dead space and firmware

[papajoeb]

hey there, i have two questions actually and they are as folows;

1. i recently purchased a dvd burner and started trying to teach myself the ins and outs of the burning process. i tried a few different apps on a few different file types, but i found i had the best success by following the guide on this site for using clone dvd to back up my own legally purchased dvd's. the only thing is that in the guide it tells you how you can preview the files to delete all the extras and stuff to make more room for the actual movie and therefor have better quality, so i've been doing this, but where i run into problems is in the previews. i assumed that by not including the preview files, it would just skip over them where they would have been or maybe replace them with a second or two of just black screen, but has happened is that if there was a 2 min preview on the original dvd, now i have 2 min of just flickering screen. so my question is, is there any way to get rid of this or at least shorten the 2 min to a few seconds? if not, does removing the video content from these segments create any additional disk space for the movie? cuz if not, i think it actually might be less annoying to leave the previews in.

2. my second question is about firmware. i've been reading in some forums that people are flashing the firmware on their burners and i noticed that there is an available flash for my burner, but before i consider flashing my drive i would like to know exactly what this will do for me. from what i've read i gather that it will allow me to watch dvd's from any region. could i therefor burn to any region? does it allow you to burn faster?

any info would be greatly appreciated!

cheers,
joe

[Dimmer]

Welcome to the forums.

1. First of all, be sure you're using the latest version of CloneDVD 2 (free upgrade on their site). The earlier versions used to replace removed titles with a flickering gray screen, while now it just puts a second of black space. Next, check whether you can preview the extras you want to remove in CloneDVD. If not, that means the extras are stored as menus rather than titles; they do it sometimes with short trailers. In this case, before CloneDVD you'll have to strip these extras in IfoEdit using Menu Extras button. It's a simple process covered in the guides. Basically, on the main screen of IfoEdit you can double-click on each menu to see what it contains, take note of its VobID, strip it with Menu Extras, and replace the original files with the output.

Sometimes it doesn't make sense saving 2 minutes worth of space, so you can simply click Delete Playback in IfoEdit on the extras you don't want to see. They will remain on the disc but will always be skipped.

2. Flashing the firmware is primarily for the purpose of removing region protection. Note that all DVDs you burn are always multi-regional. You won't be able to burn any faster. However, there are some exceptional cases when the drive you bought is actually a better model than it says on the box, and flashing may unlock it's full potential (NEC ND-2100A is an example). Note that flashing is a dangerous operation that could permanently destroy your drive and in any case will void your warranty, so don't do it unless you're positive that you absolutely have to. The good site to learn more about the subject and find info about your particular model is http://forum.rpc1.org/portal.php.

Good luck.