DVD-X-Copy will make an exact copy, but you can change the settings to only copy the movie part in order to try to keep it on one disc. Speaking of it, DVD-X-Copy isn't for sale anymore (court ruling), but you may be able to get your hands on it other ways I think there are a couple other programs, I've always used DVD-X-Copy though. I'll take a look for you.
DVD Shrink DVD Decrypter DVD2DVD-R All freeware I believe. Check out http://www.dvdrhelp.com for more.
why wouldn't it all fit on one disc? what about eBay? What is the best version of DVD-X-Copy? If i do buy a copy on eBay, can i get it registered and working? (I've heard the program has security better than fort knox)
One reason is because you can also burn to CD's. Also, I think that sometimes if you try to burn a DVD that was on one disc, it might end up being more than one disc, but I'm not sure why. edit: http://www.mp3-cdburner.com/DVD-Software/DVDXCopy.shtml says : DVDXCopy - Will backup your entire DVD movie including all special features. Due to size limitations, this currently can take 2 DVD blanks to fit the entire movie. In this case, the movie will be split in half. In some circumstances, the main movie alone will fit onto a single disc, but the special features will then be placed on a second disc (optional). Nothing is compressed or left off the disc. The best version is probably Platinum because it comes with Express, DVD-X-Rescue, and the regular version (all in one program). If you buy it on eBay, it will probably come with a Registration ID. But I don't think the program is that secure, I just acquired it and unsecured it, if you know what I mean. edit edit: The new Ripper-Free version of DVD-X-Copy means that it will still burn DVDs, but it won't unlock the encryption on the DVDs, but there are free apps which do that. But DVD-X-Copy Platinum is still the best choice b/c it does it all in one.
Why won't it all fit? I think this is why, somebody correct me if i'm wrong. Production DVDs are dual layer, and have a higher capacity than our current writable DVDs, while they are developing dual layer writable DVDs, they aren't available yet (afaik). So thus, the dvd needs to have some extra junk taken off to fit on a normal writable DVD. I know its not very scientific, i just had read somethin in Maximum PC a while back.
Buy the new Plextor at 12x!!! (although it's not in stores, it's on their site, so soon my pretties) Or the Lite-On's good for the cash... Maybe wait forever to get one of those 50GB blu-ray efforts
I dont know how easy it is to get 4X discs to burn at 12X, even in a plextor drive. I do know that the pioner 107 will burn a full ritek g04 disc in about 8 minutes. As for software, I'll try and make myself a bit clearer… All the software you need is DVD shrink and Nero 6.3. Check www.doom9.org for simple guides. Although not necessary, PowerDVD comes in handy for testing your files before burning to disk. The two different methods are reauthoring or full-disk. Once you understand that concept then stick a DVD in your drive, and fire up DVD shrink. It will soon make sense. Good luck
Ah, I don't read enough! Thanks for that info by the way TekMonkey... firmware is always something to take into account when buying optical drives
I uses DVD Decrypter to decrypt and store the DVD files to a folder on my harddrive - sometimes I dont get around to authoring/burning right away and this allows me to get the disc back in "use" quicker. Then I use DVD Shrink to re-author the DVD to fit on one disc - the majority of movies will fit on one disc without compression if your remove all the menus and junk. If you want the menus you can do a full copy but it will compress the video - have done this down to 60 percent and I cannot tell the difference between it and the original. From DVD Shrink you can burn directly if you have NERO - I have it toss them in another folder as I use a dedicated machine for DVD Ripping and leave the DVD burner in my main rig. I then drag the finished DVD files from the network drive to NERO running on my main rig and burn away - its caches the files over the network and I have never had a problem yet. Ripper rig is a cheapy system that was left behind after a PC job I did. 1.7 GHz Williamette 128 MB RAM 80 GB WD SE drive Samsung DVD-ROM Windows XP SP1 I control this machine with WinVNC over the network from either my Laptop or my Main Rig - this way I dont tie up a machine. Not so much a problem when working with DVD to DVD copies as they only take about 40 mins but ripping and re-encoding to VCD/SVCD will tie the machine up for about 3 or so hours sometimes.
thanks for the link TekMonkey, i sent you an email for help on another link. if I'm bothering you too much, just tell me to shut up
