DvD Backups on Mac's.

[Regal]

Hello,

I was guided this way from a link.

I am about to do a switch-over from PC to Mac and if I go mac, I had to ask a question.


I like to know if there is any freeware/shareware or even software out there for Mac's that you can do dvd movie back-ups?

If so, can you please tell me what software out there will work for Mac on dvd movie back-ups?

Right now I still have my PC and I use DvD Shrink, but I was told that Shrink does not work w/ Mac's. So if any of you know, please post. Thanks a Bunch.

Regal-Out

[WiseWeasel]

I would recommend the combination of: 1) MacTheRipper (free) for ripping to the hard drive (can be replaced by YadeX or DVDBackup, also free); 2) DVD2OneX (€50), which is slightly on the pricey side, but has all the compression features and options you could want, or Roxio Popcorn ($30-50), which has a simpler interface and includes burning functionality, but doesn't have as many features as DVD2OneX; and 3) Roxio Toast Titanium ($80), which is pretty much the ultimate burning software for MacOS X, and while it's not required for copying DVDs (especially if you get Popcorn), it's still a very useful program to have.

Depending on how much you want to spend, these are the best options for you. The ultimate power combination is MacTheRipper, DVD2OneX and Toast Titanium. The simplest (and cheapest) solution is MacTheRipper and Popcorn, though you'll find that Toast Titanium is a nice tool to have anyways. Note that Roxio Popcorn is available from Roxio's website for $30 if you own Toast Titanium. It's also available from Amazon.com for $50 with a $20 mail-in rebate. There are no free compressors for MacOS X like DVDShrink.

[galactica]

you can also look to my website which has tutorials. The things you will need to buy are dvd2onex, as wiseweasel pointed out, as well as perhaps Toast Titanium

There are freeware ways to get around buying toast, but like Nero for PC its just something you have to have and wont regret buying.

always glad to see a switcher. Hope you enjoy your future purchase.

Since you mentioned that "shirnk" doesnt work on a mac, the reason it wont is because its a .exe which is designed for windows. In fact, the only way to get your PC apps to run is
1. find the mac equivalent
2. use VPC - which works but its sort of slow - even on a G5 in my opinion [but much better than it ever was before!]

[dotpuppy]

We should also mention Fast DVD Copy, which is a one-step, single-click program. However, for those of us that prefer some degree of control over the shrinking process MTR+DVD2One is probably a better solution. (Most of us here use DVD2One for one reason or another, but there is a subset who use DVDRemaster—at least, that's my impression.)

http://www.fastdvdcopy.com/
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/22793

[Regal]

Thanks 2 both of you. I am so excited. Looks like I will be switching.

Since you mention about VPC , I know a guy thats here at work in the Tech-support told me he can get me a copy or at least install VPC on my *new* mac ,, IF I get one

I have a Lacie External burner, which is what I am using on my PC laptop, which works great btw and the Tech friend told me that Mac's love Lacie hardware burners

I will look into these options above and see which does make me happy. All in all seems I will be a switcher. I am just sick and tired of ad ware on my darn PC.

[pixeljammedia]

Actually there is a free solution available, you must, however, lose the DVD Menus (or make your own in Sizzle) Download a copy of Yade X and the Minx Transcoder and Sizzle.Save as a VOB in Yase X, transcode with Minx and make the DVD structure in Sizzle (I prefer 0.1) and finally nurn in Disc Copy. Not the easiest or best solution, but the cheapest.

[Regal]

just to confirm. Dvd2oneX,, is that basically like SHRINK?? and then just use a burner software like ROXIO to burn to dvd blank media is ok??

[Regal]

hey is that Fast DvD Copy,, it claims it can burn playstation2 games. Now can that be done and also work w/o using and mod chips for the PlaystationII ??? anyone know?

If so, wow mac sure got there %hit 2gether!!

[WiseWeasel]

You do need a mod chip to play backed up PS2 games. Actually, you can just use Roxio Toast in Copy mode, or even Disk Utility (comes with MacOS X free) to backup your PS2 games; no need for special software as long as you have a mod chip.

