Freeware for compressing DVD files

[Ricky_E]

Hi. I'm new to the forum and I hope this thread is in the right place, but what I would like to know is: Does anyone know of any freeware which will compress DVD files so that they will fit on a Blank DVD disc?

But let me also explain my situation:

I recently installed several DVD ripping/burning freeware programs(Ashampoo, Burnaware, CDBurnerXP and DVDFab7) and none of them seem to have the compression feature that I am looking for. Also, on the CDBurnerXP program, I added some video files that I burned off of Youtube into it's 'Compilation' area, however, when I clicked on the 'Burn' icon, I got a message that said that my blank DVD will only hold 4.38 GB on information, but the files in the Compilation area add up to 4.44 GB. However, I looked through this program along with the other programs to try to find a way to compress files so that they will be able to fit onto a blank disc, but I was unable to find any instructions on this.

Thank you for your help in advance.

[hech54]

DVDFab7) and none of them seem to have the compression feature that I am looking for.

Yes they do. You are just doing it wrong.

[Ricky_E]

DVDFab7) and none of them seem to have the compression feature that I am looking for.

Yes they do. You are just doing it wrong.

Could you please assist me in how to do it correctly?

[Moontrash]

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/480846#2943243

[hech54]

DVDFab7) and none of them seem to have the compression feature that I am looking for.

Yes they do. You are just doing it wrong.

Could you please assist me in how to do it correctly?

You need to clarify what you are doing.
This makes no sense:

I added some video files that I burned off of Youtube

Are you making a data disc or something you wish to play in a DVD player?

fit onto a blank disc

[guns1inger]

You seem to be doing two separate things here, and neither fop them very well.

For DVDs, rip with DVDFab HD Decrypter (free), Re-encode to fit a DVD5 with DVD Rebuilder (free) and burn with Imgburn (free)

For your Youtube videos, you can either do what you are trying to do, which is create a data disc with files on it, and only add what can fit, or you can author a DVD.

If you go down the data disc route you can use Imgburn or CDBurnerXP. Neither will compress your files.

If you want a DVD that plays in a standard DVD player then look at DVD Flick (free). It will convert your files to a standard DVD Video format, ready for burning with Imgburn. Note - you will get 2 hours or reasonable quality video on a standard DVD. More than that and the quality will drop quickly. If your source is low quality youtube material then you might go to three hours without doing too much noticeable damage. If the source is good quality then you will want to keep the running time down to 2 hours or less.

[Ricky_E]

DVDFab7) and none of them seem to have the compression feature that I am looking for.

Yes they do. You are just doing it wrong.

Could you please assist me in how to do it correctly?

You need to clarify what you are doing.
This makes no sense:

I added some video files that I burned off of Youtube

Are you making a data disc or something you wish to play in a DVD player?

fit onto a blank disc

That's a very good question because I am very new to this(PC DVD burning) and I really don't know what a data disc is. However, as far as what I am doing, I ripped some exercise videos from Youtube and stored those files using the Flashlynx Video Download Software. And I wanted to burn those ripped video files onto a blank DVD disc to played on a DVD player.

[guns1inger]

See my post (above). It covers what you need to do.

[hech54]

[Flashlynx Video Download Software

Flashlynx Video Download Software sucks
Flashlynx Video Download Software ripoff
Flashlynx Video Download Software ruined my computer
Flashlynx Video Download Software expensive
Flashlynx Video Download Software bad service
Flashlynx Video Download Software no customer support
Flashlynx Video Download Software stole credit card details

....just in case.

[hech54]

Looks like I was correct.

[Ricky_E]

You seem to be doing two separate things here, and neither fop them very well.

For DVDs, rip with DVDFab HD Decrypter (free), Re-encode to fit a DVD5 with DVD Rebuilder (free) and burn with Imgburn (free)

Thanks, guns1inger, although I heard dthat Imgburn was pretty complicated and was better suited for advanced users, which I'm not.

