V 1.0
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LEGAL AGREEMENT AND STATEMENT...... 3 INTRODUCTION ...... 4 The free software we will use: ...... 4 User Pre-requisites ...... 5 System Requirements ...... 5 Windows Vista Installation ...... 5 Note on Compression of DVD Contents ...... 6 Backup Methods to be Used ...... 7 Legend ...... 7 Install Software ...... 8 Rip Contents of DVD to Hard Drive Using DVDFab HD Decrypter ...... 8 Introduction to DVD Shrink 3.2 ...... 10 The Anatomy of DVD Shrink for “Full Disc” Backup ...... 10 The Anatomy of DVD Shrink for “Re-Author” Backup ...... 11 Understanding the Size Indicator ...... 12 All Green ...... 12 Green with Red ...... 12 Green with Gray ...... 12 Compressing with DVD Shrink 3.2 ...... 13 Burning the Contents to a Blank DVD Disk Using ImgBurn ...... 19 BURNING TO DUAL LAYER DVD WRITABLE DISKS ...... 23 What does Dual Layer mean? ...... 23 What is a Layer Break? ...... 23 Media ...... 23 Burn Speed ...... 23 How to burn to dual layer Media ...... 24 CONFIGURATION ...... 34 Configure DVD Shrink ...... 34 Configure the Book Type in ImgBurn ...... 39 Using ImgBurn to Change the Book Type ...... 40 Changing the Book Type for DVD+RW Media After Contents Are Written ...... 45 Trial and Error ...... 46 TROUBLE SHOOTING ...... 47
LEGAL AGREEMENT AND STATEMENT
PLEASE CONSIDER THIS A LEGAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOURSELF (THE END USER) AND THE PUBLISHER AND/OR AUTHOR OF THIS GUIDE. If you do not agree with any part of this agreement, do not follow the instructions cited in this guide and destroy any copies (soft and hard) of the guide.
USING SOME AND/OR ALL OF THE SOFTWARE AND/OR INSTRUCTIONS CITED IN THIS GUIDE MAY BE ILLEGAL IN SOME COUNTRIES. It is suggested that you obtain legal advice if you are not certain what the law is in your country as it pertains to the information provided in this guide. If you determine that it is illegal to use some or all of the software and/or instructions cited in this guide, then you are prohibited from using this guide.
THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS GUIDE IS TO BE USED STRICTLY FOR NON- COMMERCIAL PURPOSES.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This manual contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. No part of this report may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informational storage or retrieval system without express written, dated and signed permission from the author and except as set forth below in point 1.
1) One copy of this guide may be printed for your own use.
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher and the author are not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or any other professional advice. If legal advice or other professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
LIMITS OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: The author and publisher of this book and the accompanying materials have used their best efforts in preparing this program. The author and/or publisher makes no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness, or completeness of the contents of this guide, including but not limited to title, non-infringement and the legality in your country. They disclaim any warranties (expressed or implied), of merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose The author and/or publisher shall in no event be held liable for any loss or other damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. You agree to defend, protect against loss, and hold harmless publisher and/or author from any and all claims of infringement made by any party, resulting in whole or in part from your use of this guide.
End users accept full responsibility for their actions and use of the material in this guide. Results that you may get will vary from the examples in this guide as they depend on your knowledge, ability, background and other factors beyond the knowledge and control of the publisher and/or author.
Copyright © 2008 Backupmydvd.com. All rights reserved.
INTRODUCTION
Ever since 2002-2003, when the popularity of DVDs surged and outpaced VHS tapes, people have been building their movie collections. Although people have always collected movies, somehow the popularity of DVD media introduced more consumers to the idea of building a movie library. These people have invested thousands of dollars in growing their DVD collections.
Unfortunately, DVDs are readily prone to damage. They can be easily nicked and scratched, and if you couple this with a finicky player, you have problems. One solution to this problem is to buy 2 DVDs of each title. You can use one and keep one in a safe location. As you can imagine, this is an impractical and costly proposition. The other, more practical way to protect your DVD collection, is to make backup copies for frequent use. This way your original DVDs stay safely tucked away. This guide will show you how to do this, with freely available software that is next to none.
The free software we will use:
This will be used to compress contents, so that they are DVD Shrink able to fit on a standard 4.7GB DVD writable.
This will be used to overcome copy protection and rip DVDFab HD Decrypter contents from a DVD disk to your hard drive.
An older ripping and burning program that is used by DVD Decrypter Ripit4me to rip contents to the hard disk.
