Copy cd dvd. How to copy video from disc to disc: practical advice. Copy DVD movie

It is possible, and even in several ways.
That is, at home it is impossible to copy a DVD disc one to one, thanks to the multi-layered protection built into the standard.

But you can copy all the useful information from the disk, removing protection, of course.
After the contents of the disk are decrypted, there are several ways to go.

First, you can go "on the forehead."
The film dumped on the HDD is broken into pieces the size of one CD-R disc by any archiver (for example, WinRAR), the resulting parts are rolled onto a CD-R.
Then, when there is a desire to enjoy the recorded film, everything is again copied to the HDD, unzipped, and watched.
Despite the complexity of the process, sometimes it makes sense.

CD burners are much more common than DVDs, so for many, this is the only way to save a DVD exactly as it was recorded on the original disc.

But the most correct way, of course, is to use a DVD recorder.
My favorite deprotection tool, DVD Decrypter can make pre-made ISO images that can be burned with, say, Nero Burning ROM.
The only problem that may arise is the disk size.

All recordable DVD formats today only allow 4.7 GB per side, while dual-layer DVDs, very popular among video producers, can record up to 9.4 GB per side.
In this case, you have to "remaster" the original DVD, and split it into two parts.

In order to prevent illegal distribution of DVD video discs, the DVD Developers Association introduced several protection methods into the DVD specification.
The most common is regional protection.

Its essence is this. The developers divided the world into several regions:

1 - Canada, and the USA;
. 2 - Japan, Europe, South Africa, Middle East (including Egypt);
. 3 - Southeast Asia, East Asia (including Hong Kong);
. 4 - Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central America, South America, Caribbean Islands;
. 5 - Former Soviet Union, Indian Peninsula, Africa (also North Korea, Mongolia);
. 6 - China;
. 7 - Reserved;
. 8 - Extraterritorial zone (airplanes, cruise liners, etc.), but it is practically not used.

Any DVD playback device (including computer DVD drives) currently manufactured must support regional protection, in addition, all DVD video playback software must support similar protection.

Such devices and programs compare the region code recorded on the disc with their internal code each time they play a DVD, and if it does not match, they refuse to play the disc.

To remove protection at the software level, there are several ways.
The easiest is to use a program called DVD Genie.
This utility allows you to change the region code of many popular software players as many times as you like.

However, if it does not know the version of your player program, then it cannot do anything with it.
Then you have to use a program called DVD Region Killer.
She is more radical.

Hanging in the tray, this program creates a virtual driver that intercepts the system's calls to the DVD drive, and gives out the necessary information about the region code.
This technique allows you to "spoof" any programs that ask for this information in the Windows environment.

But do not fool yourself, for any of these utilities to work, you must have a DVD drive with regional protection removed.
The process of checking the code takes place inside the drive, at the hardware level, and if the code does not match, then the disk will simply not be read, and no external program will help this.

The region code on modern disks, as a rule, can be changed no more than 5 times, after which it is written forever, and nothing can be done about it by standard means (such drives are called RPC 2).
However, not everything is so gloomy.

The first models of DVD drives were released without regional protection, and if your drive is slower than 4x, then most likely it does not have protection (such drives are called RPC1).
Starting with 6x drives, protection began to appear, and 10x models are almost all equipped with such protection.

If your drive is equipped with regional protection, then it is possible to find a firmware (this is software that is sewn into the drive at the time of manufacture, and controls its operation), in which the regional protection will be removed (i.e. your drive from RPC 2 will become RPC 1 , so such firmware is often referred to as RPC 1 firmware).

However, such firmware may not exist, so if you intend to use DVDs from different regions, I would advise you to ask before buying a DVD drive if there is an RPC 1 firmware for the selected model, or any other way to make this model region-free.

The only problem is that if you flash the wrong firmware, or if something goes wrong in the process of flashing the correct one, you will be left with a completely inoperable drive and it will be impossible to fix it at home, so be careful.

Removing regional protection from drives can work in several ways.
The drive can be set to region 0, which corresponds to multi-zone drives.
In addition, the firmware can stop the zone change counter, and it will change by 5 times, and as many as you like.

Each of these methods has its pros and cons.
So, for example, with an unlimited number of zone changes, no one can tell you how many write cycles the microcircuit in which the zone is stored will endure.

On the other hand, I wouldn't worry too much about it, usually the DVD drive dies before the resource ends.
With the 0 zone set, there are no such problems, even in theory.
But there are problems with some discs using RCE (region code enhancement) technology.

Its essence is that the disc checks the region, and is played only if it matches.
Which method is used to remove protection from a particular drive, you can find out in the instructions for removing the regional protection of this particular drive.

Introduction

Today, drives that can write DVD discs from the category of exotic, worth crazy money, are moving into the category of quite ordinary devices, and the army of happy owners of DVD recorders is growing rapidly. A recordable DVD can be used for a variety of purposes - from archiving data to recording home video on them. But, almost every owner of such devices sooner or later asks the question: why not copy a regular DVD-video disc. However, such a desire, although quite natural, is at odds with the same natural desires of the producers of those same DVD-video discs, which are interested in just the opposite, so that their discs are not copied. Moreover, they are not only passively interested, but also actively prevent this with the technical means available to them. I won't go into the what, why, and how from a moral or legal point of view for a long time. You can understand both users and manufacturers. I'll just talk about the technical side of things. And how the reader decides to use this information is the reader's own business :-)

And what, exactly, are the problems?

This question is often asked by people far from DVD. After all, there is a DVD disc, there is a DVD burner, put one into the other and copy to your health. But, in fact, it doesn't work that way. The problems that a person who decides to copy a DVD will face can be divided into three stages.

