Backups, For Shamoo

[sandt38]

Shamoo inquired via PM about how to make the best quality back-ups possible, no matter how long it takes. I figured with the recent query of pixelation of backups in new high def TVs, with the likelyhood of the issue being DVD backup quality I might try to address this.

I know some of you enjoy DVDShrink, which is a fine program for compressing smaller movies, but once your compression rates get to 15% and higher you will see issues on big TVs.

What's wrong with DVD Shrink?

Over the course of the past couple of years DVD ripping techniques have changed dramatically. Newer "one click" programs have made backing up a DVD a fairly simple process... but there is a significant trade-off. The quality that can be attained by even the best of these programs is poor in comparison to original techniques that used Cinemacraft Encoder, HC Encoder, QuEnc, or other top-notch encoders. The reason is simple. When using one of these encoders the picture is rebuilt from scratch and optimized for the resulting bitrate. One-touch transcoders usually drop DCT coefficients or change quantization info in order to lower the bitrate. This can result in pixelation and poor overall picture quality.

But, they sure are convenient.

That's where DVD ReBuilder (DVD-RB) comes in. This program was built to bridge the gap between the incredibly easy but limited "one-click" solutions and the incredibly complex but high-quality methods of DVD ripping and backup.

Another advantage of DVD-RB when compared to older methods is that it doesn't require access to an expensive authoring package. DVD-RB includes its own reauthoring engine that reconstructs the DVD in a way compatible with its original design.


I think I will begin in this first segment by addressing basic backups, using my preferred programs. I have used dozens of programs and have some knowledge about how to use many of them on the market today, but I have chosen a few favorites that work exceptionally well, and fairly quickly. This is in no way intended to be a sales pitch for any of these programs. Many offer freeware versions, or alternative freeware loads (such as those included in DVD-RB) that will work just as well, which I will be glad to discuss if you wish.

My favorites are
IMGBurn, for burning discs. It is a freeware, and a more current version of the old DVDDecrypter.

DVDShrink. I know, you said don't use it, but it is a freeware, works for encryption and it is a great tool for ripping to your drive. AnyDVD works flawlessly with DVDShrink.

SlySoft's AnyDVD. The best quick stripper on the market. I have only had it stopped once by protection, and I had to break out my big gun (RipIt4Me another freeware), which adds about 1 1/2 hours onto my overall time.

Cinema Craft Encoder (CCE). This is the finest encoder on the market, but the SP version that I use is extremely expensive (roughly $2000). However, their CCE-Basic is an excellent encoder, for about $60. It just has less bells and whistles, but it is still exceptional. You may use one of several freewares loaded with the next program (DVD-RB) in place of this, that work very well also.

DVD Rebuilder (DVD-RB). This comes in both a freeware and a PRO version. I prefer the pro version because it is a very simple one click breakdown, encode, rebuild, .iso converter, and burner tool. It does this by orchestrating several programs to work together, eliminating the need for us to do each step ourselves. While it doesn't rip and strip, it does everything else.

[sandt38]

The first step is to rip the disc to your drive. Many decoders are available today, but the ones I suggest are actually used in tandem. DVDShrink, and AnyDVD. All you need to do is ensure the AnyDVD fox icon is red in your taskbar (so you know it is open"enabled") and it is working in the background, without any help from you. You may click the icon, select the "status" tab, and view the drive the disc is in you wish to backup. It will tell you what is on the disc and what AnyDVD is doing.

You will need to read the instructions on DVDShrink (be sure to set the entire disc to "no compression" since we will use DVD-RB to compress it) and back it up under the heading "hard disc folder" where you have DVD-RBs "source path" linked to (see below for explination of setting this up). ensure the box under the folder name is checked next to "create VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS subfolders" as we will be working with VTS and VOBs to compress, NOT .ISO FILES!!!

