- Joined
- Jan 24, 2000
- Messages
- 17,040
- Solutions
- 1
- Reaction score
- 14,136
- Points
- 7,651
- Location
- Birmingham, UK
DVD backup guide
The program content of a DVD comprises a number of Program Chains with a Chain for each section of the DVD content e.g. a Chain for the menus, one for the main body of the DVD, one for any extras etc. These Chains are stored on the DVD as VOB files and contain the MPEG2 video and audio data multiplexed together. Additional IFO files (and their backup called BUP files) act as an index for the DVD player application to know how to play the VOB files.
It is possible to copy the entire content of a DVD to Hard Disk where it can be played by a software DVD player e.g. PowerDVD, just as if the original DVD was in the DVD drive. In addition it is possible to selectively copy those sections of a DVD e.g. just the movie plus a specific soundtrack. This has the advantage of minimising the storage required plus saves on copying sections that are not wanted.
The software applications required are:
To backup a complete DVD
The program content of a DVD comprises a number of Program Chains with a Chain for each section of the DVD content e.g. a Chain for the menus, one for the main body of the DVD, one for any extras etc. These Chains are stored on the DVD as VOB files and contain the MPEG2 video and audio data multiplexed together. Additional IFO files (and their backup called BUP files) act as an index for the DVD player application to know how to play the VOB files.
It is possible to copy the entire content of a DVD to Hard Disk where it can be played by a software DVD player e.g. PowerDVD, just as if the original DVD was in the DVD drive. In addition it is possible to selectively copy those sections of a DVD e.g. just the movie plus a specific soundtrack. This has the advantage of minimising the storage required plus saves on copying sections that are not wanted.
The software applications required are:
- DVD Decrypter (available from http://www.dvddecrypter.com/ ), which cracks the CSS encrption on the DVD that normally prevents copying the files.
- IfoEdit (available from http://mpucoder.kewlhair.com/derrow/ ), which provides tools for editing the copied files.
To backup a complete DVD
- Start DVD Decrypter
- Select File Mode
- DVD Decrypter automatically highlights/selects those files that represent the longest Program Chain (believing that this is the main part of the DVD e.g. the Movie)
- Select all files by highlighting them
- Choose where to store the files or accept the default folder and start the decrypting process
- File copying/decrypting will take approx 15 minutes depending on how big the DVD files are
- Once finished close DVD Decrypter
- Start DVD Decrypter
- Select IFO Mode
- DVD Decrypter automatically highlights/selects those files that represent the longest Program Chain (believing that this is the main part of the DVD e.g. the Movie)
- Either accept this default or navigate to the specific Program Chain that you wish to backup
- If you intend to further select what to backup within a Program Chain e.g. a specific audio track or subtitle then select Stream Processing
- Select/unselect what to copy. If you chose to just copy a DTS soundtrack normally 0x89 then select to remap this audio stream to 0x88
- Choose where to store the files or accept the default folder and start the decrypting process
- File copying/decrypting will commence and take approx 10 minutes depending on how big the DVD files are
- Once finished close DVD Decrypter
- Open the folder where the decrypted files are stored. There will be a number of VOB files, depending on how big the copied data is, plus a couple of extra files likely called Stream and IFO these extra files can be safely deleted
- The remaining VOB files will be named in sequence VTS_0x_1.VOB, VTS_0x_2.VOB, VTS_0x_3.VOB etc. where x represents the number of the Program Chain that was copied, e.g. VTS_03_1.VOB, VTS_03_2.VOB, VTS_03_3.VOB etc. These files need to be renamed so that x=1 i.e. VTS_01_1.VOB, VTS_01_2.VOB, VTS_01_3.VOB etc
- The second stage of the process is to create new IFO files that correctly index these created and copied VOB files
- Open IfoEdit
- Select the Create IFOs button
- Browse to the stored DVD files and select the first VOB file named VTS_01_1.VOB
- Select where to store the created IFO files normally the same folder as the VOB files
- Select the button to start the process. IfoEdit will process each VOB file in turn and create a set of IFO files that index these VOB files
- Once finished close IfoEdit
- Start PowerDVD
- Select File Open and chose Play DVD from Hard Disk
- Browse to the folder that contains the DVD files
- Select the VIDEO_TS.IFO file and press Open
- The DVD will start playing as normal