When I use Clone DVD.......I back up MOVIE ONLY. I usually backup w/ DTS for audio, only. When I watch backup works fine w/ my surround sound. When I try to watch it on my other player (no-surround sound) just hooked up to TV, I get no sound ?? When I back up, can I check DTS/ A/C-3/6 for surround sound & AC-3/2 for normal playing without surround sound ? Both ? To watch on both different set ups ?
Hi, DTS is the key here. With DTS you have to have a DTS encoder. Surround sound/Stereo/Mono should be fine on virtually all stand alones.Unless manufacturer states otherwise.
But can I back it up w/ both DTS & regular surround sound ? So that I can watch it on my surround sound & also be able to watch it on a regular stand alone player too. Again , I only back up MOVIE ONLY. So I don't include movie menus.
dabig25, My suggestion is to include the menus. They don't take up much data space. I'll get to why you should do this presently. If you didn't de-select any of the soundtracks in CloneDVD, then they are already on your backup. If you chose not to "Preserve Menus" then try using the "Audio" button on your player's remote control to cycle through the different sound tracks. See your player's owner manual for more information. Yes, of course you can have both. Just don't deselect, on CloneDVD's audio choice page, any soundtracks that you want to keep on the backup. I don't blame you for wanting to keep the DTS track, whenever available. It's sound has far more depth, clarity and brilliance than a compressed Dolby track when played on a good surround sound system. But, with a certain percentage of movies (depends on the DVD authoring methods used) you are going to run into soundtrack-choice problems by backing up the movie only without menus. This is because some movies have the sound tracks matrixed through the menu structure (when DVD's are authored with a "Video Manager" method). So even if you try to use the "Audio" button on your player's remote control, you can't cycle through the differnt tracks available. My suggestion is to always choose "Preserve Menus" in CloneDVD whether you are compressing the movie only onto one disk, splitting onto two disks to keep 100% quality or burning everything, for a 1:1 backup of the original, onto dual layer media. The menu doesn't take up much data space and is necessary, with some movies, for track choice functionality. One other thing about backing up a movie (authored with a Video Manager) without menus; without the menu, you can loose the original's default audio track information, so the player doesn't know which soundtrack to default to so it may default to the director's commetary or a language other than yours. For the player that is simply hooked up to a TV with one or two little speakers, all you have to have is two channel sound for that (AC-3/2). Your player will downmix 5.1 channels to one or two channels for simple TV speaker output ... but all you have to have is two channels. So if you compress your movies onto one 4.7GB backup disk and want DTS for your good rig and just the lowest data-space track for the TV, then dumping A/C-3/6 saves you data space. Personally, I keep all English sound tracks and don't deselect subtitle tracks either because I refuse to suffer quality loss by compressing and always split onto two disks or backup to DL media if a movie is more that 4.37GB in size. Here is a roundup of all the different the different soundtracks available that may or may not be included on any given original DVD loaded into CloneDVD. DTS: is a Digital Theatre Systems 5.1 channel soundtrack or a DTS-ES 6.1 channel "matrixed" soundtrack or a DTS-ES 6.1 channel "discrete" soundtrack (exquisite sound if you have the equiptment to play it). A/C-3/6: is a Dolby Digital 5.1 channel surround soundtrack or a Dolby Digital-EX 6.1 channel "matrixed" surround soundtrack AC-3/2: could be any one of the following types of soundtracks: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Surround Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround (there is no such thing as a AC-3/3 track but that would be a better label because it includes a third, surround channel from which your amp can matrix real surround information) The Director's Commentary track. If you are confused about which AC-3/2 is which, use the computer based player program, "Power DVD", which comes bundled with many DVD burners, to first check out the original's audio tracks by playing them on your computer. Use Power DVD's audio-choice settings menu, to play the tracks till you find the tracks you want to backup. The order of the tracks, as they appear in the Power DVD audio-choice menu, is the exact same order as they appear on CloneDVD's soundtrack choice page. Best regards, Whisperer
Great info, Whisperer! I suggest using MenuShrink if dabig25 is gonna opt to keep the original menu. It will lend more space to the movie during the transcode. I've had menus go from 400 MB down to 75 MB using MenuShrink. However, none of this applies should he/she choose to use DL media...
Thanks. It seems like such a simple question to those of us who have made alot of backups. But as I started answering, I ended up editing, adding more info, clarifying etc. until it grew into a book! Good thing AD pays me the big money for helping out here ... I'm soooo suuure! I refuse to use any compression at all ... ever. And I never suggest it to others. If a backup software has the capability to do what a poster is asking about, I never suggest software other than what the member is using because they usually just want to know how to do it with what they have. ... just MHO. Whisperer
The MAIN thing is that you took the time to be thorough and give a detailed explanation in support of your suggestion. You probably answered the next three or four questions that were sure to come if you had just given the abridged version...
