Just finished indexing my movie collection and now I think it is time to create back-ups before my three sons do their thing on them! Ideally, I would like to back-up each movie to a single sided 4x DVD-R (Taiyo-Yuden) with a minimum of fuss. Quality is an issue - wouldn't want too much compression. I currently own a Dell Pentium 4 1.5GHz computer with a DVD reader (not writer), so what additional equipment/software do I need and what does the process entail? Detailed instructions, sources, and tricks would be much appreciated! Cheers.
First of all you need a DVD writer, if you want to create backups. Then download two free programs, DVDShrink and DVDDecrypter and read the guides that are in my sig by Scuba Pete and bbmayo.
As arniebear has indicated above - DVD Shrink and DVD Decrypter are excellent free programs and can handle any movie. For some newer movies you will need to use DVD Decrypter first and then use DVD Shrink if compression required. Very good guides available through this site by using appropriate tabs at top of this page. You need a burner (very cheap nowadays) and use good quality DVD media (e.g. Ritek, Verbatim, TY's etc.) Would also suggest Nero to give yourself some more options with burning. AnyDVD is an additional program that is recommended by many experienced members. Do not try to burn too fast (4x recommended) and do not use labels on your burnt DVD's. Thats for starters!
