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Whenever I try to make backups of Episode 1 or 2, it always copies and burns fine. Then when I try to play it, there are many boxes on the screen and it is highly pixalated. Anyone have any suggestions?

What are you playing the discs in? Does DVDXCopy include its own burning software, or do you use separate software to burn an image created by DVDXCopy?

cfitz

I burn it with DVDXCopy, it has it's own burning software. I am playing the disks in Power DVD. I have even tried two drives for reading the disks in, and many different disks. Maybe I should reformat and put DVDXCopy on first.

I was going to suggest the possibility of a media compatibility problem if you were playing in your home DVD player, since they don't all support recordable formats well. But your computer's DVD drive shouldn't have any problems with that.

I did have similar problems with PowerDVD when trying to play VCD discs I burned myself. That problem turned out to be an issue with Nero (which is why I asked about the burning software), but one thing I did find was that PowerDVD seems to be pickier than WinDVD, at least in my limited experience. WinDVD played VCDs that PowerDVD wouldn't.

Here I will toss in my all-purpose suggestion for video problems: check out www.vcdhelp.com .

I took a quick look at the DVCXCopy web page, and I have to say there is some hype there about how easy it is to copy a DVD with their product. Copying DVDs is still a difficult task, if the volume of questions at vcdhelp serves as a good gauge. And their statement "Every backup copy you make with DVDXCOPY is EXACTLY like the original. Nothing is compressed or left off the disc." is patently untrue, because dual layer commercial DVD discs contain more data than will fit on a single DVD recordable disc.

cfitz

aviationwiz wrote:Whenever I try to make backups of Episode 1 or 2, it always copies and burns fine. Then when I try to play it, there are many boxes on the screen and it is highly pixalated. Anyone have any suggestions?

Would you recommend DVDXcopy? I am looking at purchasing this software, but as someone has pointed out already...copying dvd movies exactly as the original DVD is impossible since there are dual layered DVD's out there...

How does DVDXcopy handle movies that are longer than DVD-5 discs? Does it prompt you to split the movie into 2 discs?

And how simple is it? Is it as simple as following a wizard?

I read up on the many FAQ's they have on copying movies on www.doom9.net and it seems to be pretty tedious work (although step by step). I am curious to know if DVDXcopy actually goes through the many steps of stripping menus and subtitles and other thihngs to make the DVD fit onto a disc?

Regards,

Khanh M

This is getting a little over my head but: can't you use Smart Ripper to extract the .vob's to your hard drive, then burn them back to the DVD-R? Smart Ripper lets you select the size of the output file, you can leave the original vobs as they are or make 'new' vobs to work with. It will also remove the Macrovision and regional coding if it's present.

My only experience with Smart Ripper is limited to ripping for making a SBC DivX, so I have no experience with burning the vobs back to DVD-R.

The process is fairly automatic. I have a DVD-ROM which I place the original DVD in and a DVR-R(W) which I place the BLANKS in. Most newer movies are dual layer and require 2 blank DVD's. I have only used the program once as I have perfected the manual way and like it much better. True, the video and audio quality are copied without loss. But, they add a "cover-my-a$$" disclaimer to the start of the movie that clearly states it is a "DVD BACKUP" etc, etc. They supposedly make the backup uncopyable (I didn't try) and place some sort of watermark in the video to get you if you actually buy and register this yourself. (can you say keygen) Actually, I have found that using DVD Decryptor to rip, decrypt, demacrovision then use IfoEdit to split the movie VOB's if needed and remove FBI warnings, previews, etc then use Nero to burn the files to DVD works much better. Due to copyright, etc, DVDXCopy cannot remove stuff, only copy. Doom9 and the main IFOEdit site have great how-to's on the subject.

Khanh M wrote:
Would you recommend DVDXcopy? I am looking at purchasing this software, but as someone has pointed out already...copying dvd movies exactly as the original DVD is impossible since there are dual layered DVD's out there...

How does DVDXcopy handle movies that are longer than DVD-5 discs? Does it prompt you to split the movie into 2 discs?

And how simple is it? Is it as simple as following a wizard?

