Macintosh rip,compress & burn guide

When you say " can't burn anything". what actually happens? - do you get an error message from Toast 7 or does it hang or just ignore the file you're trying to select?
I no longer have my Toast 7 manual, but I would check that it does burn double-layer discs (I would presume that it works with DVD+R discs as well as DVD-R. Why are you using DVD+D - as I understand, they are best for storing data, and DVD-R best for movies.)
Secondly, does your external Sony recorder work with DVD+R discs and/ or DVD-R, and does it burn double-sided (layer) discs?

Why not try buying a pack of 5 cheap DVD-R from a supermarket (or DVD+R if you've made sure that's the medium of your external recorder) and try burning something one-layer and see what happens.

 

The cheap DVD-R discs I suggested you buy: I implied by "cheap' that they should also be single-layer discs. - just wanted to be clear on that.

 

Thanks terryxpre for answering me! Actually I just ordered Toast 7 over the weekend and have not received it yet. I am hoping to receive it towards the end of the week. Had a dickens of a time finding the Revision 7 and not the new Toast 8....

as for the Dvd+R discs.... I bought them on the recommendation of another group who were discussing the video over 4.7 Gig and whether or not to compress them when several said to just get the Dvd+R discs.... Wish I had read the whole thread here before I did. Now I know. But of course, I am out the $70 but I guess I will use them for something.

Yes, according to all the paperwork (and the writing on the box) the Sony dvd burner is supposed to burn Dvd+R discs and all sorts of discs. I will buy some Sony dvd-r discs and wait till the Toast 7 software gets here to see how it goes. Is there no other burning program that is as good as Toast 7? At least for me to try my burner? I have not been able to burn anything with it yet so I don't even know if it works! What about this NTI Dragon Burn program? Anyone ever used it?

I would love to just make sure the darn thing works before the 30 days are up so that I can either keep it or return it and get something else. Of course, I would have to ask you all what you would recommend for that!

 

terryxpre - can you look at this dvd burner and tell me if I got a good one or not? http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...51&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=11039011

Model Number: DRX-830UL/T
External Multi-Format DVD Recorder
Record hours of music, video and images at blazing speeds to DVD for Windows® and Macintosh® with the DRX-830UL/T external, multi-format DVD burner.


Or if this one is better: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/MRFWU2D112/

I have the Sony one. and as I was telling you - I have not been able to burn anything yet although I have NTI dragon burn software.

Any help, guidance would be greatly appreciated.

 

Both are good brands per se, but there's no doubt here : send the Sony back and grab the Pioneer!!!!!!!!!. If I were buying a new external recorder, I doubt I'd find another brand to out-do that model. Morevoer, it burns dual layer so you won't have wasted those discs!

In all the forums, different people have their own favourite pieces of software. Some people rave about Handbrake, which I hate. When it comes to burning CDs and DVDs, there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that Toast is the best. I've been using it since Toast 5. I remember the first CD I ever burned - it was so simple, and quick, I picked the disc out of the computer tray and walked into the living room to play it on my surround system, quite sure that it wouldn't work - it had been TOO simple and easy. I was amazed.
With Toast 8, I have been able to put my entire collection of the music CDs I've burned separately over the years (mainly for playing in the car), onto ONE DVD with no obvious loss of fidelity, and some elementary authoring so I can choose which 'CD' on the DVD to play.
When using your new Pioneer, in general, use DVD+R discs for storing data (archiving old documents, photos and pictures that take up space on your hard drive) and DVD-R for video. Use DVD-RW discs when you want to 'try out' some video you're working on to check eg its video quality if you've compressed it - that way, you won't waste a disc in experimenting. Toast has a quick erase feature (abouut 15 secs) that will scrub the old ready for the new.
If you're planning on backing up a whole movie disc, extras and all, it would be well over the 4.3GB and need more compression I would be happy with because of loss of picture quality. As you've found out, dual layer discs are expensive but for a 6+GB movie, may well be worth it. You're other option is with DVD2One, and burning the movie to one disc, and extras to a separate disc. I wrote a 'tutorial' on using DVD2One in some thread in this forum - I'll try to track it down and post the name of the thread to you.
Hope this clarifies it for you.
Terry