For your Youtube videos, you can either do what you are trying to do, which is create a data disc with files on it, and only add what can fit, or you can author a DVD.

If you go down the data disc route you can use Imgburn or CDBurnerXP. Neither will compress your files.

So far, I'm starting to see the difference between creating a data disc and authoring a DVD.

If you want a DVD that plays in a standard DVD player then look at DVD Flick (free). It will convert your files to a standard DVD Video format, ready for burning with Imgburn.

Thanks, but I wanted to ask you if DVD Flick can rip Youtube files off the internet. Unfortunately, because of some of hech54's comments, I'm starting to get a bad feeling about FlashLynx's software.

Note - you will get 2 hours or reasonable quality video on a standard DVD. More than that and the quality will drop quickly. If your source is low quality youtube material then you might go to three hours without doing too much noticeable damage. If the source is good quality then you will want to keep the running time down to 2 hours or less.

Well, the Youtube material is only 71 mins and 35 secs. But I had another question to ask you: When using DVD Flicks, you can only adjust the amount of information that you can put on your disc in terms hours? Can you also make the adjustment according to the amount of blank disc space? Such as in the example that I earlier gave where CDBurnerXP told me I only had 4.38 GB worth of space on my disc even though my files that I wanted burned took up 4.44 worth of space. Could DVD Flicks shrink or compress the 4.44 GB(or larger) so that those files could fit into the 4.38 GB worth of space?

[Ricky_E]

[Flashlynx Video Download Software

Flashlynx Video Download Software sucks
Flashlynx Video Download Software ripoff
Flashlynx Video Download Software ruined my computer
Flashlynx Video Download Software expensive
Flashlynx Video Download Software bad service
Flashlynx Video Download Software no customer support
Flashlynx Video Download Software stole credit card details

....just in case.

Hech54, it looks like you don't like FlashLynx software.

And btw, what do you think about the NCH Software Suite?

[Ricky_E]

Looks like I was correct.

Correct about what?

[Ricky_E]

Hmmm. Interestingly, I just discovered that Imgburn is made by NCH.

[Kerry56]

^WHAT? ImgBurn was written and is still owned by Lightning UK http://www.imgburn.com/
Read his comments at the bottom of that page.

And as far as free programs for compression, DVDShrink is still a good option. Output may not match the free version of DVDRebuilder, especially on larger dvds, but it is faster, and has some options not available in DVDRebuilder.

[guns1inger]

Imgburn is pretty simple, and certainly not owned by NCH. They may have stolen the name to borrow some of the goodwill, but the real Imgburn is not theirs.

NCH make OK, basic tools, but also dump a lot of crap on your system that you don't need. So long as you are aware of what they are doing, some of their tools are OK for simple things.

For downloading youtube clips I use and prefer Video Download Helper in Firefox. I grab the the highest quality version of the clip and available, and work from there.

[Ricky_E]

^WHAT? ImgBurn was written and is still owned by Lightning UK http://www.imgburn.com/
Read his comments at the bottom of that page.

Hmmm. I could have sworn that when I clicked on the Imgburn site before that one of the download links took me to the NCH site, but apparently I was looking at something else.

And as far as free programs for compression, DVDShrink is still a good option. Output may not match the free version of DVDRebuilder, especially on larger dvds, but it is faster, and has some options not available in DVDRebuilder.

Thanks, Kerry, but was DVDShrink mentioned previously in this thread? I'm just asking because there are so many DVD software sites that after a while, it gets kind of hard to keep up with all of them.

[Ricky_E]

Imgburn is pretty simple...

Thanks.

NCH make OK, basic tools, but also dump a lot of crap on your system that you don't need. So long as you are aware of what they are doing, some of their tools are OK for simple things.

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind.

For downloading youtube clips I use and prefer Video Download Helper in Firefox. I grab the the highest quality version of the clip and available, and work from there.

Well, is VDH that much better than FlashLynx? The reason why I ask is because I don't have Firefox downloaded on my computer, nor do I particularly like Firefox.