Stage one. Protecting the original disc

As you can see in our PC-DVD FAQ, DVD Video has been designed with the utmost care to protect its content. Protection is multi-level, and is designed to solve several problems: it is the inability to watch a disc in another region of the world, earlier than it goes to cinemas (and concurrently allows you to sell the same film in Europe twice as much as in America and Canada, although Hollywood it is not recognized that the factor was taken into account at all when creating regional protection), and the impossibility of unauthorized copying of DVD contents by any method.

Stage two. Dimensions

Current DVD recording standards, regardless of the specific format, allow for a maximum of 4.7 gigabytes per side. That is, even if you see a proud inscription 9.4 gigabytes on the box with a recordable DVD, know that you will not be able to record such a volume of data IMMEDIATELY. Only two times 4.7 gigabytes. Which, you see, is not at all like 9.4 gigabytes once. But a huge number of industrial DVD discs are double-layered, which means exactly once up to 9.4 gigabytes. You don't need to be a math genius to understand that 9 gigabytes in 4.7 is not so easy to cram.

Stage three. Recording

While DVD video is fairly standardized, there is a huge difference in how the disc is recorded. The method by which files are written to a large extent determines how compatible your disc will turn out. There can be many reasons why different programs and methods have compatibility problems, but the main one, in my opinion, is one. The DVD Alliance does not give away its specifications for free. You have to buy them, and they are not cheap at all. Some DVD software developers cannot (and some may not want to) afford it, so everything they know about DVDs is often obtained solely by Reverse Engineering. I'm not saying that this is bad, on the contrary, thanks to such people, we have a bunch of very high-quality and inexpensive (and often completely free) useful programs and utilities. But alas, this does not guarantee that the files or disks obtained with their help correspond to each letter of the specification. As a result, not all "home-made" DVD discs can boast of high compatibility with stationary DVD players. In general, when talking about the incompatibility of a hospital with a "home-made" DVD (no matter what format, DVD-R / RW or DVD + R / RW), it is extremely rare that this incompatibility can be of two types.

Firstly, it happens that the DVD player's drive is simply physically unable to read the disc being recorded (this happens very rarely with new players. But if it happens, then nothing can really be done here). Secondly, it happens that the player can physically read the disc, but the hospital software is not able to deal with the logical structure of a disc that is not quite correctly linked or burned (but this is much more common, and the problem can be solved). Usually, testing of players is limited to slipping him an unknown how mastered and incomprehensibly recorded disc, if the player refuses to read it, then a thoughtful conclusion is made about the player's inability to work with this type of recordable DVD at all. But I had cases when I "revived" hospitals, which, according to the assurances of the owners, were checked and rechecked, and were not able to read DVD-R in any form, simply by slipping it a properly made disc, which, to the surprise of others, began to work perfectly: - )

Stage one. Protecting the original disc

They began to struggle with the protection of DVD video discs even when the recordable DVD was so exotic that few people seriously thought about copying discs to DVD. But even then people were worried about the problem of copying the contents of a DVD to a computer hard drive. The main problem along the way was CSS (Content Scrambling System), a technology for encrypting disk content. The essence of this technology is that the contents of the disk are encrypted using a key that consists of several parts. One part is stored on disk, and depends on the second part, which is stored in the drive's firmware. If the content is not decrypted, then instead of the video there will be a hodgepodge of colored squares. Copying a protected disc 1 in 1 with modern recording drives is impossible. The key is stored in the service area, which on modern recordable DVDs (again, regardless of the format) is tightly registered during the production of the disc and cannot be rewritten. This was done on purpose, and precisely in order to exclude the possibility of copying protected discs.

But, as I already said, they started fighting this "scourge" a long time ago, and today this technology has been worked out almost to perfection. In copying a DVD of any complexity, DVD Decrypter will help us. This program can do quite a lot, and in order to decide which of its functions to use, you must first study the contents of the DVD. More precisely, its total volume. You can do this either using the usual Windows tools, or directly from DVD Decrypter. To do this, you need to put it in the file browsing mode (menu Mode - File, or just press F), and select all the contents. The volume will be shown in the lower right corner of the program window.

Depending on what we see, we decide whether it is possible to copy the disc without additional tricks (and then we immediately turn to the final part of the article, which talks about how to burn a DVD), or something needs to be done with the size. What, and how exactly?

Stage two. Dimensions

• Method one. Throw away all the "superfluous" (additional materials, unnecessary audio tracks, and the like).
• Method two. Divide the contents of the disc into two parts, and write to two discs (or from both sides to one double-sided, if there is one).
• Method three. Shrink somehow the contents up to 4.7 gigabytes.

As is usually the case, each of the above options can be performed in several ways and with different programs. In this article, we will look at a few of them.

DVD video disc structure

Before copying DVD video discs, you need to understand what exactly they contain. One concept that often confuses beginners is that for modern DVD video discs there is NO linear relationship between the length of a movie and the size it occupies. Therefore, you should not pay attention to labels like SP120min, which can be found on some recordable and rewritable DVD discs. On the vast majority of modern DVD discs, video is recorded with a variable bit rate. This means that the amount of data per second of (for example) video varies depending on what you want to show. That is why any length/volume calculations made for a constant bitrate (where you always know exactly how much data is required for one second of video) on DVD video discs usually do not work. At all. And if we take into account that additional audio tracks, the format of these tracks, the presence of additional video (which is necessary for the multi-angle option), also affect the volume, it becomes completely clear whether the film will fit into 4.7 gigabytes, focusing only on for its duration, an absolutely pointless exercise. And you need to figure it out by studying the contents of the disk directly.