And yes, DVD2OneX is equivalent to DVDShrink, just with a better interface and not free.

[Mucx]

Yeah backing up your Playstation games couldnt be simpler on a Mac.....anyone know about backing up X-Box games? Im getting one for Christmas and I dont want my copy of Halo 2 getting damaged.

Thanks
David

[WiseWeasel]

If your Xbox is modded, you can access it over the network, and use FTP to access the game and copy it (MacOS X can't mount the data part of the game discs, so directly copying the disks is impossible). There are free utilities available to access the Xbox over the network and make a burnable disk image from a disc in the Xbox. The best solution, however, is to get the Xbox modded with a large hard drive, and just back up all your games to its hard drive. That has the side benefit of making games load a lot faster.

[Mucx]

Ah,

I did some reading up on it a little but it seemed so complex and crazy compared to how simple the Playstation method is....I know my topic within thsi post and my questions arent really related to this forum but do you know of any good and simply explained FAQ about how to go about this?

Thanks

[WiseWeasel]

Just pay the $30 or whatever for someone who knows what they're doing to do it for you. That's what I did... Though I did have an easy time finding someone, as I live in the SF Bay area. It might be harder if you're out in the sticks...

[ps2daddy]

Yeah backing up your Playstation games couldnt be simpler on a Mac.....anyone know about backing up X-Box games? Im getting one for Christmas and I dont want my copy of Halo 2 getting damaged.

Thanks
David

http://www.dvdrom-guide.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3490

I have found that toast 5 works fine but toast 6 wont work for me
It might work fine if you change the block size setting to 2048
I'll have to give it a try and let you know, however toast 5 works really, really, really great.

Also if you need to backup your backup for extra safe keeping you dont have to ftp from your xbox
The disk image wont mount on your mac but the disk copy function in toast 5 works

I can make a disk image for my xbox games faster than I can with a ps2 games takes about 15min max for a game that is about 6.2GB (most games larger than 4.38 can be resized by leaving files out there are only a few of these) Average time takes about 10-12min to make an iso for me

[ps2daddy]

hey is that Fast DvD Copy,, it claims it can burn playstation2 games. Now can that be done and also work w/o using and mod chips for the PlaystationII ??? anyone know?

If so, wow mac sure got there %hit 2gether!!

There is no software that can replicate a game to be played on a ps2 without a modchip or boot disk

For long drawn out explanation click here

You can use a swap magic boot disk to play games without a modchip you just have to swap disks about 90% of all games will work fine the ones that wont work fine can be made to work fine with another disk swap of another disk. (there are only about 5-6 games that wont work period)

I prefer modchips but if you dont mind swapping disks swap magic will work great for you.

You also will need a flip top lid, slide card tool, no solder mod, or just leave the top cover off your ps2 to use the swap magic disks you must trick your ps2 into thinking the tray never opened with these disks.

Modchips you just stick the disk in and play for any ps2 game some chips require you hold the reset button down for 3 seconds to play psone games or dvd movies

Use toast to burn the game its a direct disk copy

Also if you need an installer for xbox or ps2 I know a good one

[ps2daddy]

Yeah backing up your Playstation games couldnt be simpler on a Mac.....anyone know about backing up X-Box games? Im getting one for Christmas and I dont want my copy of Halo 2 getting damaged.

Thanks
David

http://www.dvdrom-guide.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3490

I have found that toast 5 works fine but toast 6 wont work for me
It might work fine if you change the block size setting to 2048
I'll have to give it a try and let you know, however toast 5 works really, really, really great.

Also if you need to backup your backup for extra safe keeping you dont have to ftp from your xbox
The disk image wont mount on your mac but the disk copy function in toast 5 works

I can make a disk image for my xbox games faster than I can with a ps2 games takes about 15min max for a game that is about 6.2GB (most games larger than 4.38 can be resized by leaving files out there are only a few of these) Average time takes about 10-12min to make an iso for me

Changing block size to 2048 works fine in Toast 6

[cookieme]

Hi

If I'm backuping up dvds to my harddrive, which one of the following methods is recommended:

1. Mac the ripper -> dvd2onex -> folder on harddrive

2. mac the ripper -> some encoding process -> file on harddrive


Which method is best and if I choose number 2, what is the prefered encoding process and software needed. I have a pismo G3 500MHz upgraded to a G4 550MHz and 1GB of ram, approx. how long time will encoding take?