This is a facilitator program that uses DVD Decrypter by adding new functionality to it, in order to overcome Ripit4me various copy protection schemes so that a backup can be made. Sometimes this process succeeds where DVDFab HD Decrypter may fail.
ImgBurn This will be used to burn contents to a DVD disk.
It is important to note that backup discs are not guaranteed to work in all standalone DVD players. This is especially true for lower cost and older players. Vendors of DVD backup and DVD authoring software realize that there are just too many variables to guarantee that all backed up and user authored DVDs will play in all stand alone players, although you should rarely have any problems with newer DVD players. If you are thinking of purchasing a new DVD player, make sure it is one that can play a wide variety, if not all writable media.
See trouble shooting section for tips, if your DVD player is not able to play the backup.
User Pre-requisites:
It is assumed that the user of this guide is reasonably computer literate. This includes, but is not limited to:
¾ Knowing how to install computer applications ¾ Knowing how to run computer applications ¾ Knowing how to follow simple directions related to using computer applications ¾ Knowing how to navigate the folders and files on your computer ¾ Knowing how to access and use computer disk drives
System Requirements:
9 Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista (in XP mode) 9 Pentium II 500 MHz or above 9 256 MB of RAM 9 12-15 GB of free hard drive space 9 A DVD+R(W) or DVD-R(W) drive if you wish to backup to DVD disks.
Windows Vista Installation:
For Windows Vista, the software must be configured to be used in XP compatibility mode.
Here are the instructions on how to do that.
1. Right-click on the icon of the program for which you to the change the compatibility mode 2. Select and click on the Properties menu item
3. Click on the Compatibility tab
4. Select the checkbox “Run this program in compatibility mode for:”
5. Select Windows XP from the dropdown list
7. Click on the OK button
Note on Compression of DVD Contents
Most movie DVDs that people purchases for their collections contain between 6GB to 8GB of data written on to a DVD that contains 2 layers (also know as a “Dual Layer DVD”). The longer and more ‘bonus’ filled DVDs can contain up to 9.4GB of data. The standard size of a writable DVD is a single layer of 4.7GB. We need to find a way to fit 6-8GB of data onto a 4.7GB disk. This is where compression comes in. We will use DVD Shrink to do this. The data will be compressed to a level that will allow it to be recorded on to a 4.7GB writable disk.
When we do this, there is a quality compromise we must bear. The more we compress the greater the quality loss. Mild to moderate compression barely makes a difference in the viewing experience. There are 3 ways around this dilemma:
1) We can make various adjustments to the compression of individual components of the contents we wish to back up. For example, we can assign greater compression to special features and menus, while assigning lower compression to the main movie.
2) We can choose the contents that we wish to backup. For example, we may just want to backup the main movie and leave out the special features. Or we can use 2 DVDs; One for the main movie and the other for the special features.
3) We can burn to dual layer media. If we have a dual layer DVD writer, we can use dual layer DVD writable media and backup our DVD to this. This will, in most cases, eliminate the need for any compression at all. The trade off comes in that Dual layer DVD writable media is somewhat more costly than standard single layer DVD writable media and there are more compatibility issues with stand alone DVD players. For this reason, please note, that although instructions are provided for this option, it is not fully supported by this guide.
Backup Methods to be Used:
We will look at 3 different ways of backing up DVDs.
They are:
1. Using DVD Shrink directly with movies that were recorded to DVD before 2005 2. Using a combination of DVDFab HD Decrypter and DVD Shrink for more current titles 3. Using a combination of Ripit4me, DVD Decrypter and DVD shrink if none of the above methods produce satisfactory results.
ImgBurn will be used to burn the output on to DVD R media for all of the above methods.
We will be using DVDFab HD Decrypter to rip the contents of our DVD discs to the Hard Drive. Legend:
Designates an important item to which special attention should be paid.
The sun symbol designates information that may enhance your understanding of a concept. It is suggested that you look at and/or read items marked with this symbol at your leisure.
This designates a decision point. Please read and make the appropriate and/or desired choice.
Note: Symbols may be used in conjunction with one another
BASIC BACKUP
This section will outline the steps required to make a quick, basic backup of your DVD. Install Software:
1. Install DVDFab HD Decrypter 2. Install DVD Shrink 3. Install ImgBurn
At this point you will need to make a decision to see if you can take a short cut:
¾ If you are ripping content that was recorded to DVD in the year 2005 or after, or if you are not sure when the content was recorded to DVD, then continue with step 4 below.
