I would like to make an exact(or close) copy of my dvd movies. All I can seem to find is software that compresses the movies onto one disc. I don't care if they movie spans a couple discs, I don't want to lose any quality. Is there software that will copy my dvd perfectly from 1-however many discs? I wouldn't even mind deleting some things like special features or whatever, I just want a perfect quality picture and dts/DD5.1 sound

Strongly suggest you try DVDShrink version 3 before making up your mind about shrinking DVD's to one disc. you may be pleasantly surprised with the quality. In any case, it's free.

Ok. ill check DVDshrink out. I have dvd x copy xpress also, is that just as good? Do I have to rip it to my HD first or can I copy disc to disc if I have a dvd-rom as a second drive??

What would you use if you want the best possible copy of a DVD? I am new to DVD cipying, so I have many questions . Is it possible to copy a movie like LOTR?

I copied LOTR (2-disc version) with Shrink and it looks great.
All you need is Shrink and Nero (or any burning application). You cannot do disc-to disc copying with DVD-9 discs (manufactured movies), they have to be decrypted to HD first. Once decryped and shrunk, you can copy them from DVD to DVD directly.

There are some nice flash tutorials for Shrink HERE , but be sure you get the version 3-beta and use analysis before you do anything else in the program. Takes about 25min for analysis.

This is open to debate, because you are asking what compression algorithm offers the best quality and you will not get a perfectly objective answer to this from anyone (not even me). The only way you can tell is by doing your own comparison. I prefer using CCE to re-encode movies. Some prefer Shrink, InstantCopy, CloneDVD, you name it, theres someone who swears by it. Most of these programs have trials you can grab to conduct your own tests, and some are even free (Shrink, and ReJig). If you want unquestioned quality you split it if its above the DVD-R threshold (~4.38GB), or dummy/strip streams until it is. This will maintain the original stream quality. Anything else will not.

/MLS

Is EasyX Video Converter good software to convert an AVI file to VCD and burn it onto a DVD+RW?

I want to make perfect copies as well. (2discs)
I'm fine with shrinking movies where special effect aren't important (ie comedies, kids movies etc etc).
But for movies like LoTR, Matrix, Braveheart etc etc I want perfect quality.

I have a 46" widscreen high def HDTV.
My DVD player is progressive scan as well.

So on that setup I can notice any compression.

No one mentioned a way to split up the DVD onto two different discs.

Also, is there any website or anything that lists what chapters etc etc are in just the main movie (like a movie ripping database_?
Sometimes I get confused because there are so many things I can rip out.

Ssseth

Here is a guide for using DVDShrink to cut a DVD9 into two parts, with no compression needed.

http://www.dvdshrink.info/splitting-v2-3.php

No menus though.

Thanks.
Sorry I posted before I looked hard enough. I should know better by now!

I also found the guides on this site to be quite helpful.

Thanks again.

Have you tried ReJig 0.5e ??

ReJig borrows its important source code from success of a Mac MPEG2 requantization program, it maintains stunning quality even at 70% compression level.
Try its quality and unreachable speed , Nic (of the XviD programmers) has made a great work.

From ReJig's website:
ReJig is a Windows GUI based MPEG-2 transcoding utility using compressed domain transcoding (as used in other one click tools). It is pretty fast and it's the first open source implementation available on the Windows platform.

--------------------------
So what is different about it then?...

How can I (re)encode a complete DVD to fit on DVDR?
Tools like DVD2DVD-R & CCE only support main-movie-encoding.

Try this guide. http://www.doom9.org/mpg/ra-guide.htm

/MLS

Can someome please tell me what analysis is?? Is it something that has to be ran once or everytime you want to backup a movie??? thanks

In the case of DVDShrink's Deep Analysis it means that the program reads through the DVD's video data (the VOB files) and examines very finely where compression can best be applied. If you like, it chops the movie into the smallest bits it can and then looks at each individual bit to see what can be thrown away in order to arrive at a combined size that will fit on a DVD5 (the blank DVDs you can buy).

It does this for two reasons. One, the better to arrive at the target size. This is its ostensible reason. Two, the corollary of doing so, however, means that due to the evenness of compression throughout, the quality is also consistent and there is none of the pumping or pulsing effect that was seen on earlier transcoders. This isn't to everybody's taste. It isn't to mine, for a start. I find the quality from DVDShrink to be too smoothed out - almost soft. I find the output of CloneDVD, for instance, to be crisper, but it's all down to personal taste in the end.

You'll find that Shrink saves its data for that DVD after it has carried out a Deep Analysis. Should you need to transcode the same DVD again, it will refer to its original 'notes' and the D. A. option will (I believe) be greyed out. If you transcode a DVD it hasn't seen before, it will perform D. A., but only if you check the checkbox. You don't have to do it!

-Pete

If you're aiming at quality then DVD Shrink is out of the league since it's not that great because it's a transcoder (key feature is speed). To make a Hi-Quality DVD-rip you need a setup like this one.
DVD Decrypter - Decrypts and rips DVDs
DVD2AVI - "Merges" your VOBs to one stream
TMPGEnc Plus (Use CCE if you want the best out of MPEG-2 but it'll add a watermark if you don't have a retail version.) - MPEG-2 Encoder
IFOEdit - Edit IFO files
IFOUpdate
//Danne

Rubbish!

-Pete

If you're after preserving the original quality, InterVideo's DVDCopy is excellent and will copy on to 2 disks 'on the fly' so it's quick!

For moderate compression (i.e not in the red!) CloneDVD is very good quality and to my eyes produces less 'artefacts' than most of the competition. Now if elby could add the option of spanning 2 disks then this is perhaps the only copy prog I'd use.

Patience...

-P

Oh really?
Many seems to get artifacts while using DVDShrink that's visible but not when they encode using a good encoder.
Looking at this test those statements seems to be confirmed.
http://nerds.palmdrive.net/dvds_tmpgenc1.html
//Danne

I backed up Pirates of the Carribean with CloneDVD, it had to compress to 52%. It looked pretty good on a TV, but not on a computer.

A coworker of mine had backed Pirates up with DVD X Copy Xpress(?) and he said he barely noticed any pixelization on his big screen tv with a progressive scan DVD Player.

Can anyone comment on the compression of CloneDVD and DVD X Copy Xpress? Or is there any kind of benchmarks with all the programs? (I am impressed with the TMPGEn & DVDShrink comparrison)

excellent site DiiZzY. the evidence doesn't get much more compelling than that. the "Battle 1 screenshot" really shows how disparaging the quality gap can get, and not just at the numbered points either, but over the entire screenshot. the entire scene is covered in macroblocks, which isn't uncommon with transcoders, especially in high motion scenes with a lot of blending colors. i wonder why they didn't use CCE as the encoder instead, which would've provided better quality and taken MUCH less time:

Perhaps they couldn't afford it..?

-P

that's what the trial is for, and CCE Basic only costs $58 (compared to TMPGEnc's $48). we all know about ur disdain for CCE, but there's no need to bash it (or other encoders) every time it's mentioned.

CCE trial adds a watermark, that's probably why.
//Danne