Best Guide For Dvd9->dvd5

[cinders]

After spending the past 2 weeks reading numerous guides on ripping DVD9->DVD5 I haven't got a clue what is the best method or the best tools to use.

Can anyone advise me WHAT IS THE BEST METHOD and what people favour?

I'm really looking into ripping a DVD9 to DVD5 and keeping only the main menu and film.

Obviously CCE is the best program to use for Encoding, but what about Authoring? Is IfoEdit really needed?

What about burning? Nero, PrimoDVD or are they all the same?

Cheers,
Cinders.

[jdobbs]

It depends on what you want. There are two general schools of thought in ripping for backup: Those who want a duplicate (includes all the extras, menus, etc); and those that just want a movie on DVD-R (with possibly some self authored menus).

To do the duplicate there are two general methods for making them fit on DVD-5 disks -- using REMPEG2 (low quality but easy) and CCE/IFOEDIT (high quality but pretty complex). Both have been covered extensively in this forum. To use REMPEG2 you don't really need an authoring tool beyond IFOEDIT. To do CCE/IFOEDIT you will also need an authoring package in the capability range of DVDMaestro, Scenarist, or ReelDVD (those that can author multiple PGCs in a single VTS and can handle AC3). You can also use SpruceUp for single PGC duplicates.

Reauthoring without keeping native extras is actually easier in most instances, except when you've decided to create some really elegant menus and extras of your own. You can even create a DVD that has no menus (the Movie gets executed as the first play). To reauthor completely you can generally use any authoring package, create your own movies, and then either demultiplex the original audio and video for use, or reencode depending on size. Again I would recommend those that support AC3 (the NTSC standard requires either one AC3 or one PCM audio track and PCM is just too big). Incredibly, some of the really easy to use packages (like DVD Moviemaker) don't support AC3... licensing issues I would assume. Too bad.

[rpa]

For a starter, I suggest you stick with IFOEDIT/REMPEG. Much more easier and you don't need to spend for any authoring software. I've backup more than a hundred dvds with just this method. Of course, you need to study the guide and really learn how to do it but when you get the hang of it, its really easy. And its addictive too!