best downloadable DVD back up software
 

As per the title, any recomendations as to DVD backup software? Also, what dvd discs are people using for this?

thanks Simon

Personally i think Dvd shrink is a great dvd backup program always an added bonus with the fact that its free as well version 3.2 has just been released very simple to use tried 321's dvdxcopy and all them but had alot of trouble with them.

As for discs well depends on budget ect I just buy grade A DVD-R discs off www.bigpockets.co.uk.

p.s its best to have nero and use DVDshrink as it uses nero's pluggins to burn it directly to disc

cheers
Leslie

thanks leslie

have got nero so will look 4 DVDshrink

cheers Simon

If you take a look on www.videohelp.com you will find several varying guides on back-up softwares and methods.

Personally, i've always sworn by www.dvddecrypter.com and dvd2one, followed by Veritas/Orlogix 'Record Now' as a burning app.

Each to their own though, just find what works for you.


Paul

www.dvdshrink.org

Always used dvd shrink and Nero here....

yay for dvdshrink :D:D

just tried DVDshrink & it works fine :)

cheers chaps

simon

I'm thinking of getting a Pioneer 108, as it's double layer/dual layer, or whatever you wanna call it, will I be able to do a straight backup of my original DVD's without the need to use such program's like DVD decrypter to compress the film as I will then be able to burn onto 8-9Gb DVD's?

Does any one know if DVD Decrypter/DVD2One/Nero etc support 8Gb Disks?

At the moment I can notice a slight drop in quality when watching a backup DVD due to the fact its had to compress the movie to fit it onto a 4Gb DVD, will I over come this by getting a 108 and burn to bigger disks?

Any help appreciated..........and sorry for hijacking the post :)

Good choice!

You still need to decrypt the disc to your HDD (DVDDecrypter).
Some DVDs will still require a minimal compression but the majority of DVD9's will fit on a DL disc.
If they're slightly over 8.5gb, ripping off subtitles and additional audio options should bring them down sufficiently without having to comress the video bitrate.

Yes, yes and yes.

Although, i wouldn't recommend Nero as a burning app. Sonic/Stomp/Record Now DX/Pinnacle are superior burning applications.

Try watching a compressed DVD on a 42" plasma...pixels the size of your thumbnail :D

Yep :)

Disks are still pricey at circa. £4 a piece but post-Xmas, i predict a stable price of around £1.20 per disc.


Paul

Whats wrong with Nero as a burning app? :confused: Always does a good job, n pretty much handles anything you chuck at it.

Nero's main flaw is that it overlooks errors when burning where other (better IMO) appz will fail a disk.

Nero tends not to like a lot of burners either for some reason.

Trying to tell people this though is like farting into thunder. Nero is associated to burning software the same way Norton is to anti-virus and Windows to operating systems.

Pity...

I've been burning with Dr DivX. Compressed, so that a DL disk fits on an SL one, but very good quality and 5.1 sound. Needs a DivX player of course.

Suresh

Ah many thanks for the info Scooby Dooby Blue.

Your right about bigger TV's too. We have a 38" TV and I can notice it more than some of my friends as they say looks ok on theirs but they have smaller TV's so guess it would.

So Pioneer 108 here I come then. I currently use Record Now Max for burning the final film to disk. Never tried nero for DVD's but use it for normal CD-R's and find it works fine but I stick to Record Now for DVD's.

Hopefully the Dual Layer disks will come down soon too :)

DVD shrink - Nero - Pioneer 107 - Ritek 4x disks

not 1 coaster yet :)

For years the Ritek dye has dominated the industry as an affordable/reliable solution.

This has been built primarily on the G03 (1/2x) and G04 (4x) disk but it's all going horribly wrong with the G05 (8x) disks!

Ritek Inc. are resting on their laurels and relying on their reputation to sell their 8x media. Not only that but they are now discontinuing the 4x G04 dye in favour of a Mitsubishi patented 'M02' dye which although similar has a lower Azo concentration (noticeable by a lighter purple writing surface).

The drop in Ritek quality alongside the huge improvement in quaility from Infosmart and CMC will have an immense effect in the blank DVD marketplace.
Once people get over the 'If it's not Ritek, it's not right' snobbery they will realise there are better options available at a lower price.

Nothing stands greater testament to this that the huge success of the Datawrite 8x 'Fuji' dye disks. These have been cheap as chips from the outset and have proven to be fantastic value for money (currently circa 24p per disk).

With blank DVD media already available at the same price as CD-r, i hope that Ritek have decided that rather than invest in 12x and 16x R&D to concentrate on DVD+DL where invariably the future of home DVD back-up lies (in the short-medium term anyway).
In their defence, they certainly produced the first affordable/reliable DL disk under the RiDisc brand.

I'm going on a bit but to finish, don't buy 8x (G05) Ritek just because it's Ritek, there are a plethora of discs out there equally as good and more keenly priced.


Paul

Have to agree about datawrites and riteks, the datawrites wrote at 8x straight out of the box, but the orange 8x riteks needed a hacked firmware upgrade to get the full speed.


I only got 4x option at first, now burn fine with latest firmware.