running 2.9.7.0, and on most DVD,s it doesn't allow me to compress to a single DVD. Some do, such as Zorro, but others, such as red eye and flightplan have the option grayed out. Ideas?

Hi rooter,

I'm not sure I follow what you mean by some movies "...have the option grayed out..." What option?

Express will always compress, unless the file size is smaller than a SL disc or you have enabled DL burning (make sure DL burning remains unchecked if you want to compress).

Gold will never compress and will always split to two SL discs unless the file size is smaller than a SL disc or you have enabled DL burning.

How do you get it to compress. i use shrink, can you use dvdfab? how?
thanks

In platinum, you can either use the wizard, which has an option for copy movie disc fully, coipy main movie copy season or copy disc fully. By selecting coipy main movie, it should act like express, and compress the original down to fit on a single disk. On some movies it will allow, and on others it is greyed out. Zorro will allow, flightplan, red eye it is greyed out. Also, from platinum, at the first screen, you have option to jump straight to copy main movie, but it will not allow write to dvd, only to disk, because it is using uncompressed data, and it exceeds the 4.4GB. At least it works when using express, or it appears, I haven't actually checked to see if it worked, but seems strange that platinum will allow it with one movie, and no others, that I've tried so far, which totals 5.

You are getting mixed up with Gold and Express! Yes some times Gold will have an option greyed out as you put it. But Express does not have options like Gold, E G It will always compress. Gold what ever option it gives you NEVER compresses which is why on some options it will the spread the backup over two discs!

rooter,

As sneer said, you're confusing two entirely different applications within platinum...ie., platinum is comprised of BOTH express and gold. Please refer to my previous post.

i agree, and understand. Just seems that if gold will allow you to compress on one movie, it should allow you to compress on all movies. I like to work within a single interface. I tried express last night, and it worked perfectly. I like that it shows you the amount of compressions its performing. thanks to you all for your help. so far, I love this product. I was a big fan of dvdxcopy, but since they have gone out of business, and the newer DVD's have improved protection, its nice to see a product that can evolve with the times.

thanks again to you all for your help.

You're certainly welcome...but once again:

Gold will absolutely not compress...period.

Good luck.

OK, then help me understand, in Gold, the "Copy main movie" that is described as "Copy movie title on one disc, with all audios and subtitles". It states clearly 1 disc. Any info on this would be great. The movie I'm referencing is The Legend of Zorro, 2 hrs 9 minutes. I loaned the original to a friend, but I can't expect that the movie itself, would have been able to fit in on a single layer DVD natively, which it sounds, from reading the other posts, would have been the only way the above mentioned option would have been available and worked?

thanks for the help

I'm going by memory here (my son has the original at college), and I'm not getting any younger, so please bear with me. I copied zorro with express - main movie - which would have resulted in copying, "...'Copy movie title on one disc, with all audios and subtitles'..." the same as you did with gold.

You are correct, I recall that this fit on one SL disc without any compression. The compression, as noted on express by " Ready {Quality 100%}" indicates that there was no compression, ie., the original to copy ratio was 1:1 or 100%. If you ripped a file larger than 4200 MB (this is the default size in Fab...but it can be changed) with gold, it would prompt you for a second disc...again, assuming that you have not enabled DL burning.

Just thought of another piece of info that may help to clarify how gold is configured. Let's say your target size is 4200MB (again, this is default). If you rip a movie with gold and it's smaller than 4200MB, you will note that it created one folder only. Within the folder, you'll see both audio and video folders...the audio is always empty, but fab needs it. Now, if you rip a file larger than 4200MB, gold will create two separate folders, labelled disc1 and disc2 and both will contain the subfolders mentioned above.

Hope this helps.

i noticed the folders being created as I was learning how the software worked. What I didn't notice,and I didn't retain the temp files, was the folder structure when Zorro burned, but there had to only be a single folder, as it only required a SL dvd. Think I'm in good shape, and thanks a lot for the info. Thus far, I really like this product.

Looks like some confusion about the product DvdPlatinum is just Express and Gold in one package, the same as if you bought each separately. Go to this link to see what each will do: http://www.dvdidle.com/fab-compare.htm

For a good tutorial on Gold: http://www.dvdidle.com/dvd-fab-tutorial.htm

Mack

Yeah, I really like the product as well. Sounds like you're up and running, good luck.

I have had the same problem using gold. I was backing up a 2 disc set of Wyatt Earp and the first disk copied fine but the second disk only gave me the option to copy it to my hard drive. and when I used Express it always hung up on the lead in and made the DVD unusable. If amyone else has this problem the discs are not totally unusable. If you have a standalone burner for your TV, you should be able to use it in that. Still trying to get expres to work.