¾ If you are ripping content that was recorded to DVD before 2005, then, if you wish, you may directly rip and shrink the contents from the disk by skipping all steps that involve DVDFab HD Decrypter and going straight to step 3.1 of “Compressing with DVD Shrink 3.2” after reading the “Introduction to DVD Shrink 3.2”. Please keep in mind that this is a bit of a shortcut, but ripping by using DVDFab HD Decrypter is still an option.
Rip Contents of DVD to Hard Drive Using DVDFab HD Decrypter:
4. Launch DVDFab HD Decrypter 5. Insert DVD into disk drive.
DVDFab HD Decrypter will begin reading disk. Once DVDFab HD Decrypter has finished reading the disk, continue with the steps below.
For steps 6-9 see Figure below:
6. Choose Full Disc from the options on the left side 7. Choose the source drive 8. Choose the destination folder 9. Click on the Start button on the bottom right hand corner
DVDFab HD Decrypter will start ripping the contents of the disk onto the hard drive. If possible, avoid using the computer while the ripping is being done.
This will result in a folder within which there will be 2 other folders named “AUDIO_TS” and “VIDEO_TS”. The “AUDIO_TS” folder will be empty. The “VIDEO_TS” folder contains the video information. DVD Shrink will work with this folder in the section entitled “Compressing with DVD Shrink 3.2”.
Once the entire disk has been ripped to the hard drive, you have 2 choices:
Use DVD Shrink to compress the contents so that they may fit on a standard single layer 4.7 GB DVD R disk.
If you wish to keep the contents on the hard drive and no compression is desired, then you do not need to continue further. Note: There is actually a third choice, but it is not fully supported by this guide. Nevertheless, I do give you instructions for your convenience. You can actually burn the ripped contents to a dual layer DVD. The reason that this is not fully supported by this guide is because dual layer technology is still new and compatibility issues do tend to rise more often than single layer technology. Also the cost ratio is about 4 to 1 at this moment. That is to say, that dual layer DVD writable disks cost about 4 times as much as single layer disks. This makes it impractical for most of your backups. You may wish to use it occasionally for special content. One other issue is that there is a dearth of reliable dual layer DVD writable media in the market. There is only one brand that is recommended for dual layer backups and that is Verbatim dual layer DVDs that are produced in Singapore. Other brands of media can be used, but they are far less reliable. If you wish to burn to a dual layer 8.5 GB DVD R disk, then provided that the contents are not greater than 8124MB, I have provided instructions in the section entitled Burning to Dual Layer DVD writable disks.
Introduction to DVD Shrink 3.2
The Anatomy of DVD Shrink for “Full Disc” Backup
The Anatomy of DVD Shrink for “Re-Author” Backup
As you can see that there is only a minor visual difference in the Full Disc interface and the Re-author interface. It’s mostly the same, except that the DVD Browser is now visible as in the figure below.
Understanding the Size Indicator:
The Size Indicator bar lets you know whether or not the contents can fit on to the selected size of DVD. See below for the 3 possible states of the Size Indicator.
All Green:
When the Size Indicator is completely green, it means that the selected contents will fit on the preselected size of DVD with the current compression settings.
Green with Red:
When the Size Indicator has red in it, it means that the contents are too large to fit on the preselected size of DVD. Further compression may be needed or certain contents may need to be omitted or put on a different disk.
Green with Gray:
When the Size Indicator has Gray in it, it means that no compression is required. That is to say, that the selected contents will fit on the preselected size of DVD without being compressed.
Compressing with DVD Shrink 3.2
1. Launch DVD Shrink 2. Perform a one time configuration of DVD Shrink by following the steps outlined in the “Configure DVD Shrink” section. This only needs to be done once. When this is completed, continue with the next step. On future backups, you can skip this step. 3. Click on the Open Files button. Now a dialog box named Browse for Folder will open. Now continue to step 4.
3.1 If opening files directly from the DVD disk then click on Open Disc as in the figure below.
3.2 Now a dialog box named Open DVD Drive will open. Choose the drive that contains the DVD and then click on OK. Now continue to step 4.1.
4. Browse to the VIDEO_TS folder that was produced by DVDFab HD Decrypter and click on OK.
4.1 DVD shrink will now perform a short, preliminary analysis of the contents before displaying them in the main window.
Initial Analysis:
5. Click on the Backup! Button
6. A dialog box named “Backup DVD” will appear. Click on the Target Device tab and select ISO Image File as per the figure below. Under Select target image file, browse to the location where you would like the output saved.
7. Go to the DVD Region tab and select the settings so they match the image below. You don’t have to worry about the Provider ID. If there is something in there, then it’s fine. If not, then do not worry about it.