 

Goto the Search query box in the main menu of afterdawn, and type in DVD2OneX - you should be opened to Video Discussion for Mac Users.
Go down to 14th ( or was it 18th ?) September and there it is (but I didn't know how to put in the picture I refer to. I can't private you or you me to send me your email so I could send the picture by email.
Note that DVD2One only works with ViDEO_TS files !! (They are the files on the usual movie discs.) The picture I refer to in the 'tutorial' as "being on the right" lists the different segments eg episode one, episode two, a bonus feature etc. On a movie disc with extras, you can tell which is which by the amount of data they have eg one track taking, say, 3.8 GB would obviously be the movie, and one or more of, say, 300 MB would be an extra.
Terry

 

More specifically, go to Digital Video Discussion forum, subheading Digital Video Discussion for Mac Users, and it's Sept 14th.

Terry

 

I am new to all of this and have been skimming all of these entries, so i apologize if this has been covered in the last 22 pages. I have just recently bought the new imac desktop with superdrive. I have been testing my dvd burning skills on owned dvd's. Let's just say I am having lots of trouble...

I have downloaded mac the ripper and have tried to burn the movies onto a dvd but am getting the pop up of not enough room on the dvd. I have been reading about the compressing software and toast. I don't really want to buy something until I know that it's going to solve my problems. I have read that i need to buy this to compress my dvd files in order to fit on a standard dvd (DVD2OneX v2.1.3). But do I also need to buy toast? I thought that buying the internal superdrive was allowing me to burn dvd's. Can someone please help me? Thank you!!

 

In the simplest terms I can think of, off the top of my head :
Your superdrive - the 'burner' - is following a 'groove' in a blank DVD, sending a 'blinking'/pulsating laser beam which alters the dye on the disc. When the laser is on, it penetrates the dye and reveals the reflective surface below. When not on, it 'skips' and the non-reflective dye remains intact. (Then, when your DVD player shines a laser on the disc and it hits a reflective dot, the light bounces back, otherwise the laser light is absorbed by the dye. (This gives the DVD player when you come to play the finished disc the 'light on/light off', 1/0 data it needs.) But in creating the disc, this information has to be sent to the burner: much like a torch can be switched on and off to send morse code=the role of the burner - my brain has to read the message to be sent, ie the movie file - and control the rate at which I switch the torch on and off. This part of the job is done by software on the computer, reading the data and controlling the rate and flow to the burner so that it is constant. It also adds some 'housekeeping' information eg where the laser light should go to when it reaches the end of the disc, (otherwise, without 'direction' from the disc, you're player would hang. You see this most fully in fully authored commercial discs when at the end, it returns you to the full Menu. The disc is not only giving the movie data, but is also giving directions to the player).
In making a DVD from another DVD you own, like you say you want to do, there are 3 parts to it; the ripping of the file from the DVD, (the job of MTR) ; extracting what you want from that file (DVD2OneX); and as I just mentioned, the software (Burning Software) to control sending data to the burner.
Sometimes, the ripped file will be larger than the 4.3GB a DVD disc holds, so it needs to be compressed. The beauty of DVD2OneX (the X indicates that it is the Mac version of this software, but is most often universally called DVD2One) is that it will not only give great control and selectivity over the whole file, or what part/program you want from it, but also does a great job of compression without noticeably degrading the quality of the video (within limits). This software also has a 'burner software' component inbuilt, found in the Menu under Advanced/Burn disk image. I have never used it myself, as I prefer Toast as the actual burning software, which is superb. You don't need to buy Toast 8 - Toast 7 has everything you'll need at this stage and being superceded, goes very cheaply on Amazon and eBay.
Others in the forum will have there own favourite alternative software they use for ripping/extraction/burning and will probably post. If you opt for the one's above, I can let you have a step by step guide covering the whole process.

