Nero or X Copy to burn with...

Newbie to the burning community here with just a few quick questions. I was unfortunate enough to have purchased the RF version of DVD X Copy. So I found myself with the dilema of having to find a ripper. After searching the forums here I see that many people recommend DVD Shrink & DVD Decrypter.

I noticed that if you have DVD Shrink you don't necessarily need DVD Decrypter except in a few minor cases where Shrink may not work.

I also noticed in Scuba Petes recipe he highly recommends using Nero with DVD Shrink due to the ease of integration & compatibilty between the two.

I have Nero 5.5 that came with my Sony DVD/CDR Combo drive. I have the Plextor 708A DVD Burner.

For burning purposes should I use Nero 5.5 or DVD X Copy? My guess would be NERO due to its compatibilty with DVD Shrink and the fact you don't have to save any files to your hard drive.

When I use Shrink I'll have to save the files to hard drive then use X Copy to burn them to DVD correct?

Thanks for any advice.

Mudodad

 

Thanks for the Kudos. I personally don't jump into anything with both feet until I've done my homework. One quick question concerning DVD Decryptor.

Is it a definite necessity or just a nice back up to have should a burn fail with Shrink & Nero due to encryption problems.

Mudodad

 

dvd decripter is the best ripper by far its a pity it dosent shrink the movie too , i think shrink would have a run for its money iff it did .
i would recomend having dvd decripter just in case you ran into any probs )

 

As stated above, DVDShrink, Decrypter, and Nero are the best ways to go. However, if you want to get DVD X Copy to work like the old ripper version, Download DVD43 which is free and will run in the background as the decrypter. It only works with XP. Just something you might want to try since you paid for X Copy.

Jerry

 

Thanks for the tip Jerry. I'm in luck then. I run XP on my PC. So DVD43 runs in the background after you fire up X Copy?

mudodad

 

Hi mudodad,

Think of DVD Shrink as a specialist who picks the encryption apart piece by piece, laying everything out so that the program can always be re-assembled perfectly.
Now think of DVD Decrypter as a strong-arm guy with a sledgehammer that will smash the encryption apart with brute force until it all lies flat upon the ground.

Sometimes smashing with DVD Decrypter will screw up a DVD so that it cannot be re-assembled correctly. We need it on rare concessions when DVD Shrink won't work BUT recently, we have been able to use DVD Decrypter to burn DVD Shrink's files to our DVD. Very good thing, that )

Because you have Nero 5.5 already on your PC we recommend that you use it for your burner.

AFA DVD Xcopy, almost all of us have it, you’re in good company.

As you’ll soon find out, our free program is much better than Xcopy (at least many of us feel that way).

Spend a little time and read through these threads and you’ll find all the information you’ll need -

And like my friends, I welcome you aboard )

Pete

 

welcome to the gang mudodad......

just like to add that i too am impressed with how much homework you obviously have done to get you to this point.

just wanna add my ditto to what the guys have already said and maybe add that with those three programs your only worry left is the standard of blank media you choose to use.

i refuse to advise on this as uncle pete there has it down to a fine art and i would never dare to think i could explain it any better than the living legend that is our own St pete!!!!!!

welcome to AD and have fun!!!!

 

One last quick question to you Gurus out here. I know I saw on one of these forums the information on how to tell the difference between a DVD5 & DVD9. Some say use DVD Decrypter to figure it out. Is there a way of telling by looking at the DVD? Can someone please point me in the right direction.

Thanks in advance for help with this. Also thanks to all for the previous help

Mudodad

 

xdd.........

i really really dont think we want to here about your low life piracy antics here!!!!!

guess you took a few minutes out from your crime ridden life and read the forum rules!!!!!!

piracy is niether condoned or encouraged around here.

 

where the hell did the post from "xdd" go to??????

i'm sure it was there when i posted my last message!!!!!!!!

 

hey viper
i was wondering where that came from lmao

 

hey honest jim it was there!!!!!!!

he/she was being a smart arse about how esy it was to copy rental dvds.

by the time i had finished my post it wasn't there!!!!!

i think i must be losing it!!!!!

 

No Viper you're not loosing it brother. It was there. I saw it when I was posting my latest question about how to tell if you have a DVD9 or DVD5 disk.

Mudodad

 

thank the lord for that!!!!!!!

as for your question about dvd5 and dvd9 i dont think there is a garunteed way of telling by appearence but if you stick it in your dvd rom drive and explore it as you would a normal data disc........if it contains more than approx 4.7gb then it will be a dvd9......less than 4.7gb then it will probably be a dvd5..............i think...........

 

Thanks for the tips and help Herbman & Viper on my DVD5/DVD9 question. This forum is tops in my book. Everyone has been helpful. In case anyone hasn't seen this site here's another place I found more good newbie info http://www.dvd2dvdr.com/index.htm

Mudodad

 

mudodad,

I'm not sure if you understood the answer to your question. Not too much of it was clear soooooo, if you don't mind, I'll step in for a second to clear it up -

The difference of 4.7GB DVD and 4.36GB DVD -
While the manufactures advertise the size of a DVD as a 4.7GB DVD disc it’s not true. It’s because they calculate what 1GB is differently. A DVD will hold 4700mb but that is not 4.7GB that is 4.38GB because 1GB is not 1000MB it is actually 1024MB. Manufacturers do this false advertising all the time so you think you are getting more than you are, They do it with Hard Drives also so if you buy a 120GB Hard Drive it isn’t really 120GB it is actually more like 114GB. (I think that’s right - lol) At any rate, we prefer to calculate the available writing space on a DVD as 4.36GB to include the reverse math and also provide a bit of room for overhead

Now just a slight addition. When we say a DVD is a DVD-5 that means that the movie is Less than 4.36 GB in size. When a DVD is that small we can copy it using DVD Decrypter all by itself. First by reading it in the ISO mode, then writing it in the ISO mode. The resulting copy is a perfect 1:1 backup because absolutely no compression was required.
Consequently, a DVD-9 is any DVD greater than 4.36GB. You will find that the majority of DVD’s falls into that category. A DVD-9 requires compression to one extent or another in order to get it to fit onto a single DVD. The more compression, the less quality. The quality in most cases can only be seen in a single picture comparison. When watching the movie one would hard pressed to tell the difference with the naked eye. (No, we’re not doing any eye clothing jokes. You wear your eye clothes and me; I’ll let my eyes go naked. If you’re embarrassed then just don’t look into my eyes
Here’s a comparison between different backup programs.
http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/114/8


That should more than clear it up )

Pete

 

I fully understand the concept as I'm a practicing techie myself. Just new to the burning side of the house. Been building my own PC's and repairing them for quite some time. It's amazing how manufacturers think they are fooling us with their labels.

Oh the wonders of message boards & forums. Knowledge is the only true power.

Mudodad