Noobee question from a non-technical user:

If I am recording onto iPod, does it matter whether I use DVD9 vs. DVD5 settings? I am talking about recording a commercial DVD onto my iPod for viewing (nothing illegal). When I record using DVD5, I notice that the video quality is a little suspect (shimmery) and the sound is relatively low, but I don't know if that's a function of the software or the iPod itself.

Also, I am a little confused in general about the DVD9 setting. Is it only used when recording onto a special DVD that holds ~2x the standard DVD, or does it also serve to compress twice the material onto a single "regular" DVD?

Thanks for the tutelage! - PDM

I tend to transfer a lot of DVD's to IPOD for when I'm travelling. I basically, put in the commercial dvd (that I own) and set it to DVD9. As far as I am aware DVD9 is the Dual layer size (standard commewrcial DVD size) where as DVD5 is the more common and cheaper 4.7GB size which you can buy and burn too. The reason I leave it at DVD9 is that I know it will convert the DVD at the clarity as the author intended. If I want to manipulate the file size, then I go into configure and change video and bit rates etc to trim or increase size. Hope that helps.

Best way I have found is to take the DVD you want to convert, go into Advanced Title settings and select chapter 1 for start and chapter 1 for end, that way you can trial and error your output on 1 chapter only without having to do the whole disk. Of course you can do more chapters. or do chapter 3 start and chapter 3 end, get the idea.

Cage