How to back up a DVD
Posted by Andy Atkinson on 04/30/06 in Freeware, Software, Tutorials, Windows
This article is a tutorial that explains the process of backing up a DVD on a PC using DVD Shrink. While there are many software solutions for backing up DVDs, the one on Windows I like is DVD Shrink. The program I use to burn CDs and DVDs is Nero. This article assumes your computer is already equipped with a burning program. An explanation of DVD Shrink and its features is available in a previous article. DVD Shrink will use Nero for burning if it is detected, but does not require Nero. Nero “Express” edition can be purchased very inexpensively (@ buycheapsoftware.com for example). This tutorial will be a concise explanation of how to get the most out of your backup. There are many reasons to make a backup copy of DVDs one has purchased, keep reading to learn how to improve the quality of your re-encoded backups.
As explained in the previous article, if the DVD you are backing up is a single layer disc, or if your burner is capable of writing to dual-layer discs and you’ve purchased blank dual-layer media, backing up your DVD will be effortless.
1) Open the disc for “Analysis”
The first thing you will need to do is open the disc. Open DVD Shrink, and click the “Open Disc” menu option at the top of the menu bar. When you click OK, the DVD will be “analyzed”–this process will run for 1-3 minutes, then DVD Shrink will “suggest” a level of compression.
Most people however will be backing up dual-layer DVDs to single-layer media, and will therefore need to compress (or “shrink”) the movie files down to a size that will fit on single-layer media, but at the highest quality level.
If you receive an error while trying to rip the DVD (like the one shown in the screenshot above), you will need to use another program such as DVD Fab Decrypter to copy the DVD files off of the disc on to your hard drive. Click here to read how to backup DVDs with DVD Fab Decrypter.
2) Adjust compression for individual Titles
Assuming you now have the original DVD backed up to your hard drive, DVD Shrink will automatically select the highest possible quality settings that will fit on your disc. You could accept the settings that DVD Shrink chooses, but you should understand that you can increase the quality of the main movie file by reducing or eliminating other video and audio files on the DVD.
Many modern DVDs will contain bonus footage, trailers, multiple surround sound modes, and other settings that one can reduce or eliminate to improve the quality of the main movie feature.
The main movie quality setting is reported to the left of a slider bar in the top right of the screen. In the screenshot below we see that the default setting requires that the main movie be compressed to 49% of its original level to fit on the disc. I would like to increase this percentage to improve the final quality of the backed-up DVD.
The way in which one goes about improving the quality of the main movie will be different depending on your specific needs. For example, when “Dolby Digital” and “DTS” 5.1 audio tracks are available, I will generally remove “DTS” (to save hundreds of megabytes), but other users might prefer to preserve “DTS” and reduce or eliminate other items from the DVD.
Some of the settings I made to this particular DVD were:
- Removed “5.1-ch French” audio track (went from 49% to 55.4% compression for main movie)
- Replaced certain Titles with “Still Image” (keep reading for more on this)
To improve the quality of the main movie, you’ll need to reduce or eliminate other DVD features, each called a “Title” in DVD Shrink. Click the “plus sign” next to “Extras” in the menu to view the other titles.
The Title I’ve selected below was 836MB. In order to preview this title, like any other Title in DVD Shrink, I clicked the triangle (Play) button to decide whether this was a feature I wished to preserve.
In this case the video was a “behind the scenes” featurette that I did not wish to keep. Since one cannot completely remove any of the “Titles,” the next best thing is to replace them with a still image. In order to do this, select the title you want to replace, and choose “Still Image” from the drop-down menu in the top right. In this case the file went from 836MB to 117MB. The still image is configurable, simply drop an image of your own into the aptly named Still Images directory found under Program Files > DVD Shrink.
Again, you’ll want to tweak the movie settings until you are satisfied. In the case of this DVD, I made only those two changes, which improved the main movie compression from 49% to 70.7%.
3) Burn the re-encoded files to disc
The burn settings will be displayed over several tabs shown in the screenshot below.
Under Select folder for temporary files: on the Target Device tab, create a new folder, and make sure it is selected before starting the burn. For me this involves creating the new folder, clicking a different folder, then clicking the folder I just created to confirm that it is selected. Sounds excessive, but this way you won’t burn the wrong DVD once you have several backed-up DVDs on your hard drive.
You may as well select “Region Free” (default) under the DVD Region tab
on the Burn Settings tab make sure “Maximum” burn speed is selected in the drop-down menu
Once you have the settings the way you like them, begin the burn process. You’ll see the “Encoding” happening first. There is a video preview that will show you where you are, but I believe that the encoding process goes slower with this setting enabled.
