Week 1 - Still No Great Burn

Thanks for the help so far. All do respect to those who have been doing this for awhile, but I can not seem to find any REAL authority on this subject. These forums allow for so many different opinions and my coaster collection grows as I am learning. (I don't mind -- as long as I am learning)

Tools I have:
Shrink, Decryptor, Nero (Demo), Intervideo DVD Copy v1.2, DVD X Copy Platinum with ripper

Plextor 708A Burner, Windows XP Home Pentium 4 2.0

Maxell DVD-R Media

Results so far.
Disc 1 - Coaster
Disc 2 - Coaster
Disc 3 - Dora The Explorer (The only smaller than 4.7 G DVD I had to try) SHRINK/NERO used - Success! No real picture or sound quality to test though.
Disc 4 - Saving Private Ryan - Movie only/Compressed - SHRINK/NERO - Successful burn. Quality of picture is a little questionable. I would say 8/10 on my satisfaction meter. Switching to DVD X Copy to try to improve quality.
Disc 5 - Saving Private Ryan - Tried X Copy uncompressed to 2 discs -- ONLY BURNED 1 disc for some reason.
Disc 6 - Same as above. X Copy Platinum only prompted for Disc 1 of split from advanced mode -- Disc 1 was improved picture quality over SHRINK, but the disc would do a one second freeze every minute or so.
Disc 7&8 - With no success on uncompressed 2 disc backup on X Copy I switched to INTERVIDEO DVD COPY v1.2. It burned Saving Private Ryan Disc 1, prompted for disc 2 and said complete! Neither disc would play at all.
Disc 9 - Tried my own BS theory - Coaster
Disc 10 - Same as above - Coaster
Disc 11 - Read a thread suggesting X Copy and DVD Copy fancy 2 disc copies could be completed with SHRINK by burning one at a time and choosing chapters.
Saving Private Ryan Chapters 1-12 movie only uncompressed SHRINK using Decrypter to burn. Picture quality was better than previous compressed Shrink output, but there were jaggies and freezes all over the place.
Disc 12 - Saving Private Ryan Disc 2 - the rest of the chapters, SHRINK uncompressed burned with Decrypter. Same results as above -- bad backup. Bugs all through the video.


So, anyway. I am not telling you this because I think anyone is sitting on the edge of their seat waiting to see how a newbie is doing, I am bringing you up to speed to I can ask WHAT NEXT?

SHRINK
* Burned Single disc uncompressed animated movie with NERO - Result OK
* Burned compressed Saving Private Ryan movie only with NERO - Result OK, Quality was a little off
* Burned 2 discs Saving Private Ryan movie only uncompressed split chapters up burned with Decryptor - Result POOR - jaggies, bugs and freezes all over the place

After 2 successful backups with SHRINK/NERO could the poor result here be because of SHRINK/DECRYPTOR combo?

DVD X COPY PLATINUM
* In advanced when choosing Split/Uncompressed it only burns disc 1 (Split at the correct spot by the way) What's up?
* Picture quality is better than SHRINK (I think) but the disc that did burn (twice) kept freezing up for a second every minute or so -- Anyone getting good 2 disc backups from X Copy without bugs?

DVD COPY - Burned 2 discs, but the output would not play. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

Have you thought of using ReWritable discs. Since you seem to be still practicing and have not decided on what method you want to use or what method will work on your computer. I have never had a coaster yet, but I always use rewritable discs to test any method until I know that it will work.

Most people find that a single disc movie only back-up using DVD Shrink makes a perfectly acceptable copy. If you need to have better quality than that then I quess you will have to find a method that makes a two disc copy, that works on your computer.

Making coasters seems to be a choice you have made, but is not a choice that must be made. You can then inform us about how your practice sessions are going, including what method worked well and what discs you have had to erase when that method didn't work.
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Veblin - What I dumb arse I am for not thinking of the RW! I have blown all this money to get set up and should not have been thinking so cheap on the R versus RW. GREAT SUGGESTION - should have been obvious.

I agree, SHRINK did an acceptable job movie only compressed to one disc, as you recall I thought 8/10. However, since I dropped the money on X Copy and DVD Copy, if I can do any better I will keep trying..... It may be some other FREE software combo that turns out to be the best and I will keep kicking myself for the unneccessary upfront expense.

 

Also, I have seen this big Comparison Post floating around where they compared I think 7 programs and Intervideo DVD Copy did really well in their tests. So, since I bought it, I would like to get a good burn off of it to atleast compare.