Open DVD and configure

CloneDVD Mobile Interface

The interface that is offered by CloneDVD Mobile is based on a simple wizard. However, hidden in the wizard are a few important settings to know about for sure.

As you can see, the first step of CloneDVD Mobile is to select what gadget you are creating video for. Please get this right. There is a big difference between the screen of an iPod Classic and an iPod Touch for example.

CloneDVD Mobile has been develop-ed to have the proper settings for video, including the video format compatible, audio format and the resolution of the material. However, there are still quite a few settings to tweak with.

To begin, select what gadget you want to encode for from the list, and click the Next button.

Select your gadget

Click the + button beside the manufacturer of your multimedia device. When you get the next menu, choose the model you have in your possession and click Next. Make sure to get the exact model.

Title Configuration window

The next window and next step in the process is the title configuration window, seen in the picture beside this text (click to enlarge). Immediately you can tell what you will be able to do with this window.

At the top is a drop down box where you can browse for a DVD folder (VIDEO_TS folder), which CloneDVD Mobile will open and analyze. It will then list all the Video titles in the white area to the right of the interface.

On the left there are two tabs; preview and information. They are self explanatory.

In order to browse for a DVD folder, click the button that looks like this -->

Find VIDEO_TS folder

Now you must locate your DVD folder. If you are familiar with the DVD-Video format, you will know that on a DVD-Video compilation there are two folders at the root of the disc; VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS. AUDIO_TS is unimportant for now. The VIDEO_TS folder houses the actual video files along with the menus and other data, stored in IFO, VOB and BUP files. When the file browser loads for you to select a DVD Folder, you must locate this VIDEO_TS folder, like in the picture with this text.

Select the folder and click the OK button and you will return to the Title Configuration screen.

Loaded DVD compilation

The Title Configuration window is now active for you to play around with. As you will notice, the program automatically selects what it determines to be the main feature on the disc. The entire video is selected by default so if it is only a chapter or two you are looking for, then you will need to change this.

You will notice that the preview window is also active. To the left by the slider is a play button. It will play anything you currently have selected under Video Titles.

Unless you want the full DVD on your iPod or whatever gadget you possess, you might want to cut out the area of the video that you want to keep at this point. Select which ever title has the video footage you are most interested in and then click the cut button under the Preview tab; it looks like this -->

Video cutting

You will notice that after you click the cut button, a new bar appears under the slider in the Preview pane. At the start of the video you will see a symbol that looks like this <|. At the end of the video you will see a symbol that looks like this |>. Between them is an orange line and above it there are tiny dots. What is all of this?

Well the tiny dots are really chapter areas on the video stream. CloneDVD Mobile can encode only a single chapter or several consecutive chapters into one video file. This feature works out very well for those who are encoding video from concert DVDs.

To select an area of the video, first click and drag the <| symbol across the dots and you will see that the orange line is getting smaller. Now at the end of the video, drag the |> symbol back until the orange line represents the selection of video you want to encode.

Look at the image provided to see how I have selected a chapter of the video to encode. If you need to, click the image to enlarge it. Select whatever you want and then take a quick look at the Information tab.

Information tab

The information tab does not provide us much help right now but it is interesting to look at before we move on. The Video Format details show you whether you have a PAL DVD (Europe, Australia) or NTSC DVD (North America, Japan) and shows the overall playtime of the video and the chapters available.

Next it will show what language of audio is available. We will be able to select which one to encode to our output video very soon. Finally, there is a list of subtitles available for the video, ordered by language. When you are done with the information tab and video cutting, click the Next button.