Also, no comment about wheter or not you can adjust the amount of information that you can put on a blank disc in terms of disk space in additon to the number of hours when using DVD Flicks?

[Ricky_E]

You seem to be doing two separate things here, and neither fop them very well.

For DVDs, rip with DVDFab HD Decrypter (free), Re-encode to fit a DVD5 with DVD Rebuilder (free) and burn with Imgburn (free)

I was just thinking that perhaps I've come to the wrong forum. Another forum told me that Imgburn was for advanced users, even though you say that Imgburn is simple. Also, I just got through installing DVD Rebuilder and to be quite honest with you, I don't think that I have ever installed a program that had so many items to click on. Also, after installed the complete program, I realy couldn't make heads or tails out of this program.

[guns1inger]

This is getting on a bit : http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/dvdrb_free_basic_ops.cfm but it will take you through the basic functions of DVD Rebuilder. It is really pretty straight forward if you all you need to do is re-encode a disc to fit a smaller size. Just load the DVD, set an output folder, and use the one-click option to do everything.

You seem to be baulking before you even start. Don't be afraid to play around a press some buttons. You really can't break anything. If you can't manage that then you are better off just buying two copies of any disc you want to protect, and leaving the copying to other people.

I am not going to install FlashLynx to do a comparison with VideoDownload Helper. Just reading the page at NCH makes me think it is pretty low grade stuff. It does not appear to seek out the highest quality version of the clip, just grab the first (low quality) version it finds, and then convert it to another format. Needless encoding and not the best available source won't give you good results.

As for fitting more on a disc with DVD Flick - everything is a trade off. Except size. Size is fixed. It is a single layer disc (4.38 GB) or a dual layer disc (8.5 GB). You can fit what you can fit. If you want high quality, you can fit less. If you are happy with low quality, you can fit more. Just keep dumping it in until DVD Flick says no more, and that is where you stop. But don't expect the quality to anything more than low if that is the road you take. 2 - 3 hours per disc is about the max unless you like watching blocky pictures.

[hech54]

I was just thinking that perhaps I've come to the wrong forum. Another forum told me that Imgburn was for advanced users, even though you say that Imgburn is simple. Also, I just got through installing DVD Rebuilder and to be quite honest with you, I don't think that I have ever installed a program that had so many items to click on. Also, after installed the complete program, I realy couldn't make heads or tails out of this program.

That's because you do not seem to grasp the concept that what you have right now(a collection of videos downloaded from the internet) is NOT a Video DVD and will NOT play on a DVD player....ever. Programs like DVDShrink and DVDRebuilder ONLY work and ONLY recognize DVD Video....period....and from what you have described so far....you do NOT have anything remotely resembling a disc or even "content on the computer" that is DVD Video. You've done nothing but be vague with what you have, vague with what you have done so far, vague in your end result wishes, and you seem to be attempting to "spam" or "talk up" garbage software while at the same time attempting to bash already established popular software.
Does that about sum it up?

[Ricky_E]

This is getting on a bit : http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/dvdrb_free_basic_ops.cfm but it will take you through the basic functions of DVD Rebuilder. It is really pretty straight forward if you all you need to do is re-encode a disc to fit a smaller size. Just load the DVD, set an output folder, and use the one-click option to do everything.

Okay, I'll take a look at it.

You seem to be baulking before you even start. Don't be afraid to play around a press some buttons. You really can't break anything. If you can't manage that then you are better off just buying two copies of any disc you want to protect, and leaving the copying to other people.

Hmmm. You seem not to be fully comprehending what I've been saying in my posts. For the video content from Youtube that I want to burn onto a blank DVD, I am not able to buy it. It's not available to purchase. Also, instead of trying to help me, it seems like you are very quick to tell me that I may want to leave the copying to other people. ....Oh brother!

I am not going to install FlashLynx to do a comparison with VideoDownload Helper.

No one suggested that you should install FlashLynx. That's an assumption that you made on your own.

