DVD2DVD/CCE ? Burn to single DVD-R?

[MDesigner]

I've been browsing/searching the forum for a bit, just learning about different options for DVD backup to DVD-R (I just got a DVD+/-RW drive the other day.. woohoo!). I know that the question "what's best?" is not permitted here and I can see why it's a bad idea to ask, plus it depends on the user's preference on how they like their DVDs burned.

My personal preference is to keep all the menus and extras.. everything. Maybe cut out a language or two, and just keep English, and English subtitles (for the hard of hearing) :) Programs like InstantCopy 8 and CloneDVD seem to do fairly well at this, though the quality is noticeably degraded. I'm sure if I burned only the movie itself, the quality would be outstanding. Heck, a movie burned on two CD-Rs in SVCD format (movie only) is pretty great looking, and that's only 1.4GB of space. But no.. I like the menus & extras.

So I was reading here and quite a few people rave about DVD2DVD/CCE. First, a dumb question: there is no DVD2DVD is there? It's just DVD2SVCD, with different settings, correct? A google search took me to the DVD2SVCD site, where I found nothing about a program called DVD2DVD.

Then I found this tutorial.. is this a good one?: http://www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=114252

And lastly, is this even a good solution for someone like me who wants the entire DVD, menus and extras and all that? Or am I better off going some other route? Naturally I want the best quality possible, and it's ok with me if it takes 4-6 hours for the whole process to execute. Quality is worth it.

Thanks for any help!

[snidely]

First, a dumb question: there is no DVD2DVD is there? It's just DVD2SVCD, with different settings, correct?

Yes, that is correct.

Then I found this tutorial.. is this a good one?

Don't know, but try this one:

http://www.mrbass.org/dvd2dvd/

And lastly, is this even a good solution for someone like me who wants the entire DVD, menus and extras and all that? Or am I better off going some other route?

No, DVD2DVD/CCE is for the movie only, but at the very finest quality.
If you need or want to keep all the menus, etc, then you will need to use "The Big Three" (DOITFAST/CCE), but this is considerably more complex, but once again is the best in quality (too much work for a lazy person like me :) ).

[MDesigner]

Originally posted by snidely
No, DVD2DVD/CCE is for the movie only, but at the very finest quality.
If you need or want to keep all the menus, etc, then you will need to use "The Big Three" (DOITFAST/CCE), but this is considerably more complex, but once again is the best in quality (too much work for a lazy person like me :) ).

Hmm, lazy person. OK, I think I'll avoid "The Big Three" then.. :D I'll stick with experimenting with InstantCopy 8, CloneDVD, and DVDShrink until I determine that one of those works best.

[old-hack]

This forum link (http://www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=124578)puts you in touch with dvd2dvd-r and some helpful tips on using it. It does rely on CCE 2.5 for encoding.

[mrbass]

Originally posted by MDesigner
[B] First, a dumb question: there is no DVD2DVD is there? It's just DVD2SVCD, with different settings, correct? A google search took me to the DVD2SVCD site, where I found nothing about a program called DVD2DVD.
yes...the name change still hasn't been decided but if you go to http://www.dvd2svcd.org/ it'll redirect you to http://www.dvd2dvd.org/ so I'm hoping someday it'll be renamed to DVD2DVD.

[Richk50]

DVD2DVD is very easy using mrbass' tutorial and the quality is close to perfect. I hate menus, extras, previews, director's commentary, coming attractions. Movie only. if the movie is good, who needs the other junk. If it's bad Director's commentary isn't going to make it better.

[int 21h]

Originally posted by Richk50
...If it's bad Director's commentary isn't going to make it better...


But if it's good, director's commentary can give you more insight into the movie.. and perhaps make it even better :D

[Kedirekin]

Case in point...

Apollo 13, both the director's commentary (Ron Howard) and the feature commentary with Jim Lowell.

[layer3maniac]

If I'm not mistaken you can include several audio tracks with DVD2DVD.

[Richk50]

"Case in point...
Apollo 13, both the director's commentary (Ron Howard) and the feature commentary with Jim Lowell."

Ok. There may be a few extras that have some value, but the vast majority of the time most of the extras are junk.

[Kedirekin]

Now that I agree with - most extra's are junk. But there are lots of exceptions.

Another extra I'd hate to loose from my backups; anime voice-over outtakes. They're a hoot.

[twinches]

@MDesigner

Another option for you is to put the Main Moive on one DVD-R and put all of the extras on another DVD-R. I know your goal is to fit it all on one. But I was thinking the reason you might not want to split it was because you don't want to split the main moive. I like to have the main moive all on one disk so I don't have to get up and change out disk. But then I also like to keep some extras. So I can use either CloneDVD or the new DVDstripper (which does a better job)to remove all of the extras from the disk and then process just the main moive with all of the menus intact to fit on one disk. Then I go back and remove the main movie from the dvd and make a disk with just the menu's and extras on it. Then buy the dual DVD cases to put them in. This way you get top quality on the moive since the extras are not on the same disk.

[Big EZ]

Can the DVD2DVD/CCE method be adapted at all to include the main menu? With all buttons but "Play" disabled of course.

Mr Bass's method is superb no doubt. I'd just prefer to have a menu even if it has no real options.

[layer3maniac]

No, go with the Big Three.

[int 21h]

If its not a multi-pgc movie, you could simply use CCE in conjunction with IFOUpdate and MenuEdit to achieve movie only + main menu with disabled buttons.

[syzygytec]

I am trying out a few guides to create DVD backups before actually purchasing a DVD writer.
A couple of questions on the Mr Bass DVD2DVD guide.
I have come up with a nice technique for doing SVCD now that I like and want to know if there is any unforseen to me problems in throwing a couple steps from that process I follow.

1) Can I still use D2SRoBa plugin and simple uncheck Max Bitrate?, and audio after and conditional sizing pass
2) Any problems if I still want to use FACAR? to crop
as I see it from my view point these 2 things could only improve the MrBass guide.