For simplicitys sake, I will tell you the folders I have set up on my computer. You may also create the same folders on your computer (provided you have dual drives... be aware I do, you may need to keep them all on just 1 drive (say C for example) for ease of set-up and use. I keep mine in a folder I specifically created for the interim of ripping and compressing:

C:\fulldvd\dvd

Before every rip to your hard drive DVDShrink will tell you that there are already DVD files in this folder, shall I erase them? Of course you say yes.

I will continue this tomorrow, as it is getting late. Any questions anyone might have, please PM me so we can keep this tutorial thread clean untill the guide is complete. I will answer all queries in fairly short order. Please, keep in mind, I rarely use any programs outside those I have listed here. I might need to do a quick rebuild using the programs you inquire about (I have a ton of programs on my computers) so I might take some time responding to questions about specific softwares outside those listed here.

[MrHenryDog]

DVD REBUILDER and CCE are the way to go, and CCE basic is now a free download,(Afterdawn.com / softpedia / ) but takes about 4 times as long as the other apps to encode.

another option you fail to mention is NERO which (with a little knowledge) offfers an excellent all - round package

[sandt38]

QUOTE(MrHenryDog @ Nov 17 2006, 01:56 AM)

DVD REBUILDER and CCE are the way to go, and CCE basic is now a free download,(Afterdawn.com / softpedia / ) but takes about 4 times as long as the other apps to encode.

another option you fail to mention is NERO which (with a little knowledge) offfers an excellent all - round package

I was not aware CCE-Basic was free now. I assume it is a different version then the old one that you had to purchase, because I only noticed about 1/2 hour difference (going from roughly 2 1/2 hours of encoding to 2 hours). Anyways, if it is free I will find it on Afterdawn and link it when I continue this tutorial (and hopefully complete it) with that portion tonight.

**Edit** I checked on Afterdawn and CCE Basic has a free trial with a watermark. Here it is on AD. I suspect the same from Softpedia, which is where I was directed when I bought CCE-SP. I still suspect it is not a freeware, but I am sure everyone interested in a solid encode would be pleased if you could link them, and I would have no issue if you were to offer it up as well. **/edit**

NERO is OK, but I prefer the DVD-RB/CCE package. I have seen too many issues with NERO V.7 to recommend NERO with much confidence. I do have NERO (a V.6 version though and I do have a stripper so someone with V.7 can revert back to V.6 if anyone is interested), but it hasn't seen any use in over a year. As I stated I am going to address my preferred method, but if anyone has a question about other programs I will try to address them.

[sandt38]

Now I will begin to address DVD-RB settings and use for my preferred back-up strategy. I will suggest that you select the "Rockas Origional" skin on DVD-RB, as it makes all tabs readily accessable, where some of the other skins do not. Also, any and all images will be using the rockas skin!!!

I will directly address only CCE and the "settings" tab here, although I will provide an image for all available encoders, and the same basic idea applies for all encoders. Any questions about specific encoders, feel free to ask and I will address them to the best of my knowledge.

First, when loading your version of DVD-RB there will be a window that pops up durring the installer about configuring your commercial encoder. It will include Canopus Pro-Coder, and Cinema Craft Encoder. If you have either software installed in their factory installed folders it will pick them up, and ask if you want their pathways installed. Obviously, you will need to accept this. When you are done, or if you have already installed DVD-RB and want to simply add one of these programs, in your "settings/setup" folder you should see this, and if you don't, simply insert the pathway of the program you will be using.


click image to enlarge

Please note: On this page you will also want to select whatever languages you wish to retain (both spoken and subtitles) by checking the language(s) you want. All languages are enabled as the default setting. Also, you will see the special settings box in which you will choose DTS and Directors Comments removal. I suggest you select "run encoders minimized". I also suggest, for the very best in home theater that you select to maintain DTS Audio and purchase equipment capable of decoding and delivering DTS Audio. It is, without question, the finest form of surround available in the home market today. Don't waste time or money on THX crap, spend that extra cash on high quality DTS delivery!!!

