First time AnyDVD and CloneDVD user; also DVD-RB discussions within

I have spent a couple months and a lot of money trying to reach the point of burning successful DVDs without pixelation or freezing issues. I am using a 2.4 ghz dual core with 4 gb of ram, verbatim media (which has issues even down to 8X), and a Plextor burner. I was using the RipIt4Me/Shrink combo and tried burning with Nero, NTI, and IMGBurn.

I have read some guides for AnyDVD and CloneDVD. However, I still have some questions. Basically I just want to make sure I have all of the right settings so I won't have to start over again.

Most of the time I just want movie only discs and will remove the extras. I do not want to compress the movie at all, and I wish to burn the movies onto single layer DVDs.

The main exception to this will be something like seasons of 24 where I will either have 2 single layer discs one for the video and one for the extras or I will also consider dual layer for those discs most important to me.

For now I have browsed through the tabs of AnyDVD and here is what I came up with. I am hoping people can validate what I am thinking is right, while answering the question areas I have.

I will add to this thread and do the same thing with CloneDVD once I feel more confident about AnyDVD.

OK, here are the tabs:

Video DVD - Check remove annoying adverts and trailers and jump directly to movie (obviously do not check if I want to do exact copy of DVD)
Keep show dialog box unchecked?

Settings - keep all as default: US/Canada, all checked (unless want exact copy of DVD), scanner default

Subtitles - keep unchecked (default)

CSS Keys - keep unchecked (default)

WE CAN SKIP HD AND BLU-RAY TABS FOR NOW

Audio CD - keep as default; check top and uncheck bottom

drives - keep unchecked (speed control)

Program settings - keep as default; all checked except safe mode,hide icon, show info window new media

Start external program - keep unchecked (default)

Language - Auto (default). Do I want to change this to English? I might occasionally copy a foreign film though so unsure of this setting.

 

sometimes anydvd has problems with this feature(remove annoying adverts and trailers) I don't use it and take care of it in clonedvd by just doing the movie only.uncheck dialog box

leaving it in auto is fine and you have the correct setting on the list above.if the Verbatim media is giving you problems use Taiyo Yuden burning at 6x to 8x max. Plextor drives love Taiyo Yuden media also make sure you have to most up to date firmware for the drive

 

Thank you for your reply. So even though some people claim to burn up to 16X for DVDs, you suggest maxing out at 8X?

There is one more issue. I have a 1 hour 59 minute and 31 second DVD (The Director Cut of Butterfly Effect). It appears that no matter what I do with the audio, the video remains at 90% quality. The quality bar changes on the audio/subtitle section only. Since the DVDs are 120 minutes long, shouldn't I be near 99-100% if I do this right?

My audio choices are 2 or 6 channels (at this time I am selecting 6) and my audio encoding choices are dolby AC-3 nd DTS. I selected DTS as it appears my audio choice did not affect video quality for this movie. However, I want to be consistent with my DVDs and wonder which selections make the most sense.

 

I should really add the following questions while I am thinking about them...

1) If this current set up still leads to pixelation and/or freezing at 8X, does that mean my next step is Taiyo Yuden media? I thought Verbatim was a solid brand.

2) What is the quality percent before a person starts to notice difference in quality including black and white flickers/specks in the video? I am a little nervous that some movies can get as long as 200 minutes for these 120 minute DVD-Rs. I want to avoid dual layer if at all possible, but for some of these larger movies, I am guessing that is not advisable.

 

How about TV show discs? I just put in House season 1 disc 1 and the 4 episodes alone max out at 55% or so. I found how to add an episode at a time instead of all 4 at once. Adding 3 of 4 will be 81% and 2 episodes would be 100%. To save on discs, is there a simple way to add 3 from this disc and then on my next burn add episode 4 from this disc and then 5 and 6 from the next one? If not, I can just do 2 episodes per disc I guess. Now that I think about it, this is the only time a menu would be helpful to select which episode to watch.

Also, for those larger movies then, is there a simple way of splitting them in half to help preserve quality? 2 hours and 55 minutes worth of video is 55% so I want to plan accordingly.

 

Media

Verbatim is usually great media but as of late they have been out scoring so quality has gone down that why i use Taiyo Yuden only and yes 8x max is best you can burn at 12x or 16x but chances are you won't get quite as good of a burn so why chance it just burn at 8x.

the DTS audio takes up more room if you have a DTS audio receiver then use it if not uncheck it.

compression

with a 31" CRT NO you won't notice a difference.

with a 60" Sony SXRD, LCD etc.YES you will notice a difference

you best bet is to use DVD Rebuilder to encode with if you're at 70% or more compression assuming you're playing the movie back on a large set if you aren't don't bother.

episodes disc

I do 2 at a time with the menus and the quality is fine that way.

yes you can split your movies to 2 DVD-R SL disc using the clonedvd
using the scissors

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/622748

http://www.dvdplusvideo.com/BBMayo_Guides.html

 

Thank you. You have been quite helpful so far. I have a new issue.

