Duplicate and compress a DVD

[zaggle]

Hello

I'd like to duplicate a DVD of running time about two hours.
How do I do this with OS X 10.4 ?

I know how to use DiskUtility to make
a disk image from a DVD and then burn that. However,
the disk image is of size 7.2Gb which won't fit on a standard
DVD of capacity 4.2Gb. Therefore I need to write a compressed
video with lower quality, but DiskUtility does not appear to have
this functionality.

Can this be done with iDVD or something ? I can't say I find
the Help file of iDVD at all useful (like many OS X help files...)
and googling and searching forums and help files has not
turned up the answer.

I am wondering if one can import a DVD inot iDVD as a project
and then burn a DVD with compression on.

many thanks for your advice !

cheers
Zag

[camgangrel21]

What you need to look for is a program called handbrake. There is a program that is called mac the ripper but good luck finding it. Seeing as it had to go underground after the guy the made it got sued by the MPAA. It's hard to find but if you can find it that is what you want to backup everthing off a DVD to a DMG file that will be able to work on a SL DVD-R or DVD+R.

[fryke]

handbrake doesn't do DVD-to-DVD copies at all. It rips to MPEG-4, generally speaking. It's good for that, but not the task at hand.

What you're looking for is FastDVDcopy. -> http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/16695 ... It's got a price, but is the most simple, most complete and basically _only_ one button solution to this problem. Everyting else I know of takes at least two steps.

[skybolt]

Roxio's Popcorn or Toast 7 will compress a DVD to fit.

[symphonix]

My workflow for backing up DVD movies is this:
1. Rip the DVD to a Video_TS file using MacTheRipper.
2. Drag the Video_TS file into Roxio Popcorn 2. If it accepts it, skip to step 4.
3. Compress the Video_TS file to a single-layer-DVD sized disk image using DVD2OneX2. Once done, drag the created image file into Roxio Popcorn 2.
4. Burn DVD using Popcorn.

Since two of these programs are commercial and cost a bit, it might not be the ideal workflow if you're only doing one or two movies. If, like me, you want to keep a backup of your entire DVD collection, then the software is worth the price. Now I can let kiddies watch "The Incredibles" without worrying about their sticky fingers.

[skybolt]

I believe Popcorn will compress the video, no need to use DVD2OneX. That is what Popcorn is for -- compressing and then burning.

[camgangrel21]

yeah but you have to get Mactheriper first. Because with out it. Popcorn will not work on Hollywood DVDs. Also I said Handbrake because I use it to get the movie into a Mpga file then I used iDVD to put all of the Superman movies, on to one DL DVD and I do mean "ALL" Superman movies. That is Superman 1, 2, 3, 4 and Returns, but before you bitch at me for this. Take a look over at WB's site there they say that Superman returns will ONLY will be put out on BlueRay not DVD.

[zaggle]

Hi all

thanks for your input. I was hoping that the Applications that
come with Mac OS X, whether it requires 1,2,3 or more steps
would be able to do this (as I am sure it is a rather common
want). So the answer appears to be that DiskUtility,
iMovie and iDVD cannot do this in any way, and that I must
purchase something (shocking).

Perhaps the Handbrake solution is good enough as long as I want
to watch the movies in a computer rather than a non-computer
DVD player...


cheers
Zag

p.s. mac the ripper is easy to find at

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/22715