making perfectly legal backup copies of copy-protected dvds...

[welfareloser]

how might i go about it? got a memorex 8x burner and nero software, works great...

for anti-copy stuff, i dl'ed a program i found with a 21-day free trial called "anydvd" but it doesn't seem to work... now my error message doesn't say "copy-protected" it says "your blank dvd is too small" ... even on really small movies with no dvd extras.

what do y'all use?

oh, hell. is this in the wrong forum? i can't even tell. if this belongs in OS & software, move it for the resident non-computer-dork... please and thank you.

[gear02]

how might i go about it? got a memorex 8x burner and nero software, works great...

for anti-copy stuff, i dl'ed a program i found with a 21-day free trial called "anydvd" but it doesn't seem to work... now my error message doesn't say "copy-protected" it says "your blank dvd is too small" ... even on really small movies with no dvd extras.

what do y'all use?

oh, hell. is this in the wrong forum? i can't even tell. if this belongs in OS & software, move it for the resident non-computer-dork... please and thank you.

I think you get the too small error message because most dvd movies are in dvd-9, which means it's bigger than any dvd+/-r you can find. What you need to do is to either burn it on multiple dvds (which may not work, i'm not sure if it's possible) or reduce the size of the dvd (i.e. re-encode).

I use a program called dvdshrink. It's freeware and it does everything. It shrinks the dvd into something that can fit on a dvd+/-r and burn it as well. The only problem is that you're not really making a 1 to 1 copy, you're essentially downsampling the dvd movie so it can fit on a disk.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that's the best you can do now without getting those new dual layer dvd burners (first gen, expensive or non-available media).

[redcolours]

like he/she/it said - DVDShrink is what you need.

http://www.dvdshrink.org/

free, very small program, and works wonders with backups. very easy to use too.

*as far as making a backup, you may want to decide if you really need all the extras (language options, sound options, subtitles, extra features). DVDshrink lets you re-author the disc, so if you prefer just the movie, and say, the dolby stereo sound option, you can fit the 8.5GB DVD movie to just a 4.7GB DVDR disc without sacrificing the quality of the movie. more compression obviously means more degradation in PQ.

EDIT: the way i use it with my video-on-demand HTPC system, i rip the movies free of anything extra: just the main movie, the english subtitles, and either DTS or dolby 5.1. it goes on the hard drive anyway so i dont even compress it. if i have to put it on a disc, the compression just goes down to maybe 90%. 80% and up is a good round figure, no noticeable pixelations for me.

[welfareloser]

you guys rock. thanks! i'm sure i'll be back with more lame questions...

[Markel]

DVD Decrypter is also a very nice (free) program.

[DarkFury]

Personally... another vote here for DVDShrink...

It keeps it simple and to the point.

[Agent Plissken]

According to my friends computer ethics class there is no such thing as a legal backup of copywrited DVDs anymore even if you own the original... Ill ask him why if you guys are interested, because I forget.

[Merlin]

This is the whole reason that I have not yet purchased a DVD burner. When you can make a backup of the DVDs you have, then I'll be in. And of course it has to be for really cheap.

[bachviet]

Have been using DVDShrink for the last 1-1/2 and I couldn't be much happier.

[brainsmile]

Does DVDshrink also do the decrypting?

[gear02]

Does DVDshrink also do the decrypting?

i believe so

[DarkFury]

Does DVDshrink also do the decrypting?

Yes.. but it needs either Nero or DVD Decrypter or some other "burn" program to actually burn the ISO file.

[bachviet]

Yes.. but it needs either Nero or DVD Decrypter or some other "burn" program to actually burn the ISO file.

You don't have to make ISO files because DVDShrink makes .vob format files ready to be burned by any program.

[redcolours]

Does DVDshrink also do the decrypting?

a big fat definito
YES!

[redcolours]

This is the whole reason that I have not yet purchased a DVD burner. When you can make a backup of the DVDs you have, then I'll be in. And of course it has to be for really cheap.

its halfway there.

DVD-9, or DUAL LAYER drives are now available. they can burn discs that hold the same amount of data (8.5GB) that commercially-sold DVD movies have. by using DL discs, you can backup any DVD movie BIT BY BIT, no compression needed, no features or extras removed.

the other half isnt there yet - the discs are scarce, and if theyre available, expensive. Its gonna be a while before supply meets demand.

but really, all it is is just a matter of time.

[DarkFury]

You don't have to make ISO files because DVDShrink makes .vob format files ready to be burned by any program.

Yes.. I know... but if you burn them to ISO, then you can save them on your hard drive, burn them at ANY time to DVD (using Nero or some other burning software) or use something like Daemon Tools to "mount" the image and play it on your computer using a standard player like PowerDVD or WinDVD.

It's a "win win" situation.

[Jeffbx]

I know it's been mentioned over & over, but I'll throw it out there again -

All of this info & tons more is at http://www.videohelp.com/ - just check out the 'How To' guides. Thanks to whoever mentioned it in the first place.

