Do you need a special program to burn DVDs or can you just take an existing DVD, drop it into a folder on your computer’s hard drive, and then drop those files onto a blank DVD+R?
4 Replies to “Yar Matey”
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Do you need a special program to burn DVDs or can you just take an existing DVD, drop it into a folder on your computer’s hard drive, and then drop those files onto a blank DVD+R?
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If the files you have are in folders (VIDEO_TS) and then a bunch of VTS_01_1.BUP and .VOB files, then you should be fine.
BUT the files are encrypted on the original disc, meaning copying them won’t work.
You’d need something like the Windows app: dvd decryptor 3.5.4.0 final (first hit on Google as of today) to decrypt the files into folders on your local hard drive, and then burn THOSE onto a blank DVD.
IF the folder of decrypted stuff is less than 4.3GB of data, ’cause that’s about all a normal DVD burner (and disc) can hold. If it’s 7+GB of data, you’re somewhat hooped, unless you first shrink the resulting files to less than 4.3GB with a ShrinkDVD utility. The results are not always optimal (especially if there’s also an hour-long documentary along with the movie). There are ways to “sort of” ignore the other stuff while keeping all the menus working properly, but it’s a little more involved.
If nobody in your ‘hood can help you with this, we can probably do a remote session for ya some time, saving us both the travel and having to clean up the apartment. 🙂
I can recommend software for OSX, but I’ve never done it on a Windows XP machine.
This “howto” reads fairly well, but I’ve never tried it:
http://www.tian.cc/2006/07/howto-copy-movie-dvd.html
Use DVD Shrink. It will decrypt and shrink the DVD, as zenrender says, then you burn the files it outputs. If you have Nero it’ll burn your disc from there too:
http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/dvd_rippers/dvd_shrink.cfm
Oh, and when you’re shrinking the movie, play around with doing odd things like making the 20 minute “making of” documentary into a single frame with no audio. You’ll gain that space back on your disc, and the “full movie” will look much better for it.
DVD Decrypter (linked above) also has a “only extract parts of the movie” feature so you can make sure you’re not getting any extras, but I’ve had… “mixed” results trying to do it this way.
The good news is this: ripping the DVD takes about 5-10 minutes, tops. Shrinking it takes another 10-ish. Burning it takes 10, so even if everything goes wrong, you spend a half-hour and make a $.25 coaster out of a DVD, and then have to try it again.