Hi,
I just wanted some tips on how to use Nero to copy a “read only” dvd.
Can I copy it to my hard drive and then burn it to disc?
Is there another program that would do the job any better?
Cheers,
The Big Babou
if you are trying to copy movies… youll want to grab a freeware program called dvd decrypter… check doom9.org… basically it decodes the dvd from the actual dvd removing macrovision and making it region free(most commerical apps wont do this for copyright purposes) I think dvd decrypter even has a burning option… if it doesnt you can jsut make an iso and user nero to burn it… it gets tricky though if the dvd you are copying is greater then 4.7 gigs(size of a dvd-r) i recommend grabbign a great little program by pinnacle called instant copy(its not freeware) so you will have t check other places to download it. Basically what you do is decrypt the dvd with dvd decrypter to harddisk… since the dvd is greater hten 4.7 gigs(average dvd is 7 gigs) you have to remove some features or reduce quality… instant copy makes htis a breeze… jsut deselect unneeded audio tracks…(I always keep menus and special features, but take their quality down to 30%) if the image size is still greater then 4.7 you will have to downsampel the video… dont worry, Ive downsampled the video down as low as 60% of original quality and still was happy… anything above 75% and i cant notice the difference… basically insatnmt copy will apply the changes to the dvd image and you are all set to burn… may seem liek a lot of work, but after a coule times youll be a fucking pro
There’s another program like pinnacle’s, but is free. It is called DVD Shrink and is available from dvdshrink.org/
I’ve used it quite a few times with no problems, and the transcoded video is almost indistinguishable from the original even with moderate shrinkage. Personally I usually get rid of the menus and extras. Saves time dinking about in all the menus just to play the movie.
Are these programs similar to DVD Ripper?
A lot of shops in Taipei are selling a DVD backup program that allows you to copy DVD movies . . . ironically, there were a stack of them at the DVD rental shop last night.
The latest version of Nero was just updated and it now supports DVD ripping to MPEG-4.
I just tested the demo version and ripped a 2-hour DVD movie onto a single CD! The quality is at least as good as a regular VCD.