May 25, 2003

DVD to VCD?

Having a 2 year old who is capable of opening the DVD player around is a dangerous thing. We now have at least 3 DVDs that have scratches so deep that they affect the playing of them. Monsters Inc. had become so annoying that I searched the web looking for tips on scratch removal. I read a couple of reviews of the "CD/DVD scratch repair systems" that are available at our local electronics store and was somewhat intrigued. I also read an article about using toothpaste to "buff out" the scratch making the disc playable again. So being the cheap bastard that I am, I opted to try the toothpaste. I followed the instructions carefully; damp cloth, small amount of paste, inside outward motion and all that, and hoped for the best. Well, in short, it didn't work. Infact, I think now it's worse. I don't recommend the toothpaste method. I am probably going to try one of the store bought remedies, although I read somewhere about using car wax...hmmm. Anyway, the DVD is so far gone I figure I can't hurt it any more.

All this has led me to try to back up a DVD we own on to VCD. I download the application called "Forty-Two"42.jpgand it has been working upstairs, on Rosie's iBook, encoding the video for about 7 hours now. It said it should take about 23 hours total. I know that is a lot of processor time, but if it works, what the hell. We've lost too many DVDs to care about that. I update later to let you all know how it worked (if it did). Just for the record Forty-Two has a very slick GUI and is quite easy to use. It is donation-ware, so it is basically free, if it works I think I could probably afford to donate the price of a DVD to the cause.

I may have to get a G4 sooner, rather than later, although for this kind of stuff waiting for a 64-bit processor might be worth the wait.

Posted by Craig Marykuca at May 25, 2003 09:32 PM
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