CloneDVD2 quality issue

[cloner4.7]

Hi,
I did an experiment with CloneDVd2. I opened it as usual to make a backup copy of one of my DVDs. I WANT to preserve the quality of the DVD so I am going to split it using 2 DVDs. I set the target size to DVD-5 and click the scissors and remove chapters until the quality bar reaches 100%. I only choose English audio and subtitles and director's comments. I use the DVD files option and save to the hard drive. The size of the VIDEO_TS folder is 4.36 GB ( max for a DVD ). Now the curious part. I do everything the same except now instead of using the target size of DVD-5, I make a custom setting of 9900 MB. I am removing the same chapters as before as if I were saving to a DVD. When I check the size of the folder, it is larger than 4.36 GB. I've tried a few movies and the sizes ranged from 4.41 GB to 4.76 GB. This means that CloneDVD2 is transcoding these movies to fit a DVD ( 4.36 GB ) and therefore the 100% that the quality bar states in inaccurate. ~0.43 GB more than 4.36 GB is about a 10% loss in quality. I know some might think that this is small loss and I am being picky. To fix this, I am removing 1 or even 2 chapters below what CloneDVD2 claims is 100% on the quality bar to disable the transcoder. Anyone have any comments?

[guns1inger]

Use DVD Shrink

[spectroelectro]

DVDShrink will do a good job depending on your compression settings, but in my experience ReJig does an even better job of transcoding. If you're absolutely fanatical about avoiding transcoding entirely, however, and if you absoultey positively just want the original MPEG-2 data split onto 2 DVDs, then the procedure you want is much simpler and involves no transcoding at all.

[1] Rip the entire VOB to a single large file on your hard drive. This will probably be > 4.3 gigs if it's a dual-layer DVD.

[2] Use Womble MPEG VCR or Chopper XP to cut the VOB file into 2 equal parts, each of which will typically be < 4.3 gigs.

[3] Re-author into 2 DVDs.

This is absolutely guranteed to preserve the original MPEG-2 data without compressing it or transcoding. The advantage is that you get no compression or transcoding artifacts. The disadvantage is that you may have to split the movie onto 2 DVDs, depending on the amount of MPEG-2 data on the DVD.

[HAMP]

That is interesting!

If you really want to ask the author of CloneDVD you can goto the link provided and he will help you out...

http://club.cdfreaks.com/forumdisplay.php?s=fbe8225427c35724e2c8363ffdc7ce1d&forumid=74

[guns1inger]

I meant use Shrink to split the disk. I have done this many times. If it fits, there is no transcoding.

[cloner4.7]

Hi,
Actually the main point of my post was why CloneDVD2's quality bar was claiming 100% quality retention when it was not 100%. And, would the quality of ~4.8 - 4.4 GB of data compressed to fit on a DVD be noticeable. I am so concerned because I'm using an upconverting DVD player and I would like the best picture possible. Thanks to those who have responded!