dvdbackup(1)                General Commands Manual               dvdbackup(1)

NAME
       dvdbackup - Tool to backup DVDs

SYNOPSIS
       dvdbackup [OPTION]...

DESCRIPTION
       This manual page documents briefly the dvdbackup command.  This manual
       page was written for the Debian distribution because the original
       program does not have a manual page.  dvdbackup is a tool to extract
       data from video DVDs.  It has the advantages of being small, fast, and
       easy to use.

OPTIONS
       A summary of options is included below.

       -h, --help
              print a brief usage message

       -V, --version
              print version information

       -I, --info
              for information about the DVD

       -M, --mirror
              backup the whole DVD

       -F, --feature
              backup the main feature of the DVD

       -T X, --titleset=X
              backup title set X

       -t X, --title=X
              backup title X

       -s X, --start=X
              backup from chapter X

       -e X, --end=X
              backup to chapter X

       -i DEVICE, --input=DEVICE
              where DEVICE is your DVD device.  This switch only needs to be
              used if your DVD device node is not /dev/dvd

       -o DIRECTORY, --output=DIRECTORY
              where DIRECTORY is your backup target.  If not given, the
              current working directory will be used.

       -v, --verbose
              print more information about progress

       -n NAME, --name=NAME
              (optional) set the title - useful if autodetection fails

       -a 0, --aspect=0
              to get aspect ratio 4:3 instead of 16:9 if both are present

       -r {a,b,m}, --error={a,b,m}
              select read error handling: a=abort, b=skip block, m=skip
              multiple blocks (default)

       -p, --progress
              print progress information while copying VOBs

Option notes
       -a is option to the -F switch and has no effect on other options
       -s and -e should preferably be used together with -t

General backup information
       If your backup directory is /my/dvd/backup/dir/ specified with the -o
       flag, then dvdbackup will create a DVD-Video structure under
       /my/dvd/backup/dir/TITLE_NAME/VIDEO_TS.  If the -o flag is omitted, the
       current directory is used.

       Since the title is "unique" you can use the same directory for all your
       DVD backups. If it happens to have a generic title dvdbackup will exit
       with a return value of 2, and you will need to specify a title name
       with the -n switch.

       dvdbackup will always mimic the original DVD-Video structure. Hence if
       you e.g.  use the -M (mirror) you will get an exact duplicate of the
       original. This means that every file will have the same size as the
       original one. Likewise also for the -F and the -T switch.

       However the -t and (-t -s/-e) switch is a bit different the titles
       sectors will be written to the original file but not at the same offset
       as the original one since there may be gaps in the cell structure that
       we do not fill.

EXAMPLES
       dvdbackup -I
              gathers information about the DVD.  /dev/dvd is the default
              device tried - you need to use -i if your device name is
              different.

       dvdbackup -M
              backups the whole DVD.  This action creates a valid DVD-Video
              structure that can be burned to a DVD-/+R(W) with help of
              genisoimage.

       dvdbackup -F
              backups the main feature of the DVD.  This action creates a
              valid DVD-Video structure of the feature title set.  Note that
              this will not result in an image immediately watchable - you
              will need another program like dvdauthor to help construct the
              IFO files.

              dvdbackup defaults to get the 16:9 version of the main feature
              if a 4:3 is also present on the DVD.  To get the 4:3 version use
              -a 0.

              dvdbackup makes it best to make a intelligent guess what is the
              main feature of the DVD - in case it fails please send a bug
              report.

       dvdbackup -T 2
              backups the title set 2 i.e. all VTS_02_X.XXX files.  This
              action creates a valid DVD-Video structure of the specified
              title set.  Note that this will not result in an image
              immediately watchable - you will need another program like
              dvdauthor to help construct the IFO files.

       dvdbackup -t 1
              backups the title 1.  This action backups all cells that forms
              the specified title. Note that there can be sector gaps in
              between one cell and another. dvdbackup will backup all sectors
              that belongs to the title but will skip sectors that are not a
              part of the title.

       dvdbackup -t 1 -s 20 -e 25
              This action will backup chapter 20 to 25 in title 1, as with the
              backup of a title there can be sector gaps between one chapter
              (cell) and on other.  dvdbackup will backup all sectors that
              belongs to the title 1 chapter 20 to 25 but will skip sectors
              that are not a part of the title 1 chapter 20 to 25.

              To backup a single chapter e.g. chapter 20 do -s 20 -e 20.
              To backup from chapter 20 to the end chapter use only -s 20.
              To backup to chapter 20 from the first chapter use only -e 20.

              You can skip the -t switch and let the program guess the title
              although it is not recommended.

              If you specify a chapter that is higher than the last chapter of
              the title dvdbackup will truncate to the highest chapter of the
              title.

EXIT STATUS
       0      on success

       1      on usage error

       2      on title name error

       -1     on failure

AUTHORS
       dvdbackup was written by Olaf Beck <olaf_sc@yahoo.com>, but is now
       maintained by Benjamin Drung <benjamin.drung@gmail.com> and Stephen
       Gran <sgran@debian.org>.  This manual page was written by Stephen Gran
       <sgran@debian.org>.

0.2                               2008-03-18                      dvdbackup(1)