DVD X Copy for $69.99 at Outpost.com

[Colebert]

Recompressing DVD Video is the only way to go. Absolutely no quality loss compressing a 2 layer DVD onto a single layer. I use CCE (CinemaCraft Encoder.) Once you learn how to rip (using DVDDecrypter), compress (using CCE), author (using DVDMaestro), and image burn (using IMGTools), you will understand why SVCD, splitting over 2 DVDs, DIVX, etc is not so good.

DVDXCopy is just an automation of a inferior DVD duplication method (i.e. split and burn.) Granted, you need a P4/Athlon/Xeon and 2000 bucks (or Kaaza) to really do the encoding. Everything else is child's play.


-Cole

 

[vladgur]

Originally posted by: Colebert
Recompressing DVD Video is the only way to go. Absolutely no quality loss compressing a 2 layer DVD onto a single layer. I use CCE (CinemaCraft Encoder.) Once you learn how to rip (using DVDDecrypter), compress (using CCE), author (using DVDMaestro), and image burn (using IMGTools), you will understand why SVCD, splitting over 2 DVDs, DIVX, etc is not so good.
-Cole

How can you warrant no quality loss when you are recompressing already compressed video to a lower bitrate/resolution. There is always quality loss....
What kind of TV are you playing back your recompressed DVDs on?

 

[localfinesse]

Originally posted by: Midnight Rambler
Also, an FYI, the parent software company is being sued by all the motion picture companies, so look for this software to get pulled some day soon.

Nope the sued the motions picture companies first. I will try to find the artical that has the info.

 

[localfinesse]

I like dvd2dvdr better. you can check it out at vcdhelp.com. it is free also.

 

[CHAOSMAN]

cinemacraft encoder cost like 3g's totally not worth it to the vob stream, id rather split it into 2 dvdrs, either way this stuff is all relativly new to the newbie market, and theres gonna be a million other programs out soon

 

[Antisocial Virge]

Originally posted by: localfinesse

Originally posted by: Midnight Rambler
Also, an FYI, the parent software company is being sued by all the motion picture companies, so look for this software to get pulled some day soon.

Nope the sued the motions picture companies first. I will try to find the artical that has the info.

That is true untill I think the 19th when they themselves got sued back.

cinemacraft encoder cost like 3g's totally not worth it to the vob stream

Well...since your copying dvd's you might as well just copy CCE. Dvdxcopy might say its only for backing up your originals and not rentals but thats crap.

 

[Colebert]

You are not recompressing compressed video. You are UNCOMPRESSING (i.e. decoding) MPEG2 (a loss less encoding scheme) then compressing the uncompressed file. You don't seem to understand MEPG2, CCE, or the process i'm talking about, so i'll use an example:

Its like a rope with a knot in it. You're thinking CCE is just tying another knot, when really its untying (actually AVISYNTH is doing the untying...) and retying a better form of the same knot. The rope remains in the same condition (yes, i'm sure it might be damaged a little on a molecular level.)

I'll give you an "out" in this discussion, vladgur, by revising my statement to mean "absolutely no noticable quality loss." Basically none because 99% of all MPEG streams on DVD discs are over stauturated with bitrate so reducing a 7000kb/s stream to 5000kb/s stream makes no difference on home theatre equipment.


-Cole

 

[iamme]

Originally posted by: Colebert
You are not recompressing compressed video. You are UNCOMPRESSING (i.e. decoding) MPEG2 (a loss less encoding scheme) then compressing the uncompressed file. You don't seem to understand MEPG2, CCE, or the process i'm talking about, so i'll use an example:

Its like a rope with a knot in it. You're thinking CCE is just tying another knot, when really its untying (actually AVISYNTH is doing the untying...) and retying a better form of the same knot. The rope remains in the same condition (yes, i'm sure it might be damaged a little on a molecular level.)

I'll give you an "out" in this discussion, vladgur, by revising my statement to mean "absolutely no noticable quality loss." Basically none because 99% of all MPEG streams on DVD discs are over stauturated with bitrate so reducing a 7000kb/s stream to 5000kb/s stream makes no difference on home theatre equipment.


-Cole

Technicalities aside, I think that splitting the DVD in two isn't such a bad idea. It's not really an "inferior" duplication. It seems to be more of a "duplication" process than re-encoding the movie at a different bitrate. Though, I agree that the re-encoded movie is at a high enough bitrate to satisfy most people.

