CloneBD Tutorial¶
CloneBD is a masterpiece of Swiss engineering with its sleek and clean approach to Blu-ray copying and conversion.
Prerequisites¶
CloneBD itself will not even read any protected content. Therefore, you need our RedFox AnyDVD HD software to temporarily free the Blu-ray from restrictions, such as copy protection or the limitation to a specific region.
Depending on your hardware configuration and on how much time you have (Blu-ray Discs have more capacity than a DVD, so reading/processing/copying will take longer than the same action with a DVD), you want to either use the AnyDVD HD image ripper or AnyDVD HD to rip the content to your hard disk or read from your Blu-ray drive directly.
Tip
A solid-state-drive (SSD) will be a much faster reading source than a USB Blu-ray drive, so if you have an ultrafast and light state-of-the-art notebook, you might want to use the AnyDVD HD ripper)
Start Screen¶
When you start CloneBD, you will see a start up screen similar to this:
CloneBD Start Screen
CloneBD wants to know where to find the content you want to work on and you will now select if you want CloneBD to access an ISO image or a folder on your hard disk or read from your Blu-ray drive directly.
Tip
If you are using Virtual Clone Drive (e.g. if you do not have a built-in Blu-ray drive), you can mount the ISO image and your virtual drive with the mounted ISO image will be available as a selectable Blu-ray drive)
Copy Mode¶
Now that CloneBD knows where to find its source data, you need to decide what you want to do today.
If you wish to copy to a blank disc (or create an ISO image or a folder on your hard drive) of the source data, please select the icon with the two discs, labelled Create a disc, folder or ISO.
If you wish to convert the Blu-ray data so that you can watch the content on a device with limited capacity (a mobile phone or tablet for example) or in MKV format, please select the icon with the phone, which is labelled Convert for a device or into a file).
The disc copy mode is pre-selected for you. Please note that the main playlist/movie title is displayed in bold and yellow. You might need this information at a later stage.
CloneBD Copy Mode
Tip
If you hover over the image of the movie to the left, you will see a play button and the pre-selected main movie title. If you select this player you will find the most efficient and classic Blu-ray player to be found anywhere.
Complete Copy¶
Obviously, a complete copy will ensure that any content on the original will be on the copy as well, but that will most likely cost some storage space and, in order to fit on a single layer blank, you might have to concede on quality.
Tip
Please note that, in the subsequent screen with the toggle Target, you need to select your target for the file output, otherwise CloneBD will assume that your target is the pre-set first option Create BDMV folder structure, in which case the resulting file will be saved in the output folder you specify, but not on a blank disc. We will explore all three options later, but this is what you see when you select complete copy for the first time.
Complete Copy (1/3)
In this target mode, you have several options.
Destination: may be left at <custom> for this mode.
Resulting size: by moving the quality slider bar, you will see how the biggest file size will result in the highest quality, while a smaller size will impair the quality of the resulting output file.
Output folder: please specify where you would like the output file to be stores. Audio options: here, you select your preferred audio compression (self-explaining). Make sure you do not underestimate the audio quality you might need.
If you wish to create a copy on a blank disc, please press the disc icon for this target mode.
Complete Copy (2/3)
You will see that here, Phase B is added, Burn Structure Onto Optical Disc.
Please choose the type of blank disc you want to copy to, from BD-50 to BD-25 or BD-9 (Dual Layer DVD, will only play on Blu-ray players though) or even BD-5 (single layer DVD, will also only play on Blu-ray players)
Tip
If the disc you wish to copy bears the Cinavia watermark, you might want to set the Audio option in Phase A to compress the audio stream to AC3.
Bert the Beaver, CloneBD’s mascot, will inform you if this watermark is detected.
The newly added options in Phase B do not need much explanation. You see what we meant by Swiss Engineering, it really is that simple.
The third option here is to create an ISO image. There is not much to add to what you already know, but we will include a screenshot for completion:
Complete Copy (3/3)
Partial Copy¶
If you create a partial copy, please ensure that you memorise (or go back by using the navigation toggles) which title was the main movie title, so that you do not end up with the director’s commentary (unless you want that, in which case the following screenshot will be helpful).
Partial Copy (1/3)
The options you see in the title selection window are straightforward and do not need much explanation. If, for some reason, you either do not want to copy the suggested main movie title or are unsure about which title contains which content you can always hover over the filmstrip and play the title in the preview player.