There are three types of DVD files: IFO, BUP and VOB. In VOB (Video OBjects) files, as in archives, a whole set of data is stored: video, sound, subtitles, and all this may not be in one copy. IFO and BUB are auxiliary files containing information about what and where is inside VOB files, and in what order it should be played. Of these, IFO (InFOrmation) is the main file, and BUP (BackUP) is just a backup copy of the IFO file. Since the IFO file contains information about a specific VOB (or a set of them), it must be named exactly the same (with the exception of the extension, of course) as the VOB related to it. The names of the files that can be on a DVD are standardized no less rigidly than the formats of the files themselves. This is done so that stationary DVD players (devices that are not very intelligent) can figure out what's what. The first file accessed by the player is VIDEO_TS.IFO, which is located in the VIDEO_TS directory. This file may or may not match VIDEO_TS.VOB. If there is a VOB file, then it usually contains formidable warnings about the ban on copying the contents of the disk, and terrible punishments for those who do not obey. Sometimes there you can see the screensaver of the company that released the disc or film. And sometimes you can not see anything, because as I said, the presence of a VOB file called VIDEO_TS is not necessary at all. Next in line are files with names similar to VTS_01_0. They just contain all the interesting things for which the disc was made. The file size on a DVD disc is usually limited to 1 gigabyte. The size of any long movie is much larger, so it has to be split into several files. What belongs to what is easily determined by the names of the files. First digit in the name: VTS_ 01 _1 indicates the video sequence number, and the second VTS_01_ 1 file number if the movie is divided into several files. So, for example, VTS_01_1.VOB and VTS_04_1.VOB are different video files, while VTS_02_1.VOB and VTS_02_2.VOB refer to the same video file. To find out exactly what is where, you need to play the file in a DVD player that can play separate VOBs (for example, PowerDVD of the latest versions). But, usually, everything is clear anyway: the largest set of gigabyte files related to the same video is the movie. The movie itself starts with VTS_XX_1.VOB, VTS_XX_0.VOB usually contains the disc menu.

Stage two, method one. Throwing away all excess

This is the name of a small program designed to work with IFO files. Its main feature is that it is perhaps the only program of its kind that does not ask for money. It is absolutely free. Despite its free, the possibilities of this program are very wide. Their full description is far beyond the scope of this article, so I will limit myself to only those that are directly related to copying. This is:

• The ability to create full-fledged DVD content only from the files that make up the movie itself.
• Possibility to discard unnecessary audio tracks and subtitles from the movie.
• Possibility to divide the film into two parts.

IfoEdit. Create a DVD without menus and additional materials, only from the movie.

Sometimes, in order to fit a movie on a disc, it is enough to throw away additional materials and / or menus. There are several ways to do this. The easiest way is not to write video fragments that are not related to the film to disk (as we remember, a video fragment is a set of three types of files: VOB, BUP and IFO, united by one name). Such a disc can work, along with all the menus, but if you select an item that should call up a missing video fragment, the player will either throw you back to the main menu, or simply freeze. To check the performance of such a disc, use a software player that can play files on the HDD as from a DVD disc (for example, the already mentioned PowerDVD). Another method, and even more effective, is to burn a test RW disc.

But this method, while the easiest, is not the best. Why drag screensavers with company logos, screensavers with threats of scary cars, if the contents of the disk will be used for other purposes (for example, copied)? Why do you need a menu if not all items from it will work? That's right, no need. Moreover, Ifoedit allows you to make a full-fledged DVD from files related ONLY to the movie. All we need is a set of VOB files and its corresponding IFO. For example:

VTS_01_0.IFO
VTS_01_1.VOB
VTS_01_2.VOB
VTS_01_3.VOB
VTS_01_4.VOB
VTS_01_5.VOB

Note: Please note that VTS_01_0.VOB is not listed. As mentioned above, this file usually contains a menu in the form of a random collection of static pictures or animations, and no useful information related to the movie.

After that, launch Ifoedit, and load the IFO file into it with the Open button in the lower left corner. The program window then looks something like this

After that, in the VOB Extras menu, select the Create new IFOs item, and we see the following window:

By default, almost everything you need is selected in this window. We just have to specify the Destination directory (where the finished files will be stored. It can be anything, just make sure that there is enough space there, and the directory actually exists). In addition, if the size of the movie is slightly larger than the space on the DVD being recorded, then you can save money by throwing out unnecessary audio tracks and unnecessary subtitles (although you won’t save much on subtitles, but why drag out the extra), then check the Strip Stream’s checkbox. It remains to click on OK. If Strip Stream's is selected, then the following window will open:

Here you can see the list of audio tracks and subtitles that are in VOB files. Check the boxes that you want to RETAIN in the finished movie. Anything not checked will be thrown out. It remains to click on Strip it, and you can go and make yourself a glass of tea. IfoEdit will rustle the hard drive, and after 10-20 minutes (depending on the speed of the computer's disk subsystem) a set of VIDEO_TS files will appear in the directory that you specified as Destination. We copy VOB files to them, rename them to VTS_01_X.VOB, if they were called differently, and the job is done.

At this stage, you can already accurately assess whether the movie will fit on the disc or not. If only a little bit is missing, then you can use the method that is well and long known to those involved in DVD-Rip, namely, to cut off a piece from the subtitles. To do this, we need the VobSplitter program - 340 kb.
We start, we see the window:

By clicking on a small button with a folder icon, we indicate from which VOB we want to cut a piece (Original File(s) section), and where and under what name we need to place the already cut VOB (Destination section). As usual, keep an eye on free space.

