Summary: DVD Shrink is a software program used to make backups of DVD movies. Using DVD Shrink, you can read data from one DVD then write it to a blank DVD or to your hard drive. The copied disc can be played in standalone DVD players or computers that contain a DVD-ROM with the appropriate DVD player software. Part 1 introduces DVD Shrink and briefly discusses its capabilities

Note: This tutorial may not be used to illegally reproduce copyrighted materials. American readers should review the Digital Millennium Copyright Act before attempting to circumvent any form of copy protection.

What is DVD Shrink?

DVD Shrink is a software program used to make backups of DVD movies. Using DVD Shrink, you can read data from one DVD then write it to a blank DVD or to your hard drive. The copied disc can be played in standalone DVD players or computers that contain a DVD-ROM with the appropriate DVD player software (Windows Media Player is adequate for this task).

What can DVD Shrink do?

Backup Movie and Episode Discs

DVD Shrink allows users to backup a DVD movie to another disc or to a disc image (generally referred to as an ISO) that can be mounted or written to disc later. Users can also save DVD files to a hard disk directory for later use with DVD-authoring software (e.g. Nero).

Backup an Entire Disc or Just the Movie

Users can decide whether to back up an entire disc (including titles, menus and extras) or just the movie portion of a DVD.

Remove Copy Protection

DVD Shrink removes built-in encryption (CSS) on commercial discs that prevent consumers from directly duplicating a DVD disc. Without removing this encryption, copied discs will not work and attempting to copy a disc under these conditions may damage computer hardware. Please see the section “Is the Legal?” before attempting to circumvent any copy protection scheme.

Reduce Movie Size to Fit on Blank DVD R Media

Most importantly, DVD Shrink can reduce the size of a commercial DVD (which can be up to 9.4GB in size) to 4.7GB (standard size for most DVD-R or DVD+R blank media) or less. This feat is accomplished through a process called compressed domain transcoding, which essentially changes the properties of a the DVD video stream without changing the video format or having to completely reconstruct the stream. In the case of “shrinking” a DVD, the video bit rate is reduced, which allows the video stream to take up less space. The obvious trade off for this bit rate reduction is that the video quality will suffer. Reduction in video quality can be affected by the original video stream size, video complexity (i.e. high action scenes vs low action scenes) and selectable options within DVD Shrink.

What Can’t DVD Shrink do?

Convert DVD Movies to AVI/MPEG2/DivX/etc

If you want to “rip” your movies into one of the popular computer formats (DivX, MPEG2, Quicktime…), try one of the following programs:

AutoGK
Gordian Knot
DVDx
DivX 6 Professional

Convert AVI/MPEG2/DivX/etc to a DVD-Ready Format

Many people would like to be able to view their computer files on a regular television. While the best bet is almost certainly to buy a DVD player that plays computer files from a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM, there exist software packages that convert these files to the DVD structure. None of these applications have proven to be the “silver bullet” for creating the perfect DVD from computer files, but the software titles at the top of the list do an acceptable job:

DVD2SVCD
AVI2DVD
DVD Santa

• Tutorial: DVD Movie Backups with DVDShrink (6 of 6)
• Tutorial: DVD Movie Backups with DVDShrink (5 of 6)
• Tutorial: DVD Movie Backups with DVDShrink (4 of 6)