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Slysoft Clone DVD Review
- Clone DVD is available as a trial download for which you must purchase a license key after 21 days
- Clone DVD: 1 year license for 32.60 EUR
- AnyDVD (Required for backing up encrypted DVDs): 1 year license for 41.00 EUR
- AnyDVD HD (Required for backing up encrypted HD DVDs): 1 year license for 63.00 EUR
- If you buy CloneDVD and either version of AnyDVD together you save 20%
- Easy to use software for making quality DVD backups
- Compress a standard dual-layer DVD-9 movie disc onto a single-layer DVD-5 blank disc
- Make perfect backups of your DVD in just three clicks
- Decide which chapters to include in your backup
- Fast speeds at high reduction rates
- Easy to use interface
- Video preview mode helps you select which titles to include
- Adjust the target size of your copied movie
- Backup DVDs to your hard drive or burn them straight away
- Unique filmstrip assistant tool guides you through the settings
- Choose to backup the entire DVD with menus or just the movie
- Useful video tutorials to show you how to copy a DVD
- Copy protected DVDs (requires AnyDVD addon)
- Visual quality control bar allows you to see the difference changing the settings can make
- In depth technical feedback, such as bitrates and frame statistics, available
- Mobile version available
- Free updates for your license period
- Online product support
- 21 day free trial period
- Windows based PCs only
Clone DVD from Slysoft is a beginner friendly application which allows you to backup unprotected DVD movies. It provides a lot of useful features and an easy to use wizard style interface so that complete novices can copy DVDs without any hassle. Although the application works very well and is very well designed, there are just a couple of small points that let it down. Read on to see what we thought.
Before we start on the many good points about Slysoft Clone DVD we should point out the slight downside to the application. While Slysoft Clone DVD is a well made application, for it to be useful you will also need to buy AnyDVD, which is an add-on also made by Slysoft that allows you to backup protected DVDs - and most are these days. There are other alternatives to buying AnyDVD but Slysoft recommends using it for best results. We aren't sure whether it is for legal reasons or to squeeze an extra few bucks out of their customers that Slysoft don't include AnyDVD as part of Clone DVD, but it does cause a bit of extra hassle and cost. Some other DVD copying software packages actually work in a similar fashion - the DVD copying software itself won't copy encrypted DVDs for legal reasons, but then they usually offer you an add-on that you can install that will copy encrypted DVDs - the difference is that usually this add-on is free!
Now that that's out of the way though we should make it clear that Clone DVD is a very well made and easy to use application. Once you have bought AnyDVD you will be able to copy pretty much any DVD you like - there is also an HD version which allows you to backup HD movies. The application allows you to change lots of the compression and quality settings but isn't quite as good on customizing the content of your backup DVDs: while you can choose which parts of the DVD to include, you can't split and merge DVDs like some other applications allow. However, Slysoft Clone DVD is a useful application if you aren't quite sure which settings you want to change, as it provides a visual indicator of how each setting affects the quality and size of the final copy. Intermediates, who have some idea of what they want to do, but aren't yet experts on video compression, would most appreciated this.
If you don't want to get stuck into the mucky details of video compression though you will still find Clone DVD very useful. The 'filmstrip assistant' tool is essentially a wizard style interface that guides you through the necessary settings to make a good copy and most of the time just going with the default choices results in a perfectly good backup. The rest of the interface is very neat and equally easy to use; it looks like a lot of work has gone into the design and usability of it. If you really get stuck with it though, Slysoft provides some useful video tutorials on how to do a basic DVD backup on their website.
Slysoft CloneDVD is a very useful piece of software if you are prepared to fork out the extra cash for AnyDVD as well. However, this does bump up the price quite a bit and you have to pay to renew your license each year (or you can buy multiple years in one go). Despite this, it is still an excellent choice for beginners and experts alike and will do everything you need to backup your DVD collection.
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