Go to the Split tab, where we see the following picture:

Here we MUST make sure that the Copy 4k-header checkbox is checked, and use the two sliders below to select the necessary start and end points of our VOB file. The initial one, in our case, should be 0, and the final one will have to be selected using the "scientific poke method" :-) More precisely, not quite a poke, but by the value in the Size to copy section. There is no way to find out what exactly is cut off (unnecessary credits, or have already climbed onto a piece of the film), no. However, readers with Divx encoding experience know that a constantly changing picture with a bunch of small details (which is what titles are) requires a considerable bitrate, so, usually, titles take up a very solid volume. This means that you can cut the last VOB quite safely :-)

It remains to click on the Start Process button, and you can admire the following picture:

Gather together the files you have. As a result, now we should have a set of files that look like a DVD. But do not rush to burn the resulting DVD disc, we still have a few important steps.

Load into IfoEdit (Open button in the lower left corner) VIDEO_TS.IFO, which was obtained as a result of previous manipulations. After that:

1. Click the Region Free button. This will remove the region code (although it shouldn't be in the newly created IFOs, but just in case).

2. Click the Remove P-Ups button. This will remove all restrictions from the disc (restrictions on switching audio tracks, turning subtitles on or off, etc.). As in the previous case, everything should be removed in the newly created IFO, but it does not hurt to check once again. After all, there is no menu on our disk, and the only way to switch audio tracks or work with subtitles is by means of the player itself. And if there are P-Ups (Prohibited user operations) for any of these actions, then there is no way to get to them.

3. Click the Get VTS Sector button. The most important of the preparatory stages. After pressing this button, IfoEdit will correct the VTS sector table, which is necessary for some players, who without it will not be able to figure out where one VOB ends and the next begins. If the previous two points can be skipped, then this one must be done MANDATORY.

Now we should get not just a set of files, but a fully functional DVD content. You can check it with a software DVD player, the same PowerDVD. If it is not there, then IfoEdit (DVD Play button) can be dispensed with. But for the "purity of the experiment" it is better to use an external player.

Immediately after loading VIDEO_TS.IFO, the movie should start playing, without delay, without menus, without anything extra. In the same way, such a disc should behave in stationary players. Unfortunately, many models of hospitals are much more picky than computer programs for playing DVDs, so normal operation on a computer does not at all guarantee the same trouble-free operation of the resulting disc on hospitals. Moreover, even correctly created files may not work on a stationary device if they are not burned onto a DVD disc correctly. One of the following sections of this article is devoted to how to burn DVD discs.

Stage two, method two. Where there was one, there will be two

Throwing out everything superfluous from the disk, although it is good, is far from always sufficient. There is only one way to copy such a large disc without any loss of quality, and that is to cut it in half. The already familiar IfoEdit will help us in this. As usual, first we need to have all the files that were on the DVD disc on the HDD and with the protection removed. We load VTS_XX_0.IFO related to the main movie into IfoEdit (let me remind you that this is usually the largest set of VOB files related to one video fragment) and select the Split to 2 DVD-Rs item in the VOB Extras menu. The following window will open:

The options selected here can be left unchanged, everything you need should be selected by default (but, just in case, compare what you have and what you see in the screenshot). The only thing that needs to be corrected is the File/Directory Paths section, where you need to specify where the resulting files should be added. Please note that IfoEdit does not know how to create any directories, so if you specify a non-existent folder as a path, the program will simply crash with an error. If you need a menu, then check the AutoCopy menu files to destination checkbox. In addition, if desired, you can also mark Strip Stream's. As the reader knows from the previous part of the article, this checkbox allows you to discard unnecessary audio tracks. When dividing a disk in half, this is not at all necessary (there will certainly be enough space on two disks), but if there is a desire, there is such an opportunity. It remains to click on OK. A window will appear.

This window specifies where the movie will be split in half. By default, the movie is divided by the place where the layer changes, which is not always in the middle. You can roughly determine this by looking at the total time of the movie, and at the minute that the division point falls. We have two outlets. If there is not a bunch of additional materials on the disk that you definitely want to keep, then you can leave everything as it is. No matter how the IfoEdit partition point is chosen, the half will definitely fit on one disk. Or, if there are additional materials, and you definitely want to fit them on the first disk, the division point can be shifted manually. Unfortunately, IfoEdit does not provide any information on the volume of the resulting pieces, so you will have to be guided only by common sense and experience. Having selected everything you need, click on the Strip it button, and you can relax a bit, IfoEdit will do the rest. First, it will split and scatter VOB files into the specified directories, then go through them again, changing the navigation inside them, and finally copy VIDEO_TS and the disk menu (VTS_XX_0.VOB) into both sets (of course, provided that the AutoCopy menu files to checkbox is destination has been marked).

As a result, you will have two directories, each of which will contain a set of files for the movie. And these sets will play almost like the original disc. When the disc is loaded, a menu will open where you can select disc options (language, subtitles, etc.). Select movie start, the movie will start. You can check how it works from IfoEdit itself. To do this, load VIDEO_TS.IFO from the desired half of the movie, and click the Play button. The simplest player included in the program will start, and you can see what we have done. Everything should work, except for additional materials. This is true for a huge number of DVDs, but not all. Sometimes there is a situation. when freshly divided halves do not want to be played in the player. Or they are played in a wrong way - for example, the first level is loaded from the multi-level disc menu, but it is impossible to go further. This is due to the fact that on complex discs, the menu can be divided into several video fragments. So we just take and copy video segments one at a time (a set of IFO, BUP and VOB files, united by one name). The desired fragment can go under any number, therefore, everything will have to be checked "by hand". After copying each fragment, we try to play the disc in the player. Sooner or later it will play :-) The size of the menu, even the most beautiful and animated, rarely exceeds 100 megabytes, so copying gigabyte video clips, hoping to revive the menu, is not worth it, this is clearly not it. Most likely, this is some of the additional materials. The disk will work just fine without them. Therefore, you only need to copy them to one disc (I usually copy to the first) to get a full menu on it, with all the features and "bells and whistles" of the original DVD. Don't forget to keep an eye on volume!

