ISO files...

jakelm

This is for all my PC peeps....

I'm "starting" to understand what an ISO is. An exact Image of a file or files of data, bit-for-bit.

When the definition speaks of "image" does it mean copy?

I have a few movies I enjoy watching on my PC. I would like to copy to my HDD and play back without having to keep loading the DVD. Can an ISO file do this? Is it the exact DVD, bit-for-bit, or is it just an image and not the actual info? If it is, can it be played back without having to transfer it back on a DVD? Without having to convert it to avi or mpeg? Play it back as if it was in the DVDrom? 1 file, not a folder with 30 tracks on it.

I appologize for all the questions, but I have tryed to read as much about ISO as I can, but its not really explained too well.

Or am I way off on this ISO thing?




Jake

bobman1235

It's essentially what the OS sees when it looks at a disc. If you were to keep ISO's on your HDD, to play them you could actually mount them as drives and play them as if they were DVDs. So no you do not need to copy it back to a physical DVD, as far as the computer is concerned it IS a DVD.

jakelm

bobman1235 wrote: »

It's essentially what the OS sees when it looks at a disc. If you were to keep ISO's on your HDD, to play them you could actually mount them as drives and play them as if they were DVDs. So no you do not need to copy it back to a physical DVD, as far as the computer is concerned it IS a DVD.

Thanks Bob...

How do you mount as a drive?

also...and thanks for being patient with me...

If I had a DVD rom and not a writer, could I copy the entire movie to ISO without the use of a DVD burning software?

bobman1235

You may need to do some Googling, I'm pretty sure you need a third-party program to rip a DVD to an ISO image. Something like this.

As for mounting an ISO file as a drive, there's a small add-on for XP (provided by Microsoft) that you can download here, that includes instructions.

fatchowmein

Jake,
An ISO is the result of an image of whatever program you used to make a copy. If the initial program was capable of a bit by bit copy than your ISO would be a bit by bit copy. If not then your copy will not be an exact duplicate. Therefore, it's very important that the copying program is a good one. ISO is just a type of file that the operating system recognizes as an image file. There are others such as Nero's nrg.
If you're looking for an image mounting program, my favorite is daemon tools. Keep in mind that some games will search for this program on your pc and will not load if it finds daemon tools. I don't think it's fair that the gaming industry considers iso images a tool for software pirates since ISO's are great for backups but that's a discussion for another time.

jakelm

Thanks Bob. Virtual controlpanel is super easy.

I do have Nero, I guess I can use that to make an ISO file of a movie, right? And use virtualcontrolpanael to mount it.

Just double click on the ISO file and it will play like the DVD was in the tray?

jakelm

One more question, will the ISO file be the same size as the DVD? If the movie is 6g's will the ISO be the same size or does it compress it?


Thanks for all of the help....:)

Sami

Use this free software, it works much better than the MS version:
http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html

As how to get ISO's out of your DVD's, easiest is DVDShrink.

Sami

jakelm wrote: »

One more question, will the ISO file be the same size as the DVD? If the movie is 6g's will the ISO be the same size or does it compress it?

Same size.

jakelm

Sami wrote: »

Use this free software, it works much better than the MS version:
http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html

As how to get ISO's out of your DVD's, easiest is DVDShrink.

Thanks Sami, Virtualcontrol panel looks super easy. And my Nero6 should do just fine for copy to ISO on HD. Right?

thejck

in order to make an iso image of a dvd movie you need to use a program like DVD fab or DVD decrypter to pull the info off the DVD as the DVD's use some sort of protection to prevent you from doing just that. DVD shrink is a good program if you want to take a Dual Layered disk and put it onto a single layered DVD.

you can do a search in google for a virtual cd drive and you can find programs that will mouth the image ISO file for you and you can then use it just like a DVD.

if you rip the DVD to your drive using DVD decrypter it rips the movie into a folder and then you can use Win DVD player to play the movie directly from the folder.
you dont have to create an ISO image or worry about installing a virtual drive.

jakelm

I can create an ISO from a DVD and put it on my HDD with Nero6?

Sami

thejck wrote: »

DVD shrink is a good program if you want to take a Dual Layered disk and put it onto a single layered DVD.

You don't have to shrink, you can use to pull the whole movie (just select "No compression" if the movie is larger than a single layer holds). For most people it's just easier to use and I haven't encountered any problems with it recently. A while back some DVD's would not work with DVDShrink and required DVD Decrypter but I haven't seen those in a long time.

Sami

jakelm wrote: »

I can create an ISO from a DVD and put it on my HDD with Nero6?

I don't think you can. Just download DVDShrink, it's free and easy to use.

bobman1235

jakelm wrote: »

I can create an ISO from a DVD and put it on my HDD with Nero6?

Nero freaks out when your DVD is copy protected and won't let you do anything with it. Nero would only work on non-copy protected DVDs.

jakelm

Ok...Thanks...

I run AnyDVD in the background, and it allows Nero to do anything I ask.

Bu tI will check out DVDShrink

WilliamM2

If you want a very simple way to do it:

http://www.alcohol-soft.com/

It will decrypt, and copy the DVD to your drive, or any CD as well. Been using it for years. Although you may want to find an older version, as the current one does not decrypt anymore, my version is about 4 years old, and has worked with everything so far, I just don't let it update.

fatchowmein

The last I checked, Nero doesn't do ISO since they have their own format (nrg).

Like Sami said, if you're trying to rip your 6.7GB movies onto a 4.7GB DVD, DVD Shrink (or was it Shrink DVD? I always forget) works great. However, it's old and there are some dvd's that will not rip without help from AnyDVD. There's a bunch of software out there.

Have fun.

checkout videohelp.com

jakelm

fatchowmein wrote: »

The last I checked, Nero doesn't do ISO since they have their own format (nrg).

Like Sami said, if you're trying to rip your 6.7GB movies onto a 4.7GB DVD, DVD Shrink (or was it Shrink DVD? I always forget) works great. However, it's old and there are some dvd's that will not rip without help from AnyDVD. There's a bunch of software out there.

Have fun.

checkout videohelp.com

Not ripping to another DVD. Just want to transfer to HDD and click it to watch as if I were watching the actual DVD.

I think virtual controlpanel will work ok, to play the file. I will try DVDShrink to tansfer it as an ISO to HDD. Or give Nero a shot with AnyDVD running.

dudeinaroom

If you don't want to mount it dvdshrink will also export to a "dvd folder" and if your playing program supports files it will play it.

jakelm

What have you all found to be the best program for DVD playback? WM, Real, VLC, WinAmp?

thejck

i use win dvd player