[dadu]

The CRUX of ripping and encoding.

With a DL DVD-DVD copy using DVD Decrypter should not be a problem.

But if you want to compress or divide the DVD into 2 DVD's (still cheaper than DL cost) use Ripit4me 1.7.1.0 (which inturn uses DVD Decrypter at the backend) to remove the ArccOS protection.

If you want to retain better quality than use DVD rebuilder with HCenc.

DVD Shrink is a transcoder whereas DVD rebuilder is a reencoder.

Finally use Imgburn (from the author of DVD decrypter) to burn you SL/DL DVD's.

Nothing can beat these combinations(all freeware).

Originally Posted by deepakvrao

If I use shrink I can leave out the extras and I 'reauther' the DVDs to contain only the main title. That way if I put it on a single layer DVD I get less compression and better quality. However if sometimes I use DL blank DVDs then I dont shrink the DVDs.

With direct DVD to DVD, if you use single layer then the compression is from 8.5GB to 4.5GB

[deepakvrao]

Originally Posted by dadu

The CRUX of ripping and encoding.

With a DL DVD-DVD copy using DVD Decrypter should not be a problem.

But if you want to compress or divide the DVD into 2 DVD's (still cheaper than DL cost) use Ripit4me 1.7.1.0 (which inturn uses DVD Decrypter at the backend) to remove the ArccOS protection.

If you want to retain better quality than use DVD rebuilder with HCenc.

DVD Shrink is a transcoder whereas DVD rebuilder is a reencoder.

Finally use Imgburn (from the author of DVD decrypter) to burn you SL/DL DVD's.

Nothing can beat these combinations(all freeware).

Thanks Dadu - all very valid points and I will download these ASAP. OTOH all this does not address the issue where it all works on one laptop but not on the other. Has to be a hardware issue then?

Thanks for the advise anyway.

Whats the difference between a transcoder and a reencoder?

[deepakvrao]

Dell delivered new DVD drive this morning. All in all fantastice service. Complaint on Fri 4pm, acknowledgment on Sat 10am and new drive in my office on Mon 10am.

Seems to be fine on the first DVD that I tried.

[vinayvtec]

Originally Posted by deepakvrao

Dell delivered new DVD drive this morning. All in all fantastice service. Complaint on Fri 4pm, acknowledgment on Sat 10am and new drive in my office on Mon 10am.

Seems to be fine on the first DVD that I tried.

Don't forget to retrun the defected unit in the same box or a good box with in 8 business days.

[deepakvrao]

Originally Posted by vinayvtec

Don't forget to retrun the defected unit in the same box or a good box with in 8 business days.

I was told that they will send a guy to pick it up in a few days?

[vinayvtec]

Originally Posted by deepakvrao

I was told that they will send a guy to pick it up in a few days?

Thats good, I think a person from DHL would be coming... lets wait and see..

[dadu]

A video consists of I-frame(Intra Frame), P-frame(Predictive Inter Frame), B-frame(Bi-Predictive Inter Frame). Intra is the key frame.

A transcoder like DVD Shrink is a software/ device which just evaluates the video and takes away some frames from it in order to fit the defined size.i.e. the compression used is comprimising on the quality by removing the frames.

A reencoder is a software/ device in which the source is read and encoded again to the best quality possible to fit the defined size.

ofcourse if you compress you loose bits, but the way you loose matters for the quality.

Originally Posted by deepakvrao

Whats the difference between a transcoder and a reencoder?

[deepakvrao]

Originally Posted by dadu

A video consists of I-frame(Intra Frame), P-frame(Predictive Inter Frame), B-frame(Bi-Predictive Inter Frame). Intra is the key frame.

A transcoder like DVD Shrink is a software/ device which just evaluates the video and takes away some frames from it in order to fit the defined size.i.e. the compression used is comprimising on the quality by removing the frames.

A reencoder is a software/ device in which the source is read and encoded again to the best quality possible to fit the defined size.

ofcourse if you compress you loose bits, but the way you loose matters for the quality.

Thanks Dadu - that was very informative. Any idea whether DVD Fab is a transcoder or reencoder?