DVD copying

[ruri]

I finally got around copying one of my DVD (Tenchi Muyo to be exact) to better understand how the process works. I'm currently using Gordian Knot.

The whole thing turned out to be somewhat complicated, and certainly alot trickier than copying music CDs, but nothing that any self-respecting geeks can't handle.

It then occured to me I could go down to my local Blockbuster, rent a DVD for a few bucks and copy them. I haven't done it yet, but that certainly is possible.

Has anybody else tried copying their DVDs? What are the problems you encountered and how did you fix them.

[Ioman]

When you copy a DVD does the picture quality look worse? Does it copy over the sound code etc...I assume it is an exact copy to the original DVD?

[dang]

Were you actually using a dvd copier Ruri? From what I understand, normal DVD+RW/DVD-RW discs do not hold as much capacity as normal DVD discs.

Or, where you just copying them to a divx file?

[Entropy]

Originally posted by Ioman
When you copy a DVD does the picture quality look worse? Does it copy over the sound code etc...I assume it is an exact copy to the original DVD?

I just got done ripping the first collection (episodes 1-4) of Neon Genesis Evangelion to disk, and the quality is astonishing.

The qual isnt EXACTLY as good as the original, but its pretty damn close.
You can only tell the qual differences when your viewing the files on a monitor w/ high resolutions. When you send the video to a TV screen, there is ZERO difference.

As for the sound. Absolute perfection in the copy process.
The sound on the Evangelion episodes is 160kbps on the original, and I have it at a perfect 160kbps in MP3 format in the ripped file. (I have a fairly decent 4.1 surround + Sub system, and sound quality is exactly the same)

The only tricker to this is that It took me a good 3+hrs of testing and tweaking to get everything as near-perfect as it is, but after that, no sweat. ;)

Each ~23minute episode fits nicely into an ~135megabyte file. At full DVD picture quality, and full DVD sound quality.

[ECA]

135meg, you could just put them on CDROM...
135,270,405,540,675... 1 700 meg CDROM is 5..

[Ioman]

Originally posted by Entropy


I just got done ripping the first collection (episodes 1-4) of Neon Genesis Evangelion to disk, and the quality is astonishing.

The qual isnt EXACTLY as good as the original, but its pretty damn close.
You can only tell the qual differences when your viewing the files on a monitor w/ high resolutions. When you send the video to a TV screen, there is ZERO difference.

As for the sound. Absolute perfection in the copy process.
The sound on the Evangelion episodes is 160kbps on the original, and I have it at a perfect 160kbps in MP3 format in the ripped file. (I have a fairly decent 4.1 surround + Sub system, and sound quality is exactly the same)

The only tricker to this is that It took me a good 3+hrs of testing and tweaking to get everything as near-perfect as it is, but after that, no sweat. ;)

Each ~23minute episode fits nicely into an ~135megabyte file. At full DVD picture quality, and full DVD sound quality.

is the whole Evangeleon series on DVD? At our local store there are only a couple DVD sets and I dont think they include the last episodes. What is the ending on your version? I used Edonkey and downloaded the whole original series with American subtitles. There were about 4 different endings I downloaded. Great series though btw.

[ruri]

When you copy a DVD does the picture quality look worse? Does it copy over the sound code etc...I assume it is an exact copy to the original DVD?

As far as I can tell, it's a direct digital rip of the source material. I didn't do any post-processing to the video data, although I have successfully Divx it. The sound is also digitally ripped as well. As for picture quality, it looks pretty much the same, at least through a 36" Superflat TV in my room. The difference between my copy and the original is the menu screen since I couldn't copy that.


Were you actually using a dvd copier Ruri?

No. The source player is a Pioneer DVD unit I got at Newegg. The DVD-R is a Pioneer DVR-A04. I use Gordian Knot to rip and process the data. I use DVD-R because I understand it is far more compatible with stand-alone DVD players than the DVD+R format.

I have also Divx the file, but seeing how there's no stand-alone Divx capable player, that is not an option right now.

Ripping the VOBs is no big deal; in fact, it's rather easy. The problem arises when I try to sync the Japanese audio track (track #2) and the American language subtitles to the video track since I prefer subbed over dubbed. The syncing process is a major PITA.

[Entropy]

Originally posted by ruri

Has anybody else tried copying their DVDs? What are the problems you encountered and how did you fix them.

I ran into some problems when ripping Evangelion with the subtitles and the picture quality, one of which I fixed almost completely.

-First was the subtitles.
Those puppies are overlayed onto the screen during normal DVD playback in sync with the picture and audio. However, the subs are not actually in the video itself, they originate from a seperate source. This leads to my problem...
The problem I had was that the subs would only show up approximately 1/2 of the time when characters on screen were speaking. (there would be a load of dialogue but no subs would appear on screen, this wasnt a problem during normal playback from the original, just with the ripped files)
-This problem I didnt fix. I just compromised and ripped the English dubbed version instead of the Japanese w/ subs.(i like japanese w/ subs better than dubbed)

-The second problem was picture quality.
DVD's playback video in 720x480 resolution. So I assumed that in order to get full DVD quality from them that I needed to rip them at 720x480 resolution, this is NOT the case. In fact, it takes a resolution thats a bit less than 1/2 of that in order to get full quality.
--When I ripped the DVD's @ 720x480, they came out... ah... fairly good, but not as good as I wanted it, and definately not that close to DVD quality. At the time I decided to settle with it.
--Later on I was making audio quality test files (trying different audio codecs for quality to size ratio). I figured that I didnt need full 720x480 video when I was only testing sound out. So I lowered the res down to what FLASK mpeg (my rippin utility) had as default. Which was 352x288.
--When I was done ripping my 7min test file, and opened it up to listen to the audio quality, I nearly pissed myself at how friggin great the video quality was as well! It was TONS better than when I had ripped the files at 720x480!

Long story short. Having learned my lesson I will continue to rip future DVDs at 352x288 instead of 720x480. This gets me the best quality, smaller files, and faster rips.
I dont know why the quality is so much better when you rip it at a smaller res, but it is. :P

[Entropy]

Originally posted by Ioman


is the whole Evangeleon series on DVD? At our local store there are only a couple DVD sets and I dont think they include the last episodes. What is the ending on your version? I used Edonkey and downloaded the whole original series with American subtitles. There were about 4 different endings I downloaded. Great series though btw.

it ends with the most common ending "movies".

Death & Rebirth.