Just reading the page at NCH makes me think it is pretty low grade stuff. It does not appear to seek out the highest quality version of the clip, just grab the first (low quality) version it finds, and then convert it to another format. Needless encoding and not the best available source won't give you good results.

Thanks for letting me know that. I'll now know to stay away from FlashLynx. Also, I'll tell the person who referred me to it.

As for fitting more on a disc with DVD Flick - everything is a trade off. Except size. Size is fixed. It is a single layer disc (4.38 GB) or a dual layer disc (8.5 GB). You can fit what you can fit. If you want high quality, you can fit less. If you are happy with low quality, you can fit more. Just keep dumping it in until DVD Flick says no more, and that is where you stop. But don't expect the quality to anything more than low if that is the road you take. 2 - 3 hours per disc is about the max unless you like watching blocky pictures.

So I guess that's "no" to my question about DVD Flick adjusting the amount of disc space on a blank disc as oppose to adjusting the amount of hours on a blank disc.

[Ricky_E]

I was just thinking that perhaps I've come to the wrong forum. Another forum told me that Imgburn was for advanced users, even though you say that Imgburn is simple. Also, I just got through installing DVD Rebuilder and to be quite honest with you, I don't think that I have ever installed a program that had so many items to click on. Also, after installed the complete program, I realy couldn't make heads or tails out of this program.

That's because you do not seem to grasp the concept that what you have right now(a collection of videos downloaded from the internet) is NOT a Video DVD and will NOT play on a DVD player....ever.

I'm not sure if I understand what you are talking about or if it's a case where you don't understand what I'm talking about. I don't believe that the collection of videos that I have downloaded from the internet is a Video DVD. However, what I am trying to do in this thread(or what I was trying to do in this thread) was to FIND A MEANS TO PUT MY COLLECTION OF VIDEOS DOWNLOADED FROM THE INTERNT ONTO A BLANK VIDEO SO THAT I CAN PLAY MY COLLECTION OF VIDEOS DOWNLOADED FROM THE INTERNET ON A DVD PLAYER. I hope that's clear now.

Programs like DVDShrink and DVDRebuilder ONLY work and ONLY recognize DVD Video....period....and from what you have described so far....you do NOT have anything remotely resembling a disc or even "content on the computer" that is DVD Video. You've done nothing but be vague with what you have, vague with what you have done so far, vague in your end result wishes...

Vague? I mean, I don't know how much more specific I can get about what I am trying to do. Also, I'm just guessing that there are other people besides you and gunslinger who are reading this thread and who understand what I'm trying to do.

... and you seem to be attempting to "spam" or "talk up" garbage software while at the same time attempting to bash already established popular software.
Does that about sum it up?

LOL! Now that's funny.

[hech54]

Vague? I mean, I don't know how much more specific I can get about what I am trying to do.

Hmmm. You seem not to be fully comprehending what I've been saying in my posts. For the video content from Youtube that I want to burn onto a blank DVD,

[DB83]

Ricky. Many people do read these posts and will often reply if they can. Both respondants fit that category but you have not helped yourself from the out. Your topic states that you already have dvd files obtained from youtube material and it has been explained that without intermediate conversion you can not make dvd files from those.

It has also been explained to you that software - dvdflick - exists which will take raw (no intermediate conversion) youtube files and compile the neccesary files to make a dvd which will fit on to a blank disk.

As since you say that you have 71 mins of files which take up 4.44 gig it does appear that some intermediate conversion has taken place.

Now the programs you are trying to use, which I am not familiar, all have a similar function. They take an already created dvd disk, which could well be more than 4.38 gig in size and 'shrink' it to fit on to a disk that will hold 4.38 gig. Or they burn data files on to a blank disk that you can use in a PC. Raw youtube files can be played in a PC but not on a stand alone player . None of these are dvd-authoring programs - a program that will create a dvd to be played either in a player or a PC. If you use a dvd-authoring program then that disk, as long as you take the neccessary precautions will fit to the disk. They will aslo allow you to create a disk larger than 4.38 gig but you would then have to do another recompressing step to make the files fit.

