How to copy a dvd?

Question

I got a new computer with a dvd burner. How do I copy my own dvds (so my kids don't wear them out)onto a cd. What kind of cd do I use? I'm a bit confused.

Answer 1

It is my understanding that you download or burn the cd to the computer then copy it. I just had this conversation with my students on Friday so I think this is what they do. I have a regular dvd recorder so I don't have a dvd burner on my computer. I do have a cd burner that I use all the time.

And you should use dvd+r dvd's to burn your movies.

Answer 2

You ' Partically ' answered you own Question,
copy my own DVDs

There a lot of ' Commercial Programs ' available, Some Good and a Lot Not So Good.
A good one is NERO 7.

A DVD and a CD are different in there Design Make up and recordable Density. You can Not Copy a DVD to a CD ' Unless ' you change the ' Format ' and create a VCD ( older format, usually requires 2 or more CD's )

This link is to DVD Shrink 3.2 ( it is FREE )
http://www.mrbass.org/dvdshrink/

Once you install and configure the downloaded software,
it will guide you through the steps in ' Duplication ' of the your own DVDs.

This link is to DVD Identifier,
http://dvd.identifier.cdfreaks.com/

by using this software, you can find out what DVD "my own DVDs" are and this will stop the guessing of " What to buy "

This comes from Experiance.

Good Luck with your movies.
daveo5624

Answer 3

If you have a DVD burner installed then you are 1/3 of the way there. Next you need a program to copy your DVD's, such as Nero and then you need a blank DVD disk.

A couple of things you need to know also.
1) What type of burner do you have? DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD +R, DVD+RW, DVD+/-R or RW, or a Dual Layer Burner?
2)What type of DVD's you are going to try and copy? Regular DVD or Dual Layer?
And 3) Does the DVD you want to copy have any copy protection on it?

Once you know the answer to #1 you will know what type of Blank disc to purchase. And if you dont have a dual layer burner, then you cant copy dual layer disks, unless you use some specialized compression programs. And if the disk(s) have copy protection you will need special software that can crack the copy protection.

Answer 4

Just so we are clear, DVD is Digital Video Disc (I think) and CD is Compact Disc.

In general, copying DVDs of commercial movies (ie Pirates of the Carribean) is now an illegal practice. If you want to back up your computer's data, or make and copy DVDs of home movies (ie Bradley's First Birthday!), that is legal and okay to do.

To copy a commercial DVD, you would need a program that can read and break down the DVD. These are illegal, and it would be very difficult to find one today (at least I think - I haven't bothered looking for one).

The media you need to copy a DVD is a DVD writable or rewritable. DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW are all viable media to use. You absolutely cannot copy a DVD to a regular CD media, because a DVD holds at least 3 times the amount of a regular CD - it just wouldn't fit!

Check out http://www.tdk.com/consumer/dvd/index.html to read more about the DVD media options available to the consumer. Different companies may provide different DVD disc types (ie TDK, Memorex, Sony, etc. etc.)

Answer 5

You need the right kinda software, and I am assuming that these are pre recorded DVD's which you should not be looking to copy. !

Look out for Any DVD, Clone DVD.

Answer 6

buy some dvd-rw

cd's only hold 600-800 mb, dvd's hold 4 gigs+