Once you have chosen which audio and subtitle options and which titles you would like to select you will confirm your selection and hit Continue.
Partial Copy (2/3)
You will be presented with a choice that looks pretty much like that for a Complete copy, but in this mode, you have more options in Phase A: Conversion options: maintain original menu directly play main title Keep intermediate folder
and default languages with audio and subtitle options for you to choose from.
For completion, please see a screenshot on what the options for the output as ISO image look like in CloneBD:
Partial Copy (3/3)
Device Copy¶
If you wish to transfer your Blu-ray content to a portable device like a mobile phone or tablet, or if you would simply like to convert to the popular Matroska format (MKV), you select the icon with the disc and the mobile phone, labelled Convert for a device or into a file.
Device Copy
Please select your device or format from the drop-down list.
If you cannot find the device you would like to convert to, please select
More Devices / check for updates and then narrow down your selection.
Please make sure that the correct file format is displayed in the icon that looks like a tablet, i.e. you see mkv or mp4 and some explanations about the exact model and profile (MPEG-2 Stream, MP4 Container, HEVC and their likes) before you continue. The next step, Selection, will show you all available options for this device/format and you can select and deselect to your liking. If you are uncertain which of the titles listed contains which content, you can either click somewhere in the film strip and play a snippet in the preview player, or you can select the toggl esettings on the right hand side of the title selection window and the settings specific to the title will be displayed.
Tip
Bear in mind that the space on some devices might be limited and that CloneBD cannot know anything about how much space you have on your device and that it will always aim at obtaining the best possible quality. It is generally a good idea to stick to the essentials for the MP4 container formats and to be a bit more adventurous with the MKV format.
After you Continue, you might get a little hint from Bert the beaver regarding subtitles, please read this carefully if it is displayed and follow the instructions given.
Other than that, you can play with the options and adjust your profile so that it fits not only your needs but also your means. The quality slider bar is a good indicator on how balanced your output file will be. If the estimated file size is too big then you may try adjusting the resolution, as that will influence the size of the output file as well. Available Video codecs will be displayed and Bert the Beaver will give you some useful tips regarding playability. This will obviously also influence he file size, as will the Audio codecs. Adjusting the volume does not influence the size of the output file. If your player or device is known to be a bit quiet, we recommend adjusting the volume. Audio channels and bitrate for these audio channels obviously influence the file size marginally and, depending on which device you want to play the output file on, you might not need Surround 5.1 if your mobile phone cannot play it or, on the other hand, if you play the file on your home cinema system, you might be rather unhappy with a mere stereo output. Next, you choose your subtitle settings, Destination folder and file name for the file output and hit Begin Conversion
Conversion/Processing¶
Tip
We do recommend to turn on the Hardware acceleration for decoding and encoding with the highest Encoder quality in the CloneBD Video settings, as forcing 15-30 GB of original data through a figurative eye of a needle takes more time than doing the same with a DVD and you ought to just throw at it what you can (CUDA or VCE if you have it, otherwise QuickSync, which ought to be available even on low-end notebooks).
Processing Screen
Processing will start doing what you asked CloneBD to do, in either one or two phases. You might want to turn the preview on or off. On slower conversions it can be rather soothing to watch the preview but also irritating on very fast conversions. You may determine what you want your computer to do when it is done (exit the program, do nothing, shut down, hibernate...). A graph will display CloneBD’s performance and there will be a timepiece showing you how much time has elapsed and how much time CloneBD still needs until completion.
Completion¶
CloneBD will alert you with an acoustic signal once the copy has been created successfully (or in the unlikely event that it has to stop) and you will see the following screen:
You may now choose to either process another disc or to quit, unless you had determined an action to be performed when CloneBD finishes.
Completion Page
Tip
You will see two buttons Send log file via e-mail to bugs@elby.ch and Save log file. These are irrelevant if you have nothing to report. But, in the unlikely event that CloneBD thinks it has finished successfully, but you see that it took less time than anticipated and the the data written is considerably smaller than anticipated, you may assume that something went wrong and that CloneBD simply did not notice. The first option to send the logfile directly to elby will write a new email in your default email client and ask you to enter a few words about why you are sending this to elby. If you do not have a default email client (for example because you read all your emails in your browser) or if you are not sure if there was actually an issue, please select the option to save the logfile, save it to a meaningful and memorable destination and then create your own bug report that you may then send to bugs@elby.ch.