Quantum Leap ripping problem.

[VWRacer]

In the middle of backing up several of my series DVD's, I noticed a strange occurance. Quantum Leap is the most notable. It is taking far longer to rip a single DVD of episodes, than a Movie title. I can do a movie in about 30 minutes. Quantum is taking an hour and twenty minutes, or more. I can find no explanation whatsoevr for this. I'm using DVD Shrink, and Any DVD. Am I the only one to experiance this slowdown? I've checked everything from DMA to checking all the connections. Insight would be appreciated greatly.

Racer :thanks:

[setarip_old]

Although I don't have a serious answer for you, one could speculate that a lot of the time is taken up by Scott Bakula entering and exiting all those different bodies - especially when he goes in drag ;>}

[VWRacer]

That could be a distinct possibility! That could be a serious problem, never knowing who you're going to be.............

I'm also ripping Pretender, and Due South. South is actually taking longer to rip, than I thought. In native form, none of the discs is any larger than some of my movie titles. Just in case someone wanted to know.

Racer

[setarip_old]

On a more serious note, SUBSEQUENT to noticing this slow ripping, have you again tried ripping a "regular" movie DVD - to see if, perhaps, your ripping time may have since slowed regarding ALL DVDs?

[VWRacer]

You betcha! I did a backup of Freedom Land. Total rip time was 31 minutes.

I'm wondering if, perhaps, the episode disks are compressed to fit a DL disk, and I am trying to compress it even further with Shrink. There are no more than 4 episodes per side. I may give Decrypter a try, and see if the times are any faster.

Racer

That doesn't sound right, though. When I was backing up my Stargate disks, there were sometime 5 eps, with extras, per disk, and I didn't have much more than a 45 minute rip time.

[setarip_old]

I guess there's always the possibility that the DVDs are poorly pressed and difficult to read.

As an experiment, use DVD Decrypter v.3.5.4 to rip the DVDs - and carefullt examine the log to see if there are any required multiple attempts (Default is 20) to read any sectors...

Am I correct in presuming that, in all instances, you're ripping from commercial pressed DVDs? I ask because I've observed that, oft' times, reading burned media is slower than reading pressed media...

[VWRacer]

These are original pressed DVDs. All my friends keep wanting to borrow them to watch, and I just don't like letting the originals out of my grimmy little mitts. So I don't mind letting them borrow my backups.

I have another DVD of Due South to rip, and had planned on using Decrypter. I'll check the log file and see if there is anything amiss. Thanks Setarip.

Racer

[setarip_old]

I have another DVD of Due South to rip, and had planned on using Decrypter. I'll check the log file and see if there is anything amiss.Let us know how that goes!Thanks Setarip.As always, my pleasure ;>}

[VWRacer]

Setarip: I ripped 2 Due South DVD's through Decrypter. No multiple attemps. Surprisingly (?) only 28m59sec, compared to almost an hour on Shrink. Now I have to figure out why the time difference. Decrypter did a little over 7.3gb compared to 4.35 with Shrink. Understandable, as I ripped in file mode, and there is no compression on Decrypter. Back to the drawing board.

Racer

[setarip_old]

Surprisingly (?) only 28m59sec, compared to almost an hour on Shrink.For the reasons you've already stated, this comparison is really of no value.

Now, what you should do, is rip a "regular" movie DVD with both DVD Decrypter v.3.5.4 and DVD Shrink - and compare those times to the "Due South" times...

Is there a reason you didn't try re-ripping the "Quantum Leap" DVDs with DVD Decrypter v.3.5.4 to see if any read re-tries were necessary?

[blutach]

Shrinking time is not only related to the movie's length but also its quantisation rate. Higher bitrate (lower Q) movies shrink easier (and quicker) than vice versa.

I've had shrinks of 90% compression quality that took an hour and one's of 75% that went like the clappers in 20 minutes!

Regards

[VWRacer]

Back with the latest update. Ran a Quantum Leap disk through both Decrypter (31.42m) and Shrink (54.58m). There were no errors at all. However, I may have found the problem in the read rates. Shrink held fast at 2.4, while Decrypter ran as high as 4.4, with and average of 3.2. Perhaps it's time to go for a hacked firmware, instead of NEC's factory settings.

Racer

Courtesy of blutach's reference to quantization rates, I did a bit of homework on the subject. It points more to the need for a hacked firmware. The need for adjusting bitrates is evident. One additional question, if I may. Besides the necessary menus, and episodes, there is a bunch of extra junk. Is there a program to remove the garbage, but keep menu functionallity?

[setarip_old]

Is there a program to remove the garbage, but keep menu functionallity?I use DVD95Copy (Pro) to do this (by simply UNchecking the items) Ran a Quantum Leap disk through both Decrypter (31.42m) and Shrink (54.58m)I see nothing unusual in the two relative times (Both are slow, but that depends on your system capabilities). And keep in mind that DVD Shrink is compressing as well as ripping.

Also, you initially said,Quantum is taking an hour and twenty minutes, or more.This latest test is FAR better than that. I really don't think you have any problem specifically related to multi-episode DVDs versus single movie DVDs...

[VWRacer]

I failed to mention this in my last post. I followed my own recommendation to my customers. I uninstalled Shrink, and reinstalled. Apparently, there was a glitch somewhere, and reinstalling cut over 20 minutes from rip time on the same disk.

Thanks,
Racer

[setarip_old]

The important things are that:

1) You've improved your times

2) You seem to have eliminated any concern about perceived problems specific to episodic DVDs

[VWRacer]

It seems ripping, and burning is a vicious circle. I can ripp in half the time with Decrypter, but it takes twice as long to burn with Shrink when ripping with decrypter. Shrink still has to compress.

I agree:
1. My rip times have improved with Shrink.

2. Now I have answers to a problem, which really isn't a problem. Per se........

As always, my thanks,
Racer

[setarip_old]

As always, my thanksAnd, as always, my pleasure ;>}

[blutach]

To remove extra junk and retain menus, consider VobBlanker (http://jsoto.posunplugged.com/vobblanker.htm) - see link in my signature.

Regards

[VWRacer]

Thanks blutach. I use VobBlanker, but hadn't realized it would also edit.

Racer

[VWRacer]

Found a new bug with ripping with Decrypter, and using Shrink to compress and burn. When finished, if I try to reopen the disk, Shrink tells me there isn't one in the drive. I switched drives, same thing. My computer says no disk. My standalone player plays it just fine. The four DVDs I backed up this way all exhibit the same problem. The one I ripped and burned, using only Shrink, is recongnized just fine. Ideas?

Racer

[Inventive Software]

Restart Windows? Resource hogging's Windows nice thing! I restart after I rip a DVD, cause it clears the memory and refreshes the system. Try it. You may be surprised! ;)

[setarip_old]

Found a new bug with ripping with Decrypter, and using Shrink to compress and burn. When finished, if I try to reopen the disk, Shrink tells me there isn't one in the drive.Sounds like you forgot to exit/terminate DVD Decrypter...

[VWRacer]

I closed Decrypter after each rip. It isn't a major problem. I just re-ripped with Shrink.

Racer

[setarip_old]

My apologies - I should have said, sounds like you forgot to exit/terminate DVD Shrink (or, if I remember correctly, open and close the tray)...

[VWRacer]

Perhaps there is a way of exiting, or terminating, Shrink I'm not aware of. Everytime it finishes burning, it pops the tray open, and I get the dialogue box announcing it has succesfully burned, etc....... Is there another, or should I say proper, way to finalize this little puppy?

Racer

[setarip_old]

Is there another, or should I say proper, way to finalize this little puppy?None that I know of...