[DarkFury]

I know it's been mentioned over & over, but I'll throw it out there again -

All of this info & tons more is at http://www.videohelp.com/ - just check out the 'How To' guides. Thanks to whoever mentioned it in the first place.

I like this part in their title...

also known as DVDRHelp.com & VCDHelp.com

[billxp]

Yes.. I know... but if you burn them to ISO, then you can save them on your hard drive, burn them at ANY time to DVD (using Nero or some other burning software) or use something like Daemon Tools to "mount" the image and play it on your computer using a standard player like PowerDVD or WinDVD.

It's a "win win" situation.

When using dvd-shrink I save to HD first then use Nero to burn the vob's to DVD-R's. I figure less chance of a coaster this way.

Powerdvd will play these VOB's with out a problem. Never saved to iso from DVD-Shrink. Is there an extra step needed to do this?

[Markel]

Yes.. I know... but if you burn them to ISO, then you can save them on your hard drive, burn them at ANY time to DVD (using Nero or some other burning software) or use something like Daemon Tools to "mount" the image and play it on your computer using a standard player like PowerDVD or WinDVD.

It's a "win win" situation.

For sure! With all those GBs of hard drive space you're using, the hard drive manufacturers and the hard drive retailers are both big winners!

[DarkFury]

When using dvd-shrink I save to HD first then use Nero to burn the vob's to DVD-R's. I figure less chance of a coaster this way.

Powerdvd will play these VOB's with out a problem. Never saved to iso from DVD-Shrink. Is there an extra step needed to do this?

Nope... you just tell DVDShrink to copy the files to ISO instead of to Nero... it will create the ISO for you.

Afterwards, you can easily click on the ISO to "send" it to Nero where it will do the rest at your leisure.

As stated before... since it is already in ISO format, you can make as many copies of that file as you want at this point. As VOB files... you can watch them, but you can't burn them unless you want to go back through DVDShrink to set them up for the burn.

This is why I was saying that the ISO format is a "win-win" situation... You can have the best of both worlds.

For sure! With all those GBs of hard drive space you're using, the hard drive manufacturers and the hard drive retailers are both big winners!

Well in the past they were.... but for now, I'm cool. Unless they wanna dump a 500GB drive on me for under $200.

[bachviet]

Nope... you just tell DVDShrink to copy the files to ISO instead of to Nero... it will create the ISO for you.

Afterwards, you can easily click on the ISO to "send" it to Nero where it will do the rest at your leisure.

As stated before... since it is already in ISO format, you can make as many copies of that file as you want at this point. As VOB files... you can watch them, but you can't burn them unless you want to go back through DVDShrink to set them up for the burn.

This is why I was saying that the ISO format is a "win-win" situation... You can have the best of both worlds.


Well in the past they were.... but for now, I'm cool. Unless they wanna dump a 500GB drive on me for under $200.

What are you talking about? All you have to do is draggin the "VIDEO TS" and "AUDIO TS" folders containing the VOB files to create DVD Video in Nero.

[ski]

What are you talking about? All you have to do is draggin the "VIDEO TS" and "AUDIO TS" folders containing the VOB files to create DVD Video in Nero.

This is what DVD Shrink defaults you to do... and in Nero Express, you pick DVD Video and just like bachviet says, just match up the VIDEO_TS folder in there with the one you ripped the DVD to...

It's like putting the differently shaped blocks into the holes... not rocket science... not even calculus!

Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks I guess

[billxp]

Thats what I do. But it seems either way gets the job done. Except you can't just play the iso with Powerdvd unless you mount that ISO image.

So its basically six of one half dozen of the other

[DarkFury]

Fine... do it however you wish. With my way, there is only ONE file to keep up with... and I have each of them named in such a way that I can save all of my ISO files in one directory and can load them whenever I like...

If you like your method better... then by all means... keep doing it your way. I'm not trying to convince any of you that mine is better... but to me, it just seems more "organized".

As said before... "to each his or her own..."

[redcolours]

exactly - to each his own.
like the others, i rip the discs to the HD in .vob. makes it easy for me to configure MyHTPC with Theatertek that way.
this is how it looks in my mediaserver:


and when i get my HTPC to pull it up, it looks on screen like this:

link below for the FULL SCREEN (1360x768). keep in mind this is on a 32" widescreen TV.
http://home.comcast.net/~redcolours/myhtpc.jpg

[Burzhui]

Why not use DVDXCOPY platinum?

[redcolours]

cuz it costs money?

[Devhux]

..........and tends to make more coasters than actual working DVD copies.

I use DVDshrink myself as well and really like it. Works well and is fairly easy to use.

[Booyamos]

exactly - to each his own.
like the others, i rip the discs to the HD in .vob. makes it easy for me to configure MyHTPC with Theatertek that way.
<snip>
http://home.comcast.net/~redcolours/myhtpc.jpg

waaaaa that is nifty. I have a shuttle machine hooked up to my TV so i can watch files i download but man making one of those HTPC machines would be sweeet. Especially having all my dvd's on there!

Got any good info or guides on how to go about doing that. Once my new job starts i should have some cashola to spend