Confusion over burning DVD

[eegad]

Recently got a new computer with DVD burner. Was bored today, so I figured I'd try to learn how to make backup copies of my DVD's. Started reading through tutorials on this site, forum posts, downloaded a few pieces of software. And I am throughly confused now!

I can easily rip a DVD to the harddrive and remove the protection. I can sit and watch it fine on the computer monitor. That part was a piece of cake; no problems.

But how do I burn the thing to a DVD that works in a regular player? I understand about 9 gig DVD's not being able to fit on 4.7 gig writables. I could care less about the menu's and "extra" features. I want ONLY the main movie. With DVDShrink, I can extract just the movie. Great.

But the more tutorials I read, the more it seems like I now need to buy Nero (or a similar commercial product) to actually burn to a DVD-R (or+R). You GOTTA be kidding me! You really mean to tell me that there are TONS of free rippers, decoders, converters, etc. but NOBODY has made a simple FREE burner that can just take the main movie VOB files, create the directory structure that a DVD player needs and burn it? (again, I don't care about ANY fancy stuff... no menus, chapter breaks, subtitles, alternate audio tracks, extra features, etc...... just burn the main VOB's so when you pop in the DVD, it plays the movie, period)?

Am I nuts or is it really so complicated?? Much thanks for your patience if I'm being stupid and missing something obvious here.

[Baldrick]

imgtool classic and imgburn, not the easiest solution but freeeee.

or output as an iso file in dvdshrink and burn with imgburn.

[ZippyP.]

You have several options. DVDShrink can be set to output an ISO (disk image) which can be burned with many burner programs including DVDDecrypter (free). Shrink can also work with DVDDecrypter directly, when you click "backup" check out the tabs and make your selection.

[blinky88]

ZippyP. has got it right. Use DVD Shrink to RIP, Re-author, Encose and shrink to a single ISO file, then DVD Decrypter to burn. Both Apllications are FREE. The latest and last version of Shrink is v3.2 .... the latest and last version of Decrypter is v3.5.4.

[redwudz]

And I am throughly confused now!

I feel that way a lot when working with video.

But, as mentioned, DVD Decrypter works well with Shrink for directly burning the DVD from within Shrink.

And if you have a backup that Shrink can't handle, use the latest version of DVD Fab Decrypter to rip the DVD to the hard drive, then direct Shrink to that file. All 3 programs are freeware, but only DVD Decrypter is needed for burning.

[jimdagys]

Unfortunately there are a lot of geeks on this board. Although they are very knowledegeable, they won't give you the easiest solution. To copy a any DVD, I use DVD Fab Platinum. To use it, you only have to make one click (the "start button) and in a few minutes your copy will be ready to play in your DVD player. No software is easier to use. By default, the software will copy just the main movie (ahh, FBI warning screens no more), but you can choose the option to copy the entire disk with extras. From what I understand, ( the geeks can correct me if I am wrong, if the the main movie is under 2 hours long and you just copy the main movie, then your copy will fit on a standard 4.7GB disk. If the main movie is longer than 2 hours, the software will automatically compress the movie (with slight reduction in quality) to fit on a single disk. So right now you can download this free software (I think the new rules of this forum don't allow me to mention the website, but try Google) and within minutes, you can start copying movies to your heart's content. There is one small problem. After 30 days the software will stop working. By that time, you will be able to decide if you want to buy the software, or pursue some other avenue. Happy copying!

[edDV]

Recently got a new computer with DVD burner. Was bored today, so I figured I'd try to learn how to make backup copies of my DVD's.

If your problem is boredom, and you lack intellectual stimulation, you can solve that by mastering the video-dvd space. Figure months to years of learning before you can release your suppressed creativity.

Don't you hear the call of Sundance?