DVD copying

knuckledragger

Hi all,
This is from a person with little knowledge of things technical.
My computer has a DVD ROM and a DVD re/writer. If I want to back up copies of my favourite films how do I do it? The problem is that the DVDs I want to copy are in excess of 5Gb and the DVD-R that I have are 4.75Gb. Is there some way to shrink the file size? I don't mind sacrificing some quality in reproduction if that's what's needed.
Answers in simple terms please... ;D

irnbru_2

If I want to back up copies of my favourite films how do I do it?

See videohelp for various guides.

Woby_Tide

I downloaded DVDShrink following links from videohelp and have got to say for ease of use and simplicity I can't fault it, produced backups perfectly so far, I've stripped out most of the extras and un-needed soundtracks to enable the picture quality to remain as haigh quality as possible. There is also a guide to using the program on https://www.doom9.org

the_grey_lantern

You can make perfect copies of all DVDs using CloneDVD2 which you can download from here:
http://www.elby.ch/products/clone_dvd/

You will need another program running on your machine called Any DVD which allows CloneDVD2 to copy *any* DVD: http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvd.html

The DVDs copy in real-time so it is quite slow but the quality is genuinely identical to the original.

It is illegal to copy any DVD that you do not own the copyright for.

Ickle_Steve

DVDshrink is an amazing piece of free software.

You will still need DVD burning software to put the output of DVDshrink onto a blank disc. I've just bought Nero Express V6 from http://www.ebuyer.com (quickfind code: 63324) for £1.99 + P&P. What a bargain. Remember to check the Nero website for software updates. I've heard that if you download all 4 updates for Nero V6 and install you get the extra features normally only available with the more expensive software suite. I' can't confirm this, but it seemed to work for me.

If your original disc is copy protected you will need to use DVD Decrypter http://www.dvddecrypter.com/ to copy the disc to your hard disc ready for DVDshrink to compress. You would need to check if this is legal for personal back ups, before proceeding. I suspect it is not.

Woby_Tide

The DVDs copy in real-time so it is quite slow but the quality is genuinely identical to the original.

Crikey thats bad going isn't it, I did download and install it but then settled on dvdshrink and nero to do my copies, glad I did now. I was also unsure about the encryption etc. but found a Disney DVD copied straight to HD without any trouble, do many carry encryption still?

miketebb

DVDShrink unencrypts DVD's for you. You can also read in DVD's from another region and make them region free, which is useful if your player is restricted.

Obviously copying copyright DVD's is strictly illegal however!!!

Woby_Tide

so if it doesn't copy to the hard drive you need to have a 2 dvd drives, one reader and one writer, so using a hard drive based copier like dvd shrink is cheaper that way

knuckledragger

Thanks for all the info. It all sounds very simple ::)
Now I need a day off work to sort it out! ;D

the_grey_lantern

Can't see what the problem would be about requiring a DVD burner and DVD reader drive......... ???

Unless you are using a laptop, 99.9% of computers with a DVD burner have a DVD reader drive.

Toxteth_OGrady

Not!! ::)

8)

TOG