(Learning comes into play now)

I put the same movie into my PS2 and it played flawless !!!! I then realized that the disks I threw away (about 6 of 'em) may have worked in my PS2, and to top it off they were RW's !!!!!! I am such a freakin retard.....

By the way my DVD player (Classico) is 4 years old and costs $38.00 brand new... You get what you pay for.

Using DVD Shrink with Nero has been absolutely AMAZING !!! I have backed up 6-7 movies now with no problems at all on my PS2.

Here is my nickels worth of free advice to other newbies:

1. DO NOT BUY SOFTWARE WHEN THERE IS FREEWARE LIKE DVD SHRINK THAT WORKS EVEN BETTER THAN COMMERCIAL STUFF !!!

2. Maybe it's not the media (DVD's) that are bad, or the programs.... Could be your dvd player (Try other players if possible)

3. Never throw away a DVD that has the RW logo on it :P

4. Disable antivirus, and any other applications that may interfere or slow down the ripping/burning process.....

The questions I have brewing right now are:

1. Is there any reason or advantage to learning/using other programs like SmartRipper or DVD Decrypter ?

2. I hate widescreen with a passion (I paid for every inch of my tv) Fullscreen movies are modifed to fit the screen . Is it possible to edit a widescreen DVD to Fullscreen without distortion or having the same view as VHS fullscreen?

3. Is there a particular DVD player that is just known to be superb at playing backup's or should I say reads exceptionally well ?

Sincerly,

Defcon2

[geek rock]

2. I hate widescreen with a passion (I paid for every inch of my tv) Fullscreen movies are modifed to fit the screen . Is it possible to edit a widescreen DVD to Fullscreen without distortion or having the same view as VHS fullscreen?

you can crop a widescreen DVD to fullscreen. don't expect anything as simple as an option in DVD shrink. to do this you'll need to rip the DVD, demux the vob files, open up the mpeg-2 file and re-encode it with cropping into tmpgenc. then mux it back together with the original audio file, and create a new disc structure for it.

without distortion? well, in the case of a 16:9 film, you'll be stretching out about 550 pixels (the middle of the screen - the part that's shown on a full screen tv) to 720.

in the case of a 2.35:1 film, you'll be stretching out roughly a third of the horizontal image to fullscreen, and about half of the vertical image.

and this is without taking into consideration the fact that your encodes just won't look good when you play them back.

any 4:3 cropping done for FS DVDs or TV showings is done with pan and scan. this means that instead of the middle of the image being shown constantly, the "camera" moves around to different parts of the screen to show what's considered to be the most relevant information.

an example: in a widescreen film you might have a shot of 2 people, one on the extreme left of the picture, one on the extreme right, talking. in widescreen you can view both people at the same time.

if you cropped to the middle for fullscreen, you'd probably end up with a big gap in the middle of the screen, maybe with the characters' noses just visible on the sides

in pan-and-scan, the camera would usually pan over to one person while they speak, and then over to the other when they speak.

in any case, neither situation is particularly brilliant.

learn to love widescreen, my friend. it's the future.

[jimmalenko]

I can think of two answers to Q1:
1. Sometimes shrink can experience errors while ripping and it is handy to have a backup plan in place if that occurs. By the same token, SmartRipper and DVDDecrypter have at times had difficulties reading DVDs as well. I would study up and include one of the two in your backup method from now on.

2. Without being a guru, it is fair to assume that shrink can operate quicker with files from the HD than it will from DVD simply because the transfer rate is so much quicker off your HD.

[edsmith77]

Defcon,
Just an observation, the quality to price ratio of DVD players is not what I would call a good measure of success. I have a Daewoo 5900. I bought it at SAMS Club for $39.00 (USD). But I have been most impressed with is ability to play everything I have thrown at it. It is not the DVD player that is hooked up to my house surround system. The wife preferred the all-in-one approach (less messy lookin', ya know). But when conflicts arise over what is going to be watched on the big screen, I just usually opt for my trusty daewoo and my office.

[ricky1756]

the other reason to use dvddecryter, is that quite often the dvd youre backing up might be under 4.38 gigs. then there is no reason to shrink but just rip as an image and burn

[Marco33]

2. I hate widescreen with a passion (I paid for every inch of my tv) Fullscreen movies are modifed to fit the screen .

Widescreen is the future of tv. Don't give into hate.

That leads to the dark side.

[SLK001]

Like you, I too used to hate any "widescreen" offering. I have learned to tolerate 16:9 aspect ratios, because, as everyone is saying, these are the wave of the future.

However, I still hate the 2.35:1 aspect ratio (and the other "odd ball" AR) movies, so I CONVERT them to anamorphic 16:9, so I can, like you, get the "best usage" out of 10 year old TV.

I have decided that my next TV will be 16:9, so I want to be able to get the most out of it.

[Defcon]

Ok,

It sounds like a little too much trouble editing 16:9 to pan/scan, however GR, Still prefer fullscreen..... Just wish they offered all DVD's with dual formats

As for Smart Ripper & DVD Decrypter...... Is one easier to learn than the other ? I would imagine that If DVD Shrink could not rip a movie but the DVD still needs to be compressed, you could still use DVD Shrink to finish the job ?

ANd your right edsmith quality does necessarly reflect the price of a DVD player..... But it does in my case Just want to get a decent one I don't care if it's cheap or not (Though the cheaper the better)

BTW I found this link http://www.cdcovers.cc/covers.php kinda cool if you want the cover art for your back ups.

One thing here not to get off topic, but can any of these utilites be used to back up PS2 games ? Just curious

P.S. I'll be stayin in the "Darkside" 33 when it comes to widescreen