I have never backed up my DVDs before, but now I see that this might be a very good idea. I got a new computer very recently and this included a DVD Drive, something I have never had on a computer before. My friend uses AnyDVD and CloneDVD together to do his DVDs. I have heard a lot of different people say that AnyDVD and CloneDVD are great, so I am also considering using that software. My main concern is DVD Quality. I want my DVDs to have almost, if not the same, quality as the movies I am backing up. The best I can possibly have. Is there a specific type of DVD I should buy to burn with? I have heard there are some cheap DVD-R's that people buy, but the problem is that the file on the original movie is too big for the DVD-R so the quality becomes something like 60% or so quality. That's not what I want. What are my options here, and what would be the best software to get to ensure the quality stays up there? Thanks!
Quality only goes down when you try to backup a dvd-9 on a dvd-5. Clonedvd allows you to do this but also tells you on the bottom of the screen how much quality you will lose if you do this. However, if you back up a dvd-5, the quality should still be the same as I have seen no difference when backing up my dvds.
How could the quality not go down, though? If my original DVD is way bigger then the DVD I am trying to burn to the quality would HAVE to go down. Or, if I am understanding correctly, DVD9's are the most common out there right now?
yep most movies u buy now days are dual layer dvd9. u can do main movie only and the quality is usually pretty good on a 2 hour movie. or if u dont mind the cost u can do 1:1 with dual layer blank media- i would recomend verbatim +r.
*edit* gamename beat me to it, but (s)he's right. if you never want to worry about shrinking, get a dual-layer dvd burner to burn on blank dvd-9's. presto chango, no more shrink-o.
On a lot of movies (those under 2 hrs) you can back up movie only and as long as the move is not larger than 4.3 gb you will not loose any video quality. As a rule of thumb always use proven, good quality media such as verbatum, taiyo yuden, fuji (made in japan), sony, or maxell. Stay away from memorex, hp, most phillips, no name brand and retail store branded media eg. staples, compusa. Also to minimize write errors most burn at 4x or slower. Ma ke sur your firmware is upto date and shutdown background programs while encoding and burning unless your pc has a lot of resorces and is fast with ample memory. Good luck. Mort
Two DVDs might be the way to go, if it is cheaper then buying the best. But is it possible to burn to two DVD's with CloneDVD2? And how do I check if I have a dual-layer drive, for sure? I am almost positve I do but I don't know of a way to check it... I know I have a 16X DVD+/-RW drive, but I just can't remember if it is dual layer. Any place on my computer that will tell me that?
If you back up movie only I seriously doubt you will notice any difference between the original and the back up even with CloneDVD. There are a couple free programs that a lot of folk use here at AD and are very pleased. They are dvd decrypter and dvd shrink. Here are some guides. http://home.comcast.net/~bbmayo/index.html http://www.dvdplusvideo.com/petesguide2.html There is also another combo that comes with an installer and is superior to 1 click proggys even useing the free encoders that come bundled with the installer. It is called DVD-RB installer. I use it with Cinema Craft Encoder and can't tell any difference between a back up of a full length dvd9 compressed to fit on a dvd5 on my 52" big screen tv. You can buy good media online for the same price you can buy the cheap stuff if you shop around. Good online stores are supermediastore.com, rima.com, meritline.com, and newegg. To see what burner you have go into device manager,look under DVD/CD-ROM drives. Give us your make and model or google it. Mort
@mOOkie40 welcome to AD you should find there is a wealth of knowledge here listen to mort81 the dvd-rb installer is the way to go they just recently convinced me to use this method and even though I am farely new to the functions of these proggy's I still wind up with the highest quality sharpest pictures yet I have used several other prog. dvd decrypter and shrink are still a fine combo especially when pressed 4 time any dvd and clone dvd are for those that preffer the simplest way there is but as for the quality try out the dvd rebuilder installer I use the free (quenc) encoder and it still blows all the others out of the water store dvd's on disk and not on your p.c. unless you have alot of space and defrag often
l8nights, I don't know from personal experience but Ppower told me that the free HC encoders quality is just as good as QuEnc but twice as fast. Give it a try. I use CCE but am going to try HC encoder just for comparison.
@mOOkie40, As for newbie(s), I would say get DVD Shrink and DVD Decrypter - these 2 combo is the way to go. It's one of the easiest and fastest for newbies, especially if you're brand new to DVD backing up. Once you have little or more experiences, then you may want to try the top dog aka DVD Rebuilder and CCE (which I haven't use it yet), or the second to the top dog is InterVideo DVD Copy 3 - this produced great quality and it's the fastest backing up program in the market. Again, all you need now is DVD Decrypter, DVD Shrink, DVD43 ( free cracking encrypted codes engine) and AnyDVD (retail cracking encrypted codes engine). In addendum to DVD-R/+R formats, I recommend you to get Taiyo Yuden/FUJI, Verbatim, Maxell, Sony and make sure it says "Made In Japan" for all, except Verbatim (it's Made In Taiwan, but still top notch media, except its DVD+R DL media is Made In Singapore). If your stand alone dvd player is pretty new, then you're set to go with either DVD-R or DVD+R. If your dvd player is 2 yrs or older, then it's best to go with DVD-R. However, if your burner support "booktype", then you can easily use the DVD+R and change the booktype into DVD-ROM format - this will be super easy on any of the older dvd players, XBOX, and PS2 as well.
m00kie40 you have several options the SIMPLY thing to do is stay with anydvd and CloneDVD2. If you do the MOVIE ONLY you wont notice any quality difference between the backup and the and the store bought dvd and anyway the dual layer blank dvds are 7 or 8 bucks and a GOOD blank DVD5 is only about 30 to 40 cents. another route you could go is Intervideo DVDCopy3 with anydvd (which iam using) the quality is out standing and it very easy to use both theses i have talked about have a free trial before you buy. as far as blank media Taiyo Yuden and Verbatium are the best Ritek is good also. DONT use memorex its junk you can get either at supermedia store.com or meritline.com if you get blank media at a store like best buy try to get the Made In Japen stuff as it is better, most of it will code out as TY. if you get Maxell,TDK,Sony or Fuji.if you buy Verbatium at a store it wont be made in japen but it still great media to buy
Another question I have, probably the last. If I am burning a DVD and I end up screwing up somehow, by that I mean that the DVD doesn't finish or something and stops at like 25%, will I be able to re-use the DVD that screwed up? If it becomes junk I would rather not buy the expensive stuff, because although there probably aren't a lot of problems there could be a few, and I don't want to waste a lot of expensive disks. Also, if the movie actually finishes and looks pretty good, but I want to do it over because of a couple of mess ups or something on the DVD, can I burn over it again? Or does it depend on the type of disc? Thanks!
a dvd+r or dvd-r can only be written to once, even if it's not a full burn. a dvd+rw or dvd-rw can be written to and erased thousands of times.
