Hi - I'm really a newbie although I've been backing up my DVDs for about 4 years using what I've learned here. I've been using DVD Shrink to rip and encode (with AnyDVD running in the background), and then burning with DVD Decrypter. I use Taiyo Yuden blanks. Everything was great - until I hit "Hairspray" and burned several coasters before remembering to check the forums here! After reading through the whole Hairspray thread, I downloaded the freebie trial of CloneDVD and was successful. Now I've got to make a decision fast with the 1/1/08 deadline approaching! My question now is, are there any freeware programs out there that are still being updated to handle the newest encryption forms that seem to be popping up daily? Obviously I can't get any updates on Shrink here anymore - is it available elsewhere? Several posters mentioned DVDFab Decrypter, that also isn't available here. I'm really not too technically saavy, so I don't want to have to go through several programs to achieve what I've been doing with Shrink & Decrypter. I just don't want to be left out in the cold now that they seem to be getting too old to handle the job. I also read that encoders like Shrink do a better job than transcoders like CloneDVD - don't know if that's just someone's opinion, or fact. Is it really an appreciable difference when viewing the movie? Gotta admit, I was amazed at how fast Clone did the job, after being used to Shrink... but if it's not going to be as good, I'm not going to want to spend the money. Sorry for the wordy post, but I've got so many questions! Thanks for any/all input.
If you keep your AnyDVD up to date, there is no reason for you to change your system. AnyDVD ripper works well to put the movie onto your hard drive and then DVD Shrink will transcode it and you can burn with your favorite burning program. I would recommend Imgburn (freeware) for this as it is an improvement over DVD Decrypter.
other than using anydvd dvdfab decrypter is about your only good choice and yes it updates.there is no updates for dvd shrink anywhere or will there ever be. heres the link for dvdfab decrypter http://www.dvdfab.com/ remember they have an all in one program to like slysoft dvdfab platinum thats not going up in price. to be honest i still prefer the slysoft products over dvdfab but both are good. If i was you and had a few extra bucks i would definitely get anydvd before it goes up in price but thats up to you think about it you have a couple days. if you don't want to go though several steps to backup movies then clonedvd 2 + anydvd or dvdfab platinum is definitely a good choice.clonedvd 2 does as good as dvd shrink on movies that don't need much compression(which is most of them as long as you do the movie only) if you have higher compression using deep analysis in dvd shrink will yield you a little better result than clonedvd 2. watch your backup of hairspray and I'm sure you will be happy with the quality clonedvd 2. bottom line if it was me i would get clonedvd 2 + anydvd before the price went up, good luck
Thanks for the input, everyone! I've bought the Slysoft programs, and also downloaded a few other freeware programs - like I keep reading here, it can't hurt to have it all in the arsenal! I wouldn't know the first thing about backing anything up without these forums and this site, so thank you again.
great mom good choice buying it since my last post here, I had trouble with War the new jet Li movie and ended up using dvdfab decrypter to rip fixvts to clean the file then dvd shrink to transcode, so your right it does gurt having several program you never know when you might need them
I could not agree more. I've predominantly used DvdFab for a while now. But, i too have discovered the joys in having multiple tools in my proverbial tool box. Sometimes you just run into that one title that's a bear to copy with the "normal procedure" and having a fresh set of wheels to spin always helps out. Just my two cents.
