Copying DVD's

[SaintDog]

Well I finally gave in and bought one after waiting for the pricing to come down a bit (mainly because I was not about to pay $200 for one). The problem is, I cannot find any software that will actually let me copy a DVD correctly.

It actually seems that all of my DVD's are copy-protected so that I cannot copy them for my own personal use. Now having paid $20-$100 for some DVD's and DVD sets, I would personally like to have the option of having one I can watch without risk of scratching and dinging up the middle (not to mention my cat getting ahold one one and "playing" with it).

My question for you all is, what is the best, in your opinion, software to copy DVD's with? It can be free or paid, but if you have not tested it or you know it does not work, I ask that you not post it .

I bought it with the intentions of being able to backup my movies, but it seems such hope is lost and is will be returned as I have no use for it if I cannot do such .

Any help is appreciated guys

[Vile]

Well I finally gave in and bought one after waiting for the pricing to come down a bit (mainly because I was not about to pay $200 for one). The problem is, I cannot find any software that will actually let me copy a DVD correctly.

It actually seems that all of my DVD's are copy-protected so that I cannot copy them for my own personal use. Now having paid $20-$100 for some DVD's and DVD sets, I would personally like to have the option of having one I can watch without risk of scratching and dinging up the middle (not to mention my cat getting ahold one one and "playing" with it).

My question for you all is, what is the best, in your opinion, software to copy DVD's with? It can be free or paid, but if you have not tested it or you know it does not work, I ask that you not post it .

I bought it with the intentions of being able to backup my movies, but it seems such hope is lost and is will be returned as I have no use for it if I cannot do such .

Any help is appreciated guys

DVDXCOPY is supposed to be the easiest to use, but IMO the quality is actually not that great.

Personally, I think it's best if you manually rip the DVD, using something like DVD Decrypter, make those files DVD complaint, then burn using Nero, RecordNow Max, Primo, etc.

Check out the guides here:

http://www.doom9.org/mpg/dvdr-guides.htm

The method I use is the following: (true DVD backups: DVD9-->1 DVDR)

http://www.doom9.org/mpg/ra-guide.htm

That's actually tough to begin with, so IMO, give this a shot (at least try one film with it, to see if you like the qualty)

Step 1: Use DVD Decrypter to rip the movie to your hard drive
Step 2: Use DVD2ONE or DVD Shrink to make those VOB files you ripped DVD compliant.
Step 3: Use any burning software to burn the converted VOB files (place them in a VIDEO_TS directory)

Once it's finished burning, you can play it in nearly any standalone DVD player (most can read DVDRs, unless it's really old)

More guides available here:

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/

Would you rather have your movies on 1 DVDR or do you not mind splitting it on 2 DVDRs? If you don't mind having 2 dvdrs, check out DVDXCOPY, since it will retain the orginal quality, but if you want 1 DVD, you'll need to compress it (unless you use an app like Scenarist, the doom9 tutorial I posted above)

[SaintDog]

I would prefer 1 CD

I appreciate your very informative post, Vile . I will check those methods and see if I can get it to work as it should .

[Vile]

I would prefer 1 CD

I appreciate your very informative post, Vile . I will check those methods and see if I can get it to work as it should .

Yeah, I feel the same way. I personally don't like having to split a DVD to 2, as I feel it renders the whole thing pointless.

If you prefer 1 DVD, try the DVD2ONE/DVD Shrink method. (A version of DVDXCOPY that does this is called DVDXCOPY Xpress, but try this manual method first)

Once you get the hang of this, you should try the more advanced methods, since they will allow you to retain excellent quality. The main difference is that those methods take much longer. The DVDXCOPY, DVD2ONE methods look pretty good, but the main advantage they have is that it's fast. The other methods take around (depending on your PC) 8-10 hours, but it's worth it.

Btw, a shareware version of DVD2ONE is available, but since DVD Shrink is freeware, and does the same thing, I would recommend it instead.

[SaintDog]

Yeah, I feel the same way. I personally don't like having to split a DVD to 2, as I feel it renders the whole thing pointless.

If you prefer 1 DVD, try the DVD2ONE/DVD Shrink method. (A version of DVDXCOPY that does this is called DVDXCOPY Xpress, but try this manual method first)

Once you get the hang of this, you should try the more advanced methods, since they will allow you to retain excellent quality. The main difference is that those methods take much longer. The DVDXCOPY, DVD2ONE methods look pretty good, but the main advantage they have is that it's fast. The other methods take around (depending on your PC) 8-10 hours, but it's worth it.