I read up on the many FAQ's they have on copying movies on www.doom9.net and it seems to be pretty tedious work (although step by step). I am curious to know if DVDXcopy actually goes through the many steps of stripping menus and subtitles and other thihngs to make the DVD fit onto a disc?

Regards,

Khanh M

I would not recomend DVDXCopy, if it works I would, but since it doesn't work I simply do not recomend it. It is easy to copy DVD's as it will split them for you and so on and so forth.

Spazmogen wrote:This is getting a little over my head but: can't you use Smart Ripper to extract the .vob's to your hard drive, then burn them back to the DVD-R? Smart Ripper lets you select the size of the output file, you can leave the original vobs as they are or make 'new' vobs to work with. It will also remove the Macrovision and regional coding if it's present.

My only experience with Smart Ripper is limited to ripping for making a SBC DivX, so I have no experience with burning the vobs back to DVD-R.

yeah, but you need to do find a good place to split the movie if it's dual layer. you then have to redo the chapter lists (forgot what it is called)

I use DVDSplit. the guy who wrote it is now working for 321 Studios on DVDXCopy.

texasermd wrote:The process is fairly automatic. I have a DVD-ROM which I place the original DVD in and a DVR-R(W) which I place the BLANKS in. Most newer movies are dual layer and require 2 blank DVD's. I have only used the program once as I have perfected the manual way and like it much better. True, the video and audio quality are copied without loss. But, they add a "cover-my-a$$" disclaimer to the start of the movie that clearly states it is a "DVD BACKUP" etc, etc. They supposedly make the backup uncopyable (I didn't try) and place some sort of watermark in the video to get you if you actually buy and register this yourself. (can you say keygen) Actually, I have found that using DVD Decryptor to rip, decrypt, demacrovision then use IfoEdit to split the movie VOB's if needed and remove FBI warnings, previews, etc then use Nero to burn the files to DVD works much better. Due to copyright, etc, DVDXCopy cannot remove stuff, only copy. Doom9 and the main IFOEdit site have great how-to's on the subject.

From your experience copying DVD movies the manual way...what is the percentage of times that you are required to use 2 discs even after getting rid of the unwanted menus, subtitles, etc....down to the bare movie alone....?

I read the faq on how to do it manually and get rid of the unwanted stuff...but I'd like to get a feel of what percentage of movies require 2 discs even after stripping everything?

Regards,

Khanh M

I tried DVDXCopy v1.3 last night and I backed up "The Patriot" onto 2 DVD+RWs just fine.

if you are having playback issues on your PC, make sure the DVD-ROM is in DMA. also try playing a store bought DVD to see if it plays fine.

Khanh,
You said:
"From your experience copying DVD movies the manual way...what is the percentage of times that you are required to use 2 discs even after getting rid of the unwanted menus, subtitles, etc....down to the bare movie alone....?

I read the faq on how to do it manually and get rid of the unwanted stuff...but I'd like to get a feel of what percentage of movies require 2 discs even after stripping everything?"

From my experience using CCE I NEVER have had to use more then one disc. DVDXCOPY is designed in such a way that is all but impossible to put a movie onto one disc. There are always exceptions but looking at the way it operaties and reading how it says it is going to do it you are almost committed to two discs in most cases.
The manual way will always be the best. Instant CD/DVD was another one but I never had the paitence to complete a backup using that. It usually wanted like 70 hours, etc.

Use CCE you will never regret it..........

Where can I get version 1.3?

I am using 1.2.2 which is the latest on thier site.

OK,

Now I see it on thier site.

I few things I found a little weird with DVDXCopy...

1. it adds a start screen much like the FBI and INTERPOL warnings stating it is a backup copy and not to sell it or the other such stuff. there is a text file in the program's install folder that contains this text. I guess you could edit it to say whatever one would want. humm, wonder how ASCII would show up?

2. after you copy a DVD, you CANNOT copy the copy. what gives? that's a little screwy. I wonder if you were to make an image file of the DVD to and then use a CD/DVD emulator, if it would work with that?

3. it uses the Nero engine to burn. that is a little backwards too.

all in all I have found it works like it says it does. I think I will stick to my latest copy of DVDSplit. too bad it won't be updated any more.

Well I can say that I wouldn't bother with it and just use dvd decrypter and nero...