If you don't need a menu on the second disc (or both) and want the movie to start playing immediately after you insert the disc, you can use the technique described above. Load into IfoEdit the VTS_XX_X.IFO related to the desired half of the movie and create the desired IFOs via VOB Extras.

Whichever method you choose (with or without a menu), you must end your work with IfoEdit using the three buttons already described above.

1. Region Free
2. Remove P-Ups
3. Get VTS Sector. Remember that if the previous two points are advisory in nature (usually, there are no restrictions in IFO passed through DVD Decrypter and IfoEdit), then this point must be done MANDATORY.

It remains only to write the received files to disk, and how to do this will be written below.

Stage two, method three. "Move over, please..."

The last method to deal with the size is to re-encode the contents of the DVD. For a long time, the process of such alteration was very time-consuming. It was required to decompose VOB files into components, recompress the resulting m2v file from the video, then assemble it all back into DVD, and after that it was possible to write the result to disk. Fortunately, those times are in the past. Today, utilities have begun to appear that are able to work directly with VOB files, and do everything necessary. But they ask for money. One such program is DVD2One.

The basis of this program is an encoder that compresses the contents. The recompression is not complete (apparently, the program only works with quantization matrices), so the process is very fast. On an average computer (1.5 - 2 Ghz), by modern standards, everything takes 15-20 minutes. Algorithms that came with IfoEdit are used to work with VOB and create a DVD disc structure. The whole process is automated and facilitated to the maximum. We should start with the already familiar DVD Decrypter. This time we only need to dump the files related to the movie to disk, nothing else is needed. To do this, make sure that the Select Main Movie Files checkbox is checked in the Tools - Settings menu, File Mode tab (and it should be checked by default).

Now we translate DVD Decrypter into File mode (Mode - File, or simply F) and dump the files that will be selected in this case to the hard disk (this should be a movie).

We start DVD2One, we see the following window:

We choose where we have the ripped files (Source Directory), where we need to put what we get (Destination Directory), the size we want to get (DVD+/-RW, which is the default value), click on Next. In the next window

We choose which video sequence we need (usually, the one that is the longest), click on Next again. Another window will appear:

In which you can choose which audio tracks, which subtitles, and which angle (angle, if there are several) we need. It remains to click on Start, and "the process will go."

After a while, a set of files will appear in the Destination Directory that can be written to disk. The newly created disc will not have any menus or extras. The movie will start playing immediately after the disc is inserted into the player (or VIDEO_TS.IFO from the HDD is loaded into the program).

Obviously, there are no miracles in the world, and for additional video compression, and even at such an accelerated pace, we have to pay with quality. How much we pay depends on the source material. The main reproach that can be put on DVD2One is the "squares" that start to come out in the midtones, especially in the shadows. Therefore, the quality situation can be described as follows: on a very good, clean source - quite satisfactory. If there were already noises on the source and squares in dark places, then they will become even more noticeable.

Pinnacle Instant Copy

DVD2One is basically the brainchild of just one person. This is understandable, because the topic of copying DVDs is very "slippery" (we all remember how many copies were broken around a very harmless (by modern standards) program called DeCSS, the first to encroach on the integrity of DVDs). Nevertheless, there are not only singles, but also quite large and well-known companies that have decided to test their strength in this field. I'm talking about Pinnacle with its Instant Copy, which is developing very successfully, and has grown (today) to version 7 already. One of the purposes of this program is exactly the same as the DVD2One described above - to take a two-layer DVD and "tread" it down to the size of a regular 4.7 Gb disc. Pinnacle's resources are not comparable to what the DVD2One author has, so Instant Copy's capabilities are an order of magnitude higher. The most significant of them - Instant Copy makes a complete copy of the disc, with all the menus and additional materials!

What makes Instant Copy similar to DVD2One is that neither can copy protected DVD discs. Therefore, with Instant Copy we cannot do without the good old DVD Decrypter. We launch it, transfer it to file mode (Mode - File, or just F). This time select ALL the files that are on the DVD and copy them to the HDD.

We launch Instant Copy, and the main window of the program will open in front of us.

Note: To open additional options, click the Details button.

The program is very easy to manage, and in many cases the setting can be limited to choosing where and where to write. This is done in the main program window, sections Source and Destination. Since the files that we want to upload to DVD should already be on the HDD, we right-click on its symbolic image in the Source section, and select Select image in the context menu that opens. By the way, do not be afraid that the program always shows only one HDD, regardless of how many physical or logical disks are in the system. In the window that opens by Select image, all available disks will be displayed. Point to the directory where you dumped the files from the DVD and select VIDEO_TS.IFO there. In another part of the main window, Destination, you need to specify where Instant Copy should put the results of its work. There are several options, you can select the HDD again by right-clicking on which folder and under what name the disk image should be saved. In the case of a DVD, this will cause Instant Copy to create a set of PQI files there. Which are designed to record the same Instant Copy. It doesn't make much sense to write more than 4 gigabytes to the HDD for the second time, it's much more reasonable to specify the direct burning DVD drive as the Destination.

After that, you can go to the Profile tab. Here you need to select the type of DVD disc you are going to write to. In fact, there is no difference between the profiles for different DVDs, so you can choose any.

The next bookmark, Write.

This tab appears only if the result of Instant Copy is written directly to DVD. This tab controls the recording process. In order to get the most problem-free DVD video disc, the recording parameters should be as follows.

• Write method – Disk at once
• Closing method – Close CD
• Write speed - this item determines the speed at which the disc will be written. Usually, everything works fine with Automatic (Recommended), which is equivalent to setting the maximum write speed that Instant Copy thinks the drive will support. If you do not want the disc to be written at maximum speed, you can change this. Unfortunately, you cannot select the exact speed, only Low Medium or High.