Dvd-authoring programs(eg dvdflick) do not consider the size of the source material. They look at the run length and the compression that you select. As a quick and easy rule of thumb 1 hour at 8,000 kbps per sec fits to a disk. 2 hours at 4,000 kbps also fits to a disk. You should now be seeing a pattern. Your 71 mins of video would have to be compressed at approx 5300 kbps to fit. This science is not exact as different audio types require different data rates but even using LPCM audio then these rates are good.

[filmboss80]

Ricky, since your ultimate goal is to take all your video files and compile them onto a DVD disc that will be playable on a standalone DVD player, you first need to understand that home DVD units play specific file type and structures. (Go to this link: https://www.videohelp.com/dvd and scroll down to the section with the heading "DVD File/Folder Structure" for a better understanding.) The video files downloaded from YouTube may play fine on your computer, but you cannot simply burn those files to a DVD disc as they are and expect them to play on your home DVD unit.

From your very first post, you confused us all by initially specifying that all your videos were "DVD files," although later posts indicate that they were not all MPEG-based .vob files, which is what DVD files are. YouTube videos, on the other hand, are mainly .flv and .mp4 files, which are not playable on standalone home DVD players. They have to first be converted to something that is DVD compliant, and thus, the many good advisers here directed you to DVDFlick. If, however, all of your source videos were already DVD compliant (but if coming from YouTube, they are not), then DVD Shrink or DVD Rebuilder would have done the trick for you. Whatever the case, Imgburn would only be used after you built a proper folder of DVD compliant files to your hard drive. (Neither Imgburn nor CDBurnerXP will encode and create the necessary DVD structures; they just burn the DVD-authored files to disc.)

You also need to understand that "ripping tools" are for tranferring the content of DVDs onto your computer's hard drive. They have nothing to do with capturing video clips from the internet.

The frustrations expressed by you and others in this thread are the result of your broad but inaccurate use of terms like "DVD files", combined with your confusion over software capabilities and your assumptions that the respondents simply did not understand what you're trying to accomplish. Your problems will be solved once you move beyond your basic assumptions to grasp the strict parameters for taking non-DVD compliant video formats (like those streamed on the internet) and turning them into something that is playable on virtually any DVD player.

Also, you need to learn about how bitrate affects video file size, and how it can be adjusted to best accommodate the time length of the movie.

To break down what people have been trying to tell you: Take all your different video clips and drop them into DVDFlick, let it do its magic (so you won't have to worry about bitrate), then burn the resulting VIDEO_TS folder to your blank DVD disc using Imgburn.

People who know what they're doing are really trying to help you. Take a breath and read their posts carefully, without being so reactionary.

[Ricky_E]

Ricky, since your ultimate goal is to take all your video files and compile them onto a DVD disc that will be playable on a standalone DVD player, you first need to understand that home DVD units play specific file type and structures. (Go to this link: https://www.videohelp.com/dvd and scroll down to the section with the heading "DVD File/Folder Structure" for a better understanding.) The video files downloaded from YouTube may play fine on your computer, but you cannot simply burn those files to a DVD disc as they are and expect them to play on your home DVD unit.

Thank you, filmboss80, for helping me to understand that.

From your very first post, you confused us all by initially specifying that all your videos were "DVD files," although later posts indicate that they were not all MPEG-based .vob files, which is what DVD files are.

Filmboss80, thank you for being able to see where I was confused in all of this and thanks for not being judgemental and being quick to ascribe an alterior motive to me that did not exist. Also, I would like to apologize to everyone for giving an erroneous and confusing impression by mistakenly stating that my videos were "DVD flies" when in fact they were data files.

