Superdrive DVD burning

[ricebag]

So I would like to copy a video DVD (not a commercial one...) and I have a Superdrive. How do I do this? First, can I use DVD+R disks? And what and how exactly do I have to copy in order to make this disk playable in a dvd player?

(I tried just copying the contents onto a blank DVD+R, and that didn't work.)

Thank you all so much for your help!

 

[Blue Velvet]

First of all: You will need a DVD-R, not the '+' sort, for now.

There's more to it than just copying files, I think.
But I could be wrong as I've never tried to do it myself... I use DVDs to back up print jobs onto.

 

[Daschund]

If you have Toast, you can just click on the "Copy" and let it do the thing I guess... (never tried myself)

If this doesn't work, you can try to use Disk Utilities to make an image of the DVD and then burn another DVD from that image...

Daschund

 

[atari1356]

If this doesn't work, you can try to use Disk Utilities to make an image of the DVD and then burn another DVD from that image...

I think that's the best solution... I've done it before and it works perfectly. You don't have to mess with figuring out what files need to be copied over, and, unlike Toast, Apple's Disk Utility is free.

 

[vashim66]

Compression

Keep in mind that most commercial DVD's are dual layer and contain more than 4.7GB worth of data. With an apple superdrive you can only burn single layer dvds.

in order to get around this, you have to compress the video down to 4.7GB.

I use a program called "MacTheRipper" to rip the .vob files to my harddrive (this program decrypts the video)...you cannot just drag the files off the dvd in the finder due to the encryption

I use "DVD2oneX" to compress the video to the size of a single layer dvd. I can also extract the unncessary audio tracks + extras + menus I don't want.

I then use Toast to burn a DVD-ROM (UDF) disc. Put all the video into the VIDEO_TS folder.

 

[quackattack]

Keep in mind that most commercial DVD's are dual layer and contain more than 4.7GB worth of data. With an apple superdrive you can only burn single layer dvds.

in order to get around this, you have to compress the video down to 4.7GB.

I use a program called "MacTheRipper" to rip the .vob files to my harddrive (this program decrypts the video)...you cannot just drag the files off the dvd in the finder due to the encryption

I use "DVD2oneX" to compress the video to the size of a single layer dvd. I can also extract the unncessary audio tracks + extras + menus I don't want.

I then use Toast to burn a DVD-ROM (UDF) disc. Put all the video into the VIDEO_TS folder.

i find this is the best way to do this. if you don't have toast you can just drag the VIDEO_TS folder (extracted with mactheripper) to the blank disk and use OSX to burn it.

 

[Daschund]

ricebag said it wasn't a commercial DVD, so that's why I suggested the Disk Utilities way...

Daschund

 

[bankshot]

First, can I use DVD+R disks?

Depends on how new your SuperDrive is. The SuperDrives in G5 Power Macs will burn either DVD-R or DVD+R. Older SuperDrives are DVD-R only. I don't know for sure about the iMac G5 or some of the latest PowerBooks, but hope this helps anyway.

 

[Elan0204]

I don't know for sure about the iMac G5

I have sucessfully burnt a DVD+RW disc on my new iMac G5.

 

[ricebag]

Thanks

Hey all, thanks so much for your help. I'll have to try some of those things. Just so people know, on my week-old powerbook, the burning of a DVD+R seemed to work fine, and I can read it fine: it just won't play like a normal DVD. It isn't a commercial DVD, but it might have been produced like one, so I'll see what I can do about that.
Thanks again!