Am I still "On the right track"?

[Spirit Wolfe]

As I was reading in this post:

http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?t=27802

I have a couple of other questions about what is the best method for ME...

I have purchased, awhile back,the AVS4YOU Software Suite and, because they are based in the United Kingdom they have to follow, I believe, the same rules and regulations that the United States does when it comes to copying encoded DVDs. This is the "reasoning" they are apparently "giving to me". So, within their help section they turned me onto Slysoft's AnyDVD and as I was reading/paging through the SlySoft.Forum it got me thinking...has anyone extensively utilized most or all of the AVS4You.com's Suite of programs?

If so, I am wondering how much further I can alter or "shrink" my DVDs and still obtain a good viewable movie. By using the "Rip Video to Harddisk" option of AnyDVD I am averaging between 3~8GB per movie depending on the quality of the movie (and I am further guessing how many audio tracks there are) on the initial rip, correct?

For example, I have copied Mamma Mia (Region 1) to my harddisk and it happened to also include an English audio track that has a sing-a-long karaoke-style version. I would like to keep both of those audio tracks for that particular movie, which I know I can but is it really worth keeping more than one audio track in the long run?

I guess what I am asking, for the most part, is that if I re-rip my movies to take out the excess "fat" to make it a "leaner" movie with the best possible output is the 5.1 Dolby Surround audio track really the best selection to keep versus the Stereo 2-channel? (I mean I know, obviously, that 5.1 surround sound is better but does anyone know for certain that if I select it as my default versus the 2-channel stereo audio that when I playback the movie I won't loose sound altogether?) I know that when I replay my movies the majority of the time it will be either at someone's home or my non-HD analog 25" TV or on my PC system which I have quadraphonic (2/2/4.1) sound anyway. I have 7.1 channel surround sound card but I do not have the speakers yet for the full use of the card. I just want to make damn sure that when I re-transfer the movies to my DVD+Rs I know ahead of time I won't be loosing audio in the transfer because I do not have a lot of extra money to keep re-buying DVD+Rs because I screwed up!

So, my next (more refined) question is: by selecting only the 5.1 dolby audio track will the audio still be okay when playback is on a system with only a 2-channel stereo card or TV or, not to mention, using a portable multimedia player, like Creative's ZEN X-Fi Wireless WiFi player?

Let me apologize, in advance, if my questions seem redundant. I don't mean for them to be.

 

[Webslinger]

By using the "Rip Video to Harddisk" option of AnyDVD I am averaging between 3~8GB per movie

Yes. The rip from Anydvd is completely uncompressed.

depending on the quality of the movie (and I am further guessing how many audio tracks there are) on the initial rip, correct?

"quality" doesn't have any bearing . . .

For example, I have copied Mamma Mia (Region 1) to my harddisk and it happened to also include an English audio track that has a sing-a-long karaoke-style version. I would like to keep both of those audio tracks for that particular movie, which I know I can but is it really worth keeping more than one audio track in the long run?

If you're using a single layer blank and don't have enough room, then my answer to that question is no.

I guess what I am asking, for the most part, is that if I re-rip my movies to take out the excess "fat" to make it a "leaner" movie with the best possible output is the 5.1 Dolby Surround audio track really the best selection to keep versus the Stereo 2-channel?

Yes, provided you have a 5.1 audio setup

(I mean I know, obviously, that 5.1 surround sound is better but does anyone know for certain that if I select it as my default versus the 2-channel stereo audio that when I playback the movie I won't loose sound altogether?)

If you have a 5.1 speaker setup, then no, obviously.

If you don't, your equipment should be able to downsample to 2 channel stereo provided you've selected proper settings. If your equipment can't downsample 5.1 audio to 2 channel stereo, then yes, you will be losing sound during playback.

When you use Clonecd, by the way, the size of your blank disc must be at least equal to the size of the original disc. Clonecd doesn't compress video.
Clonedvd does.

When you compress video, you lose picture quality.

 

[Spirit Wolfe]

When you use Clonecd, by the way, the size of your blank disc must be at least equal to the size of the original disc. Clonecd doesn't compress video.
Clonedvd does.

When you compress video, you lose picture quality.

First, what is the average size MPAA Movie Region 1 DVD disc?
Is it equivalent to a 9.4GB DL DVD? Because I have noticed that because of the CSS encryption the true size of the DVD movie is not always accurate.

