Wanted: DVD Compression software

[mikefly]

Heya..

So, I understand I can use DivX to compress some DVDs - which will then play on my Mac.. however, I'd like to find something I can use to compress DVDs to under 4.7 GB that I can then use on my standard DVD player.

I imagine there must be something out there, as pirated DVDs are freakin everywhere at ridiculous low costs.

FYI -- I currently have TOAST & Mac the Ripper.

Mike

 

[janey]

toast will do that for you. try burning a large dvd (i.e. 7gb) to a 4.4gb disk. It will autocompress it.

 

[mikefly]

oops

thanks.. i'll hit me for you.

Mike

 

[janey]

thanks.. i'll hit me for you.

np, but mind you toast doesn't do a particularly good job compressing dvds. Then again pretty much all consumer Mac tools for that sorta blow.

 

[mikefly]

aha

It's a good thing I didn't actually hit myself -- toast is not auto-compressing files - though this may be because I haven't set the correct preferences -- either way, I can't figure out how to make it work..

I'll try picking up dvd2one to see if that's better.

Mike

 

[janey]

toast is not auto-compressing files

weird!
Mine's doing it and i dont think i touched any prefs..

 

[Mojo67821]

np, but mind you toast doesn't do a particularly good job compressing dvds. Then again pretty much all consumer Mac tools for that sorta blow.

Really? I just backed up one of my discs with Toast the other day and was incredibly impressed. I couldn't tell at all that the film had been compressed.

Are you using the latest version?

 

[mikefly]

ack.

So, the messages I receive have changed.

If I click the compress button, it says (just noticed the button)

"There's not enough free space on this disk. 7.25 GB are needed, only 4.36 are available."

if I don't click it says..
You need 2 discs to copy this disc.

I don't mind losing special features and whatnot - but don't want two discs for 1.

Mike

 

[janey]

Really? I just backed up one of my discs with Toast the other day and was incredibly impressed. I couldn't tell at all that the film had been compressed.

I'm a nazi when it comes to these things.

I use DVD Rebuilder with either HC or CCE encoders on Windows to compress dvdrs i dont want to burn to a dual layer disk.

If you're interested: http://dvd-rb.dvd2go.org/
Or for more guides using other apps: http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/mpg/dvdbackup-guides.htm

 

[Multimedia]

How To Burn SL DVDs From DL DVDs

So, the messages I receive have changed.

If I click the compress button, it says (just noticed the button)

"There's not enough free space on this disk. 7.25 GB are needed, only 4.36 are available."

if I don't click it says..
You need 2 discs to copy this disc.

I don't mind losing special features and whatnot - but don't want two discs for 1.

Look Mike this is incredibly easy to do. But there are a lot of different scenarios for how to do FROM what TO what. You need to pay attention to what your Converted Items Volume is first of all. Moreover, you need to make sure you have at least 16GB of free space on that volume. I can't tell what you are trying to compress from your posts thus far.

Are you trying to compress while you copy a Movie DVD? If so you want to write a DVD Image of that DVD First using minimum compression settings IE the fastest bit rates allowed in the Options More Encoding Pane. I never do this as I do all my compressing from DVD Images I make from EyeTV recordings. Can someone help me out with how you copy a DL DVD Movie to Single Layer? Is it Save As or is it straight Save As Disk Image from the mounted DL DVD he wants to make a single layer copy of?

Probably, put the DL DVD in the Mac. Click on the Disc Copy Pane and see the DVD mounted in that pane. Then Save As Disc Image... Command D and it will write a 7-8GB Image File to your HD that you choose with plenty of space available. Once that's written you change the Copy pane to Image File and drag the DL Image back to that pane when it will mount and start playing in your DVD Player. Stop that. Getting redundant now.

There's a different scenario if you have one DVD player and one DVD recorder or two DVD recorder/players. In that case you don't have to make an image first. Oh don't forget to check the Use Fit-to-DVD video compression Option.

Anyway, you wind up with a clone of the DVD in the form of a 7-8GB file called a DVD Image that you then drag into the Copy Image File dialog pane of Toast 7 or 8. Make sure before you drag the image to the pane that it's set to DVD NOT DVD DL. Then when you drag it into the pane it will auto compress, mount and start playing in DVD Player. Stop the playing. Insert a SL DVD blank. press burn button and it will proceed to compress and then burn the compressed version to your SL DVD blank. Burn slow. I never burn faster than 4x. When you burn faster, the copy is inferior and may not work right.

 

[Multimedia]

You Can Also Read Your Toast 7 or 8 Manual Mike

It's a good thing I didn't actually hit myself -- toast is not auto-compressing files - though this may be because I haven't set the correct preferences -- either way, I can't figure out how to make it work..

I'll try picking up dvd2one to see if that's better.

Don't waste your money. It's not better. Toast is the ultimate. Do you have Toast 7 or 8?

If you have Toast why not read the manual. It's all explained there in excrutiating detail.

 

[mikefly]

Hmm

Thanks for all the advice -- will try when I get home.

In the process, I discovered that apple store misinformed me -- I do not have a DL drive.. not sure if I'll make a fuss, but I suspect so.

FYI -- using TOAST 8.

Mike

 

[epochblue]

I don't have Toast of any variety, and I swear by DVD2OneX. It's fast and even it when it does compress it's hard to tell. DVD2OneX gets my vote...plus, it's cheaper than Toast.

http://www.dvd2one.com/