Thanks
HAPPY NEW YEAR

[Case]

Re-quantizing has the advantage of speed over re-encoding. Like 20 minutes vs. 12 hours. If your time is worthless, you could get a tiny bit of more quality by re-encoding.

[spiderman2k1]

One thing if you never used a MAC you can try out the PearPC emulator that runs MAC OSX 10.3.4

http://pearpc.sourceforge.net/

It seems to run oh ok may be like Virtual PC does but I really think this is good thing as more PC people will now be able to try out MAC OSX

Also Virtual PC you can install Windows on a MAC it is very good if theres that one app or two that you can not get on the MAC.

[spiderman2k1]

You may want to read this post before getting a MAC reason this is new copy protection and the only program that I think that gets around it is on the PC

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=250352&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

It will be some time before ever one update there software to get around Sony newest copy protection may be a week or two LOL.

[WiseWeasel]

I would not recommend using PearPC to get a feel for the Mac, as it's unusably slow. Nowhere near the usability of VirtualPC, which is itself pretty damn slow on even the fastest Macs.

As for ripping to the hard drive, if you want to keep the movies on your hard drive for playback, and don't care about ever burning them back to DVD-R to use on a set-top DVD player, I would recommend using Handbrake to rip the DVDs directly to Divx AVI format, which will give you good quality, and much, much better compression than something like DVD2OneX. You'll need to use something like VLC to play them back (or QuickTime with the codecs from divx.com), and I'm pretty sure you don't get subtitles, but they will take up a fraction of the space DVD format would.

[Regal]

Guys, thanks a bunch for all the info provided. I am going to bite the bullet and shoot for MAC. I just pre-ordered the MAC mini.

The one last question to ask is IF I use VPC from my mac and run shrink, decrypter or any of my nero burning software on the VPC side, does it do a good job? I mean will it work? Can it be done. Sorry for all the questions, but It has been a very long time since I ever even messed w/ a MAC since Junior year in High School.

Thanks again.,

[mhar4]

There are no free compressors for MacOS X like DVDShrink.

There's one that I use, called Minx Transcoder http://www.hillmanminx.com/

But their site seems to be non-operative now. It's pretty basic, but it is free and very simple to use. It uses mpeg2enc, so the same functionality should be in ffmpegX somewhere.

[mhar4]

As for ripping to the hard drive, if you want to keep the movies on your hard drive for playback, and don't care about ever burning them back to DVD-R to use on a set-top DVD player, I would recommend using Handbrake to rip the DVDs directly to Divx AVI format, which will give you good quality, and much, much better compression than something like DVD2OneX. You'll need to use something like VLC to play them back (or QuickTime with the codecs from divx.com), and I'm pretty sure you don't get subtitles, but they will take up a fraction of the space DVD format would.

Another good alternative for MPEG4 transcoding from a VOB is Openshiiva, which does do subtitles and produces proper mp4 files. www.3ivx.com also has a good MPEG4 codec for Quicktime.

[Regal]

or... how about :
IF I use VPC from my mac and run shrink, decrypter or any of my nero burning software on the VPC side, does it do a good job? I mean will it work? Can it be done. Does anyone here use VPC and then use SHRINK?? Thanks

[galactica]

it will work yes... but why would you want to do that?!

im coming in mid way on this conversation so maybe i missed something, but if there are mac apps its ALWAYS better to use them than to resort to pc apps via VPC

are you concerned about spending the money for DVD2ONE? if so the alternative of POPCORN works nice and its less $


also, make sure you take a look at my website, it can "show" you how the process is done. Just replace DVDBackup with MTR and the rest is the same.

look to the beginners dvd to dvdr section