Burning a DVD

Yup, unless you have a dual layer DVD burner, you can only burn up to 4.7GB. I'm not sure about splitting it into 2 DVDs, but assuming this is a movie you can use DVD Shrink (you'll have to google, I can't recall the url) to take out junk you don't need (eg, audio for other languages) and compress the video enough to make it fit. I've never noticed a lack of quality in the copies.

Ive tried DVD shrink before but couldnt get it to do what I wanted... I wasnt impressed. But I just finished reading a how-to guide for it, and it still sounds like a great piece of software... Ill have to try it again tonight.
Thanks!

Most often when DVDShrink fails (in my experience) it either gives me a "cylcic redundancy" error or a "navigational" error. A solution that almost always works for me is to use 'DVDFab Decrypter' from...

http://www.dvdidle.com/free.htm

Basically, all you have to do once that program is downloaded and installed, is use it's function to rip only the main movie (or full disc, whichever you choose) and then using "Open Files" in DVDShrink, select the folder holding your freshly ripped movie. From there, the compression options should be automatically set by the application so you can then simply compress/rip it to another destination folder. Once this is done, using a program like Nero to burn these files should work and fit on a standard 4.7GB disc.

In order to burn that much data, you probably need a dual-layer burner, dual-layer media and a DVD writing app capable of burning dual-layer DVDs.

One or more of those three are missing from the equation, and so you can only burn 4.7GB. I suspect your problem is not software-related, as I've used Nero previously to burn DL DVDs.

Quote:

Original post by Ravuya In order to burn that much data, you probably need a dual-layer burner, dual-layer media and a DVD writing app capable of burning dual-layer DVDs. One or more of those three are missing from the equation, and so you can only burn 4.7GB. I suspect your problem is not software-related, as I've used Nero previously to burn DL DVDs.

Yep, I know for a fact my DVDs are 4.7 gig.
And apparently my Burner is not dual-layer, since it knew my maximum burnage was 4.7 gig even before I put the blank DVD in the drive.

I checked out dual-layer burners and apparently theyre expensive, slow, only support +R (not -R yet), and potentially less stable. To be expected from new technology, I suppose.

Anyway, yes it seems like using DVDshrink or similar software to cram 9 gigs worth of data onto a 4.7 gig disk is definetly the way to go for me.

Sometimes, when DVD Shrink fails, it is because of disk protection (there are several forms of it, and new kinds come out once in a while). The best program you can use is DVD Decrypter to remove the protection. Of course, this depends on two things, if the disk is larger than 4.7 GB (if you don't have dual layer) and if the disk has protection DVD Shrink cannot handle.

DVD Dycrypter (using file mode) -> to hard disk
DVD Shrink (open files dvd decrypter spit out) -> backup location... removing any junk you don't want/need.. increasing compression, reauthoring, etc.
Nero -> burn video disk (copy all the files from the backup location to the Video directory for video dvd).

Sometimes, there are even newer forms of protection that dvd decrypter doesn't remove. There is a program called vob blanker I've had to use recently to help backup one of my disks, that can take the output of dvd decrypter, and get it ready for dvd shrink. But, if you don't need to shrink the output for burning, you can take the output of dvd decrypter and burn it directly to dvd video disk.

Another route, depending on what you need or want to do... is, you can instead of burning a regular dvd video disk, and take the video and convert it to xvid or another superior video codec than what is used in normal dvds (mpeg 2). But, most dvd players will not handle xvid/divx (mpeg 4). You can use various things to play that (mythtv, media center, your own computer, what ever).

The best, and I mean best place to disscuss/research video backups is http://forum.doom9.org/ .

Hope I could be of some help... Backing up a DVD can be a pita... especially when the video size of the original disk is large and you do not use dual layer disks. You often have to use a higher compression that can negatively affect video qaulity. Which is why I mentioned the xvid route.

OOOh speaking of codecs that begs another question:

Most dvd players Ive encountered play all store bought/ commercial quality DVDs, but tend to choke on burned stuff.

Im wondering, if I use DVDshrink to compress the DVD, will this cause the burned DVD to fail in these cheapo dvd players? Or will DVDshrink preserve whatever goodness it is that commercial quality DVDs have, that allows them to be played in even the crappiest DVD players?

If you have had problems reading burned disks from DVD players, then your problem is likely:
1) The DVD player cannot handle the media itself (perhaps a +/-R DVD compatibility issue)
2) You created a Video CD with a format/spec your DVD player could not handle
3) Your DVD burner is not good or burner computer setup is not ideal (running out of memory, not able to keep burn buffer sustained, etc). If your computer still plays the disk with no problem that you burned, you should rule this out.

Since, standard DVD's are using Mpeg 2, and all DVD Shrink does is increase the compression of the Mpeg 2 stream... It does not change the codec itself, so any DVD player should still handle to video. Any problems refer to above... at least, in my limited experience.