Creating Backup DVD Video Discs

This walk-through describes the steps involved in making a backup copy of a video DVD. You should only make backup copies of discs you own.

When copying a video disc it is more economical to use single layer DVDs. The problem is commercial DVDs usually hold more information than can fit on a single layer DVD. So in order to copy a movie onto a single layer blank DVD disc the video files must first be compressed. The goal is to preserve as much of the movie and extras and still produce a high quality backup copy.

This walk-through describes an example of making a backup copy of a commercial DVD. There are many options available using the programs described as well as other programs that perform similar functions. The Doom9 website is the definitive DVD backup resource. Check them out or read the documentation for the individual programs if you want to delve deeper.  But If you only want to know the basics on how to make a copy this walk-through should be all you need. 

There are 3 steps to making a copy:

1. Rip - Copy the original files to your hard drive
2. Compress - Shrink the files to fit on a single disc
3. Burn - Write the compressed files to a blank disc

Hardware and Media

• DVD Writer Drive (multi format recommended)
• DVD Reader Drive (optional - allows single pass copying)
• DVD-R or DVD+R blank discs

Installing the Software

There are 3 software programs you need to download or purchase and install:

• DVD Decrypter
• DVD Shrink
• Nero 6 Suite

DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink are free programs (donations encouraged). Nero is about $99 retail but OEM versions are available for much less.

1. Rip

Insert the original disk in your DVD drive and start DVD Decrypter. It will read the disc and display the files. Make sure all files are selected.

You will need to specify where the copied files will be stored on your hard drive. DVD Decrypter will choose a name for you. In the example below it chose the directory name DVD_VIDEO located on the C: drive. The name is less important than knowing where the files are - since you will need to open them during the Shrink step.

Note that the total size of all the files is 7.2 Gigabytes. This is almost twice as much as will fit on a single layer DVD.

Copy the files by clicking the green play button (a sideways triangle) at the bottom of the DVD Decrypter window.

 2. Compress

Start the DVD Shrink program. Click the Open Files button and select the directory name where DVD Decrypter wrote the original files.

DVD Shrink will load and analyze all files used on the disc.

When finished the contents of the disc are displayed. DVD Shrink will automatically choose compression ratios that will fit all the content on a single layer disc. If the ratio is high enough (75% or higher) then you can accept the default settings and write the files. In this example however the ratio is 53.7%. This would result in a poor quality copy. Instead of accepting the automatic compression settings we will manually set the compression for certain parts of the disc and eliminate features we don't intend on using. Here are the automatic settings.

The main movie has an automatic compression of 53.7%. We want that to be much higher. Note that there are several audio tracks and subtitles used. These can be unselected to give more room for the main movie. Be careful when deselecting English soundtracks as these can contain commentary tracks. Since most extras are only viewed once, these can be compressed much more than the main movie and still be watchable. We changed the compression from automatic to a manual setting of 50.6 and deselected the DTS soundtrack. The results for the extras are shown below.

Now we return to the main movie and deselect the DTS soundtrack and foreign subtitles. The main movie now has a compression ration of 84% - very good quality. We are ready to write the compressed files to the hard drive.

Click the Backup button and specify the location for the compressed files. I recommend choosing a location in the original directory. This makes cleanup easy once you are done - you simply delete the original directory.

3. Burn

If you have Nero installed, DVD shrink will write the compressed files to your hard drive and then start Nero and burn the final disc. In case you want to manually use Nero, here is how you do it.

Run the Nero Smart Start program, choose DVD for the medium and select Burn DVD-Video Files

Nero will start up with the folders required for a video DVD. We are only concerned with the VIDEO_TS directory. Double click the VIDEO_TS folder icon to open it. Click the Add button and browse to the VIDEO_TS folder inside the folder you specified when writing the compressed files. For this example that is the path C:\DVD_VIDEO\dvd\VIDEO_TS. Select all the files and click the Add button. Click Finish to close the Select Files and Folders dialog.

Click the Next Button. Make sure your DVD writer drive is selected and a blank DVD is in the drive. Click the burn button to write the finished DVD.

When complete test it out in your DVD player. Use a soft tip Sharpie felt pen to label the disc or use a CD label kit.