using 2 dvd drives at the same time

[anujpuri85]

Hello,

I am trying to read off 2 internal dvd sata drives at the same time. I have an ASUS p5q-e mobo, with an intel q6600 quad processor, 8 gb ram, and vista 64. I have a bunch of dvd movies, which i want to convert to vobs/mkvs so i can store them on my computer and run them off my ps3. I use dvdfab platinum to do the ripping. However, both dvd drives won't run at the same time. i set one going, and then when i start the second, the first stops. even if i wait for the second to complete, the first wont start back up.

any way to get both running at the same time? would getting an external dvd drive work instead?

thanks for your help!

[troy512]

i have no experience in trying to run multiple instances of DVDFab. however from the release notes this feature has been available since DVDFab 5.2.5.0 (April 17, 2009).

you mention using dvdfab platinum. this is an older v5 release. since v6 the platinum name has been removed, the options are now separated.

http://www.dvdfab.com/index.htm

please update to v6.

http://www.dvdfab.com/download.htm

then retrieve a new key

http://www.dvdfab.com/retrieveregkey.htm

please let us know if this is working for you. while you are updating and testing, someone with more experience in dvd to mobile options may post with more helpful advice.

[GregiBoy]

As an operating procedure, I have found that converting directly from the optical drives has always been fraught with problems; Audio synch, glitches at the layer break and SLOW!!!

A far better option is to rip multiple dvd's using full disc mode, DVD 9, to a folder (10-15mins each) and then set up a queue of multiple conversions. Using this method, I am able to achieve 10 2-pass conversions a day.

[synergy]

A far better option is to rip multiple dvd's using full disc mode, DVD 9, to a folder (10-15mins each) and then set up a queue of multiple conversions. Using this method, I am able to achieve 10 2-pass conversions a day.

GregiBoy, could you please spend a few moments detailing the procedure you follow to do this? My specific questions:

1) Are you using multiple drives / dvdfab instances to rip via full disc mode at the same time?
2) How do you convert the full dvd rip files (Video_TS, etc) to avi? I tried this (File > Mobile-Generic) and couldn't get it to work.

I would appreciate if you could list in detail the steps you take to get this done. Thank you for your time and effort.

[GregiBoy]

The following is an extract from a guide that I am preparing to place as a sticky on the forum.

Let me know what you think.

I do not use 2 x Optical drives as the rip with no compression only takes me about 10 minutes on my fastest machine/drive.

Best Practices

Firstly, check that the your target device is listed on the left hand pane once you click on the DVD to Mobile option in the left hand pane of the Fab window.

In Settings (little green tick mark at top right of the Fab window), set the "Create files in subfolder of output directory" to "OFF"

Also, in Settings_>DVD to DVD set the Default output size as "DVD9" and the Default output type as "DVD Folder" and close down Fab.

Then create a directory where you will want the ripped DVD to go. I use C:\DVD Rips as an example.

Reasons behind this process.

I have always subscribed to the "Do it once and do it right" theory and have come up with this procedure after literally years of bitter experience. The reasons that I ALWAYS rip to the hard disk first are:-

The conversion process is quite long (can be roughly the running time of the title) depending on the power of your computer and a DVD is continually being accessed if used as the source.

This can create overheating problems, especially in slimline external drives or drives in portables and this will manifest itself in playback glitches or audio sync problems in the converted file.

Fab can also be set up to do batch processing but the media must always be available to it, so I can set up a queue to do 5 titles overnight.

Also, I tend to do different conversions of most titles (eg: Media Player & cellphone) and this way the source is always available to me.

Doing the process this way is generally quicker than encoding from the original DVD. Ie: the rip time + the conversion time using the hard disc as the source is less that the conversion time from the original DVD.

Stage 1: Rip the DVD to a folder.

Start Fab.

Choose DVD to DVD on the left hand panel of the Fab window.

Select the directory where you ripped the DVD to in the source

Insert the DVD in the drive and wait for Fab to recognise it as the source.

Select the directory that you have created as the target where you want the ripped DVD to go.

Select Full Disc mode on the left hand panel of Fab.

Check that the DVD9 setting has been maintained at the bottom of the Fab window and just above that, check that the Volume Label is what you want. Take care here because a lot of older releases used to have something like "DVD_VIDEO" as the volume label and you will overwrite any previous rips with the same name.

Once the rip is done, a subfolder with the name of the "Volume Label" will be created in the output directory.

As I said above, I generally do this to multiple DVD's for later processing at about 10-15mins per title.

Stage 2: DVD to Mobile Conversion

Click on DVD to Mobile on the left hand pane of the Fab window.

Click on the device that you wish to make the file for on the left hand pane.

In the "Source" bar at the top of the Fab Window to navigate to the subdirectory where the DVD was ripped to. Fab will then parse the structure and usually choose the longest title as the main movie. If you are encoding a series DVD, you will need to choose the individual titles which you will be able to recognise by the length.

In the "Target" bar at the top of the window, navigate to disc/directory where you want the encoded file(s) to finish.

You can then open the queue to fine tune the settings of each encode but I will not discuss that here as it is a whole topic in itself.

When all ready to go, press the start button and come back later to find it all done.

You can queue up multiple dvd's fom the hard disc like this for overnight processing.

I hope that this helps......

Best Regards
GregiBoy

[Complication]

I second GregiBoy's instructions to rip to the hard drive first then convert.

You CAN use more that one drive at once to load up your hard drive in preparation for a large DVD to Mobile batch. I do it all the time because I tend to purchase several DVDs at once when they are on sale. Use this procedure in addition to the instructions above:
- Put DVDs in the both (or all) drives.
- Start first instance of DVDFab, it will find one of the discs.
- Use Full Disc or Main Movie mode (to save space if you know exactly what you want) and start the rip.
- Start the next instance of DVDFab, it will find the same disc.
- Click the cancel button once, it will find the next disc.
- Use Full Disc or Main Movie mode and start the rip.
- Let both DVDFab instances finish and then close them both.
- Eject DVDs and repeat

Ripping 2 or more at once may or may not be faster then one at a time depending on other bottlenecks in the PC. It does reduce the human interaction required by half.

Also, you don't need to turn off the "Create files in subfolder of output directory". It is just personal preference. VLC, DVDFab, and other modern programs understand the directory structure so it doesn't matter unless you are using an older program.

[GregiBoy]

The reason that I said to turn off the "create files" option is that it creates quite confusing navigation trees.

e.g. When doing the mobile conversion, under the directory that you chose as the output directory, you will have to navigate \generic\title\title.avi to locate the file.