dvdbackup(1)

💿 dvdbackup — the manual page, bestie edition 💿

okay so this is the manual page for dvdbackup(1), which lives in the General Commands Manual section. pull up a chair, grab a boba, we're doing this 🧋✨

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✨ NAME ✨

dvdbackup — a tool to back up DVDs. that's it, that's the whole name. iconic behavior honestly 💅

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

dvdbackup [OPTION]...

yes bestie, just options. that's the whole vibe check 🦋

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so this manual page documents the dvdbackup command briefly. and listen — this page was written for the Debian distribution, because the original program straight up does not have a manual page. we're doing charity work here 🫶

dvdbackup is a tool to extract data from video DVDs. its whole thing? being small, fast, and easy to use. it's giving low-maintenance queen 👑

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

here's a summary of the options, no cap, all of them:

• -h, --help — prints a brief usage message. your lil "what do i do" button 🙈
• -V, --version — prints version information ⭐
• -I, --info — gets you information about the DVD 👀
• -M, --mirror — backs up the whole DVD. everything. the entire girl 💀
• -F, --feature — backs up the main feature of the DVD. the star of the show, the main character 🔥
• -T X, --titleset=X — backs up title set X 🎬
• -t X, --title=X — backs up title X 🌈
• -s X, --start=X — backs up starting from chapter X 🏁
• -e X, --end=X — backs up up to chapter X 🏁
• -i DEVICE, --input=DEVICE — where DEVICE is your DVD device. you only need this switch if your DVD device node is not /dev/dvd. so like, if you're built different 💅
• -o DIRECTORY, --output=DIRECTORY — where DIRECTORY is your backup target. if you don't give one, the current working directory gets used. default queen 🎀
• -v, --verbose — prints more information about progress. she's chatty and we love her 😭
• -n NAME, --name=NAME — (optional) sets the title — useful if autodetection fails. the backup plan for the backup plan 🧚
• -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} — selects read error handling: a=abort, b=skip block, m=skip multiple blocks (default) 🚨
• -p, --progress — prints progress information while copying VOBs. lil loading bar moment ⏳

💜 Option notes 💜

• -a is an option to the -F switch and has no effect on other options. she's loyal to one girl only 🙈
• -s and -e should preferably be used together with -t. they're a trio, don't separate them 🫶

🦋 General backup information 🦋

okay so say 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. and if the -o flag is omitted, the current directory is used. simple as that ✨

since the title is "unique", you can use the same directory for all your DVD backups. but 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. she said "be specific or leave" 💀

dvdbackup will always mimic the original DVD-Video structure. hence if you, e.g., use -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. no shrinking, no editing, no drama 👑

however, the -t and (-t -s/-e) switch is a bit different: the title's 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. it's giving "close enough bestie" 😭

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🌈 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. know your device, love your device 🫶

dvdbackup -M

backs up 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

backs up 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 getting 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 its best effort to make an intelligent guess as to what the main feature of the DVD is — in case it fails, please send a bug report. she's trying her best okay 😭

dvdbackup -T 2

backs up 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

backs up the title 1. this action backs up all cells that form the specified title. note that there can be sector gaps in between one cell and another. dvdbackup will back up all sectors that belong 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 back up chapter 20 to 25 in title 1. as with the backup of a title, there can be sector gaps between one chapter (cell) and another. dvdbackup will back up all sectors that belong 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 back up a single chapter, e.g. chapter 20, do -s 20 -e 20 🎯
• to back up from chapter 20 to the end chapter, use only -s 20
• to back up 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. living dangerously, i see 🙈

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. she's capping it 💅

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⭐ EXIT STATUS ⭐

• 0 — on success. slay 🎉
• 1 — on usage error. oopsie 🫠
• 2 — on title name error. the generic title situation 😬
• -1 — on failure. we don't talk about it 💀

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👑 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>. the founding mothers and fathers of the DVD backup game, we stan 🫶

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and that's the whole page bestie!! this was version 0.2, dated 2008-03-18 — yes she's a vintage icon and she still eats 💖✨ go back up your DVDs, and remember: mimic the structure, respect the sector gaps, periodt 💅🎀