Image File Vs. Dvd Folder Set

[BrianR]

I understand that My DVD burns to a disc, image file, or DVD folder set. I'm not clear on which I should be using in the following scenario:

 

 

1. I've created my Videowave projects and burned them to a DVD using My DVD

 

2. I want to keep only one copy of my pics and videos, along with a soft copy of the DVD so I can burn it again

 

3. I want to upgrade to Creator NXT Pro because I'm getting left behind (or am I?) and want to open the soft copy to burn a DVD OR Blu-Ray

 

 

So, what does an ISO file give me - compared to a DVD folder set - that will best address my scenario above?

 

Thanks for your help!

[cdanteek]

I understand that My DVD burns to a disc, image file, or DVD folder set. I'm not clear on which I should be using in the following scenario:

 

 

1. I've created my Videowave projects and burned them to a DVD using My DVD

 

2. I want to keep only one copy of my pics and videos, along with a soft copy of the DVD so I can burn it again

 

3. I want to upgrade to Creator NXT Pro because I'm getting left behind (or am I?) and want to open the soft copy to burn a DVD OR Blu-Ray

 

 

So, what does an ISO file give me - compared to a DVD folder set - that will best address my scenario above?

 

Thanks for your help!

 

What is your definition of a soft copy?

 

(or am I?) no.

 

Again soft copy? A DVD is a DVD, BD DVD is a BD DVD encoded at different bit rates different formats to the disc and require different media to burn to.

 

Either one will work for you, a ISO file or a DVD folder set

[BrianR]

Thansk for the quick reply. By "soft copy" I mean something that can be opened in order to re-burn a DVD. If I can start with the same file and burn to a Blu-Ray later, that's preferable.

 

You're telling me that either an ISO file or a folder set will accomplish what I need?

 

What does an ISO file give me that a folder set doesn't, and vice versa? If there's no difference, then why are these two options provided?

 

Thanks again cdanteek.

[cdanteek]

Your My DVD Projects (.dmsd) extension and your Videowave (.dmsm) extension recreates your project from these road maps files provided you don't move or delete anything. Encoding these to a DVD or BD DVD again is two different things. Do you understand that?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-Video

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_image

[BrianR]

Thanks again for the quick response.

 

I do not plan on keeping my folder structure used for creating theoriginal DVD. They are on my C: drive - my picture repository is on my home NAS storage; I want to keep one copy of the pics and videos on the NAS along with the ISO file.

 

My goal with the ISO file is to delete the files I used to create it, but still be able to burn the DVD again. From what I read this seems to be doable.

 

Thanks for posting the links to ISO files and DVD Video formats. I have not done anything with my Blu-ray burner and plan to learn on the next project. Is the ISO file burned to DVD video format incompatible with the Blu-ray format? I think that you're telling me that.

 

Thanks - Brian

[d_deweywright]

If you're original files that you used in your project are higher then DVD quality (HD quality) and you've created a DVD project, then the .ISO image file will now be at the DVD quality, significantly lower then HD quality. If you subsequently want to re-edit, or create a Blu-Ray format disc, you'll want to start with the original files, rather than the "rendered at DVD quality" files in your .ISO image file.

 

Using your .ISO image file, you can create as many copies to DVD as you want, but you will never recapture the higher quality (if any) that you originally had. So, if you're keeping the original files (video/picture) and the .ISO image file, then you do not need to keep the .DMS? files created by VideoWave and MyDVD. But for any future editing, you'll be starting from scratch.

 

Does that help?

[BrianR]

Thanks to both cdanteek and d_deweywright for your helpful responses!