Newbie looking for BEST info on DVD-COPIERS & COPY PROGR

[Dallas22]

Thanks for all the help so far man... I truley appricaite it... I will try those things as I am typing this

BTW, do you or anyone else have an AOL/ICQ/other Instant messanger program that I can talk with people about this??? Just wondering if there was a live chat forum or instant messanger system about this somewhere. I have AIM and my screen name is: MM Dallas22

Thanks

Dallas22

[Dallas22]

Ok, I have 3 Device managers: Intel Ultra Storage Controller, Primary IDE Channel & Secondary IDE Channel. Which of these should I change to "DMA if available"??? Both the Primary AND secondary IDE Channels??? If just one, then which??? Also under each one it says Device 0 and Device 1 AND they ALL have "DMA if available" already except for the Transfer Mode for the SECONDARY Channel

Thanks again

Dallas22

[Dallas22]

Interesting... I UN-installed my IDE channels and then rebooted (after making sure that ALL IDE drives were set to "DMA if available")... then XP automatically re-installed these drive after the reboot and then I had to reboot again in order to make those drive active.

Ok, so then I did the same thing as before as far as the DVD Shrink program goes to BACK-UP my Lock, Stock & 2 Smoking Barrels DVD and before it would have taken at least 1h 30min, but now it will take around 40mins!!! I guess this helped a lot. I also deactivated my Notron Anti-Virus program as well as BigFix and it seems that the read speed rate has improved. Of course, when I am on the internet surfing, it seems to lower the read rate a little bit.

My READ RATE fluctuated between 3000-3400 KB/s, but it started at 3500, then went down to around 3050, and then keep rising up past 3400 as time went on. Overall, I think that for this movie, the read rate averaged around 3200-3250 KB/s, maybe more... around 3300 - Is this around normal and does this sound ok??? Will these IDE channels HAVE to be uninstalled and then automatically reinstalled by Windows XP often??? Will the read rate eventually go down in time???

Thanks guys!

Dallas22

[Dallas22]

Another thing that I realised is that AFTER the DVD is done ENCODING using DVD Shrink, it then BURNS it automatically to my Hard Drive after asking me where I want that file and what I want to call the file (through DVD Shrink)...

My question is this - Do I HAVE to go through this process, or can I just burn it directly to the DVD-RW drive? Does it HAVE to burn or copy it a certian way to my HD first, BEFORE I can burn it to a DVD??? It never asked me what speed I wanted to BURN the movie so I figured that I HAD to burn it to the HD first and then use DVD Decrypter to burn to the blanks DVD. I used DVD Decrypter to Burn my last DVD and don't recall having to burn it to the HD first... I am just a bit confused here and would like to "optimize" the complete burn process for BEST quality and fastest process (if possible). I don't mind burning to a blank DVD IF the video and quality is better...

Thanks again

Dallas22

[sacajaweeda]

I always have whatever app I'm authoring with build the title set and save it to the hard disk. I then use Nero to put them on DVD. The first time I tried it the software I was authoring with didn't recognize my burner so I just used a process that I knew would work.

Me personally, I would rather have the title set on the hard disk rather than having to wait for the thing to be compiled so that I could burn a copy of it. But then again, I've got three 80gb Maxtors and a pair of 200gb WD hard drives on this machine, so disk space isn't exactly at a premium for me.

[Dallas22]

Thanks for all the help... I think that I am "mastering my style". I let it encode and then it makes it "burnable" to my DVD from my HD because it says "burning tracks" so I am guessing that is what "Title set" is. After this, I run my DVD decryptor to burn it from the HD to my blank Memorex DVD at 2x speed (hoping for better quality or at least a LESS chance of it skipping when I watch the back-up). This works great fo rme as of now and I usually can get a complete DVD Back-Up burned within 40-65 mins at most.

So far, so good... thanks for all the help, tips and info so far... it has REALLY come in handy!!!

Dallas22

[sacajaweeda]

There's some good tips over at videoguys.com if you're really looking to compete with your buddy's speed at doing this. Me personally, speed aint the name of the game, but nonetheless, there is some good info here...

http://www.videoguys.com/Win2K_Tweaks.html

[Turbo245]

I use DVD Shrink for compression, DVD Decrypter for DVD-5, and CloneDVD for Burning S/W. I have the new TDK 880n 8x Burner. Same hardware as the Plextor 708A, but burns -R media at 8x as the Plextor will only at 4x...Can't get any better than these....
Ron

[fritzi93]

BTW, is AutoShrinkISO any good for burning the original DVD that was copied or compressed to the HD back to blank DVD??? I saw that this is freeware as well... I am guessing though that it is not as good as Nero and IF I can get a copy of Nero (newer the better I guess), Nero is the better program to use to burn back the original to the blank DVD.

Dallas22

Since you asked twice about AUTOShrinkISO and no one answered, here goes: Once you set it up, it's quite easy. Just tell the program where the executables are for DVDDecrypter and DVDShrink when setting up. You can download it here http://www.mrbass.org/dvdshrink/autoshrinkiso/, and read a tutorial as well. This is most useful if you have a separate DVD-ROM drive. Basically pop the movie in your ROM drive, a blank in your writer, open movie, shrink, click backup and done. Come back an hour later and your copy is made.

It can also work from your HD. I've used DVDDecrypter to rip, DVDStripper (now freeware) to strip out menu and main movie, then fired up Autoshrink. Only difference is you have to enter a DVD label (enter anything you want) to bypass reading from DVD-ROM (or writer if that's all you have). Dialog window will pop up when you hit start, then go find the file.

Actually, if copying from a DVDR or a file under 4.7G, it's an unnecessary step to transcode in Shrink. Easier and quicker to rip/write in ISO mode in DVDDecrypter or use IMGTools Classic to make ISO image and burn w/DVDDecrypter.

As to Nero being better, not so. If what you want is a compliant burn with much less chance for error, one of the above methods is adequate. Nero and Pinnacle, et.al. have many more features and capabilities in their products, but for the simple business of ripping/shrinking/burning DVDs, all that isn't needed, freeware is usually easier to master will do just as well. And it IS simple, people just overcomplicate this.