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craigthomas · Feb 27, 2003, 02:23 AM

Anyone have any experience with the DVDbackup applicaton to make copies of DVD movies?

Seems like an easy solution to making copies of DVDs with a SuperDrive. Only problem is that the DVD file sizes end up being larger that 4.7GB. Any recomendations on how to get the files to fit or which ones to remove?

http://www.wormintheapple.gr/macdvd/DVDbackup.html

JB72 · Feb 27, 2003, 03:45 AM

The files I get from DVD Backup are more than 4.7GB. What do I do?

How can I copy DVDs that are larger than 4.7GB?

How do I split a large DVD into smaller DVDs each under 4.7GB?

The answer to all these questions is that we cannot help you beyond what is in the ReadMe file which is included with DVDbackup. Please do not ask.

carnagex2000 · Feb 27, 2003, 04:30 AM

I recommend not using DVDBackup, since it does not give you an option for size, try an application like Forty-Two (its simple, drop and drag) It allows you to save at Full quality(DVD-DVD) 1/2 1/4 DIVX VCD and others.

http://homepage.mac.com/kaicherry/index2.html

BTP · Feb 27, 2003, 05:19 AM

DVD Backup is excellent for DVD's that are smaller than 4.3GB. Bigger than that, you are out of luck with DVDBackup.

If you are looking to backup a DVD on a DVD-R, you need to make the files smaller so they will fit. Forty-two is the only one that I know will do this easily.

Hozie · Feb 27, 2003, 11:43 AM

It probably won't help you much as you need a PC for this, but the best way to do this in a time-efficient manner (which excludes forty-two to me) is to do the following:

1) make a copy using DVD backup
2) shrink the copy using DVD2ONE on a PC (takes about 30 minutes only!)
3) burn the movie in Toast

voil�, instant DVD copying in under two hours... (versus 10+ hours for 42)

craigthomas · Feb 27, 2003, 02:02 PM

Originally posted by Hozie:
It probably won't help you much as you need a PC for this, but the best way to do this in a time-efficient manner (which excludes forty-two to me) is to do the following:

1) make a copy using DVD backup
2) shrink the copy using DVD2ONE on a PC (takes about 30 minutes only!)
3) burn the movie in Toast

voil�, instant DVD copying in under two hours... (versus 10+ hours for 42)

Sounds like a nice way to go. I tried to download it to my VPC 6 disk but i keep getting errors when i try to insall the .exe program. To bad there's not a Mac version of it. Man, I feel I'm so close here.

Hozie · Feb 27, 2003, 03:14 PM

Yeah, I'm afraid it won't work in VPC... All we can do is for DVD2ONE to be ported to the mac... You might wanna check out the mac video forum on www.dvdrhelp.com as well, loads of people there trying to do the same thing... Good luck mate!

craigthomas · Feb 27, 2003, 06:18 PM

I assume that you have done this before. If so, and you are using a Mac and a PC, are you then sending all the files over to the PC and back to the Mac again? If so, are you using a FireWire disk for both or Ethernet? Thanks for the info.

Hozie · Feb 27, 2003, 07:44 PM

You can do both... I am personally doing it over ethernet, and it works great for me. What I do is rip the DVD on my 12" PB, transfer them to my brother's PC and run them through dvd2one. (I can also do this on my dad's PC by using Remote Desktop Connection). Then, I burn the smaller VIDEO_TS file on my PB in Toast, which grabs the file from my brother's HDD over ethernet on the fly. Works flawlessly... You could do it with a FireWire disk as well, of course, but if you have 10/100 ethernet that works fast enough. A 6 gig folder takes 10 minutes or so to transfer, so it's no big deal to me. And if you use RDC, you don't ever have to get up from your chair. You still need a PC though...

craigthomas · Feb 27, 2003, 10:05 PM

Originally posted by Hozie:
You can do both... I am personally doing it over ethernet, and it works great for me. What I do is rip the DVD on my 12" PB, transfer them to my brother's PC and run them through dvd2one. (I can also do this on my dad's PC by using Remote Desktop Connection). Then, I burn the smaller VIDEO_TS file on my PB in Toast, which grabs the file from my brother's HDD over ethernet on the fly. Works flawlessly... You could do it with a FireWire disk as well, of course, but if you have 10/100 ethernet that works fast enough. A 6 gig folder takes 10 minutes or so to transfer, so it's no big deal to me. And if you use RDC, you don't ever have to get up from your chair. You still need a PC though...

Thanks Hozie. I'm testing it right now. My PC connected to my network only has 6GBs left on it, so I'm using DVD2one without sending the files to and from the PC. Instead I'm having the PC do the work over Ethernet while leaving all files on my Mac. Basically it sees my PowerBook as a HD. The test is done (20min max on the trial).

Have you seen any reduction in quality when it needs do any compression?

Hozie · Feb 28, 2003, 01:49 AM

Honestly, no I haven't see any reduction in quality. I'm relatively anal about DVD quality, so I think I would've noticed. The consensus about dvd2one is that you really can't tell the diff. between the output and the original... It's that great a program!

craigthomas · Feb 28, 2003, 10:15 AM

The free 20 min test version played with no menus on my PowerBook, but it did work. Unfortunately it wouldn't play on my Toshiba DVD player - a very new player. Probably kept looking for the menu. Is this what you experience? Maybe Monsters Inc. is too big to play. Also noticed that it choose the modified full screen version instead of the letterbox which I prefer. Is it the movie or do you experience this kind of thing too? Or is it the trial version not allowing it to do it's thing correctly?