I have seen the prices on DVD Burners fall over the past few months and I am considering an investment in one. I understand that the MAC has had this technology for some while now, but it is also available for PCs. I want to know if it is possible to burn, errr....make a "personal copy" of those DVDs I already own by utilizing this technology. If so, does the burner come with the software to do this?

Please advise,
Thanks
Lauderdale TL

 

I have had the Pioneer burner for about 6 months now. The manufacturers were really careful to try and prevent you from copying DVDs.

Every DVD is encrypted, and the decryption key is stored in a known area of the DVD. What they did to prevent copying is made it so that the consumer-grade burners cannot write to the area of the disc where the encryption key is stored. So, you can copy a DVD, but the encryption key will not be copied, so you won't be able to watch it.

What you need is De-CSS, which is a program that removes the encryption from the video. There is currently a court order forbidding any websites from providing the program or linking to anyone who does provide it. Of course, that would only apply to sites in the US, now wouldn't it. It's out there, if you want to look hard enough.

Personally, I have never done it. Despite the whole legal/moral reasons, it always struck me as more of a pain than it was worth. Blank DVDs are still about $10 each, and the process you have to go through to copy a movie is a real pain. Since you can get most DVDs now in the $15-20 range, it hardly seems worth it to me to go through the hassle to save $5-10.

 

Mikester --

Thanks for your response....I didnt know that blank DVDs cost so much, and that there were so many legal barriers to DVD burning...thanks

 

No problem.

And there aren't any barriers to DVD burning, it's just copying they are cracking down on. Making your own DVDs, for instance from home movies, like I do is a piece of cake.

 

This thread is really interesing. I personally know nothing about this stuff, but am interested. We just got an unsolicited email (SPAM) which promoted a software product ($99) that would allow you to copy DVD's onto common CD medium.

Is this really possible with a high degree of reliability and quality of resultant image? I don't have a clue, but would like to know.

 

You know the old saying - if it sounds too good to be true...

What that product is most likely doing is creating a Video CD (VCD) out of your DVD. Video CDs have been around for a long time, but it seems all of a sudden there are a bunch of products out that make them.

You can do it reliably and it will probably work on most DVD players, but the quality sucks. The resolution is 352x240, whereas a DVD is usually around 720x480. So, the VCD has about 1/4 the resolution of the DVD. It's about equivalent to copying your DVD to a video tape.