Rule of thumb for when to use CCE or IC7/DVD2One

[atreides93]

I think I've come up with a basic rule of thumb when deciding whether to use CCE or InstantCopy. If the movie is over 2 1/2 hours, you should definitely use CCE, otherwise you'll probably end up with really crappy results such as artifacts, ringing etc.

I just got a widescreen HDTV set, and looked at some of my backups. I had a 3 hour movie done with CCE (trilight's method) and it looks superb! The quality blew me away. Then I looked at a 3 hour movie that I backed up with InstantCopy, and it was horrible. It looked fine on my older 31" tube tv, but it looks really awful on my new 42" widescreen tv.

I'm going to backup the 2nd movie using the CCE method and compare. I use 2 pass or 3 pass CCE encoding

[MackemX]

LOL, we ain't all rich, there are peasants like me also using this forum

how much is it for CCE and a 42" widescreen HDTV set again?

so another basic rule of thumb to think about is that if you have a spare few thousand £/$ so that you can actually afford to buy CCE & a HDTV (and actually live in a HDTV broadcast country to get a TV, I don't ) then I would suggest you use CCE for your 3 hour movies

we all know CCE is the king of high quality backups (if you don't you should) and boy does it show on the longer films, even 2 hour films or shorter show a quality difference. The difference you will see is in my sig

I wouldn't mind a setup like yours artreides93 , but I'm sure that not everyone can afford the same options as you have so that's why the likes of DVD2One/Instantcopy/DVD95Copy satify the needs of the people who don't have the ability to purchase CCE or the knowledge to use it

have a look HERE at my ULTIMATE dvd tool

p.s. take this as a jest and don't take it personally

[Imperial Zeppelin]

Yes, I use 2:15 as my "without question" cutoff. From 2:15 to 2:30 I'll do an IC copy on a DVD-RW and check it on the widescreen before a final burn. From 2:30 to 3:15 it's CCE, after 3:15 it's usually a second disc...

Not to rub it in, but there's a big difference between the HDTV widewcreen (51") and the normal TV (32"). Many a time I've been satisfied on the 32" only to be very upset with the same disc on the widescreen. I just did a "Q Files" project using InstantCopy for all six of the STNG Q episodes with the exception of the first and last episodes of the entire series. I used 2 channel sound to save space, and the disc looked fine on my 32". However, the second I started looking at it on the widescreen the blockiness became very apparent, so it was a rework onto 2 discs. So if there's a HDTV widescreen in your future, you should reconsider your back-up strategies, at least when to use which program.

My $0.02...

Zep

[MackemX]

if you guys have those setups and means you would just use CCE in every case cos I'm sure I would

if you spend so much on your playback system then use InstantCopy for your backups it just defeats the object of having such a top quality playback system in the first place

I would maybe use Instantcopy for the menu/extras and then use CCE for the main movie and then merge the two like has been suggested in a guide I have seen here. In fact if I had that playback system I would want the highest quality for the movie so then I'd just backup the movie only and pull out the original if I wanted the extras etc

agreed it will not be that much of a difference on the smaller films but the difference is still there regardless of how good or crap your system is

also if you can afford to buy stuff like CCE and 51" HDTV's then can you not either afford a replacement of the mass produced DVD's in case of damage and a spare copy of the rarer titles?

hmmm I wonder

[Imperial Zeppelin]

You're correct to a point, but when you start looking at older movies that either aren't digitally remastered, or had a mediocre remastering done, you really CANNOT tell the difference between the original, CCE or, for shorter movies, IC. So for those cases where the source material is limiting, then one chooses the proper tool for the job.

And there's the "anthology" mentality. We all like to put 15 of our favorite songs on a CD for the car so we don't have to fumble for the fifteen different discs that they came from. I also like to do this with my favorite episodes from some of my TV series, i.e. putting all the Q episodes from STNG on a single disc. I also like things like "funniest moments" DVDs...I've got some great Mel Brooks and Monty Python clips on a disc.

And like you quote, the ultimate definition of quality is what pleases you when you slam the disc into your DVD player...

[MackemX]

very good points as this would be the case with the movie types you point out

I was thinking more along the lines of the masses (people/DVD's)

how about another suggestion as those points you raise made me think about other stuff to consider

If you are trying to reduce the video content to less than 75% of the original video size I suggest you use CCE

obviously 75% is off the top of my head as people will have their own % levels of cutoff. Mine would be higher

in fact the poorer the source the higher the cutoff point should be so this would also affect the cutoff point

so say 85% for poorer quality sources again adjusted to personal preferences. I would probably just use CCE if it was a poor source to keep as near to the original

would this not be a better rule of thumb than just basing it on the length of the movie?