My only experience has been turning DVDs into SVCDs, which is great but takes a while to do (even w/ my dual Athlon 2000+ MP machine). I'm used to watching movies over multliple discs, so making a DVD copy is very appealing to me.

For those who have used DVDXCopy, I was browsing their forums and noticed people were having problems with the 1.3 release. Have the developers been good about making updates and listening to customer feedback?

 

[iamme]

Originally posted by: Antisocial-Virge

Well...since your copying dvd's you might as well just copy CCE. Dvdxcopy might say its only for backing up your originals and not rentals but thats crap.

The hilarious thing is that they actually had the audacity to run a small text Netflix ad (referral link) on their forums.

 

[vladgur]

Originally posted by: Colebert
You are not recompressing compressed video. You are UNCOMPRESSING (i.e. decoding) MPEG2 (a loss less encoding scheme) then compressing the uncompressed file. You don't seem to understand MEPG2, CCE, or the process i'm talking about, so i'll use an example:

Its like a rope with a knot in it. You're thinking CCE is just tying another knot, when really its untying (actually AVISYNTH is doing the untying...) and retying a better form of the same knot. The rope remains in the same condition (yes, i'm sure it might be damaged a little on a molecular level.)

I'll give you an "out" in this discussion, vladgur, by revising my statement to mean "absolutely no noticable quality loss." Basically none because 99% of all MPEG streams on DVD discs are over stauturated with bitrate so reducing a 7000kb/s stream to 5000kb/s stream makes no difference on home theatre equipment.


-Cole

How about, ill take an out from this discussion by saying that recompressing something is a resource and time consuming task.
Another out is that MPEG is a lossy compression AFAIK, not loss-less like zip compression. When you encode a video via MPEG and then decode it back, the files will not be the same in terms of quality or bit-by-bit comparison.

Again, I never tried recompressing DVD, so given your statements Ill try it out

 

[Antisocial Virge]

Originally posted by: iamme

Originally posted by: Antisocial-Virge

Well...since your copying dvd's you might as well just copy CCE. Dvdxcopy might say its only for backing up your originals and not rentals but thats crap.

The hilarious thing is that they actually had the audacity to run a small text Netflix ad (referral link) on their forums.

Haha Yea I saw that, it even said something about getting your copies even easier or something like that. I have been reading the forum there for fun. Its been a train wreck for a while with them releasing the software when it hardly worked and charging $100 for it.

 

[chanfo]

I'm no expert so pardon my ignorance if what I'm saying is wrong. I do believe I'm right in that mpeg2 is a lossy (not loss less) compression format, just like jpeg is a lossy format for still pictures. When you use CCE you are actually re-encoding the video, not recompressing (there is a difference between the two). What you end up is a video with a lower bitrate. Most commercial DVD's I've run into are encoded at a bitrate of about 5000 or less. I've yet to run into ones as high as 7000, even superbit DVD's like Panic Room which I recently reencoded was about 6000 if I recall correctly. I've also noticed slight difference in the reencoded video. This is on a large screen projection TV with progressive scan so YMMV on this one. Also I tend to notice these things more than others so any casual observer might not notice the difference.

 

[SpongeBobPalmBay]

DVD X Copy is pretty cool. I have been using the Beta copy for the last few weeks. I ordered the full version from the above link... not a bad deal. NICE program!!

 

[Antisocial Virge]

One other thing. Ordering from that link above WILL NOT get you free upgrades for life. There is some crap going on in the official forums about it being sold below retail and them not knowing. Personally I think its to stop all the people who paid $99 for it from getting a refund and rebuying it.

http://dvdxcopy.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/16057

 

[iamme]

Originally posted by: Antisocial-Virge
One other thing. Ordering from that link above WILL NOT get you free upgrades for life. There is some crap going on in the official forums about it being sold below retail and them not knowing. Personally I think its to stop all the people who paid $99 for it from getting a refund and rebuying it.

That may be important to take note of, considering the "bugs" they are trying to iron out w/ the latest release. Definitely check out their forums before buying.

 

[BadNewsBears]

All you just wait for clondvd. Will be out soon. EXACT images... Same company who made cloncd

 

[Antisocial Virge]

EXACT images

not on a dvdr..

