How to Backup DVD Movie to DVD for Free
The tutorial shows in details how to back up DVD on PC using DVD Shrink. While there are many software solutions for backing up DVDs, the one in Windows I like is DVD Shrink. on Mac OS X, DVD Copy for Mac then is highly recommended, it allows you to copy any DVD movie (D9 to D9, D5 to D5) in 1:1 ratio perfectly.
This tutorial will be a concise explanation of how to back up DVD to DVD for free. There are many reasons to make a backup copy of DVDs one has purchased, read on and learn how to improve the quality of your re-encoded backups.
Step 1, download DVD Shrink
If you are using WIndows OS, then go to get DVD Shrink here: http://www.DVDshrink.org/
For Mac users, you can download DVD copy for Mac
Step 2, Run the DVD copy app and then insert your DVD movie into your DVD drive
Launch the DVD copy program, click on "Open Disk" at the top-left of the program window. A small window will pop up. There is a drop down menu - select the drive and disk that you are going to backup. Then click OK. When you click OK, the DVD will be "analyzed"–this process will last for 1-3 minutes, then DVD Shrink will "suggest" a level of compression.
If you receive an error while trying to rip the DVD (like the one shown in the screenshot above), you will need to use another program such as DVD Decrypter to copy the DVD files off of the disc on to your hard drive. You need to remove the copy protections first. Read more about how to use DVD decrypter to remove the copy protections of DVD .
Step 3 , Adjust compression for individual Titles (optional)
DVD Shrink will automatically select the highest possible quality settings that will fit on your disc. That's Ok if you use the default settings the DVD Shrink does for you. You can also improve the quality of the main movie: reduce or eliminate other video and audio files on the DVD.
Many modern DVDs will contain multiple surround sound modes, trailers, bonus footage, and some other data that can reduce or eliminate to improve the quality of the main movie feature.
The quality of the main DVD movie setting is reported to the left of a slider bar up to the top-right of the screen. In the screenshot below we see that the default setting requires that the main movie be compressed to 48.2% of its original level to fit on the disc. You can increase this percentage to improve the final quality of the backed-up DVD. But the output file will be larger.
The way in which one goes about improving the quality of the main movie of your DVD differs according to your specific needs. For example, if the "Dolby Digital" and "DTS" 5.1 audio tracks are available, you then are able to remove "DTS" (to save hundreds of megabytes), you can also choose to preserve "DTS" and reduce or eliminate other items from the DVD.
Some settings I made to this particular DVD were:
--Removed "5.1-ch French" audio track
--Replaced certain Titles with "Still Image" (keep reading for more on this)
To improve the quality of the main movie, you'll need to reduce or eliminate other DVD features, each called a "Title" in DVD Shrink. Click the "plus sign" next to "Extras" in the menu to view the other titles.
I choose the Titlewhich is 72MB. And I don't wanna keep the video which was a "behind the scenes" feature. So if you are unable to completely remove any of the "Titles,", you then have to replace them with a still image. Aiming to do ao, you can select the title you want to replace, and choose "Still Image" from the drop-down menu in the top right. In this case the file went from 72MB to 66MB. Configurable as the still image is, an image of your own then is neccessary to be simply dropped into the aptly named Still Images directory found under Program Files > DVD Shrink.
Step 4, Burn the re-encoded files to disc
Hit "Backup DVD" button and then choose the folder where your temporary files will be saved. To copy your DVD movie, DVD Shrink needs to save a bunch of files on your computer (that actually compose your movie). This is why you had to clear 5 gigs of space on your hard drive. After the DVD has been coppied, you then can delete those temporary files manually because the program won't do this itself).
It's available to select "Region Free" (default) under the DVD Region tab.
On the Burn Settings tab make sure "Maximum" burn speed is selected in the drop-down menu
Once you have the settings the way you like them, begin the burn process. You'll see the "Encoding" happening first. You can get a video preview which will tell you where you are, but it's quite possible that the encoding process goes slower with this setting enabled.
Once the files have been copied to your hard drive, your original DVD movie will eject from your computer.
You will also have a pop up asking you to put a blank DVD into the DVD burning drive of your computer that you previously selected.
Exchange the original DVD movie for a blank, burnable DVD. Push the blank DVD into the drive. DVD Shrink will begin burning the new DVD automatically in a few seconds.
Now you will get a pop up that shows the progress while the program burns your new DVD movie.
Once the new DVD has been burned, you will get a window that tells you that it's done. Click OK, close the program, and take your new DVD movie backup.
All Done!
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