@ fordman
Your comments are invaluable - thanks for taking the time for a quick explanation. In the past (say more than 2 weeks ago - things change fast), I would use Clone CD/AnyDVD to make the dual layer backup, however, and more recently, I use AnyDVD Ripper/ImgBurn as the suggested method with newer protection scheme is to use AnyDVD Ripper first.
Remember that when I'm referring to retaining the original layer break point, I meant the "logical" point within the DVD structure, and not the physical point on the burned disc. To do the latter, the CloneCD/AnyDVD combination is the way to go, but it leaves the remnants of the structure protection intact, e.g. on Shoot 'Em Up, the VIDEO_TS directory would show in excess of 11 gigabytes of files. Unless it is one of those really nasty protections that has shown playback issues on standalone DVD players, this is a perfectly acceptable solution for making a single backup.
I licensed the entire Slysoft Suite (before Game Jackal existed), so I have access to CloneDVD and CloneCD. Until recently I defaulted to CloneDVD/AnyDVD as my ripping solution, followed by PGCEdit and then ImgBurn. After recent observations with CloneDVD 2.9.1.2 removing valid parts of the DVD and reading posts recommending using AnyDVD Ripper for certain titles that CloneDVD was failing on, I too began using the AnyDVD Ripper instead of CloneDVD.
In summary, I like to take the time to remove the protection remanants, mainly to ensure that the title will play in any DVD player in the future. I also use ImgBurn’s custom file date and time feature to make them look as close to the original as possible, and the same with the volume label.
Also - not meaning to be off topic for too long - what is your opinion on changing the layer break to "seamless" in PGCEdit?
My recommendation is to NOT use this feature, and I think PGCEdit warns you of this also. As long as the original DVD author chose a good (i.e. between scenes) location for the layer break, you should never notice any pause when your player switches layers. According to what I’ve read, the primary purpose of the non-seamless flag that accompanies the physical layer break is to signal the player and allow it to buffer data prior to the layer change. Supposedly on some older DVD players if you played a DVD that lacked this flag, the player would hang when the layer break was reached, or would jump ahead once it did change layers. I personally don’t have any DVD players that have this issue, and before ImgBurn that handles this so well, I know I mastered some DVDs that did not have the flag and never saw any issues on any of my players.
It seems that the notion of seamless layer changes was popurlarized by the DVDs that were marketed as “Superbit” editions. Those versions were DVD standard compliant with the exception that they lacked a non-seamless flag for the layer break. Some people reported hang-ups with those on older players. Whenever I backed those up with DVD Decrypter I would delete the .MDS that contained the original layer break information (and the lack of the flag), and burn the ISO with ImgBurn, which would then insert the flag, making the copy DVD standard compliant. I’m not sure why newer players have fewer issues with seamless DVDs. Perhaps they have better/larger buffers?
In summary, I avoid that feature in PGCEdit, but if you have newer players that exhibit long pauses when the layer break is encountered and it annoys you, then you may benefit from using it. If you take the DVD somewhere to play it, you may have an issue depending on the player’s age…