8. Now click on the Quality Settings tab and select the settings as per the image below.
Note: I normally do not check anything on this tab as it can more than double the time it takes to shrink the content. If you do desire a slightly better image quality then you may check Perform deep analysis before backup to improve quality. Also check Compress video with high quality adaptive error compensation, and in the drop down menu, choose Maximum smoothness. Please note that selecting Maximum smoothness may increase the output size of the file beyond what a standard writable DVD can hold. You would have to do a trial and error process here by going back to the Preferences Dialog box and decreasing the Target DVD size value and trying again. This is why I normally stay away from this, but it is a choice that it available to you. Also be aware that none of these settings will be available if the desired content can fit on to a standard writable disk without the need for any compression.
9. Click on the Options tab and choose the settings as per the image below.
Note: choosing Run the backup in low priority mode will reduce CPU usage by DVD Shrink if you are doing other things while the content is being compressed. You may wish to check Shutdown computer when backup is complete at your discretion. Checking Play sound when complete will do exactly what it says. If you do not want an audio prompt on completion of compression then uncheck this option.
10. Click on the Burn Setting tab and provide a descriptive label for the disc in the Volume Label field. All other options apply to Nero burning software and can be ignored as we will be using ImgBurn to do our burning.
11. Click on the OK button to begin compression. This process will take some time.
Once DVD shrink is done you can use ImgBurn to burn the contents to a blank DVD disk.
Burning the Contents to a Blank DVD Disk Using ImgBurn
1. Load ImgBurn 2. Insert a blank DVD into the drive
You may configure ImgBurn at this point to give you burns that are more compatible with standalone DVD players by going to the section entitled Configure the Book Type in ImgBurn. It is suggested that you do this.
3. Switch to 'Write' mode by clicking on the Mode menu at the top and selecting Write as in figure below.
4. Choose 4x as the write Speed. This is a fairly reliable write speed for most media.
5. Select a file to write by clicking on the File menu and selecting the Browse for file item.
6. Browse to the file created with DVD Shrink with extension .MDS or .ISO
Note: This is a bit of a technical note for those so inclined. The .MDS file extension is created on computers running Windows XP with a FAT32 file system. Since the FAT32 file system cannot handle single files that are greater than 4GB, the file is split into 1GB chunks (see example below) and an .MDS file is created with instructions for burning programs on to how to burn the files. If your Windows XP uses an NTFS file system or if the file is smaller than 4GB you should see a single .ISO file created. That is unless the outputting program is predisposed to output only 1 type of file. Either way, burning by selecting the .MDS file or the .ISO file will give you the same results.
7. Click the Write button.
8. The Write screen will appear displaying progress bars.
Once this is done, congratulations, you have successfully backed up your DVD!
BURNING TO DUAL LAYER DVD WRITABLE DISKS
As mentioned before, burning to dual layer DVDs is not fully supported by this guide, but I will provide you with the basic instructions on how to do so. It is important you read the following information in order to understand the concept of burning to a dual layer disk.
What does Dual Layer mean?
Dual Layer (usually written as “DL”) recordable DVDs have 2 recording layers, one on top of the other. The laser can write to one layer without affecting the other. Dual layer technology gives you double the recording capacity of a single layer disk. Most Hollywood DVDs are recorded on dual layer DVDs, also know as DVD9. For more information of dual layer technology you can go here: http://www.burnworld.com/howto/articles/intro-to-dual-layer.htm The article is a bit dated but it explains the dual layer concept fairly well.
What is a Layer Break?
A layer break is a point on the DVD where the laser switches or jumps from one layer to the next. This is usually noticeable as a slight pause in the movie. This pause happens because the laser is changing layers. It is important to manage or set this point when recording to dual layer media.
Media:
Use only Verbatim DVD+R DL 2.4x media made in Singapore. Do not use DVD-R, -RW DL media for video work.
Burn Speed:
The suggested burn speed is 2.4x. This speed gives the best burns and minimizes data burn errors.
Book Type:
It is important at this time to set the book type for your media if your drive allows it, by going to the section entitled Using ImgBurn to change the book type. This is particularly important for dual layer media.
How to burn to dual layer Media:
Here is the process to burn to dual layer media. Please follow each step carefully. Make sure that you have set the book type of your DVD media if your drive allows it.
1. Open ImgBurn and switch to Build Mode by clicking on the Mode menu and then selecting the Build menu item. See below.
2. You should see the layout below. This is Build Mode.
3. Now we will set ImgBurn to output to the DVD writer. Click on the Output menu and select the Device menu item. See figure below.