Overwrite rewritable media without confirmation - if you check it, then non-empty RW discs will be overwritten without any questions. Be careful.

Write to hard disk first - when copying directly from a DVD drive (only possible with unprotected discs), this checkbox will force the files to be dumped to the HDD first. Since we are already writing from the hard drive, it is not available.

Simulate write progress if possible - if this checkbox is checked, a simulation will be performed before burning the DVD directly. If you are sure that there are no glitches with your computer, then this is just a waste of time, leave it empty.

DVD bookmark. This tab controls the process of compressing and creating the content of the new DVD.

The most important section of this bookmark is the Copy method. It is he who determines how Instant Copy will work with the contents of the DVD.

• Automatic Resize. This item must be selected if you want to copy the entire disc, with everything. what is on it. Everything will be done automatically.
• Customized Resize. Probably the most commonly used method. With it, you can throw out unnecessary audio tracks, and thus. increase the space available for the video, which will have a beneficial effect on its quality.
• Direct (not recommended). This item ONLY works when copying from DVD to DVD. The data is not compressed at all. If you turn it on when copying from HDD to DVD, then Automatic Resize will work. And even if the volume of files on the HDD would fit on a DVD without recompression, they are still recompressed with a corresponding drop in quality. Therefore, Instant Copy should NOT be used to burn files that do not need to be compressed to DVD.

• Automatic (Recommended). The program assumes that we are making a DVD.
• DVD. The program knows exactly what DVD is.
• Super VCD. Instant Copy can also make such discs from a regular DVD.
• VCD. Instant Copy will convert DVD to VCD (if anyone has such a strange desire).

CD Aspect Ratio section. This section only works if the DVD is being made into a Super VCD or VCD. When copying to DVD, the Aspect Ratio remains the same as the original.

• Automatic (Recommended). The edges of each frame are cut off to end up with 4:3.
• Letter Box (4:3). Similar to the previous point.
• Anamorphic (16:9). The frame is compressed horizontally until the ratio is 4:3. In order for everything in the frame not to turn out to be very thin and high when viewing, the player must stretch the picture back.

There are two checkboxes on the first tab.

• Remove region code. If you check this checkbox, then Instant Copy will make the resulting DVD multi-zone. It can be noted, but it is more reasonable to set such an option in DVD Decrypter (more precisely, do not change it, which is set by default).
• Remove PC content. This checkbox will prevent you from copying PC features found on some DVDs. The thing is useful only when copying DVD to DVD directly. After all, when dumping DVD content to HDD, no one dumps unnecessary PC content.

In addition, this tab has a section responsible for the operation of Instant Copy with an online database. In theory, it should help in encoding a movie that has already been coded by someone before, but I strongly doubt its real usefulness.

The rest of the tabs in this window allow you to remove various languages, subtitles, or restrictions from the DVD, and hardly need detailed consideration. I usually leave them untouched, everything can (and should) be done by other programs or methods in Instant Copy itself.

General tab.

When ripping a DVD, most of the options on this tab are not available. You can only choose how many copies we need to make (the default is one). More interesting is the Options button. Behind it is a window:

Disable Screensaver while writing. If this checkbox is checked (and it is checked by default), then no fancy screensaver (some may argue with 3Dmark in terms of the amount of resources involved) will not spoil the disc burning process.

After simulation: If the Simulate write progress if possible checkbox is checked on the Write tab, then here you can choose what Instant Copy should do after the simulation ends.

• Start writing after confirmation - waits for confirmation from the user after the simulation to start the actual writing.
• Start writing without confirmation - writes immediately.

programming interface type. Specifies how Instant Copy works with CDs and DVDs. There are two options, ASPI and ASAPI. Pinnacle recommends using ASAPI.

Write Cache. How much RAM is used as a write buffer. In theory, the more, the better for the record (but worse for everything else). The default value is fine for most normally configured and running computers.

Temporary directory. Where Instant Copy should store temporary files. In our case, their volume reaches the volume of a DVD (4.7 gigabytes), so make sure that there is enough space on the selected disk.

Processing tab.

The tab is intended for fine control of CD copying. With its help, you can not copy certain parts of the disk. For our task (to burn a DVD) there is absolutely nothing useful here.

After setting all the options, it remains only to click on the Start button in the main program window. If everything is set correctly, then the process of video analysis and encoding will immediately begin.

But, if the Customized Resize method was selected on the DVD tab, we have to go through one more window.

On the left side we see the contents of the disk, on the right we can fix something. Each Title on the left is some kind of video clip. You can choose any and customize it individually. Unfortunately, Instant Copy does not allow you to throw out unnecessary video.

At the very bottom, we see a section that shows how much volume is obtained (the setting is made for a DVD disc, and if the volume goes beyond 4.7 gigabytes, the green bar will turn red, and the OK button, which continues to work, will become unavailable).

Of the information that is available on the video fragment on the first tab, the most interesting for us is the slider, which shows how many percent of the video can fit. The higher this figure, the closer the quality of the finished film will be to the original. On the Preview tab, you can even try to see how it will look, but due to the small size of the window, this feature is not relevant for DVD. And what is relevant is the Audio tab.

We remove checkboxes from audio tracks that we do not need. We do the same with subtitles. As a result, we have an additional place that can be used for the video. To do this, simply move the slider on the first tab until the volume of the DVD becomes maximum. On unnecessary video fragments, the video quality can be reduced, which will give even more space for the main movie. But here it is important not to overdo it. The fact is that Instant Copy cannot transcode video below a certain volume, and if you just move all the sliders to the minimum, the program will refuse to do anything at all. This limit is individual for each video, and it can be found out only by "poke method". Usually, the volume should not be less than 50%. Having selected everything you need, click on OK, the analysis of the contents of the DVD will begin, then encoding, and it will all end with recording.