Btw, a shareware version of DVD2ONE is available, but since DVD Shrink is freeware, and does the same thing, I would recommend it instead.

DVDShrink seems to be able to pull the files off the DVD without DVDDecryp. so I am not sure if I should do that or not, not done this before, just looking to be able to pull it on to one 4.7GB (2 hour) DVD .

It seems to have pulled the movie, now analysing it for extraction to a folder, from there I am going to burn it and see if that works, if not then I will see what else is done. I would rather do them quick, they may not have 1:1 quality, but if they are close I will live with it, I am not picky to a point, just don't want to screw up DVD's I paid so much for or risk my cat getting them as she is very much the one to climb and knock.

[Vile]

DVDShrink seems to be able to pull the files off the DVD without DVDDecryp. so I am not sure if I should do that or not, not done this before, just looking to be able to pull it on to one 4.7GB (2 hour) DVD .

It seems to have pulled the movie, now analysing it for extraction to a folder, from there I am going to burn it and see if that works, if not then I will see what else is done. I would rather do them quick, they may not have 1:1 quality, but if they are close I will live with it, I am not picky to a point, just don't want to screw up DVD's I paid so much for or risk my cat getting them as she is very much the one to climb and knock.

Yeah, for the most part it works fine if you do it straght from the DVD. The reason I mentioned ripping it first, is becuase in my expereince, it's faster if you rip the movie to the HD first, and then encode it.

Also, before you burn, make sure you put the VOB files in a "VIDEO_TS" directory, that's very important. Then just burn a normal data CD/DVD with that folder, and name it whatever you like.

[SaintDog]

Ok, sounds good. I sent you a PM but it seems you just answered it for me , with the exception of the first quesiton .

[Vile]

Ok, sounds good. I sent you a PM but it seems you just answered it for me , with the exception of the first quesiton .

Replied.

There are many methods for this. Just experiment and use whatever is easiest for you

[ManagerJosh]

I heard really positive things about DVD X COPY. LiteOn uses it from what I read up and it can copy a whole DVD onto another DVD Disc with no problems at all.

[SaintDog]

Well it seems the DVD was pulled ok, but it keeps telling me it is too large to burn to the CD (being 4.7GB's), when the data is only 4.5GB's. I am still trying to find my Nero CD, but this is using the program that came with the LiteOn drive.

[Vile]

I heard really positive things about DVD X COPY. LiteOn uses it from what I read up and it can copy a whole DVD onto another DVD Disc with no problems at all.

It's targeted towards newer people. It does the same thing one can do manually in the background, they just try and make it easier.

Well it seems the DVD was pulled ok, but it keeps telling me it is too large to burn to the CD (being 4.7GB's), when the data is only 4.5GB's. I am still trying to find my Nero CD, but this is using the program that came with the LiteOn drive.

This is after you used DVD Shrink on the VOB files? Your data should be less then ~4.4 GB after converting with DVD Shrink, since anything above this will be too large.
Try decrypting the movie first, then use DVD shrink on the VOBs.

[hankster]

I have DVDXCOPY Xpress and it has produced results that look fine. Where I have found some problems are with movies over 2 1/2 hours as the compression is so high you do notice some degrading in the video.

While I have not tried the other methods so I don't know if they do this, DVDXCOPY Xpress allows you to not copy the multiple languages and other goodies that many DVDs have available which allows the compression to be much less and gives you a better video.

[SaintDog]

It's targeted towards newer people. It does the same thing one can do manually in the background, they just try and make it easier.


This is after you used DVD Shrink on the VOB files? Your data should be less then ~4.4 GB after converting with DVD Shrink, since anything above this will be too large.
Try decrypting the movie first, then use DVD shrink on the VOBs.

Will try that, I also ran it from the DVD so that could be another problem. I guess I was just in a rush to try it out .

[Vile]

I have DVDXCOPY Xpress and it has produced results that look fine. Where I have found some problems are with movies over 2 1/2 hours as the compression is so high you do notice some degrading in the video.

While I have not tried the other methods so I don't know if they do this, DVDXCOPY Xpress allows you to not copy the multiple languages and other goodies that many DVDs have available which allows the compression to be much less and gives you a better video.

Yeah, you can do the same (select what to include/not include in terms of language, subtitles, ec) when using these other methods.

Give this a shot, and you'll definitely notice the difference in quality:

http://www.doom9.org/mpg/ra-guide.htm

[0ptima]

Can any stand alone DVD player play a copied disk?