Author Topic: Best DVD copying software (Read 2549 times)

rebelwrest · « **on:** May 21, 2007, 12:12:48 PM »

I need some help with picking some software for copying DVDs for game show trading. I will making my DVDs directly from my laptop and have the burner installed on my laptop. I am trying to find some software that will let me pick which episodes to copy off of a DVD. Also I would like to try to pick which episodes that I want to burn onto DVD.

Is it better to copy the whole DVD then just pick which episodes to burn onto a DVD?

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #1 on:** May 21, 2007, 03:46:35 PM »

[quote name=\'rebelwrest\' post=\'152968\' date=\'May 21 2007, 12:12 PM\']Is it better to copy the whole DVD then just pick which episodes to burn onto a DVD?[/quote]
Yes.

clemon79 · « **Reply #2 on:** May 21, 2007, 04:07:05 PM »

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'152974\' date=\'May 21 2007, 12:46 PM\']
[quote name=\'rebelwrest\' post=\'152968\' date=\'May 21 2007, 12:12 PM\']Is it better to copy the whole DVD then just pick which episodes to burn onto a DVD?[/quote]
Yes.
[/quote]
Whyfor...is there a technical reason why this is so? I would imagine that for someone tech-savvy, it would be doable (if more time-consuming) to extract the necessary data and then burn that to a new disc, yes?

(Hence, I ask if that's a "technical" answer as opposed to a "logistical" one.)

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #3 on:** May 21, 2007, 05:37:50 PM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'152976\' date=\'May 21 2007, 04:07 PM\']
Whyfor...is there a technical reason why this is so? I would imagine that for someone tech-savvy, it would be doable (if more time-consuming) to extract the necessary data and then burn that to a new disc, yes?[/quote]
My impression is that you'd have to be very tech-savvy. (And any minute now, someone who IS very tech-savvy will say how simple it is.)

If you have to ask the question, then my feeling is that it's just SO much easier and less time-consuming to simply make a copy of the entire disc.

clemon79 · « **Reply #4 on:** May 21, 2007, 05:55:56 PM »

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'152985\' date=\'May 21 2007, 02:37 PM\']
My impression is that you'd have to be very tech-savvy. (And any minute now, someone who IS very tech-savvy will say how simple it is.) If you have to ask the question, then my feeling is that it's just SO much easier and less time-consuming to simply make a copy of the entire disc.
[/quote]
Absolutely. And you're exactly right, if you _are_ tech-savvy, it's a pretty simple process. (And if you're not, it very isn't. And I realize a lot of people aren't, which is also just fine.) My question, as a tech-savvy person, was whether there was a degradation issue (say, from decoding and re-encoding) or something that I might not have known about. And you answered it. Thanks!

tpirfan28 · « **Reply #5 on:** May 21, 2007, 05:57:28 PM »

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'152985\' date=\'May 21 2007, 05:37 PM\']
[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'152976\' date=\'May 21 2007, 04:07 PM\']
Whyfor...is there a technical reason why this is so? I would imagine that for someone tech-savvy, it would be doable (if more time-consuming) to extract the necessary data and then burn that to a new disc, yes?[/quote]
My impression is that you'd have to be very tech-savvy. (And any minute now, someone who IS very tech-savvy will say how simple it is.)

If you have to ask the question, then my feeling is that it's just SO much easier and less time-consuming to simply make a copy of the entire disc.
[/quote]I'm fairly tech-savvy...and I have no clue. I figured a Freakin' Google(tm) search would yield something close...but I just got more confused.

clemon79 · « **Reply #6 on:** May 21, 2007, 06:35:31 PM »

[quote name=\'tpirfan28\' post=\'152988\' date=\'May 21 2007, 02:57 PM\']
I'm fairly tech-savvy...and I have no clue. I figured a Freakin' Google(tm) search would yield something close...but I just got more confused.
[/quote]
It would probably largely depend on if your DVD-mastering software accepted VOB files as input. If it did, all you have to know is how to rip the chapter you want to a VOB. (Which is not idiotproof-easy, but is learnable, and would be easy once you did it a few times and figured out a method.)

But, yeah, for the rebelwrest's out there, just dupe the whole DVD.

trainman · « **Reply #7 on:** May 21, 2007, 10:51:15 PM »

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'152990\' date=\'May 21 2007, 03:35 PM\']It would probably largely depend on if your DVD-mastering software accepted VOB files as input. If it did, all you have to know is how to rip the chapter you want to a VOB.[/quote]

The open-source Handbrake software can rip individual DVD chapters/titles/whatever to a couple of different formats, including MP4 and AVI, which most if not all DVD-mastering software should be able to handle. I assume there's some sort of decompression and recompression going on somewhere, but I haven't noticed any loss in quality with the DVDs I burn from the Handbrake files versus the originals.

clemon79 · « **Reply #8 on:** May 21, 2007, 11:24:57 PM »

Hmm. It surprises me that Handbrake _doesn't_ support extracting to VOB, since it has to read a VOB anyhow to extract the video in the first place.