Korean Job Discussion Forums

[itaewonguy]

ok I have gotten my burner to work now..

and I got nero 5 with it.. which doesnt burn dvds..

so I am currently getting 6 as I write this..

just curious to know is this what everyone else is using?

also what other programs do I need to make dvd movies?
dvd shrink and dycrpter?
what about to burn playstation games?

cheers guys..

[Derrek]

I use Nero 6. They sell two versions of it if you want to buy it (or download it). One is called "Nero 6 Ultra Edition" and one is called, "Nero 6 Reloaded." It depends on which country you are in -- there are minor differences, but mainly with the Nero Express program that comes with it.

You will also have to buy/steal some plugins for .mp3 and MPEG, I believe. You'll learn about those when you try to do something and it says you need to buy the upgrade. This has REALLY soured me on EVER buying Nero. It's a bait-and-switch to sell a product implying that it does something, but when you buy it, you have to pay more to upgrade. I really hope that someone complains to the Better Business Bureau and this practice by software companies stops. But you can always get a crack online. If you ever upgrade, though... be warned... Nero keeps track of the "crack" registration numbers available online and voids them when you update. So I've heard from a very believable source.

I use Nero for all of my burning now. I used to use EZ CD Creator 6 or 7 by Roxio, and I liked it, but the MPEG compression utility was not good when I burned my own DVD video. Poor quality compared to Nero.

If you are planning to copy a DVD, the two programs you want for sure are DVD Encrypter and DVD Shrink. Both are free online. You can learn everything you ever want to know at www.afterdawn.com -- perhaps much more than you care to know.

I have a 4.7 gig single-layer burner, so I primarily use DVD Shrink when copying DVDs, followed by Nero to burn once i'm done. But newer DVDs I choose to back up for my own personal use *ahem* are coming with more and more encryption techniques. DVD Shrink has not been updated for a while, and I read it won't be because the creator went to work for.... NERO! Apparently they told him he had to stop updating it or they'd get sued or something. I like DVD Shrink because you can set it to automatically boot Nero and burn your disk. I have a DVD reader drive and my DVD Burner drive, so I can just put the DVD in the reader, and a blank in the burner.. then let it crunch the numbers and burn by itself. It takes about 1 to 1 1/2 hours to copy the DVD for me.

The free DVD Encrypter program does an excellent job as well, and is updated often to tackle the newer encryptions. There is also a program called AnyDVD that you can download for a free trial. This program seems to defeat some of the newer encryptions, however I haven't truly needed it yet. DVD Encrypter seems to be on top of the updates by the time movies come to Korea.

DVD Encrypter will do what DVD Shrink does, but without shrinking it or compressing the video. Encrypter just removes the Region coding, the encryption, and macrovision, and then saves it on your HD as a file you can burn with Nero. If you intend to burn to the single-layer discs like I do, then you need DVD Shrink to compress the DVD after you're done with Encrypter. That's why I always try DVD Shrink first -- I don't always need Encrypter, but more and more newer DVDs are protected more thoroughly, so I am using Encrypter more often these days.

If you are burning to Dual-layer 8 gig disks, then you don't need to "shrink" the DVD at all.

A helpful note... ALWAYS use good disks. DON'T buy cheap DVD brands. I got burned on that.. literally. I was using REX brand, which burned and played fine, but 6 months later, many of my discs stopped working. Buy SONY or VERBATIM. Those are the two I'd go with! I buy Sony, and have excellent luck so far.

Also, I choose to "re-author" my DVDs, as well as uncheck/throw out all of the menus and "making of the movie" crap, and turn off things like Thai 5.1 Dolby sound, which I don't need. Who wants to sit through menus and push "Play" buttons to see the movie anyway? I don't!

When setting the compression, I try to shoot for a compression ratio of 70% or higher. I go no lower than 65%. I find that 75% and above look virtually perfect, and I can't tell the difference on my 29" TV. Even 65 is quite good, and requires you to sit close and look for it to notice much difference in the picture.

Once DVD Shrink is done, it will save an AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folder to your Hard Drive somewhere you specify. These two folders are what you burn to your DVD. Nothing else. The AUDIO_TS folder is almost always empty, but you still need that for many DVD Players today.

In Nero 6, when you choose to create a new DVD Video, it automatically creates the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders in the root directory. You only need to drag the files from your DVD Shrink-created VIDEO_TS folder into the Nero VIDEO_TS folder, in this case. Don't try to put the VIDEO_TS folder inside of another VIDEO_TS folder... that won't work. The root directory of your new DVD should have only VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS in them. Once you open the VIDEO_TS, it should contain the .ISO files, etc., created by DVD Shrink or Encrypter. Encrypter, by the way, can be set to create a DVD Image instead of .ISO files. I think the default is .ISO, but i"m not sure.

That site I mentioned, www.afterdawn.com , has everything you want to know and more.

[itaewonguy]

wow thanks derrick..
damn this should be made a sticky..
great info man..
thanks alot..

[Derrek]

Did you get it to work?

Let me know.

I'm so into DIVX files and .AVIs I download, I doubt I'll be burning many DVDs for a while.

[itaewonguy]