The process of encoding with Instant Copy takes much longer than with the DVD2One described above, but it still cannot be compared with what is required to transcode an Mpeg2 stream using more traditional means (software, of course). On a 2 Ghz processor, the time required for encoding is half - three quarters of the length of the movie. The quality produced by Instant Copy is usually noticeably better than that obtained from DVD2One. Squares though climb, but much less. Of the features of the picture obtained with Instant Copy, one can note the increasing artifacts of DCT compression (especially on small details). In addition, apparently, the Instant Copy picture is processed with noise reduction, which can somewhat blur small details. But in general - very, very well.

What can be put in a huge plus of Instant Copy is the standardity of DVD-video discs obtained with its help. The most fastidious players are happy to swallow and play discs made in Instant Copy. Some may be put off by the lack of an AUDIO_TS directory in the root of DVDs, but the widely held belief that it's required is probably wrong. This can be confirmed not only by the situation with excellent playback of discs made with Instant Copy, but also by some branded discs that do not contain this directory (for example, Aliens, Special Edition of the first zone).

Discs made by many other programs do not always boast such high compatibility. It would seem that a direct way to do everything and always using Instant Copy and not suffer with anything else. Unfortunately, this is not so. When you need to burn a protected DVD that does not need to be resized, Instant Copy is no longer suitable (because it cannot write directly from such a disc, and when working with files on the HDD, it will definitely compress them, even when it is not necessary), and you have to turn to other methods.

Stage three. Burning to DVD

Let's start with the simplest case. When the size of the DVD is less than 4.7 gigabytes, and it can fit entirely on a recordable DVD, then you can get by with just one program. Well known to us DVD Decrypter. To do this, he has an ISO mode. First, we read the contents of the DVD disc and write to the image (Mode - ISO - Read, or simply R). Then we take the finished image and burn it to DVD (Mode - ISO -Write, or just W). Everything. The discs obtained by this method are quite correct, there should not be any big problems with their work on stationary players. Unfortunately, this method is suitable for a limited number of drives. How to deal with the rest - described above :-)

Whatever method of dealing with excess megabytes and gigabytes you use (with the exception of such "combines" as Instant Copy), the end result is the same. You have a set of files that look like the contents of a DVD video disc and are played by software players like a DVD disc. How to get the correct DVD from this set of files?

There are several ways. But they can all be divided into two subsets.

• Creating a disk image, and burning it with any program that can do this (the same DVD Decrypter).
• Burn to DVD directly the files that make up the DVD.

Creating an image is a more time-consuming process, but more "correct", as practice shows, discs made in this way work on a larger number of players. Of course, provided that the image is created correctly. There are many methods for creating a disk image, I will describe only one. Let's use the already familiar IfoEdit. To create an image, create a VIDEO_TS folder in the root of any HDD, and drop the files that make up the DVD disc there. Download VIDEO_TS.IFO from this set and click on the Disk Image button. This window will open

The mechanism for creating an image is not fully debugged, so it is not necessary to enter real data in this window, they will not be used anyway. Click on OK, and we see the next window.

This is the main window of the program. We fill in all sections of the window.

• Choose where and under what name you want to place the image.
• We select the disk at the root of which VIDEO_TS with the necessary files is located.
• We write what the disk should be called.

The program interface is somewhat unusual. In order to get started, just check the Create Disk image checkbox. And that's it. There is no need to click on anything else, or make other gestures. As soon as you check the box, the image creation process will immediately begin.

The resulting image can be written to disk as you like. For example Nero Burning ROM.

But Nero is suitable not only for burning ready-made images, with its help you can burn full-fledged DVD discs simply from a set of files. Before you start, ALWAYS update Nero to the latest version. This will help you get rid of unnecessary problems with the compatibility of your drives (which, today, Nero 5.5.10.15a, although good, is not perfect). After the update, launch Nero, select burn to DVD. Next, we have two options. It is most logical to use the DVD Video template.

In this case, Nero will automatically create the AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS directories in the root of the disc project. The files that we got earlier should be thrown into VIDEO_TS. From the project settings, don't forget to uncheck Joilet and Relax ISO Restrictions.

In addition, the disc must be written in No Multisession and Disk-At-Once modes. In the latest version of Nero, this is set automatically.

It remains to click on the Burn button. Nero will check the integrity of the files and start burning. Sometimes, for some unknown reason, Nero does not accept fully functional files. And then you have to deceive him :-) Perhaps this is due to the fact that the file system on a DVD is absolutely the same for all types of discs (data, video, music, etc.). And Nero's DVD Video template doesn't do anything special other than creating directories and checking files. Therefore, exactly the same results can be achieved by creating a simple DVD-ROM (ISO). All that is required is to create a VIDEO_TS directory on the disk, place the necessary files in it and configure the disk parameters correctly

The quality of discs produced by Nero is improving from version to version. But, unfortunately, the creators of Nero failed to achieve full compatibility, and there are DVD players that do not want to work with discs created by him, but work fine with discs received by Instant Copy, or burned from an image. Nevertheless, the number of such players decreases with each new version of Nero, and even today the quality of the resulting discs will satisfy many people. The way to find out if this is the right one for you is to burn a few test discs and see how they work. Good luck.

Programs for copying CDs, DVDs.

↓ New in the "Copy" category:

Free
Super Copy 2.0 is a small file copying application. You can also use Super Copy to copy large files from faulty media.

Free
DVD Rebuilder 0.98.1 is designed to help users copy DVD discs. DVD Rebuilder helps you create a perfect DVD copy very easily, including menus, subtitles, movie language translations and other related data.

