eclectica
2007-10-28, 13:26
The largest blank DVDs commonly sold for the consumer are 4.38 GB and are falsely labeled as 4.7 GB. Movies which one can buy from the Hollywood pros are sometimes larger than 4.38 GB, which happens when they're longer than a couple of hours in length or have extra features. So in order to copy those Hollywood DVDs onto a disc, one would have to compress the video portion or cut out some of the extra features. That compression results in a loss of video quality.
I tested two programs on Ubuntu (http://www.3-3-3.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1047) that shrink down large DVDs to a 4.38 GB size. One was DVD95 (http://dvd95.sourceforge.net/) and the other was K9Copy (http://k9copy.sourceforge.net/). While DVD95 integrates better into the Gnome desktop, K9Copy is clearly the superior one because there is no pixelation visible due to the compression. DVD95 does a poor job at compressing the video.
To use K9Copy, select to open the DVD once it is in the computer's drive. Then check off everything under the Title section. Under the Selected Titles section, I prefer to check "Keep original menus", which is not selected by default. To create a 4.38 GB DVD .iso file, hit the DVD button on the top menu. By default in the settings it is set to be the correct size at 4400 MB in the settings. To backup your movies as .avi files which will fit on a 700 MB CD, hit the MPEG-4 button on the top menu. That will create a 700 MB .avi file by default.
I tested two programs on Ubuntu (http://www.3-3-3.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1047) that shrink down large DVDs to a 4.38 GB size. One was DVD95 (http://dvd95.sourceforge.net/) and the other was K9Copy (http://k9copy.sourceforge.net/). While DVD95 integrates better into the Gnome desktop, K9Copy is clearly the superior one because there is no pixelation visible due to the compression. DVD95 does a poor job at compressing the video.
To use K9Copy, select to open the DVD once it is in the computer's drive. Then check off everything under the Title section. Under the Selected Titles section, I prefer to check "Keep original menus", which is not selected by default. To create a 4.38 GB DVD .iso file, hit the DVD button on the top menu. By default in the settings it is set to be the correct size at 4400 MB in the settings. To backup your movies as .avi files which will fit on a 700 MB CD, hit the MPEG-4 button on the top menu. That will create a 700 MB .avi file by default.