Backup of DVD files in X3

[billseifert]

I have at least 150 half-hour DVD shows of travels in the back country of Arizona created with four versions of VideoStudio. I regularly show them at various places including senior centers, and many have suggested that I contact PBS because they are so professionally created with VideoStudio and informative.

I have experienced loss of photos a decade ago and have been very meticulous since in creating backup copies of everything, including a third copy on a hard drive in a fire safe. I used the VideoStudio feature of creaing a ".iso" file as I created the final burn of a show.

I recently created my first serious video show with X3 and muddled through the Corel DVD Factory for the first time. I was astounded that I have no option (as much as I can see) to save a ".iso" file, but rather it will create a set of AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS files. I may be OK with this, but I'm concerned that I will not be able burn a replacement DVD as I relied on before. And now I wonder if my directory of 200,000 photos must be intact and have the version of VIdeoStudio that created the _TS files available if I need to exercise this backup plan of mine. What if 5 years from now I don't have X3 available, my directory of photos is gone, and I have to create another copy of the DVD from those _TS files?

How do I create another physical DVD from the _TS files, even today?

What do others do?

[Black Lab]

Any DVD authoring program will burn a DVD from VIDEO_TS folders. I always burn my VS products to a video folder first and use Nero to burn the disc.

[billseifert]

Where is the photo and video information stored? If you move the original photos and videos when working with .VSP files, it complains and you have to relink for VS to find them. Do the _TS files contain all the information required to recreate and burn the resulting original DVD, regardless of whether the original photos are available? If so, then I'll be happy.

[BrianCee]

The Video_TS folders contain ALL the information required to play on any DVD player, if you look at the file structure on any of the DVDs you have burnt in the past (including those you burnt from .iso files) you will see that they all contain the Video_TS folder and *maybe* a completely empty Audio_TS folder and that is all that is required for the DVD to play on a standard DVD player. If you have a software DVD player on any of your computors you can play the _TS folder even if you have moved it around your storage and computing sysytems.

All of the information is stored in the Video_TS folder - to use it it is just a matter of using any programme which copies DVDs to copy the Video_TS file from your computor to a disc - it makes no difference at all where you have stored or moved the _TS folder - so yes all the photo and video information is in the Video_TS folder and it will play even if you have destroyed all the original material.

My version of DVD MovieFactory (which I have to admit is not the very latest version) offers me the option on launch to "Burn DVD folders to Disc" so you may well already have the software you require

[Ken Berry]

And just to add one relevant piece of information, when you prepare an .iso file, it in fact also contains that Video_TS folder. An .iso file is just a mirror image of the final DVD, requiring -- like the Video_TS folder ('DVD Folder') -- to be burned to disc as a video DVD. Moreover, DVD folders are a little easier to use than .iso files. As noted above, you can play them on software DVD players like PowerDVD, WinDVD or Nero ShowTime -- whereas with an .iso file, you have to 'mount' it on a virtual drive (which requires another piece of software such as WinISO or PowerISO) before you can play it with a software DVD player.

I also always make an DVD Folder in preference to an .iso file for the latter reason alone as this also allows you to check that in fact all your editing etc is correct before actually burning it to disc.

[billseifert]

Very interesting. I should have asked this question years ago.