Using DVDRemaster

3. Recompressing the Video

Once you have a local copy of the DVD (decrypted if necessary), you are ready to start the recompression with DVDRemaster. The following explains how to use the standard version as well as the extra options available with the Pro version.

• Launch DVDRemaster.
• Click on "Choose..." and select the VIDEO_TS folder that you just copied on your hard drive.
• Choose a "Recompression Module"; we recommend using the M2VRequantiser.
• Select the quality preset. This is ignored if you use the M2VRequantiser module.
• If you want to make an exact copy of the DVD, select "Full remaster". If you want to copy only the main feature, select "Movie only".
• In most cases, you can leave the "Target size" as is. However, you may change it by simply entering a new value. On the right of this field you can see the tags "Full original" and "Edited orginal". The fomer shows the size of the original DVD while the latter shows the size of the edited content, i.e. the content you chose to keep.

• If you are using the Pro version, you have additional options that you can work with. These features offer more control over what should be copied and what should be left out. Furthemore, you can select the compression ratio of the different title sets you have chosen to keep. It also lets you see what you are actually removing in order to simplify the process.
  • Select "Modify Program Chain" in order to recompress and backup only the desired titles. Mark the titles you wish to keep by selecting the checkbox on the left. Look at the images underneath in order to see to which part of the DVD the title chosen corresponds to.
  • Double-click on a title to obtain a preview of what this title contains. This operation will open a new window with a slider and a viewer for the video. The slider will be in the middle. Bring it to the left to check the beginning of the title and to the right to see the end.
  • When "Modify Program Chain" is selected the compression may be set differently for each title set. Simply move the slider to the left if you wish to decrease the compression and to the right if you wish to increase it. Remember that the higher the compression, the lower the quality. Also notice that the target size is not modified. Therefore, there is more space available for the remaining title sets which in turn permits an increase in the quality of the final result. The general use would be to slide to the right title sets which can be more compressed, and to the left those for which the quality of the image should be the greatest.
  • Choose which audio tracks to keep and which ones to discard thanks to the "Discard Audio Tracks" option. The tracks can easily be seen in the table. The number in the column "Title Set" refers the same number in the "Program Chain" table. This way, it is simple to know which audio tracks correspond to which title. The language and the audio format are also shown for convenience purposes; where "AC3" is the formal name of "Dolby Digital".
  
• You are now ready to remaster the DVD. Click "Start!"
• You will be asked to choose the destination for the recompressed DVD.
• DVDRemaster will then process all the files.
  
• Once DVDRemaster has finished, you can preview the result using Apple's DVD Player, which comes already installed with Mac OS X in the Applications folder. Launch DVD Player.
• From the "File" menu, choose "Open VIDEO_TS Folder..." and select the VIDEO_TS that you just recompressed with DVDRemaster.