Ideals on making a few bucks with a DVD burner.

[mdtplus4]

I've been thinking about starting a biz using my DVD burner and am looking for some ideals of how I can do this. Of course theres the VHS to DVD biz but there hast to be other (legal) ways. Like, is it illegal to back up a customer's DVD collection. If it's legal to back up your own DVDs and games then it should be legal to have them backed up for you...you think?

Anyway, any and all ideals would be appreciated.

[MOVIEGEEK]

You could make DVD's of friends or family home movies,a fair price would be $25USD per disk but that depends on menus,effects,etc.
Here in the US(and it's a grey area)you can make backups of pressed(original) DVD's as long as it's one copy,if they sell the original then they must destroy the copy.
I'm not a lawyer but adam(moderator) could elaborate more.

[freak_in_cage_10k]

u could offer to back up ppls important documents onto dvdr, as long as u were prepared 2 remove your burner from your pc and install it on theirs.

if u r seriously thinking of starting up a business with our ideas make sure u do sum serious market research first man!

[indolikaa]

I have six million relatives, every one of them has a camcorder, and none of them is smart enough to turn on a computer, let alone author their own DVDs or VCDs. :P

Let me give some personal tips on starting this kind of business.

1) Accept no responsibility!
The first time your machine munches "Helen and Bob's 75th Wedding Anniversary" and that was their only copy, it's your fault. Accept it, prepare for it.

2) Disclaim any format incompatibilities!
You will get that person whose machine won't play DVD-R. You will get that person who doesn't understand why VCD won't play in their 15 year-old Yamaha LD player. You will get that person who says, "I need this work in my brother's uncle's machine in Turkmenistan!" Accept it, prepare for it.

3) Hire a good technician!
Have you ever seen what rental tapes can do to a good VCR transport? Do you know what happens to VCR heads when Barney gets played 693 times a week? You'd better, because they use the same machine to play their "memories" in, and that kind of contamination is contagious.

4) Don't tell anybody about subtitles!
This is a very important rule. You must heed it. The first time your cousin in Moldavia/Moldova finds out SVCDs can have subtitles, they'll want it done. And trying to explain to them YOUR copy of Windows doesn't support that character set will be a waste of time.

Seriously, there is likely a cherry market for VHS/VHS-C/Beta/8mm transfers. Just letting you know some of the more fun things I've run into, and mine is a non-profit endeavour.

[poopyhead]

sell your dvd burner