Customer Reviews

Pinnacle Systems Inc. Instant Copy 7

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Those that have given Instant Copy poor reviews seem to have focused on the fact that if the DVD is "copyrighted", a third-party DVD decrypter must first be used to transfer the DVD to a hard-disk. It shouldn't stretch the imagination to assume that this is none for legal reasons. You do also need a DVD writer.

It is also true that there are (mostly freeware) software out there that can perform similar functions to Instant Copy. However, there is no "free" software as easy to use as I.C. and acts as a single, unified package.

One place where Instant Copy is in a class by itself is in the backup of compilation DVD's (e.g., The Sopranos Season X). Instant Copy leads the way in it's ability to 1) maintain the original menu systems and related extra content, and 2) compress this content onto one consumer-grade DVD.

Users should note that Instant Copy, like all similar products, offers no free lunch. Most commerical DVD's hold about twice the data that consumer-grade recordable DVD's hold. Compression is required to squeeze the original data down to fit -- the more you compress, the more data (i.e. picture quality) is lost.

Another nice feature of Instant Copy is that it does allow the user to specify the size of the final, compressed data. This is expecially useful if the DVD blanks you are recording on tend to have a problem writing data at the extreme outer edge of the DVD.

If the potential buyer is looking for an EXACT backup of their DVD, then a product like DVDXCOPY may be a better choice. However, you will then always be required to use two blank single-sided DVDs or one blank double-sided DVD to do a 1:1 copy of most commercial DVDs.

How people think that copyrighted DVDs are going to be easily copied is beyond me. A program that would do that would be, by definition, illegal. Two different programs work, though. First, start of with SmartRipper, in the "backup" mode, then use Instant Copy. Viola!! Flawless BACKUP copies!!!

Once your movie is ripped, Pinnacle Instant Copy has the easiest to understand user interface, as well as making backups that look hard to distinguish from the original. I highly recommend this program as a complement with SmartRipper.

There are a few other software products that you could use that try to do the same thing as InstantCopy, but none do it better or as easily:

DVD95Copy: Still had a few bugs with the audio stream processing when I tried it, and it will not burn directly to discs.

DVD2One: Does not currently do DVD9->DVD5 copies (although they are working on this for the next version) and does not burn to discs.

DVDXCopy: Does not currently do DVD9->DVD5 copies, but will make an exact copy of your source DVD by spanning two discs (this requires you to swap discs during playback.)

Cool features of InstantCopy:

- Lets you keep all content and menus if you wish.
- Offers one-click automatic processing if you are a novice.
- Allows you to choose video tracks, subtitling tracks, and audio streams to include in the copy.
- Allows you to individually tweak the compression used on the various video tracks if you want to. (This is useful in boosting the quality of the main feature, while turning down, or eliminating the disc extras that you might be less interested in.)
- Burns directly to your media (DVDR or CDR).

This software is excellent. But first, you must use dvd decrypter (a free software) so you can copy your dvd to the hard drive first (even the copyrighted for backup purposes, remember that it's illegal to sell copies of copy right material). When using DVD Decrypter, choose to decrypt all files. Then use instant copy to burn the DVD, be sure to use the "customized resize" in the Copy Method of the DVD Menu, so you can take off the extra features (like subtitles, or second audio tracks...) to improve the video quality. You can actually copy all the DVD but because you're copying from a 9.4gb dvd to a 4.7gb, the image loses resolution (shrinkage process), so it's up to you, if you want all the extras or sacrifice them for a better picture. You can see the percentage of the imgae that will be kept! DVD X Copy splits the movie into 2 DVDs!
It has never crashed, and it takes like 40 minutes to burn a DVD!

Boy, was this a disappointment. It takes forever. And it's not like I have an obsolete machine (Pentium 4, 1.7). Worst of all: Right after I bought this I found DVD Shrink, which does more or less what Instant Copy does, plus it rips to your hard drive, and it's a lot a faster, and its totally free! My advice: Go with the free stuff like DVD Shrink.

Tried to burn DVDs after ripping with DVD Encryper. All I get is "List out of bounds" error message. Pinnacle offers no phone or email support. Check out their "Forum", you wont belive the problems people have with this application. I believe 5 stars rating are from relatives of Pinnacle!

Buy it, period, Great product . use it with DVD Decrpter (Free)

This software is unforgiving and full of bugs. I suspect the few who get it to work have a relationship with Pinnacle or other kind of plant. Get error messages copying non-protected sources to DVD and premature disk ejection for VCD. Don't waste your money.

Support is non-existent and the manual and help are both of no help. Sounds good but don't bite. YOU WILL BE SORRY.

I purchased this program to make backup copies of certain DVDs in my home collection so that my kids could watch and handle the copies without damaging the originals. This program worked wonderfully and I later purchased the upgrade to version 8. One of the things I didn't like about it was that you couldn't deselect certain portions of the DVD that you didn't want copies but I found a patch on the internet that solved that problem. Another thing I didn't like was that sometimes the file size would be too big or smaller than it needed to be. But overall, this program was well worth the purchase - I wish Pinnacle hadn't stopped making it.

I had problems with the software going crazy on me once in a while (no real support for it either). Forget copyrighted DVD backups, but at least there's no annoying DVD XCopy-style splash screen. Not good for much as DVD Shrink does more, is more versatile and puts out the same quality compression as far as I can see. Glad I got this free after rebate.