 

alright, thanks for the guide first off!
I am using mtr, latest version, dvd2one2x when needed, and dvd imager / disc utility, on a mac 10.4.1. My first few dvd's went by with no problem, but the last 4 dvds I tried wouldn't create proper disc images using dvd imager. I drop in the video ts folder after ripping the dvd, and dvd imager creates a 0kb image in a second or two, then quits. Any suggestions / help? thanks guys,
Matt

 

ElStasho
I would run the disc through DVD2One and let it burn the disc for you .

 

ElStasho

From what I've heard DVD2ONEX2 doesn't work with the newest version of MTR - as suggested if you can get DVD2ONE you're set - I wasn't able to - so I have Toast 8.0 and that works well for me - it will compress and burn - it is however pricey - about $80.00 as I recall - if you decide to pick it up - I can walk you through how I use it -

 

hey jabozek, if you wouldn't mind, a quick run-through of toast 8 would be helpful! as i'm new to it, it's a bit confusing at the moment

 

I have Toast 7 and have had my issues with the program. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I am now looking for a more reliable burn program. I heard DragonBurn is a good program so thats the one I will try next. I went to Roxio's website and checked out their forums for users and it seems that Toast has some issues which their tech support does not adress (fact is, they ignore the support tickets for help). I know a lot of people use Toast 6.7. or 8 but I am getting incomplete burns and unreadable discs. Like I said, sometimes it works - sometimes it doesn't.

 

Hi,

I've just tried (first time) to rip, compress and burn a dvd - using a new imac (OSX Leopard), mtr2.6, dvd2one and toast 6.

Unfortunately it hasn't worked :-((

Says the material is "unsupported". Anyone know why?

Out of curiosity - after I've ripped data from the original cd, should I be able to watch it? At present I cannot, I have a bunch of files under the heading VIDEO_TS, but they cannot be opened (yes, dvd player says they are "unsupported".

Any suggestions as to where I am going wrong??

Much thanks for all the info!

 

Hi Deebstar,

Rip with MTR version 3.14. You have to look for it but it is available and do a whole disc rip - not just the movie.

Compress with Dvd2oneX - the X means Macintosh. Then burn with either Toast 6 or I use Dragon Burn and have a much better success rate. Use dvd-r discs and I use Sony ones. They work great and you can get them at Walmart. others use more expensive discs.

The dvd player on your mac..... did you go under play from Video_ts folder? Then select the folder and hit play on your dvd player.

Karen

 

Thanks Karen.

I'm going to look for the new MTR, that may be the problem.

After ripping the disk, I have folder that says VIDEO_TS. It won't play, won't even give me the option of opening it using DVD player. Then inside the folder there are 10 files (VIDEO_TS.BUP, VIDEO_TS.IFO, etc...). The ones with BUP allow me to open with DVD player but then it just says "There was a problem opening the media. This media type is unsupported."

I have no idea what that means!!

Thanks again for your response, I'm going to keep trying...

 

Hi Deebstar.

After ripping the disk, I have folder that says VIDEO_TS. ---- do you have an AUDIO_TS folder as well? If not, create a folder and name it AUDIO_TS. It does not need to have anything in it. Just need the folder.

So, Rip the movie with Mac The Ripper 3.14 and do a whole disc rip. It will ask you where to store it. Put it into a folder.

Then you compress, either the whole disc or movie only in Dvd2oneX. It will ask for a source folder and you select the folder you created for MTR. Then it will ask for a destination folder. Create a new folder for the destination folder and name it something else... Movie to burn or something.

Then go into your dvd player, under FILE, is there the option of Open VIDEO_TS folder.? You would then select the VIDEO_TS folder in the folder you created in Dvd2onex and hit play..... it should work.

Karen

 

YES!!! Yipppeeeeee!

You're a star! It works!!!

Sooooooo cool.

Thanks a million!

Now I'm going to try to burn it!!

Cheers!

 

i was wondering if there is a way to rip the dvd and then import it into say.. itunes and then to be out on my ipod. cause ive ripped the dvd but now i cant watch it on my laptop. is here anyway you can help me out?