I just ripped a DVD, Rocky Balboa, which is 1 hour and 42 minutes long. I ripped the movie only and it remained at 100% quality. Now I am ripping Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind which is 1 hour and 48 minutes and I am ripping the same way (Dolby, no subtitles, no menu and so on) and the best I can get this one is only 61%. Am I doing something wrong? This does not make sense to me.

On the title config page, there are several audio settings listed for ESOTSM, but I only selected the English dolby from the audio page.

 

some DVDs have more protection built into them causing them to compress more. you can try cleaning the file further after you rip the movie but if your going to do that you need to use dvdfab decrypter to rip(instead of clonedvd + anydvd) then use fixvts

 

OK. Before I was under the assumption that single layer discs will always hold up to 120 minutes of video. However, it now appears that some video that is 1 hour 40+ minutes can be too large for these discs. That is unfortunate. Thank you for the tips. I am just not eager to split a movie this length onto 2 separate single layer discs.

 

no your miss understanding me. your 1 hour and 40 min movie can be compress to fit on a DVD-5 (single layer blank) fine. there will just be more compression the longer the movie is

 

OK, but to fit the 1 hour 48 minute movie onto a single layer disc, I will need to use different programs than anydvd and clonedvd, right? I mean 61% sounds pretty bad.

 

NO clonedvd + anydvd will compress and burn fine if you want better quality there are option we can go over?

what size TV do you have?

 

I currently have only a 19 inch, but plan to upgrade to a nice tv within the next 6 months or so.

 

then your perfectly fine at 61% compression using clonedvd + anydvd

 

I just don't want to reburn all of these discs after my tv upgrade.

 

save the files(uncompressed)to your hdd then.

or use DVD Rebuilder to encoded with instead of clonedvd

 

Just in case you have any more insight, I will give you a little history on my situation. A few months ago a friend of mine told me how easy it is to copy DVDs. I had a lot of issues with pixelation. Each time I made some changes it appeared I had fixed the issue so I burned a ton of DVDs. Later I began to watch some until I saw the issue, and then tweaked something new the next time.

First changed my burning program. I was using ripit4me and dvd shrink with NTI, then Nero, then IMGBurn. Next I changed my burner from Lite On to Plextor. Then I upgraded my laptop from 1.3 ghz and 2 gb ram to 2.4 duo core and 4 gb ram. I also changed my media from Nextech single layer and memorex dual layer to verbatim single layer. After all of this there are still issues. I did not see pixelation yet but it did freeze about 1 hour 20 minutes into Platoon and about 4 minutes was unplayable.

Now it makes sense to try AnyDVD and CloneDVD combo so see if that works. I just don't know what else the issue might be but I am not sold yet that these new programs will fix the issue either. We shall find out soon enough I guess.

Another random thing is if I decide to just burn DVDs uncompressed, what is the top dual layer DVDs out there. I noticed that Taiyo Yuden does not currently make DL.

I cannot count the hours invested into this project. Hopefully you have some insight into this.

 

What is the compression range that rebuilder can handle without any visual quality issues? I am looking at upgrading to a nice 42 inch HD TV eventually.

Also, what are the main pros/cons between anydvd/clone vs dvdfab?

I have yet to find time to check the anydvd/dvdclone DVDs to see if there have been any issues with those discs.

So, it sounds like my main options here are to 1) continue with the anydvd/clonedvd route and for larger movies either use scissors to cut the movies in half or to place these videos onto dual layer or 2) to try the dvdfab route and use dvd rebuilder for larger movies so they fit onto a single layer disc. If rebuilder can make any size movie fit onto a single layer disc without any noticeable quality changes, I will definitely want to use that one. So worst case a dual layer will be full at 8.5 gig so can rebuilder compress everything to 4.7 gig and show on a 42 inch HD TV without any noticeable quality loss?

 

I am starting to seriously think that it was DVD Shrink that was giving me the freezing and pixelation issues. I used Daemon Tools to watch ISOs and there were no issues playing back on my computer. However, I cannot pinpoint anything else it might be. Changing media helped, as did IMGBurn, but Shrink was the constant. I am also starting to come across quite a few people who have been frustrated with Shrink and pixelation and other issues.

I should know more once I have time to check over some of the more problematic DVDs that I burned with AnyDVD/CloneDVD.

Even this all of this, I am super interested in DVD Rebuilder. If I am able to burn up to a maxed out DL disc onto a DVD-5 without any noticeable quality loss, I am definitely switching over.