4. Under the Destination section (A), select your DVD writer and then click on the browse icon (B) and browse to the VIDEO_TS folder created by DVDFab HD Decrypter. See 2 figures below.
Browsing to VIDEO_TS folder:
5. The Source panel should be populated with path to the VIDEO_TS folder as shown in the figure below.
6. Click on the Calculator icon. This will determine if the contents will fit on a dual layer DVD writable. See figure below.
7. The disk space required will be calculated and the Image Information panel will populated with the required information as per the figure below.
8. At this point the Create Layer Break Position window will pop up. You will need to select at what point in the movie you would like the layer break to occur when the contents are written to disk.
In General:
Select the option with the best rating as per the Legend Panel and one that also has a “No” in the SPLIP column. See figure below. (For further information read the Notes section below the figure).
Notes: The SPLIP column indicates weather a seamless playback is possible or not. A “Yes” indicates that it is and a “No” indicates that it is not. Whether a seamless playback will work for you or not depends on your DVD player; some can take advantage of the seamless playback and others cannot, therefore you may see a slight pause when the laser switches from one layer to the other. This is normal. You should always try to choose the best rated item where there is a “No” in the SPLIP column, unless such an option is not available or you are sure that your DVD player can handle a seamless playback.
Sometimes you will have many options available to you. The same rule applies; choose the one with the best rating as per the legend panel and preferably a “No” in the SPLIP column.
9. Click on the Device tab and select the Write Speed. It is suggested to use 2.4x for best results. See figure below.
10. Click on the Options tab and select ISO9660 + UDF from the File System pull down menu in the Image Options section. See figure below.
11. Click on the Labels tab and choose a meaningful label for the backup and enter it in both the ISO9660 and UDF fields. Do not leave any blank spaces in the Label. Fill them with underscores. See figure below.
12. Click the Write button as per the figure below.
13. The Create a Layer Break Position will pop up again. Click on OK.
Notes: If your DVD player supports it, you may wish to checkmark the Seamless item in the Options section and ImgBurn will try to make the layer break seamless.
14. At this point you should see the window in the figure below. Click on OK.
15. ImgBurn will now start writing the contents to disk. Try not to use your computer for anything else while the contents are being written.
16. When ImgBurn is done writing the contents to the disk, you will see the window in the figure below.
Congratulations! You are now done backing up your DVD to dual layer media. CONFIGURATION
Configure DVD Shrink
IMPORTANT: To quickly configure DVD Shrink, just select the settings so that they match the screenshots for the various tabs. If you wish to learn a little more about the settings, then you may read the notes section of each tab. I suggest you do this when you have some time, as it will help you increase your knowledge and allow you to make more informed choices.
1. Click on Edit and choose the Preferences menu item. 2. The DVD Shrink Preferences dialog box will pop up with various tabs to select from. 3. Preferences tab: Select the settings so that they match the figure below:
Notes:
Using a Target DVD Size of 4.7 GB is ideal as it allows the contents to be compressed to fit onto the most commonly used DVD Writable disk. This, being the single layer, 4464 Mb DVD disk.
We do not need to Hide Audio and Subpicture Streams of Insignificant Size, because as the option suggests, they are very small in size and will have minimal affect on the end result.
A VIDEO_TS folder is part of the file structure of a DVD. It is where DVD menu information and Video files are stored. Selecting Automatically Open the VIDEO_TS Subfolder allows DVD Shrink to access the VIDEO_TS folder created by DVDFab HD Decrypter by selecting the folder that contains the actual VIDEO_TS folder. For example if you’ve used DVDFab Decrypter to rip contents of a DVD disk to a folder named “My Movie”, then DVDFab HD Decrypter will create a folder named VIDEO_TS in the My Movie folder. When we select the My Movie folder in DVD Shrink, it will automatically open the VIDEO_TS folder that DVDFab Decrypter had created.
If you will be using the computer for other things while DVD Shrink is compressing contents, then it is necessary to select Run Analysis and Backup in Low Priority Mode to Improve Multitasking.
4. Preview tab: Select the settings to that they match the figure below:
Notes:
Checking the Enable video and audio preview option will allow you to preview the contents of the DVD before doing the actual backup. This quick preview is handy if you choose not to back up certain audio or video items, especially in the “Re-Author” mode as demonstrated in the videos accompanying this guide. Selecting Stereo under the heading Select audio preview mode suitable for your hardware configuration assures compatibility with the computer sound systems of the majority of users. If you have a Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound card in your computer, you can choose to select 5.1 channel surround sound value.