Now that these pathways are set, they will never need to be readjusted. We will then select the "settings" tab again, and select which encoder we will be running. In this case, since we are running CCE, you will access the "CCE Settings" tab, choose your program, and then select the "Advanced Settings" tab. There you will adjust the VBR Bias to 25, Qual Prec to 16 and the VBR Pass to 2. Any more than 2 passes is redundant and doesn't result in worthwhile benefits, as we go far beyond our line of diminishing returns IMO.

Now that we have completed the important settings in our settings tab we will go on to our meat and potatoes of encoding. These settings should NEVER need to be readjusted.

[sandt38]

In this sub-section I will address the main screen settings (In Rockas Origional of course!!!) with regaurds to folder pathways of the encoding we will be doing. I will tell you where to create these folders, and how to list them on the pathway directory.

First, you should have already created a folder entitled C:\fulldvd\dvd in our ripping step, where the full film was saved in this step.

For people with one hard drive we will create these folders, and establish our pathways as follows:

Now, I want you to add to your main hard drive a folder titled DVDRip (so we should have, assuming C is your main drive, the folder C:\dvdrip. In this folder create the subfolder "workingpath" so we have C:\dvdrip\workingpath. Next, in the DVDRip folder we want to create another subfolder called "outputpath", so we have C:\dvdrip\outputpath

Now that all your folders are created and named, it should be easy to see what we will put into the blanks on the main page of our DVD-RB

Source Path: C:\fulldvd\dvd\VIDEO_TS\
Working Path: C:\dvdrip\workingpath
Output Path: C:\dvdrip\outputpath

Those of us with dual drives will create folders and establish our pathways like so:

For People with dual drives, we will create seperate paths for "working" and "output" pathways, leading each to a differant drive. This will increase the speed in which the encoding occurs. Please be the aware outputpath folder must have roughly 10 gigabites of storage.

Now, I want you to add to your main hard drive a folder titled DVDRip (so we should have, assuming C is your main drive, the folder C:\dvdrip. In this folder create the subfolder "workingpath" so we have C:\dvdrip\workingpath.

Next, I want you to go to the secondary drive, and again create a folder titled DVDRip (so we should have, assuming D is your secondary drive, the folder D:\dvdrip. In this folder create the subfolder called "outputpath", so we have D:\dvdrip\outputpath

Now that all your folders are created and named, it should be easy to see what we will put into the blanks on the main page of our DVD-RB

Source Path: C:\fulldvd\dvd\VIDEO_TS\
Working Path: C:\dvdrip\workingpath
Output Path: D:\dvdrip\outputpath

Once again, these pathways should never change once installed. So we are golden here.

However, it is getting late and my eyes are getting tired again! So I will continue with the final settings tomorrow, and then we will be begining our burn!!!

[JolietJake]

Procoder works well also in place of cce. Gives comparable result and can be a little faster sometimes.

[shamoo]

so far so good, i'm still withyou , thanks for this.

[spartanstew]

I tried DVD-RB a few times about 1 year ago. The result was worse than with just shrink alone (burned 2001 a space oddysey) with lots of pixelation. Maybe I was doing something wrong, but even after posting in their forum nobody could figure it out so I gave up. Now, I just stick with shrink and decrypter (and ripitforme and pgcedit when there's copy protection issues), but I only back up movies that have a compression of 85% to 100%. Once the menus and extras are removed, that's most movies. They all look great on my 126" screen.

[sandt38]

Spartanstew,

That was likely more of a result of the encoder you selected to use. All RB does is coordinate the programs to work together, rebuild the encoded files (which in no way alters the files) and direct them to specific directories. I would guess you used the ReJig program included, which is little more than a fast transcoder similar to Shrink. If you elect to use a stock installed program with DVD-RB, I suggest using (in order of personal preferance) HC, which is a high quality encoder, or QuEnc, which is a decent encoder in itself.

Sorry folks, I will continue on this over the next few days. I have been terribly busy doing covers and labels of late. It seems everybody I know wants labels, and most are for spanning sets. . I will have time over the next few days since I am off for the holiday.