If you have just one drive to rip and burn, then you will be prompted to replace the disc after the “rip” (also called copy) of the DVD has successfully copied the contents to your hard drive. If you have a second drive set up to burn DVDs, the burn will start immediately.
I hope this guide made it easy for you to burn backup DVDs with DVD Shrink. Please share your tips or questions in the comment section below or through the contact form.
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Paul Stamatiou | May 4, 2006 | Reply
I was under the impression that DVDShrink no longer exists as of about 5 months ago when they were told to shut down. Granted you can still find it online, newer versions cease to be created. I think there was an open-source project called ShrinkTo5 to replace DVDShrink. I talked about ShrinkTo5 here.
Anonymous | May 4, 2006 | Reply
There are no new versions of this software coming out. The developer went on to write Nero Recode 2. I would recommend purchasing a copy of AnyDVD (this cracks protection as soon as you insert the DVD) and then using Nero Recode to recompress a Dual Layer DVD to Single Layer. Nero Recode could be considered the “new” DVD Shrink as it’s faster and better than DVD Shrink is/was. AnyDVD is a great product as it is updated frequently to deal with new copy protection from the studios and also makes sure you don’t get nasty root kits from protected CDs as well. It’s well worth the $39 price.
Anonymous | May 4, 2006 | Reply
While it’s true that DVD Shrink is no longer under development, it is still a highly valuable program. The DVD Shrink website does not indicate the program is illegal to use, simply that they cannot host the executable on their website (so they suggest searching for it elsewhere). ShrinkTo5 looks interesting, but I think DVDFab Decrypter and DVD Shrink make the best available combination for the time being. In a few years, DVD9 and DVD5 will no longer be en vogue anyway, but chances are that this combination of applications will be around until we get to that point.
Andy Atkinson | May 4, 2006 | Reply
What specifically is faster about Nero Recode? Can you cite any examples? Perhaps it re-encodes video files more efficiently, but the burn process is of course, limited by the drive being used and hardware resources, so the only room for improvement would be in the analysis/re-encoding portion. I agree that a “front-end” that can “stay ahead” of the latest copy protection is required, so far DVDFab Decrypter has satisfied this requirement for me, but DVD re-encoding and burning to DVD5 media “just works” with DVD Shrink so I don’t see how the cost of Nero Recode is justified. To download DVD Shrink, you can find the ZIP file at the end of this article.
Anonymous | May 5, 2006 | Reply
A very similar product with solid functionality and ease of use is Elaborate Bytes’ CloneDVD
Anonymous | May 5, 2006 | Reply
IF you have a seperate reader and writer. DVD shrink has to first transcode the whole thing to your hard drive, then burn. Recode 2 can transcode directly to the blank DVD, effectively cutting your time by 1/3 to 1/2 per DVD backed up. If you have a large projector like I do, you can also detect far more artifacting in DVD shrink backups than in Recode 2 or Clone DVD backups.
Just my opinion. If you HAVE to go 100% free, Recode + DVD43 + DVD Decrypter will get you there. I bought Nero package and AnyDVD and I’ve never looked back since.
Anonymous | Jul 30, 2006 | Reply
hi, when i tried to analyse (first step before backup) the DVD using DVD Shrink, i am getting a disturbed audio. The audio problem esists, if already playing any songs while doing this task. Even after writing this to DVD, I am getting good video but, audio is disturbed. I am using SONIC DVD burning software. Do I need to do any changes in my Audio settings
Thank you. Shivakumar K
DrPan | Aug 4, 2006 | Reply
How can I increase the “Rate” at which the dvd is being copied to the hard drive?
Andy Atkinson | Aug 7, 2006 | Reply
In general, the read speed of your DVD reader/writer drive, channel (IDE), controller card, etc. determines that maximum number of bits that can be copied from your DVD to your hard disk. If you have a second DVD optical drive you could test and see if it has a higher read speed. Try searching for a tool online to test read speed of optical drives if interested. Once the bits are moved to your hard disk, your system resources (mainly CPU) generally limits your encoding time (if you are re-encoding the video). My latest solution is to have one DVD ROM that reads and a second drive (DVD writer) that burns, this way I can copy a disc with the computer unattended. A second DVD ROM drive is very inexpensive.