Ha, ha. Ya, maybe. I just looked at your user profile ... cool you've got a pic of yourself and everything. I never bothered filling mine out. But I didn't think anyone was actually from Antarctica. Oh well ... "It is what it is..." But I'm on the Pacific edge of the world and I'm tired out now ... going to bed. Aloha!
Thanks Whisperer, very detailed explanation. I will preserve menu, when DTS is avaulable, & leave all audio options on. If DTS is not available, I'll just select the A/C-3/6. & not preserve menu. That way it will still work on the regular standalone players. Sound right ?
dabig25, Pretty much correct. As I say, I don't backup your way but if you're saying that you think you have to keep all audio choices on the backup if you want to also keep DTS, this isn't true. You don't have to keep all audio options included that you have no use for. For example French or Spanish. All I'm saying is that I prefer, just as a safety measure, to select "Preserve Menus". If you want to lose un-needed tracks that is ok. But, as stated above, if you choose not to preserve menus, then on some movies that are mastered with a video manager, you may loose the ability to choose tracks via even your remote and your player may choose it's own, wrong, default track which you will have to change if your backup still allows audio selection via the remote. And you won't know of the limitations until after you've made the backup and try it out. CloneDVD is not an authoring program, so you can't use it, before hand, to see whether an original has the sound matrixed through the menu structure. Another bad side effect of not preserving menus on DVD's authored with a video manager, is that you can get subtitles that play by default and some have reported that you can't turn them off! What a drag! So, whether it is an audio track or subtitle track, said authoring type matrixes all tracks through the menu structure. Hense my suggestion to always keep the menus even if you are compressing and loosing a minor amount of video quality. BTW: If you think you will ever upgrade to an HDTV, and use your player's "Progressive Scan" output option via "Component" cables to your home entertainment HDTV display (or if you ever buy a player that up-converts regular DVD output to 1080i output), you will be quite disappointed in the visual playback quality of your compressed backup library of your original DVD collection. You will see noticible grainy-ness in the shadow areas of dark scenes even if you use light compression. If you are using heavy compression, your backup will look like crap compared to 100% quality. You will end up wanting to re-backup your whole collection again! Unless you live in a country which keeps the price of single layer backup media very expensive, why not just use CloneDVD to spit your movies onto two backup disks. Get a DVD Changer/Player (JVC makes good ones ... I don't trust Sony player/changers to not, now or in the future, put in some firmware kink for backup media playability). Or transition to Dual Layer burning now that Verbatim +R media has come down to $2.00 US per disk in 50 pack spindles. Be sure to buy a burner that will bitset your +R DL burns to DVD-ROM format. BenQ burners are very good at booktyping. With both methods (splitting or DL burning) you won't have to worry at all about keeping menus or soundtracks because you have room to copy everything without the need for compression. BTW, although some backup programs will compress the soundtracks, CloneDVD only compresses the video title sets ... it does not compress sound tracks ... for a good reason. Dolby, by definition, is already compressed so compressing it further would really result in crappy sound. And the whole reason that a DVD is authored with the larger amount of data space that a DTS track takes up is to provide you with far superior sound than that of Dolby, so why butcher it via compression. Also there are Dolby and DTS licensing rules ... don't mess with or reauthor our soundtracks or you violate the licensing agreement. Whisperer Edited for grammar and spelling
Thanks Whisperer....... Actually yes , I do have an HDTV, & yes I do have a dvd player that upconverts to 1080i. This is the standalone player that I have, that upconverts. http://www.oppodigital.com/ & here's the surround sound system that I have also..... http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product_Code=ONK+HTS780B&JRSource=overture.campaignname
This thread is done, so i'm going off topic. Nice setup dude! and 7.1! BTW, what media brand do you use that has no trouble on the Oppo? I am still using Progressive Scan non-interlaced output. I've seen upcoversion at my brother in law's and it seems better even though it is interpolating. When one upconverts a DVD (480lpi) to 1080lpi interlaced, what type of cable do you connect with to carry the extra bandwith?
@whisperer I've used, DVD-R, +R.............Ritek,Verbatim,Maxell,Sony media. Played all flawlessly. Player is also Region Free, & plays DivX. Haven't tried any other media. I'm using the DVI cable that came with it. Only has DVI, Component outputs, also optical for audio. They even have firmware updates.
Cool. DVI it is then ... I may look into that unit. When I completely transition from splitting to DL burning, I won't need a changer anymore and that unit is appealing. Thanks, aloha.
I got lucky..............OPPO company headquartersare in Bay Area , California. I was able to just walk into the OPPO main office & pick one up. Cost about $200.00.
okay so how would you do the same for audio set up using Nero Recode ? keeping regular 2.0 Dolby Digital & DTS ?
