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Making a movie only DVD backup

Overview

The following describes how DVDRemaster can be used to copy a DVD and preserve only the movie without the extras. We will cover the following topics:

  1. Requirements
    Prerequisites to successfully complete this tutorial.
  2. Reading a DVD
    Importing a DVD on your hard disk or using it directly from your DVD drive.
  3. Setting up DVDRemaster
    Explaining some of the DVDRemaster settings relevant for this tutorial.
  4. Remastering, burning and after
    Describing what happens during and after the recompression.

Requirements

Before starting this tutorial, make sure you have the following items available:

Reading a DVD

On a DVD, the video content is found in the VIDEO_TS folder. Although this is not mandatory, it is recommended to copy this folder and its contents to your hard disk before beginning the recompression. Since hard disks are much faster than DVD drives, having a local copy on your hard disk will increase the speed of the recompression. Furthermore, if you plan on experimenting with the different settings available in DVDRemaster having a local copy will save you from reading it again from the much slower DVD drive.

To make a local copy, simply drag and drop the VIDEO_TS folder from the DVD to your Desktop. Note that this will fail if the DVD is encrypted unless you are using Mac DVD Ripper Pro.

Once you are ready, launch DVDRemaster and click on Source. You will then be prompted to choose the VIDEO_TS folder containing your movie. If you made a local copy earlier, simply select the VIDEO_TS folder on your hard disk. Otherwise, select the one on the DVD. You can change the destination folder simply by clicking on Destination and choosing a different folder.

Setting up DVDRemaster

Now that you have selected the source and destination folders, you are only a few easy steps away from having an identical DVD backup. First, make sure you are in the remaster mode by selecting the Remaster tab. Then, choose the Movie only option. At this point, you could click on the Start button but in order to better understand the functionning of DVDRemaster, here is a description of the settings you can configure.

Compression mode
Three recompression options are available. The Fast (Transcode) option uses a very fast transcoder that does not recompute most of the original video compression settings (such as motion between frames). This option is quite effective and yields good quality results. In cases where quality is the priority and the original DVD is large (over 8GB), you may prefer one of the Recode options which truly recompresses everything. This is much slower, but often yields better quality for large DVDs.
Burn DVD
Once DVDRemaster is done recompressing, it can burn the result on a blank DVD. If you made a local copy of the VIDEO_TS folder and are not using your DVD writer to read the source DVD, you can ask that DVDRemaster prepares the DVD writer at the beginning of the session. To do so, select the Preferences... item in the DVDRemaster menu and go to the Remaster tab. This way, you can leave the room and let your computer process. When you come back the DVD will be burnt and ready. Otherwise, DVDRemaster will ask you to insert the blank DVD once it is done recompressing.
Mode
Using the Full remaster mode, DVDRemaster makes an exact copy of the original DVD. Using the Movie only mode, the menus and all bonus features are discarded, thus having more space for the main movie.
Target size
This is the size DVDRemaster will aim for. There are four choices available from the drop-down list. By selecting Single layer or Double layer, DVDRemaster will ensure that the end result fits on a single layer DVD and a double layer DVD respectively. If you choose No compression the final size will be the same as the size of those elements on the original DVD. By selecting Custom, you will be able to enter a size of your choice in the field on the right.

That's it! You are now ready to click on the Remaster button in the upper right-hand corner.

Remastering, burning and after

After clicking on Remaster, the following happens:

  1. DVDRemaster recompresses the DVD in two passes. First, it indicates that it is Parsing the DVD files and then it starts the actual recompression. In the destination folder, DVDRemaster creates a VIDEO_TS folder similar to the one it is reading from but which has been recompressed.
  2. If the Burn DVD option was selected, DVDRemaster will ask you to insert a blank DVD and burn the VIDEO_TS folder. The time required to complete this step depends on the speed of your DVD writer.
  3. After reencoding and optionally burning, the recompressed VIDEO_TS folder remains on your hard disk. You may delete it or keep it in your archives. Note that Apple DVD Player can open this VIDEO_TS folder directly from your hard drive and play its content. Simply use the Open DVD Media... from Apple DVD Player File menu. You may also burn this recompressed VIDEO_TS folder again. Please refer to the Burning an existing VIDEO_TS folder tutorial for more information.