Combining DVDs
 

Okay, so awhile back, I was using DVDXCopy. Not only does it insert their little attention-grabber at the beginning of each CD, but most movies are broken up into two DVDs, due to the size limitation of single-layer DVDs.

Now I use a program similar to DVDShrink. I'd like to take a couple of these old movies and shrink them onto one DVD.

Unfortunately, I'm ignorant of the file system used on DVDs. The names of files are the same on each of my two-DVD movies, and a couple of attempts involving renaming files and putting them in the same folder didn't work.

Can anyone tell me of a way to rename the .VOB files, (or any other method) to make the shrinking software think they're all just one happy family?

Thanks.

Try this

Of course that is going to leave you with a menuless dvd. If you want to add a menu, you will have to author one from scratch using something like DVDlab or TmpgencDVD or the free programs dvdauthor and dvdauthorGUI. But doing so is quite a bit more complicated, depending on how much time you want to invest in combining these dvds.

Thanks for the quick response. Will try that after work and let you know if I succeeded.

I don't care about a menu, so it should be fine.

Just remember, DVDs are compressed to some degree already as MPEG-2. The more you compress them, the greater the loss of video quality you will have.

As bendsley said, MPEG-2 will become ugly, especially at high compression rates. You would get better results with MPEG-4. (i.e. XviD) Allocating 1.5GB/movie (3/DVD) provides very good quality even with multiple audio tracks. Downside is it means playback with a PC or one of the newer MPEG-4 compliant DVD players.

You guys are talking a little over my head, but I have a program that compresses a dual-layer DVD to fit onto a single-layer one. They usually wind up a little over 4 gig, and they play on anything. Buying in bulk means my blanks cost around a quarter, unlike the dual-layer blanks I saw in the store a couple of days ago.

Its default setup throws out the menu, and every language but one. I've had no problems with it.

I haven't seen a degradation of quality, but I'm only viewing them on a 25" TV, not some huge plasma screen.

When I rip DVDs, I only care about getting the movie. I will rip the entire DVD and then pull out all of the extras, like menus, subtitles, extra audio streams, etc. Then, when I insert the DVD, the movie begins to play immediately.

We're talking over your head regarding what? Ask and I will try to explain what I can.

What are you planning to use to compress two of those shrunk movies to fit on one DVD? My point (and I think Bendsley's) was that to fit two movies on one disc with MPEG-2, you're running out of bits. Original movie DVDs have quite a bit of slack, or black space, and extras, that make compressing to a single layer work nicely. Doubling that again will often start to look fugly. Especially in areas with lots of gradients. (low-light, skin-tones, underwater, etc.) Of course, depends on the movies.

At $0.25/blank I'd just go with one disc/movie. If you want more reduction, and are willing to spend the time, attractive results mean going to something better than MPEG-2. Remember, in a year we'll have 20/30GB discs. Even if the HD blanks are high maybe by then DL prices will drop to something reasonable. In short, at $0.25/disc don't spend too much time compressing something you may reauthor again soon.

I could have been more clear. DVDXCopy (at least the version I was using) wouldn't compress. So when you burned an average movie, you had to do it onto two discs. Plus, the program put a header with their crap on each one.

So with my program (OneClickDVDCopy--I bought it), once MrKlixx steered me to that website, I've been able to take those two DVDs and combine them onto one mildly compressed disc.


Agreed.

Thanks for the info, from both of you. I don't know anything about XVid, but I may hold off on it until more of a need arises. That was what I was saying is "a little over my head."

Again, right now, with the way things are going, I'm a happy guy.

That's my preference too.

Thanks for the offer, but all I meant was I don't know anything about Xvid.