 

[jeepers94]

I just want to reply to the person who said there are only a couple of titles that will backup to 1 dvdr.I have 110 titles backed up.Out of those 50 backed up to 1 dvdr! This includes many (22) released in the last 2 months!The fact is I have several original titles that require 2 discs for the movie play.I am NOT talking about the extras!I have a Sony HDTV and have watched svcd disks,they are a far cry from DVD quality!Also if you consider the media is 79 cents each,would you settle for svcd quality?

 

[Colebert]

Theres always the videophiles that notice "the difference" just like how I occasionally notice a difference when I take a placebo. : P

I did panic room a couple weeks ago. You're right, most are at like 5000kb/s but a reduction to 3800kb/s is barely/not at all noticeable. Compare it to DIVX/SVCD and its prefect.

I think if DVD piracy gets more rampant, they should just do all movies in superbit cos its a pain to recompress and 99% of people could never figure it out, afford the equipment, etc.

My bad, lossy, not loss less. Point well taken.


-Cole

 

[Shippy]

DVD Decrypter, IFOEdit .95, ImgTool (& possibly Vobrator), are all you really need to Convert DVD-9 to 2 DVD-R's. IFOEdit even has an option to split to 2 DVD-R's! All it takes is a little time to read the guides at Doom9.org and you can save yourself $100 bucks. Personally, I like to use the CCE & IFOEdit guide. If I wanted to get up and change discs during the middle of a movie I could have stuck with SVCD. (One of my) Reasons for getting a DVD-R burner was to back up DVDs to 1 DVD-R, including menus & extras. If you can tell the difference between my 5-pass CCE encodes vs the original then it's nice to meet you, Col. Steve Austin! All jokes aside, If you have the time (and want to save some cash), you should give the free tools a try.

 

[chanfo]

If you cannot tell the difference between the reencoded video then you are probably 1)Not using a newer large screen TV with the proper equipment 2)Not looking at it close enough. As I said the casual observer might not notice it by it self but if you switch back and forth between dvd's you will. I've even compared commercial superbit dvd's with the equivalent non superbit commercial dvd of the same movie and can spot slight differences, mostly in the background.

 

[jeepers94]

Shippy,I have and use Decryptor and Ifoedit,but all of us do not have several hours to copy a movie.As for your comment about "Steve Austin",come to my house and I'll show you how the 2 compare.As for the post about divx,there are no stand alone players that do divx!As for the "trouble" of changing discs.I would hate it if a person had to get off his butt for 10 seconds!You could do as I did,although not for that reason,buy a Sony 300+1 changer!It even flips the disc!I do agree,that if you have a 20-27"tv,or view your movies on your computer,you can get by with the rempeg method.Like I said before,I have a Sony 51" HDTV and you sure as heck can see a BIG loss of quality with it!

 

[Colebert]

I see no loss of quality on my Sony widescreen. This is just a proxy war between pragmatists and purists. Being the pragmatist, i'll just say it doesn't matter. Even if the quality is noticeable (and I don't think it is,) its only noticable to 1% of the world.

Don't say "BIG" quality loss. That's just misleading.

If you use CCE, not REMPEG2 or another encoder, that is.

-Cole

 

[chanfo]

I don't look at this as a war of any kind. I certainly don't consider myself a purists, though I'm sort of a perfectionist. I believe you when you say you don't notice any difference. It is your opinion and your eyes afterall so how am I to judge you differently. Also your video equipment differs from mine so I might not see any difference as well on your equipment.

I'm saying that with my equipment, (>50" widescreen projection, progressive scan DVD) I notice a difference and if you were in my shoes you would probably too, maybe not. The differences when pointed out is pretty evident and not something subtle that would need a double blind test. This is not the same as differences in sound/audio as they can be pretty subjective. But with video you either see it or you don't.

 

[Shippy]

Originally posted by: jeepers94
Shippy,I have and use Decryptor and Ifoedit,but all of us do not have several hours to copy a movie.

If you are not re-encoding the movie, just splitting it (like DVD X Copy does), then it takes about the same amount of time as DVD X Copy. The only thing that takes alot of time is the re-encoding. $100 for 1 click duplication, or $0 & some time learning how to use the free programs for total control.

It's like the argument about Easy CD Creator vs any other copy program. Easy CD Creator worked well for the limited stuff it could do, and it would hold the newbie's hand the whole way. But when they finally wanted a little extra, They would move on to better programs.

Also, ReMpeg (the program) re-encodes look like ass, if that's all you've been using I see why you'd rather split. Cinema Craft Encoder is the only way to do it right. No other encoder can compare.