Second, before using CloneDVD do you need to have AnyDVD installed and discs already ripped with AnyDVD because of the CSS encryption? Or does CloneDVD remove the encryption on-the-fly as well?

Finally, does it help to match the input file variables with the output target variables when converting a uncompressed DVD movie to lets say an MP4 file? (The variables are: frames/second, bits/second, size of video input versus size of video export.)

In other words, if I want to create a "Master" digital copy of my DVDs on one of my harddisks without taking up almost 8GB of HD space per movie.

 

[Webslinger]

First, what is the average size MPAA Movie Region 1 DVD disc?

no clue

But most are larger than a single layer blank disc.

Is it equivalent to a 9.4GB DL DVD? Because I have noticed that because of the CSS encryption the true size of the DVD movie is not always accurate.

Whatever Anydvd reports is accurate

Second, before using CloneDVD do you need to have AnyDVD installed

Yes

and discs already ripped with AnyDVD

No

Or does CloneDVD remove the encryption on-the-fly as well?

no

Finally, does it help to match the input file variables with the output target variables when converting a uncompressed DVD movie to lets say an MP4 file? (The variables are: frames/second, bits/second, size of video input versus size of video export.)

I don't convert video, typically, so you'll have to ask someone else.

 

[Chris Gonzales]

Copying Movie DVDs without compression loss

Hi Spirit Wolfe,

AnyDVD runs in the background dealing with the protections while you actually copy the referring DVD with CloneDVD.

If you're no fan of compression there is a CloneDVD function that may interest you.

You can burn a large DVD-9 movie to two (or more) normal DVD-5 blanks without quality loss.

To split a long DVD movie title click onto the scissors icon in the preview menu ("Title Configuration" scene in CloneDVD, on the left). There you can adjust the chapters you want to copy with the two triangles. The orange section will be read in and burned to the DVD.

You have to read in the DVD twice (first half, then second half). Don't forget to preserve the menu each time if you're planning to keep several audio streams.

 

[Spirit Wolfe]

...if you're planning to keep several audio streams.

Speaking of multiple Audio streams... Is there any way to to permanently set the 5.1 audio stream of a DVD movie so as when I convert the movie to another format (i.e. - MP4) it doesn't default to the audio stream that has the subtitles turned on (evoked) ???

Dealing with huge movie files I ended up snagging the english audio stream that happened to be the subtitle stream! Which took me 9 hours to convert A Knight's Tale to MP4 format. :doh:

With AnyDVD is there a permanent way to set the default audio stream to the 5.1 audio stream without the subtitles! :bang:

 

[Spirit Wolfe]

Is there any way to set a default Audio Stream?

I had actually asked this question in another thread that I created. But I wanted some more input on this and maybe it could help other people in the process with slower computers.

Is there any way to set the default audio stream to 5.1 surround (or whatever) so that when you go from ripping your DVD movie to your harddisk and then straight to another conversion, like .mp4, you know, for a fact that, you won't be getting one of the other audio streams like what happened to me with A Knight's Tale?

You see, I accidentally compressed the English audio stream... with the subtitles turned on! :doh:

It took me 9 hours to compress that file to! :bang:

 

[James]

I had actually asked this question in another thread that I created. But I wanted some more input on this and maybe it could help other people in the process with slower computers.

Is there any way to set the default audio stream to 5.1 surround (or whatever) so that when you go from ripping your DVD movie to your harddisk and then straight to another conversion, like .mp4, you know, for a fact that, you won't be getting one of the other audio streams like what happened to me with A Knight's Tale?

You see, I accidentally compressed the English audio stream... with the subtitles turned on! :doh:

It took me 9 hours to compress that file to! :bang:

Sure. Rip the DVD using CloneDVD2 and select whatever you need. Or use CloneDVD mobile.

 

[damnskippy]

Just to make sure we are on the same page, AnyDVD does not do anything with audio or video. If you rip the DVD to the HD you get all or nothing with no changes other than removing the encryption etc. You can set default streams in CloneDVD though I am not sure about CloneDVD Mobile.

 

[Webslinger]

I had actually asked this question in another thread

Do not post in nor create multiple threads about the same thing, please. Click the link in my signature, and read fully. Thank you