Has anyone bought those dvd-to-vcd copying programs adv. by email?

[lonewolf454]

I am always getting emails from a few companies about anyone can copy dvd now. all you need is a cd burner", better than vhs quality", etc, etc. I was just wondering is anyone familiar with these programs? I am wondering becuase these are fee-ware programs not freeware like dvd2svcd. What are they using for encoding? Hmmm, hard to believe it would be better than dvd2svcd.

Why would anyone pay for a program that does no more or less than dvd2svcd?

Happy new year to all...

[UltimateDBZ]

I would never use them, mainly because they suck. Badly. :D

[ux-3]

Originally posted by lonewolf454
Why would anyone pay for a program that does no more or less than dvd2svcd?

Well, the ability for intelligent and selective reading isn't far spread among the internet crowd, as many post in other forums show.

Also, without an encoder, DVD2SVCD won't get of the ground either. Either supported encoder is not available for free, unless you steal it or violate the conditions of use. So really, you compare two different things.

[lonewolf454]

ux-3, my bad. What I am trying to do is get input about those programs that are tyring to be sold for 49.95. Are they just front end, or entire suite, or what? I know, TMPGenc is no longer freeware and CCE, less the logo in the corner, is never freeware. But rest of programs are public domain I believe and DVD2SVCD puts all the applications to gether with its frontend. It has to be the best available to all of us unfortunate to have a dvd burner.

Has anyone used any of those 49.95 all-in-one so called vcd burners? And if so, what is quality? I know when I started making vcd with Smartripper>DVD2AVI>TMPGenc they looked liked hell. So much better nowadays thanks to dvd2svcd. I just cant believe a 49.95 program could do all that the mighty expensive cce can do and what speed!

[ux-3]

Originally posted by lonewolf454
I know when I started making vcd with Smartripper>DVD2AVI>TMPGenc they looked liked hell.

Well, if your vcds did, then don't blame the programs. I've used that stuff too, and the results would be near cce, but the efford wasn't near dvd2svcd. If its not a VCD quality issue in general, then you must have made mistakes in your settings. Tmpgenc doesn't fare so poorly at low bitrates, not at all. In fact, in my experiments with bitrates below 1000, tmpgenc really tops cce. (or at least it doesn't go belly up)

As to the other programs, I think you can get DVDX for free or trial, and it has an encoder alongside (atrocious when I tried!).

[lonewolf454]

I was not blaming the programs. As you stated, and so many others state, TMPGenc is NEAR CCE quality. Near does not mean equal to. I was definitely green in those days (year and half ago) so yeah there was still alot of room for improvement. I dont encode movies at 1000 kbps either because result would look like hell anyway with a full movie. I always go around 2100-2200 avg with 2756 max. All movies now look better than vhs quality and some NEAR dvd quality. This is using CCE 2.50 with 5-pass vbr. When I used tmpgenc, I was max at 2200 i believe and 192-224 audio. TMPGenc did work with my old PII processor, but hell it took a day and a half to do one movie and it was all pixelised after it got thru. Thank God for Pentium 4 and CCE, I can now do a full movie in about 6-8 hours start to finish.

Just thought I would explain that I was not by any means blaming those Taiwanese for my encoding problems. They (TMPGenc) have a hell of a program. It is better in one respect, you can easily cut and merge MPEG files with its tools. It does have some nice features and easier to figure out how to get it working than CCE.

Well this is just my opinion I could be wrong...

With all that said, if anyone has comment on the 49.99 programs (not freeware available at various sites, I know about them)that are being advertized, please post comments here. I am wondering how quality and speed compare to DVD2SVCD or similar applications (frontends) for CCE or TMPGENC.

Again, I am by no means criticizing anyones programs here for my shortcomings at learning hands on how to encode these dang movies.