Anonymous | Aug 28, 2006 | Reply
i have tried several programs - including dvd region +css free and AnyDVD- both allow me to open and watch a DVD on my machine - but when I go to encode (I have used DVD shrink and CloneDVD as well as Nero) when I burn the DVD- using xoom, Nero or Clone - none of them will work on my DVD player- tells me it has region restrictions. Any suggestions?
Thanks
Anonymous | Sep 9, 2006 | Reply
http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/
The last place I know of to download DVD Shrink.
Anonymous | Sep 28, 2006 | Reply
You can still download DVD Shrink at http://www.dvdshrink.org/
Website still up, just no updates to program.
JILL | Mar 20, 2007 | Reply
I always use DVD Shrink with NERO and usually after backing up the disc the drive opens..I remove the movie and insert a blank recordable DVD and it automatically burns for me. Now…the drive won’t open and it just simply says that the disk has been backed up. I would love to know how to get it back to where the drive opens and BAM burning begins!
Anonymous | Apr 3, 2007 | Reply
I have been using dvd shrink and nero 6.6.0.18 with great results. Yesterday I went to backup a music concert dvd and got the error on the screen after the source disc was put in my burner and it read “Local Volume Identifier” and the tray to my burner opened up and I tried reinserting it and it did the same thing. I use Any DVD along with my back ups, which I find to be well worth the expenditure. I hope that someone can help, thankyou.
Is there a setting on DVD Shrink that should correct this error??? Again, thx.
George | Apr 11, 2007 | Reply
Hey, i have this really annoying problem. Whenever I copy a DVD using DVD Shrink, the movie continuously freezes and stops and does not play. The recording of the DVD is alrite, however the result is not good at all. I use a Light Scribe LG Recorder at 16x with 16x writing speed. DvdShrink v. 3.2…
Any help will be appreciated.
Thx
Carol | Apr 26, 2007 | Reply
I have DVD FAB, SHRINK, DECRYPTOR, ANY DVD on my computer. I have been making copies of my DVDs for over a year. Recently my copies won’t play. I have 3 DVD players and the copies won’t play in either one of them. The movie will skip, break-up and then it will completely freeze up. Has anyone ever had this problem before?
Anonymous | May 8, 2007 | Reply
The same thing as happened to me. I use quality media, TDK and Sony DVD-R’s and store discs in appropriate place but those burned around 14 months ago no longer play properly in dvd players (a dvd rom drive on my computer can just about decode them enabling me to reburn when they work fine again). I think it might have something to do with heat (they all play fine for the first 40 min or so) but this is just a guess.
JM | May 8, 2007 | Reply
I’m having the same problems as the 2 above. DVD’s freeze in both windows media (godawful program anyway) and all my dvd players. I’ve burned successfully for about a year up until the past month or two. I’ve tried DVDfab, dvd decrypter, and as always dvd shrink. Nothing works.
tried anydvd for a day, trial somehow expired the next morning, and i don’t know that i want to drop 50 bucks.
any help?
edd | Aug 25, 2007 | Reply
i have a philips external hard disc recently i had the notebook cleaned & cannot retrieve my files.i have also misplaced the nero back it up disc. p.c world have quoted me £90 to replace it.any suggestions? edd
Crystal | Aug 31, 2007 | Reply
Hello. I’ve been trying to back up my copies of Baby Einstein (Disney) DVDs. My little girl slobbers all over things, and I know I won’t be able to afford new copies of these! So, I download all this software because I have burned it 3 times tonight and it won’t play. When I choose to “Open” the DVD I burned it shows the AUDIOTS and VIDEOTS folders on the DVD, just won’t work in DVD player. Any suggestions?
stuu | Dec 27, 2007 | Reply
Do I need to have nero express to use dvd shrink? Because i have nero start smart installed and it doesn’t burn off any backups, it just saves them to the computer. I have used dvd shrink before, but it usally automatically starts burning off a back up copy, i dont understand why it isn’t doing that? im really confused??
Teresa | Jan 2, 2008 | Reply
I have AnyDVD and have been copying my DVD’s with no problems. I usually use dvd shrink and let Nero handle the burning. I also have dvd decrypter. I sometimes will decrypt and then Recode2. But no matter what program I use lately (the last week) my computer freezes during encoding at different %’s. Any ideas on why. I have win xp and my burner is a Sony DVD RW DRU-820A. I haven’t changed anything on my computer since this has started. Would appreciate any feedback!! Thanks!
Chibear | Jan 23, 2008 | Reply
You do not need Nero to burn the files. I use DVD Decrypter, which is free. Use “DVD Shrink” to create the ISO file, then use “DVD Decrypter” to burn it to a DVD.