Anyone wondering if its worth it anymore?

I've argued this point for quite some time, but did not wish to alienate myself from the ardent rippers amongst our Doom9 community members! I think it's worthwhile as a learning process, and as a means of backing up titles which have been deleted, but not as a means of saving a few pounds/dollars/euros etc. After all, one could probably earn the cost of a retail DVD in the time it takes to RIP, Re-encode, and write, a DVD-R copy. Just my *2 cents* lol. Arky ;o)

If you're efficient and don't buy diamond studded media, you'll save lots of money. I also don't care about the cases, I just make color labels and put them in a book. Watch Coyote Ugly and you'll understand why backing up is a good thing. Paramount sticks 5 minutes of previews in their titles and there aint shit you can do but grin and bear it cos of the PUOPs. FYI: Efficient means Netflix and CCE. Not blockbuster and REMPEG. -Cole

@auenf: maybe the users don't learn much, but Derrow and I sure do :)

Too right....because if you had bought Apocalypse Now, how would you have felt when they released Apocalypse Now Redux Even More Special Extended Edition Superbit DTS version, a few months later. :D THAT'S why I do it (well partly anyway - money and fun also have something to do with it). cine.

Commander XJL, why do it the hard way?? 

There is something about his (commanders) post that doesnt make any sense to me at all, and I hope someone can shed some light on why you want to do this- You say you spend 5$ on a DVDR, and then re-encode (which takes 10-15 hours) to get the movie on 1 disc ? ??? WHY BOTHER? Why not buy two cheap discs( 1$ each ), and split the movie, and not lose ANY quality, and save yourself a hell of a lot of time. I have been using this method, and If i feel like it, i do 3-4 movies in 1 day, which includes rip, processing and burn. Never had any problems. I have been doing the split method with great success, and to be honest with you, i have been using VERY cheap media and had absolutely no problems with it. I dont think people realize, or are wiling to admit, that the cheapo discs can actually do the exact same thing that the 5 dollar discs can do. I buy it from a guy on ebay, and ALL of the movies I have burned work great from start to finish, i even took them to best buy and tried them out on the players, and they work on 75-80% of the players. The easy way to fix that problem is - uhhh - just buy a player that plays your discs. :) any comments on this? why go through the trouble, time, and effort to get it all on one disc, when its a HELL of a lot easier to split, and gives same quality as original- just my 2 cents

If you think cheap disks are the way to go then do a search on it and you'll see that tons of people have had nothing but trouble with cheap disks of all different brands, myself included, which is why I and so many others buy good quality media now. Also the idea of having a movie on 2 seperate disks does not sound too good to most people, which is why so few people do it it that way. If you do just the movie most movies will fit with no re encoding, and if you do need to re encode the quality loss is so slight I'd rather have that than having to watch a movie on two seperate disks, that sounds like the laser disk days 20 years ago when a movie was interupted while you flip a disk over

the silent majority has no problem with dollar discs. its the whiners with shitty players that make everyone think you're some kind of sage if you shell out five bucks a piece for media. I've never had a coaster attributable to anything but my own incompetence and I buy 90 cent media. -Cole

why do you do it 

ok, yes - i definatly agree with wakeboarder - a big part of the reason to do it is because its fun. Remember the thrill you had when you first got it right? and you made your first DVD? If doing this was a nightmare i wouldnt bother. I suppose it depends on what is more important to you, time, money, or not changing a disc halfway into your movie. To me, time and money are a LOT more important, thats why i took the cheap/quick route (as opposed to the expensive/long route). Since i havent had any problems yet with the cheap media ( i pay 1 dollar per disc), then i dont think its necessary to be paying 5 bucks a movie. If your gonna pay that much, just buy the damn DVD and save yourself the 18 hours of encoding! One other item to mention - at what point does it become worth it? Have you watched all the movies that you have burned? Is the collector in you, or the just the fun of the hobby that motivates you?