Solved DVD Quality

[bigmck]

I have transferred a Video Tape to a digital file. I then made a DVD from the file. In the future when I burn additional DVD's will there be any difference in quality if I
make the DVD from the file or burn the additional DVD from the first one I made?

 

[Shark007]

I suggest you get the freeware software, Imgburn, and use it to create an ISO image file of that DVD. From that ISO file, every dvd reproduction you create will be a perfect copy of the original DVD that you made the ISO file from. Of course, you can also use this software to write that ISO file to a DVD.

 

[bigmck]

I suggest you get the freeware software, Imgburn, and use it to create an ISO image file of that DVD. From that ISO file, every dvd reproduction you create will be a perfect copy of the original DVD that you made the ISO file from. Of course, you can also use this software to write that ISO file to a DVD.

I have Imburn. My question was is there any difference in quality coping from a file or burning a copy from a DVD?

 

[MrNeeds]

I suggest you get the freeware software, Imgburn, and use it to create an ISO image file of that DVD. From that ISO file, every dvd reproduction you create will be a perfect copy of the original DVD that you made the ISO file from. Of course, you can also use this software to write that ISO file to a DVD.

I have Imburn. My question was is there any difference in quality coping from a file or burning a copy from a DVD?

It's always better to use the original to make copies, the more you copy a copy, the more the quality degrades from each copy produced, the original will always be the best, so if you can, try and burn from disc to disc, but if you burn from the copy(backup) then the quality will be the same as the disc you originally burned off.

Hope this helps Jim

Dave

 

[Shark007]

the more you copy a copy, the more the quality degrades from each copy produced

total bullcrap.
The above statement may refer to an old audio casstte from the 80's . . . but
it certainly DOES NOT refer to an ISO copy of an original, home made, DVD.

You can litteraly make 100's of thousands of DVD's, each identical to the original,
using an ISO of the original.

 

[lhorwinkle]

That's VCR thinking. It does not apply when copying digital media. With DVDs, there is no difference whatever when makes copies of copies of copies.

 

[kado897]

It is still best to copy from a master ISO as any defects on the disk will not be propagated. In time these would degrade the quality.

 

[mjf]

I think the answer to your basic question is no. A digital bit copy is a digital bit copy.
However, even in the digital environment if you decode a lossy encoding and re-encode you will get noise/error accumulation.
Just think of jpegs in the still image situation. You can bit copy them as much as you like but decode in an editor and re-encode you get some error.

 

[MrNeeds]

the more you copy a copy, the more the quality degrades from each copy produced

total bullcrap.
The above statement may refer to an old audio casstte from the 80's . . . but
it certainly DOES NOT refer to an ISO copy of an original, home made, DVD.

You can litteraly make 100's of thousands of DVD's, each identical to the original,
using an ISO of the original.

you have misread my post, i said if you make a copy of a copy of a copy.

"but if you burn from the copy(backup) then the quality will be the same as the disc you originally burned off"

 

[bigmck]

Thanks very much for all of your input.

 

[Wishmaster]

It depends on how you are doing the transfer.

Your best bet, is to transfer the Video tape to a losseless type file. The result will be rather large.
Then, use your software to turn that losslessfile to a DVD.


If you are transfering that video file to your HD, and compressing it to file in the same process there will be quality loss in the transfer.
And then some more quality loss when you convert the file to DVD.

There will be a quality loss either way, since converting to DVD, but by copying as lossless first, youll minimize it.



Once you have a DVD made though, any Copy you make of it will have no quality loss from the original.
Youll only loose further if you recode the DVD to a smaller size.

For example, if you make a Dual layer DVD out of it, any copy on a DL will suffer no loss at all, regardless how many copys you make.
But, by recoding it and shrinking it to DVD size, will result in another quality hit.


..If that makes sense.