Hi Michael.. Thanks for the reply.. Its something I can't comprehend.. but I'm going to cut and paste. and send it on to her.. Thanks so much for your help..
HELENE [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Turner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, December 06, 2003 1:32 PM Subject: Re: PCWorks: RE; DVD - re-writable > Helene, > > When I began backing up my DVD's, I did some research. I do not remember > where all I went, but I suggest your sister do a Google search. Somewhere I > found a site that had acquired most of the available copy software out there > and tested them. They had screen shots of the results, along with many > details. As I vaguely recall, it pretty much came down to (at that time) DVD > X COPY, which costs, and another program that was free or next to it. I > chose to spend the bucks for X Copy, which has given me free updates ever > since. > > It is more than a bit rough to use, with no help file, but every one I have > showed the results to can not tell the difference between the compressed > copy and the original. As for the compression, commercial disks are double > layer, and right now just about all DVD writers are single layer, so a copy > has to be compressed MOST of the time. The double layer writable disks are > now on the market, and the new writers are supposed to be available next > spring. If there are any out there now, I don't know about it. I also don't > know if any copy programs are ready to use them. > > To copy a DVD, one needs to get into files on the disk, which Explorer will > not view, so the copy program opens up a disk directory, and one has to play > the various "titles" to see what they want to copy. One Title will have > twenty or more chapters, so you know you want to copy that one. The other > titles give you the program control you may want to make your copy work like > the original. Other Titles give previews, absurd interviews and other Value > Added features, which are not worth copying which forces increased > compression. So one must use their copy program to PLAY part of each Title > to see what it is, and check only the ones needed. Then the program copys > the DVD to hard drive, compressing all the way. That takes up to an hour on > standard disks, usually forty to fifty minutes. Then the copy to DVD disk > takes another half hour or more. If one uses their computer a lot, it is > good to have a spare computer for this process, because it is so CPU > intensive that even a network call can cause problems. Some disks I have had > to do several times, taking umpty hours before a writeable version was > ready. Often there is a Title which includes the warning scenes, and it has > the power to cripple the copy process, so that has to be left off the copy. > > One good thing here, is that it is pretty much automatic once the decisions > about which Titles to include has been made. Set it and forget it, until it > is time to change the disk to the writeable platter. The program will wait > for you to finish supper before you do that. Please understand that I > obviously believe in backing up all CD's and DVD's. Especially if one takes > them along when traveling. I had a good friend who did not know about > copying, and lost some irreplaceable Session CD's in a airport terminal. > > Copies, don't leave home without them. > > Mike ============= PCWorks Mailing List ================= Don't see your post? Check our posting guidelines & make sure you've followed proper posting procedures, http://pcworkers.com/rules.htm Contact list owner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Unsubscribing and other changes: http://pcworkers.com =====================================================