YouTube videos, on the other hand, are mainly .flv and .mp4 files, which are not playable on standalone home DVD players. They have to first be converted to something that is DVD compliant, and thus, the many good advisers here directed you to DVDFlick. If, however, all of your source videos were already DVD compliant (but if coming from YouTube, they are not), then DVD Shrink or DVD Rebuilder would have done the trick for you. Whatever the case, Imgburn would only be used after you built a proper folder of DVD compliant files to your hard drive. (Neither Imgburn nor CDBurnerXP will encode and create the necessary DVD structures; they just burn the DVD-authored files to disc.)

Filmboss, I looked through DVD Flick's information pages:

http://www.dvdflick.net/features.php

and I could not see where it explains how certain files can be converted into files that are DVD compliant. If you could help me find where that is explained in DVD Flick's information pages, I would appreciate that.

You also need to understand that "ripping tools" are for tranferring the content of DVDs onto your computer's hard drive. They have nothing to do with capturing video clips from the internet.

Thanks for clearing that up for me also.

The frustrations expressed by you and others in this thread are the result of your broad but inaccurate use of terms like "DVD files", combined with your confusion over software capabilities and your assumptions that the respondents simply did not understand what you're trying to accomplish. Your problems will be solved once you move beyond your basic assumptions to grasp the strict parameters for taking non-DVD compliant video formats (like those streamed on the internet) and turning them into something that is playable on virtually any DVD player.

Well, hopefully I am now moving beyond those basic assuptions and hopefully I will be able to move on to accomplshing what I am trying to do.

Also, you need to learn about how bitrate affects video file size, and how it can be adjusted to best accommodate the time length of the movie.

Thanks for pointing that out because I have seen the word "bitrate" many of times, but never had a clue. lol

To break down what people have been trying to tell you: Take all your different video clips and drop them into DVDFlick, let it do its magic (so you won't have to worry about bitrate), then burn the resulting VIDEO_TS folder to your blank DVD disc using Imgburn.

Once again, I'm stuck at learning how DVD Flick converts Youtube video files into the appropriate files.

Also, I wanted to say that just for the record, I called the person who told me about FlashLynx and told him about people's reactions to me mentioining it on this board and how it's not suppose to be that good of software and is suppose to leave a lot of junk on your computer....and he told me that at the time he was excited about FL, but he doesn't even use it anymore because he started using Real Player Plus and it did the same thing. Also, he admitted that he didn't know that FL wasn't that good of software and that it left stuff on your computer. And btw, I will be uninstalling FL and all the other NCH software that is on my computer.

[lordsmurf]

Flashlynx Video Download Software sucks
Flashlynx Video Download Software ripoff
Flashlynx Video Download Software ruined my computer
Flashlynx Video Download Software expensive
Flashlynx Video Download Software bad service
Flashlynx Video Download Software no customer support
Flashlynx Video Download Software stole credit card details

Nice.

[DB83]

Ricky.

If you use DVDFlick you do not have to worry about just how the program converts - it just gets on with it and will adjust the datarate accordingly.

But what still confuses me and I would ask you to just clarify one point. You said, or atleast it was reported that, you have 71 mins of video and 4.44 gig. On that basis, not all these files are youtube or if they are there will be quite a lot of them. So how many files are you talking about ?

[Ricky_E]

Ricky.

If you use DVDFlick you do not have to worry about just how the program converts - it just gets on with it and will adjust the datarate accordingly.

Okay, thanks. But I have a question. Can DVDFlick capture video clips from Youtube? The reason why I ask is because I've uninstalled FL, which was the software that had captured my Youtube videos. Although I don't remember how, I did somehow get those files into my CDBunerXP program. They're listed under the "Disc - Data compilation' console or GUI, however, I don't know if I can place them in the DVDFlick program or whether I need to capture them from Youtube again.

But what still confuses me and I would ask you to just clarify one point. You said, or atleast it was reported that, you have 71 mins of video and 4.44 gig. On that basis, not all these files are youtube or if they are there will be quite a lot of them. So how many files are you talking about ?

Nine(9) exercise videos that range from around 4 minutes to 10 minutes long.