Is there an easier way to copy DVDs?

Beckipeg

I've offered to record tv education programmes for our school - all legal and covered by ERA licence but have hit a snag. I produce a DVD-R after copying from VHS video to edit out the bits we don't need (end of previous programmes etc), then add titles and thumbnail images before finalizing the disk so that it will play on the school dvd players.

I've now been asked to produce duplicates of some of the disks - science and maths are especially popular - and can't face reproducing them the same way as the original which can take hours. I'm also concerned that giving out the only copy I have means that if it gets damaged I can't replace it.

Is there a way of copying my DVDs and keeping all the titles and thumbnails exactly the same as the original so that I don't have to do everything again?

I've tried looking on some of the freeware sites and looked at Nero but don't really understand enough to know what would work. I've got a pc with DVD writer using WinXP. Originals are produced on our Panasonic VHS/DVD recorder. I don't mind buying good software if necessary, but just need to know what to get.

Thanks for your help.

bat999

Hi
I think what you have in mind is an iso disc image.
When you've finalized the disc you create an iso and store that on your hard drive.
Then when you want to burn the disc, and further copies, you use the iso image.
That's the theory, there's some info here on wiki:-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_image

Donnie

With Nero, you simply select 'Copy DVD'. That's it. It shouldn't take much more than fifteen minutes.

As bat999 has suggested... If you only have a single DVD burner, use Nero to create a Disc Image on your HDD and then burn your DVDs from there.

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy.

Do you already have Nero?

j1mgg

if you dont have nero.

pm me your email address and i can send you dvd decryptor. It was a free program that is not created anymore

Donnie

No need for that. A free trial of Nero is available from their website.

Much easier to use.

DVD Decrypter is readily available, but not suitable for this case; http://www.mrbass.org/dvdrip/

j1mgg

as a tool for producing multiple copies i believe decryptor would be fine.

Write iso to hard drive once and then for every copy you just need to write to disc and it is completely free.

Where as nero is not free, although a good program.

Mercenary

DVDShrink should work fine:
http://www.mrbass.org/dvdshrink/

It's simple enough to use if you follow what MrBass shows on this page (with a link to the program download too) and you only need some burning software like Nero, Roxio or Ashampoo Burning Studio to burn the copied files (either .ISO format or VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders) onto DVD.

As the name suggests, it copies the files in such a way as to fit them onto an ordinary 4.7Gb DVD+/-R with as much as 100% quality achievable.

I'd suggest learning how to use it with a DVD+/-RW first

Donnie

If you've got Nero, you wouldn't need any of the other software. What are you thinking?

Beckipeg

Thanks for all these replies - we don't have Nero but I'd be happy to get it if it's what we need. Where's the best place to get it? Is online download possible or do I need to buy disks from somewhere? Would I still need another piece of software to save to my computer before burning the copy disk with Nero?

j1mgg

You can get it here

http://www.nero.com/eng/index.html

and is 70 euros hence my reason for trying to find a free one

http://www.download.com/3120-20_4-0.html?tg=dl-20&qt=dvd%20copy&tag=srch

just one last thing, what are you using to create the original disk as i am sure there must be a way for it to create multiple disks or save the original image to a folder and just repeatedly burn the folder?

Donnie

You can download a fully functional trial version from here; http://www.nero.com/nero7/eng/nero7-demo.php

I've sent installation instructions to your private message box.