I work for a church based organization and one of the members made a dvd about the organization, which they gave to us, so that we could copy and distribute to our members. The issue we're running into is that the dvd won't work on some of our memebers' computer/set-top players, and we want to edit some of the information on the dvd so that we can make is more closely universal. The only data we have to do this with is the original dvd, and I am trying to find out what software will allow me to take the information from the master dvd copy we have, modify it, and the region codes, as well as the vob files, so that we can make a new, modified, master disc. Any assistance that can be offered is greatly appreciated.
If you need to backup original/protected DVD´s you need a tool like DVD Decrypter or DVD Shrink. DVD shrink also allows you to reauthor the DVD.
It's hard to say what the problem could be without knowing more about how the DVD was authored, the media it's recorded on, and what players are involved, but in general most playback problems are media related. Some players don't like +R media and some don't like -R. Some won't play cheaper media and some don't care. Additionally, low quality media can cause errors in the disc, sometimes resulting in playback problems and sometimes in discs that won't play at all. Another possibility is that the video is a lower resolution than D1 (which is what the DVDs you buy at the store use). Some lower resolutions are completely DVD compliant, but won't play on some (mostly older) players. It's also possible that the authoring program didn't create the IFO files (they contain the "programming" for the disc) correctly or did something else wrong. I'd start by opening the disc with DVD Shrink just to see if you get any errors. If you do, it's probably a sign that the problem is in the authoring. If DVD Shrink doesn't give you any errors, it's likely down to the media. The best way to ensure universal compatibility is by burning to +R discs and use bitsetting to fool players into thinking it's a DVD-ROM instead of a recordable disc. This also requires that you have a burner capable of bitsetting. Unfortunately my Sony can't do it (and as far as I know no other Sony can either) so I can't tell you much more about it than that. I think Nero 6 can do bitset when you burn to a +R disc, and there are other programs that can do it as well.