Selecting System Default Renderer under Select DirectX video renderer allows DVD Shrink to use the currently installed version of DirectX on your system for video preview purposes. If your computer has a legacy (older) video card in it and you are experiencing issues with the video previews, then it is suggested that you select Overlay Mixer. Selecting VMR-7 or VMR-9 is not suggested unless you are fairly knowledgeable about video modes and video hardware.
5. Output Files tab: Select the settings so that they match the figure below:
Notes:
Selecting the Remove macrovision protection option will allow DVD Shrink to remove Macrovision protection, which in turn will allow you to safely backup the DVD contents to VHS tape or other analog media if so desired.
The Remove P-UOPs (Prohibited User Operations) option when checked will tell DVD Shrink to remove any restrictions on user operations. Examples of these restrictions include not being able to fast forward through certain features (usually previews) and not being able to select audio and subpicture options on the go, but having to go the menu to do so.
Selecting the Remove layer break option will remove the layer break found on dual layer DVDs. The layer break is the point at which layer 1 switches to layer 2. We do not need to keep this layer break since we will be “shrinking” the content to fit on to a single layer DVD.
For our purposes, it is best to split the VOB files into 1GB chunks. VOB stands for “Video OBject”. These are files that contain the video information on a DVD. If you do not have a need for the files to be larger than 1GB, which most do not, the option Split VOB files into 1GB size chunks (recommended) should be selected.
Uncheck the option Logical re-mapping of enabled streams, as it is not required by most users. It is only used, and not always successfully, to remap the subpicture and audio streams in the menu system. It is best not to select this.
6. Stream Selections tab: Select the settings so that they match the figure below:
Notes:
The Stream Selections options allow you to specify which audio or subpicture streams will be pre-selected when you open a DVD in full disk mode or when you drag and drop various titles into the DVD structure pane in Re-Author mode.
Select the audio you would like pre-selected by choosing from the Audio language and coding type drop down menu. You have numerous choices. Since we will already be compressing a dual layer DVD to fit onto a single layer DVD, it is best not to choose all languages, as this will require more room on the DVD and will thus require the video to be further compressed.
Next to the Audio language drop down menu is the Coding type menu. Select AC3 here, as that is most commonly used audio format for movie DVDs. If you wish DTS audio to also be pre-selected then select the All Types menu item. LPCM is rarely used in video DVDs, but is commonly used in music DVDs. Select this if required.
In the Subpicture language drop down menu, select the language of you choice. This chosen subpicture language will be pre-selected when you open a DVD in full disk mode. If the language you selected is not actually available on the disk, then all languages will be pre-selected.
Selecting the Disable all subpicture except menu and forced streams option will exclude all subpicture streams from being pre-selected. Use this only if you do not care for subtitles.
7. File I/O tab: Select the settings so that they match the figure below:
That completes all the preliminary configuration settings. Please save your changes by clicking the OK button and shut down DVD Shrink at this moment.
We are now ready to shrink the contents with DVD Shrink.
Notes:
Uncheck the Overlapped Enable I/O option as the improvement in performance is questionable.
Uncheck the Read 32KB blocks as once again the improvement in performance is questionable.
Leave the Check RPC2 drive region code when opening a DVD option checked. The only time you may want to uncheck this is if you are having difficulties related to the DVD region code.
We do not need to select Enable burning with Nero as we will be using ImgBurn to do our burning.
Leave Always erase non-empty RW media without prompting as is. This option is grayed out and is only enabled if we choose to burn with Nero.
Configure the Book Type in ImgBurn
First, a little bit of information:
What is a Book Type (also know as bit setting)?
In simple terms, setting or changing the book type of a DVD writable is a way to make standalone DVD players think that you are playing an original DVD rather than one you burned as a backup copy. This will increase the compatibility of your backup with the standards set for standalone DVD players.
This only applies to DVD + R, +RW and particularly to DVD + R Dual Layer (DVD+R DL ) media and not DVD-R or DVD-RW media (on occasion you may see DVD-R and –RW media listed as book type changeable items, but it is not suggested to do so, since a workaround is used and is not always successful) . Our goal is to change the book type of a DVD+R, +RW or DVD+R DL to that of a DVD-ROM, since original DVD Movies are DVD-ROMs. This is done by writing bits of data to a specific area of the DVD+R media so that it is seen as a DVD- ROM by the DVD player.
The ability to change the book type is dependent on your DVD writer. Some drives do not support this feature and thus the book type cannot be changed. You can see if your drive has this capability by looking through the documentation, researching on the internet or by trial and error as will be explained shortly.
Using ImgBurn to Change the Book Type
At this point we will assume that you know the manufacturer of your DVD writer and that it allows for the book type of your chosen media to be changed.
Note: if the book type can be changed, then for DVD+R media, dual or single layer, the book type must be changed before data is written. For DVD+RW, it may be changed after, but it is still advisable to do it before.
Note: If you do not feel comfortable changing the book type, then you may leave the book type as it is. Your computer will still play the backup DVD, but compatibility with standalone players may be decreased. Ultimately though, even if you are successful at changing the book type, there is no guarantee that that the disc will work with all standalone DVD players, especially if they are low cost or older models. That being said, most modern DVD players should not have a problem playing any type of burned disks. At this point it should also be mentioned that many current DVD writers automatically set the book type to DVD-ROM for DVD+R Dual Layer media, but it is still advisable to go through the procedure below, just to make sure.
1. Start up ImgBurn and go to the Tools menu and select Drive and then select the Change Book Type… item. As an alternative to going through the menu, you may click on the little book icon in the bottom right hand side. See figure below.
2. You should see the Change Book Type window as in the figure below.
Note: There only a handful of drive manufacturers that produce product for most of the electronics and computer industry. So you may not see the exact manufacturer of your drive listed here, but chances are, depending on your drive, it’s one of the manufacturers in the image above that has produced your drive, although it may have been branded with a different name. For example, my drive is branded as Sony, but I found out that this particular model was produced in conjunction with NEC (NEC supplied the chip that runs the drive); therefore I chose the NEC tab to see if I was able to change the book type. If you don’t know who the actual manufacturer of your drive is, you can perform the trial and error procedure discussed further down.
3. Go to the tab that represents the manufacturer of you drive and click on the Change For drop down menu. Select the media you would like to change the book type for. In this case I will be changing the book type for DVD+R DL media. See figure below.
4. As you can see in the figure below, the Current Setting for DVD+R DL media is the same as the media itself, that is, DVD+R DL. This means that when this media is inserted into a standalone DVD player, it will be recognized as DVD+R DL media, and depending on the player, it may refuse to play it. We want to change this so that it is recognized as DVD- ROM media.
To do this, click on the New Settings drop down menu and select the DVD- ROM item.
5. Click on the Change button. See figure below.
6. If the change is successful then you will see the following window. Click on OK in the “Success” window.
If the change is unsuccessful then you will see the following window. Click OK in the “Failed” window. This means that you cannot change the book type for the selected media on your drive. For example, I am able to change the book type for DVD+R DL media on my drive, but I can not change the book type for DVD+RW media. This is just something that is built into the drive.
7. Click on OK in the main Change Book Type window.
Congratulations! If you got the “Success” window in step 6, then you have changed the book type.
Changing the Book Type for DVD+RW Media After Contents Are Written
If you wish to change the book type of a DVD+RW after contents are written to it, and your writer is capable of changing book type for this media, then follow the steps outlined below:
1. Click on Change For pull down menu and choose the item marked as Current Media (For DVD+RW Media) or one marked with -Temporary for your media. If neither of these exists, you will not be able to change the book type after burning. 2. Click on the New Setting drop down menu and select the DVD-ROM item. 3. Click on the Change button. 4. If the change is successful then click the OK button in the “Success” window. 5. Click on OK in the main Change Book Type window and you are done.
Trial and Error
If you do not know the manufacturer of you DVD writer, then you may go through trial and error to determine this. This is how it’s done:
1. Click on any of the manufacturer tabs, such as NEC, LITE-ON, LG, etc… 2. Select the media you wish to change the book type for in the Change For pull down menu. For example, select “DVD+R DL” media if this is what you wish to change the book type for. 3. If, when you make this selection, the Current Setting field displays “Unknown (FAILED!)”, as in the figure below, then you are on the incorrect manufacturer tab. Move to step 4.
4. Repeat the above 3 steps for each manufacturer tab until the “Unknown (FAILED!)” no longer shows, and instead, the actual current setting is displayed, as in the figure below. This indicates that either this is the manufacturer of your drive or that the chip that controls the book type in your drive is from this manufacturer. Therefore, this is the manufacturer you should use. This should not happen for more than one manufacturer.
If the manufacturer still cannot be determined or the book type cannot be changed, then just leave the book type as it is. Chances are that your drive simply does not allow the book type to be changed.