Free
EasyDivX 0.8.2.0 will help you convert DVD Video to DivX format. EasyDivX is a DVD disc grabber.

Free
ImTOO DVD Ripper 7.0.0.1121 will help you quickly make copies of a DVD movie in more compressed and popular formats. ImTOO DVD Ripper supports MPEG1, VCD, MPEG4, SVCD, MPEG2, DivX, AVI and other equally popular formats.

Free
Ashampoo Burning Studio 9.21/11.0.2 is a program that provides high-quality recording of discs of any format. Ashampoo Burning Studio allows you to create various projects, as well as burn any discs on modern or old drives. The program also supports long file names (127-character DVD or Blu-ray and 64-character for CD discs), it can automatically configure settings and save or load a saved project.

Free
CloneDVD 5.5.0.5 - this application can easily create a completely identical copy of a DVD movie or burn it to a disc.

Free
CDBurnerXP 4.4.0.2838 is a program that can burn a disc of any size and format. The CDBurnerXP program can burn discs from both images and folders located on the computer; it can burn data discs or audio CDs with the same quality.

Free
Alcohol 120% 2.0.1.2033 is a program that can not only create backup copies of disks in the form of an image, but also burn them to media.

Free
DVDFab Platinum 7.0.3.0 is an easy way to copy DVD. A special feature of the DVDFab Platinum program is the speed with which it performs its work and does not degrade the quality of the converted file.

Free
DVDFab 8.1.3.6 is one of the most powerful Blu-Ray and HD-DVD movie ripping software with high quality and full PAL and NTSC support. It can also rewrite DVDs to the computer's memory.

Free
CloneCD 5.3.1.4 is a very powerful CD backup software. CloneCD It allows you to create perfect copies for most of the available protected disks.

Free
DVD2One 2.4.1 - allows you to compress data from 8 GB discs to 4 GB, so you can burn a two-layer DVD disc onto a standard 4.7 GB disc.

Free
Nero 9.4.26.0b is a large set of software designed for digital media or home entertainment center with the latest technology, popular and trusted all over the world.

Free
AutoGK (Auto Gordian Knot) 2.55 - is a software package designed to automatically convert DVD movies to DivX or XviD formats. The software package includes utilities such as: AviSynth / AviSynth Filters, Auto Gordian Knot, VobSub, VirtualDubMod, DGMPGDec, as well as all the codecs you may need.

If this is your first time trying to rip CDs, then Nero Express is the best way to make your first copies.

The minimum number of settings and ease of operation of this program will not create inconvenience and will allow you to work with the program "on the go", that is, without having any practical experience.

Let's start Nero Express:

When asked which recorder to use, choose from the CD-R/RW drop-down menu. For computers equipped with only a CD-RW drive, this menu will not appear. If you select DVD, you can copy a DVD disc, the copying process is exactly the same as copying an ordinary CD.

On the right, in the menu, select to copy the entire disk by simply clicking on it with the mouse. The following dialog box appears:

Source Drive- select the drive (if there are several) where the disk is inserted - the source.

Destination drive- the drive on which the recording will be made.

Options- shows information about the destination drive.

Quick copy- when this option is selected, copying from disk to disk will occur without first saving the image on the hard drive, it works only if there are two or more drives in the computer. The option is completely identical to copying "on the fly" in Nero Burning Rom.

Recording speed- select the speed with which we will write the disc.

Number of copies- number of desired copies. After creating the first copy, the tray in the recording drive will open, from there we take out the recorded disc and insert a blank one, etc.

Check data after writing to disk- after the end of the recording, the copied disc is compared with the original and, in case of an error, issues a warning. I recommend using this option when copying very important data or when in doubt about the quality of a blank disk.

The copying process depends on the number of drives in your computer.

If there are two drives, then we install the primary disk in the source drive, and a blank disk in the destination drive. If desired, check the "quick copy" option - this can significantly reduce the copying time, but if there are errors on the primary disk, you can get the final product in a defective form instead of the desired copy. As a source drive, you can use an ordinary CD (DVD) -ROM.

If there is only one drive, then install the primary disk in the source drive and click the copy button. Nero will create a copy of the information from it on the hard disk and in the form of an image file, then in the receiving tray you need to replace this disk with a blank one. After closing the tray, the program starts automatically and writes ready-made information from the hard drive to the disk.

All! We press "record" and wait for a fresh, newly recorded disc to appear in the world ...

Currently, disks are no longer used so often, even new computers often do not have disk drives, and in small laptops they are even more so - they take up too much precious space. In this article, we will look at how to properly copy the contents of one CD / DVD disc to another.

How to copy a data disc to another disc

If you have ordinary files on the disk, for example, mp3 files or various kinds of documents, then copying the disk is as easy as shelling pears. There is even no need to resort to special programs. Just select all the files and folders on the disk and copy to any folder on your computer. Then insert a blank disc into the drive and open it in Windows Explorer. Copy or drag and drop files previously copied from another drive there. It remains only to right-click on the disk icon and select "Burn".

If you copy, for example, an audio CD, then you will not be able to simply copy this one to your hard drive. To do this, you need to make a full disk image. Then deploy this image to a new disk. Windows does not have a built-in imaging tool, so we will use the simple and free Small CD-Writer program ( , checked for viruses). Everything is simple in it, first you create an ISO image, and then burn it to disk.

Common mistakes when copying discs

Even if you have 2 CD / DVD drives installed in your computer, you should not do copying on the fly. This is simpler, no intermediate step is needed, but it is not very reliable.

When writing data to disk, do not select the maximum speed, as this also increases the likelihood of write errors.

If you have any questions - we will definitely help you!