I have been able to copy most DVD's onto my hardrive so that I can preserve the DVD in case it's get's scratched or stolen(has happened in LOS twice). Once copyin the DVD, I have tried to burn the copy onto a blank DVD and many times the copy wont fit into the blank DVD and either asks to burn it on two DVD's or just wont do it. I have tried it with every software but no go. This is especially a problem with DVD's from television shows or a DVD loaded with extras. Once you split up the DVD, it doesn't play that well and the menu only appears on one of the DVD's. I have tried DVDEncrypter program and it is slow as hell and I have high speed internet DSL. I need to find a way to take the DVD and copy it into a condensed format so that it will fit on the blank DVD's.

HI Blazers,
Use this it works great !

http://www.dvdshrink.org/what.html

Capt'n

DVD burner-software question

I would like to buy a DVD burner-software that;

1. Can copy any DVD intact.
2. re-record a DVD for any region

Senor Pauncho,

You can go two ways this problem. You can buy a software package that will decrypt and burn DVDs for you (although some of the companies have run into legal trouble with the MPAA) or you can use some freeware programs to do the same. I myself use DVD decrypter and the DVD shrink mentioned above. Either way, you should check out www.videohelp.com. They have a lot of tutorials on how to use all the various programs you'll need as well as links to download sites.

Been using DVD Shrink....problem is that the copied DVD doesnt play on any DVD player except my computer. Second problem is that the condensed version of the DVD is of much poorer quality than the original.

Like CD burners, isn't there a copying option to play the dup on universal machines/players?

Here's the low down. I use 1) DVD Decrypter to rip, 2) DVD2One to compress and 3) Nero to burn DVD. Works great everytime. Blazers, you need to find out if your set top DVD player is +R or -R compatable. Try these great resources. http://www.afterdawn.com/index.cfm http://forum.digital-digest.com/ http://www.doom9.org/ http://s105883597.websitehome.co.uk/
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers
http://www.videohelp.com/forum/userguides/141024.php
http://www.qtccdr.com/index.cfm

Hope that helps.

Harry

I have been burning dvds now for 3 years. DVD-r is the most compatible and will work in most newer stand alone machines and all computer dvd players, 3 generation and up. DVD+ I stay away from. It will only play in about 30 to 40 percent of the new stand alone players and works fine in computer drives.
I have 3 different burners one Pioneer 8x speed on my computer and 2 realtime speed Panasonic stand alone units DMR-E30s. The E 30s act just like a vcr and has an advantage over computer drives as you can stop and go as you please just like a vcr. If you need to back up vhs tapes or convert this is the best way to do it. Again it is real time so it will take a while. I recently converted 300 tapes for a friend and it took about 2 months but now he has his "video" collection hidden in his closet instead of all over his apartment.
I don't really do much of pirating the DVD movies so I cant tell you much about it but the newer dvds have different codes than the copy software puts out. There are ways around them and you can find that info on the net.
Good Luck
Milky

Blazers,

Since Harold and Milkman already brought up the most common compatibility problem (-R or +R) I'll mention another one. You may simply need to use better quality DVD blanks. I use DVD+R blanks to record and I have 2 DVD players which I use to watch movies. It used to be that the movies I recorded worked equally well on both players but as one DVD player is about 3 years older than the other one it has more and more trouble playing my recorded DVDs, except for those I recorded on higher quality blanks like Verbatim. My newer player still has no trouble with the cheapo blanks I use.

Loner, that could be it....I am using the cheapo blanks you find at Fry's. I will try a grade up and see if that works. I did get a DVD player that plays DVD +/- but the quality seems a little less after the movies is compressed via DVD Shrinker. The good thing is that I have a bunch of Shaw Brothers Videos that are not Region 1 and they are playable on Region 1 players after burned onto a blank DVD.

Right now I can get top of the line Sony/Fuji for less than 50 cents a pop so why go with cheap knockoff dvd's. It is the same with cds, I got some cds from some cheap bombay bastard from England in a trade and the damm cd eroaded in less than 16 months, No lie !!!
There was a nice article in one of the Music/ computer magazines about spending the extra dime for top shelf media. They showed one loser who duped all his media from originals to cheap cdrs and put it in storage and he lost most of his collection.
I agree as I have seen it first hand so spend the extra few cents as it makes cents