TROUBLE SHOOTING
In this section we will look at some common issues you may come across. Most of the solutions to any problems you may encounter can be solved just by reading the entire guide and watching all the videos. The answers are in there, and it’s quicker than having to wait for a reply back from support, that may, or may not solve your issue. If after having read the entire guide and watching all the videos, you still cannot find a solution, then please feel free to contact support.
Issue(s):
DVDFab HD Decrypter Has Trouble Reading DVD Disk and Can Not Properly Load Content.
Resolution:
This is usually due to scratched, dirty or damaged disks. If the disk is dirty, you can try cleaning the disk with a soft cloth, so that any smudges are removed and try again. If the disk is damaged, you will need to replace the disk and try again.
Issue(s):
DVDFab HD Decrypter Has Trouble and/or Fails to Rip Contents to the Hard Drive
Resolution:
This may be due to a previously unknown version of a copy protection scheme that prevents the contents from being ripped to the hard disk. This should be resolved by using the latest version of DVDFab HD Decrypter. If this does not resolve the issue, you may have to wait for the next update of DVDFab HD Decrypter.
Issue(s):
DVD Shrink 1) Does Not Properly Load Content and/or 2) Does Not Properly Encode Content and/or 3) Hangs During Encoding
Resolution:
This may happen if you are trying to rip and shrink content directly from the original DVD disk, without first ripping with DVDFab HD Decrypter. There are some newer DVD content protection schemes that DVD Shrink will not be able to overcome. In this case it is advisable to first rip the contents to the hard drive using the latest version of DVDFab HD Decrypter and then compress with DVD Shrink.
If DVD Shrink is still not able to properly load or encode the content from the VIDEO_TS folder then you may try ripping the contents to your hard drive as an .ISO file when ripping with DVDFab HD Decrypter as in the figure below. Then use DVD Shrink to compress the contents. Open the ISO file by clicking on the File menu and choosing the Open Disc Image menu item as per the second figure below. Once again, please make certain that you have the latest version of DVDFab HD Decrypter by visiting http://www.dvdfab.com/free.htm
Open image file (.ISO or .MDS) with DVD Shrink.
Issue(s):
ImgBurn Does Not Recognize Inserted Media
Resolution:
There are many reasons this may happen. Some of them are obvious while others are not so. I will list all of them below:
1) A DVD is being inserted into a CD drive. Please verify. 2) A writable DVD is being inserted into a DVD ROM i.e. A read only drive. Please verify. 3) The DVD media being inserted is incompatible with the DVD Drive. For example, you may be inserting DVD-R media in DVD+R drive. In this case you must make sure that your DVD drive can handle the type of media you are using. To do this, you need to select the drive you are going to use in the drive drop down list and then go to the Tools menu, select Drive and then select Capabilities (or alternately you can right click on the drive drop down list and choose the Capabilities menu item from there). This will bring up a list of media with checkmarks next to the media that is compatible with your drive. See figures below.
The following item will pop up:
4) The speed specification of your media does not match the speed specifications of your DVD writer. In this case, check the disc information area of ImgBurn. This area will be populated once media is inserted into the drive. See the figure below:
Issue(s):
My DVD Player Is Not Able to Play the Backup Copy.
Resolution:
To increase compatibility with DVD players you should make sure that:
1) You use excellent media, such as Verbatim or Taiyo-Yuden, among others. 2) The firmware of your drive is up to date. 3) You use lower burn speeds to make backups. No more than 4x is recommended. 4) You experiment with different media, to find one that works best for you. 5) You change the book type of your media (applies to single and dual layer DVD+R, +RW media only) to DVD-ROM is your drive allows it. See the section entitled Configure the Book Type in ImgBurn.
Issue(s):
On Playback There Are Skips, Jumps, Pauses and/or the Image Turns Into Large Multicolored Blocks.
Resolution:
This is normally due to using damaged and or inferior media. Check for scratches and peeling of the reflective material, especially around the edges. It is essential to use high quality DVD writable disks to get good backups. It is advisable to use some of the better known brands of media, such as Sony, Maxell, Taiyo-Yuden, Verbatim, Ricoh, etc…. I must stress once again, that using high quality media is a must when making backups.
Issue(s):
Pixels Become Readily Visible When There is Fast Motion. This is Also Known as Blockiness or Pixelation.
Resolution:
This is most often due to too much compression. The less compression that is applied to the original content the less blockiness there will be in the backup copy. In this case it is recommended that the main movie be backed up on a disk of its own, and if desired, the special features backed up on a separate disk. See the video “Creating a Custom Backup” for instructions on how to do this. As a word of advice, it is suggested that to avoid pixilation the original contents should not be compressed to more than 75 percent of their original size.