This guide will show you how to use DVD Shrink to copy only your Main Movie from your DVDs onto a blank (single layer, 4.36GB) DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW or DVD+RW disc. Copying from a DVD-9 disc to a blank single layer disc can require a lot of compression and results in quality loss. By leaving out the Menu's and Extras your movie will only require minimum compression, and with a few extra quality options set in DVD Shrink, you should be left with a nice high quality backup.
Introduction & Requirements
DVD Shrink - Download and install this tool.
Nero Burning Rom - This is optional. I use this in the guide to burn but you can use whatever you want.
A dual layer DVD can be up to around 9GB in size (though they usually stick around 7GB). I personally prefer that all files in the VIDEO_TS folder on the original DVD be copied to the HDD, but this isn't fully necessary with DVD Shrink. At the end of the processing we will be have a 4GB+ folder on a Hard Disk Drive so it's safe to say overall you will need at least 10GB for the processing but I recommend using a HDD with a lot of free space for some breathing space.
About Copy Protection and Copyright Law
It is generally accepted in most countries that making backup copies of your personally owned DVDs is acceptable and a wise practise. However, this can sometimes not be the case and making backup copies can be illegal in certain territories. In almost all countries it is illegal for you to copy DVDs that you don't own (like rental DVDs). This guide, as mentioned earlier, is for "backups of your own DVDs for personal use", it is NOT intended to teach people to make pirate copies and neither I, nor AfterDawn Oy can be held responsible if you misuse this information to break local law.
Additionally, in some territories making backup copies is completely legal, but breaking / circumventing copy protection technology is illegal (makes no sense?). In Finland where AfterDawn is based, it is illegal to provide indepth information on breaking copy protection, so we don't in this article. In January 2006, we removed a huge list of software and guides from this site (see list here) to comply with the new laws. If you have a DVD that contains advanced DVD copy protection schemes, you wont find it here. For more info please read: http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/afterdawn_guides_copyright_law.cfm
Anyway, enough of that. This guide assumes that you already have your DVD files ripped to your HDD or alternatively, DVD Shrink will allow you to open and process right from the disc.
What we aim to achieve in this guide
In this guide we want to take a DVD disc from our personal collection and copy just the Main Movie onto a blank disc. If you would prefer to copy the entire disc then click here to read a guide for that. This guide should be fairly straight forward even for a new user.
This guide will show you how to use DVD Shrink to copy only your Main Movie from your DVDs onto a blank (single layer, 4.36GB) DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW or DVD+RW disc. Copying from a DVD-9 disc to a blank single layer disc can require a lot of compression and results in quality loss. By leaving out the Menu's and Extras your movie will only require minimum compression, and with a few extra quality options set in DVD Shrink, you should be left with a nice high quality backup.