Straight copying

[hammernuts5150]

Hi all, I am loking into purchasing a DVD burner. I am wondering if you can tell me it it is possible yet to copy a DVD as one would a CD. I do not want the loss in quality either. I just want to be able to drop in a DVD and copy it directly to another DVD. Please advise. Thanks.

[setarip]

No, for virtually all commercial DVDs. At the very least, the DVDs must be "ripped" - meaning eliminating the copy protection while duplicating all other data...

[thedvdguy]

Also, most dvds are now double layer single sided (as in almost all new movies. This requires that the original dvd be "ripped" as well as the video to be re-encoded at a lower bitrate to squeeze the movie onto a standard dvd-r (re-encoding generally takes several hours). It takes time and patience but the copy is virtually perfect.

[hammernuts5150]

copying

Is it worth my while to get a burner and invest the time and money? Or should I just resign myself to buying the originals like a sucker? What burner and software can your recomend?

[setarip]

"Or should I just resign myself to buying the originals like a sucker?"

Are you saying that you are considering duplicating DVDs that you DON'T own?

[hammernuts5150]

copying

What does it matter, both are illegal.

[setarip]

"What does it matter, both are illegal."

Excuse me, but under the U.S. Copyright law, you are entitled to make one backup copy for yourself of a DVD that you own...

[hammernuts5150]

copying

relax man....

[setarip]

I'm quite relaxed "man" - just wanted to correct your misconception...

[UncasMS]

slow down, folks!

[fivehours]

not worth the efforts

if the purpose is just copying DVD movies which you don`t own

then the DVD burner would cost about
$200 - $300
the media price $1.89 for DVD+R
<$1.00 for DVD-R

usually it is not so easy as most people think

copy protection is not a real problem
(there are so many rippers out there)

the main problem is the commercial
DVD is double layered
(most of them are 5 - 7 giga bytes)
but the DVD R can contain 4.3 giga bytes
(4,700,000,000 bytes)
so actual problem is how to make
one DVD into two DVDs

before you master DVD copying methods
a lot of trial and error is required.

and it totally depends on the tools using
and the movies you want to copy

whenever i did the copying
it seldom occured the same way
i need to change the methods
everytime

and even if it can be played in
computer
it is a different matter for DVD player

in my case a lot of DVD media had been wasted .

but the DVD burner can do more things such as data backup

[hammernuts5150]

Thanks

Thanks for the honest ifo, five hours. I apreciate it alot.

[nickyct]

More and more movies are encoded at a higher bit rate nowaday. Even with the movie that's less than 2 hours still take almost 5 to six gig that's with one audio track and one subtitles. Most disc can only fit up to approx 4.3 to 4.4 gig.

I rented all my movies from netflix and would like to return them as fast as I can so I can get the new title send to me. I usually rip and burn them to my DVDR-w and watch them during weekend. A lot of movies that I ripped ended up on two disc because of the capacity. I can record it onto tape but that's defeating the whole purpose of having a DVD player. I would rather get up and swap the disc than watch the movie on tape. I think my VCR is just sitting there collecting dust.

If you have the time you can transcode the movie to a lower bit rate which take about 10 to 30 hours. I did two of them and I don't really care much for the result I got.

Certain movie I would rather buy than rip it. Like "Attack of the clone " which will definately be over 4.4 gig.

[Greti Skala]

Hammer -- after working on backing up DVDs for about a month, I have to say that it's not for dilettantes. As others have pointed out, most DVDs are released as DVD9 (9GBs) whereas DVD-Rs are only available as DVD5s (4.8GBs). This entails using about six different utilities to recompress the video to fit -- and despite all the hard work various ppl have put in with their programming and documenting ability, it's still a challenge.

You'll need a fast PC (1GHz+), a big HD, a DVD-RW and discs. I would estimate an outlay of roughly $500, assuming you already own the fast PC. Note that recompressing video can take a long time (up to 8 hrs). You'll also need a Windows OS that uses NTFS, like Win2K, XP, or NT. There are one or two applications that are difficult to get ahold of -- Scenarist and DVD Maestro -- which you'll need to author your recompressed DVDs.

I'd advise everyone to think read the various posts and tutorials before plunking down your money on the basic hardware. If your credit is good, I suggest that you apply for the American Express Small Business Gold Card, which allows you to return merchandise 90 days after purchase -- that way if you decide you're not up to the task, you can recoup the cost of that Pioneer A04.

P.S. Some DVDs are DVD5s, which are a breeze to copy. http://www.afterdawn.com/dvd/dvd_layer.cfm is a good resource to see whether a disc is DVD5 or DVD9.

[swanside1]

RE: hammernuts5150

It depends on what you want, I myself enjoy getting a DVD from the Video Shop, watching it, and if I enjoy it, I will do a copy of it, to watch again, or if I purchase a DVD, I will copy it to save it getting damaged by the kids in the PS2 in there bedroom.

If the DVD is less than 4.4Gb, it is easy to do a straight copy and burn, can take about an hour, but, if it is over like starwars 2 is 6.3Gb or there abouts, it can take about 15h, but these are computering time, not time spent in front of the PC, so you can set the PC to do most of the long work overnight, and in the morning, spend 30 mins getting it ready to put onto disc.

See my guide on how to back up.

http://www.paulgrimes.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk