Backing up a TV Series DVD

[Webshark2000]

I would like to make a back-up of a TV series DVD I own. It has several episodes per disc. I basically need to know what tools I can use to rip the episodes and then burn each episode to a 4.7Gb dvd. I don't want to compress the episodes, and I don't mind if the number of episodes on one original disc is more than what will fit onto a 4.7Gb dvd, I just want the quality to be the same.

I'd like to just put the episodes on as chapters, so if you skip to the next chapter, you'll skip to the next episode. I would also like to keep the original audio stream (just the english one) and not have to drop down to just 2-channel audio. I'm thinking there should be a simple and quick way to do this without too many steps since I don't want to compress the video or ad subtitles or menus.

Any help would be appreciated. Here are some dvd editing/ripping/burning programs I have:

DVD Decrypter
Smart Ripper
VStrip
IFOEdit
VOBEdit
DVD2AVI
Mpeg-VCR
Gordian Knot
FlaskMPEG
VobSub
Vidomi
GSpot
Ulead DVD Movie Factory 2
Roxio Easy CD & DVD Creatory 6

P.S. I'm a little new at this so detailed instructions would really help me.

Thanks Again,
Webshark

[Doom9]

How many episodes are on a disc? Normally, they put 4 4x minute episodes on a DVD-9, meaning you can easily split it in two using a tool like DVDFab. This will keep the original chapters though.

You could also demux the video streams and re-author using the DVD authoring program of your choice.. if you just want one or two episodes without a complex menu, that will be very easy as well.

You'll find many authoring and a dvdfab guide on my site.

[Webshark2000]

Some discs have like 6 episodes, some have 8. I wouldn't mind if I could only fit 4 episodes onto a 4.7Gb dvd. I don't know anything about authoring, could you give me some advice on how to do what I'm wanting to do?

Thanks,
Web

[wmansir]

If you don't want any menus (just use your remote to navigate, pick subs/audio):
Use DVD Shrink to Reauthor the discs, with no compression. Here's a good guide:

http://www.dvdshrink.info/reauthor_basic.php


If you want to keep the original menus:

I think the easiest way would be to use DVD Remake. Use DVD Decrypter to rip the dvd to your HD in file mode. The open then files in Remake and "hide" the episodes you want to remove, then delete the buttons for those episodes from the menus. It's very easy with this program, which costs $29.

For a free method you can use DVDStripper to remove the episodes and then use the free version of MenuEdit to delete the buttons. Remake has a much better interface than DVDStripper, and the free version of MenuEdit makes it a bit more work, compared to the registered version of MenuEdit or Remake.

I'm not sure if either of these metods can remove audio/subs streams, if not, you can run your output thru DVDSrhink (full backup, not reauthor) and just uncheck the streams you don't want.

And a third, and most complicated method, would be to use IFOedit. 2COOL has some excellent guides in the ifo/vob editing sub-forum.

Once you have your new DVD files, just burn them with Nero, or use ImgTool to make an .iso and burn with DVD Decrypter.