Sefy's Complete DVD Backup Guide v2.6

The Original Official Guide by Sefy Levy

More Guides:

VirtualDub+LSX / AVI to VCD / DVD2SVCD / ImTOO DVD Ripper / EasyDivX / Complete Guide / TMPGEnc

Introduction!

In this guide, I will attempt to make it as easy as possible to explain how to create a Backup of your DVD movie, This version of the guide is updated to the latest programs and will guide you from Start to Finish in one go! using the most common and freeware programs! and also included is Chaptering, do remember MOST of the settings used here are DEFAULT, I did not make any changes, and if I did have, they are mentioned in the guide. ( * NOTE: This Guide is mainly a combination of segments taken from the Complete DVD Backup Guide v2.6! * )

Programs used in this guide:

Backup/Encoding - DVDx
Chapters - Chapter-X-Tractor
Authoring - VCDEasy ( & ASPI Layer for your system! - use the search for "WinASPI" or scrool to the bottom of the page!)

This guide will be divided into the following sections:

Part 1 - Encoding
Part 2 - Chapters
Part 3 - Authoring
Part 4 - Burning
Part 5 - Troubleshooting

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DVDx

This program can encode to VCD/SVCD and also output to AVI and use external plugins, in this example, it will be used to access the DVD movie directly from the DVD drive to encode the movie using Video-CD format.

Step 1a - Select "Open DVD root" and then select the drive which contains your DVD movie, and select the VIDEO_TS folder and press the OK button when you are done.

Step 1b - DVDx will automaticly choose the longest running program on your DVD, click on the selected title and press the "Select " button, and this will choose that specific title. (* NOTE: Sometimes the special features are longer then the actuall movie! *)

Input Settings step - After you have selected the currect title, set the "Output Frame Rate", and the "Subtitle" and also here you can choose which Audio Track to use from the pulldown menu in the " Audio" settings, when you are done, press the "OK " button.

Step 2 - Press File and then the "Select Output" option, and select the location of the file and also type the name of the filename.

Step 3a - Press the Settings menu and select "Output settings "

Step 3b - Here is where you select the type of movie you want to do (Video CD / Super VideoCD / AVI), and also how to split the encoding if required, in this example i'm used the "Custom chapter" which is located under the "Volume don't exceed" category, this will split the movie in a chapter break point. Also, make sure you remember to click on the "Whole" button so ALL the frames from the movie will be selected, or you will end up with a movie that contains what you last did with DVDx.

Step 3c/3d - This movie has a total of 44 chapters, so i've selected the first 22 chapters for the first Volume, and from chapter 23 to 44 for the second Volume. (* NOTE: Make sure the volume doesn't exceed the size of your media, under the "Selected Size!" *)
When you are done, press the "Close" button, and this will take you back to the previous settings, press the "Apply" button.

Step 4 - After you have pressed the "Apply" button, you will be back in the main menu of DVDx, press the "Encode" button to start.

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Chapter-X-Tractor

This program is capable of accessing the DVD Movie's IFO file and extracting the Chapters Information so it will be used in to create a VCD/SVCD with the same Chapter Points, so when you use the Remote Control you can jump from chapter to chapter.

Step 1a - Load Chapter-X-Tractor (1a) and press the " Open IFO" button.

Step 1b - Select the Movie IFO file which you ripped earlier.

Step 2a - You will now see all the information needed in the " RAW Data" field.

Step 2b - Now Press the "Save data" button, and select a filename for the Chapter Information.

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VCDEasy

A New program that is capable of doing chapters in a rather easy and simple way, and uses all the free tools out there for giving you the best of the best, it's chaptering capabilities are far simple but effective in the last few builds it has added support for the free CDRDao burning tool, and gives you an easy interface for burning the images it created.

Step 1a - Open VCDEasy, and set everything according to your specific movie, and follow the example below.
( * NOTE: Please do not create blank spaces in the Cue/Bin name, as CDRDao may have a problem burning it later on.*)

Step 1b - Press the "Add Files" button and select the first of the two files you encoded earlier.

Step 1c - Change the "Volume Label" to reflect the name of the Movie, and also select the "Bin Output File" location.

Step 2 - On the "Options" tab you can write down the name of the "Album" and also enable the "Use Playback Control (PBC) ".

Step 3a - Press the "Chapters" menu item and Here you can select to import the Chapters for your movie, Right Click to get the popup menu so you can import from Smart Ripper or Chapter-X-Tractor.

Step 3b - Select the "Start offset" and "End offset " for the first part of the movie and press the "Ok" button.

Step 4 - Press the "Go" button, VCDEasy will begin analysing your MPG file and create an Image file for burning.

Step 5a - Go back to "Main" by pressing the "(S)VCD " button, remove the MPG file, and open the second part of the movie.

Step 5b - Change the name of the "Bin Output File", so you don't accidently overwrite the previous file (if you didn't burn it yet).

Step 5c - As in Step 3a and 3b, select the Chapters for the second part of the movie, make sure to start a Chapter after the one you last selected on the previous part (3b), and when you are done press the "Ok" button.

Step 6 - Press the "Go" button again to create the second image file of the movie.

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VCDEasy / CDRDao

Step 1 - To burn the newely created images, first make sure that the CDRDo is set up correctly, go to the "Settings " and select the "CDRDAO" menu item, make sure you select your " CD Writer" and set the speed, and also enable the "Allow Overburn " if you plan on using over 80min CDR media.

Step 2 - Next, go to the "Tools" section and select "CDRDao Tools" from the above menu, here you can "Blank a CDRW " and also select to "Burn a CUE or TOC CD Image" file, you can also select to "Simulate" and not actually burn. Press the " CUE/TOC file" button, and then select the Image you want to burn.

Step 3a - After you selected the first image of the movie (in this case Superman - VCD1.cue) then press the "Burn" button and the writing of the CD will start.

Step 3b - When you are done burning the first part select the second image of the movie (in this case Superman - VCD2.cue) and again press the "Burn" button and the writing of the CD will start.

THE END

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Troubleshooting

In some DVD movies the Audio Track is located on the second track, so you might want to try selecting in DVDx - Input Settings to rip the secondary Audio Track, if you are not sure which Audio Track to choose, open the Chapter-X-Tractor text file and you can check in there.

Make sure when you encode the movie that the correct Settings will be used for your movie, an incorrect Setting will cause A/V sync! and not to mention the resolution will be distorted (if you use PAL on NTSC and NTSC on PAL).

If you are having problems copying the Movie VOB files to your HDD, I suggest you check your ASPI Layer, the ASPI that comes with Windows9x, Millenium are not good for ripping, update them, and Windows2000/XP does not come with an ASPI Layer at all! make sure you download the latest ASPI for your system, you can get the v4.6 for 98/Me/2000XP here! (scrool to the bottom of the page!)

DVDx or any other of the DVD Copying programs are unable to access your DVD Movie, try to first play the disc using any Software DVD Player, and then try to run the ripper.

Because the program always selects the longest running title of the DVD, it might select the wrong title, So make sure the VOB's that were copied are indeed the VOB that belong to the movie itself and not the Extra features (e.g. Pearl Harbor).

For those who want Subtitles, you can select them under the "Subtitle" in the "Input Settings" window.

Best Regards,
Sefy Levy,
Certified Computer Technician.