DVD Burning Tips

The process of "copying" a DVD is a misnomer. Duplication of an original DVD movie involves three steps: (1) Ripping the DVD, (2) Transcoding the DVD, and (3) Burning the DVD to blank DVD media.

Copying the DVD is simply "ripping" or extracting the data from the original DVD to a temporary location on your computers hard drive.

Transcoding the DVD, in simple terms,  is the process of converting the "ripped" data into a format suitable for placement on a DVD.

Burning the DVD is etching (writing) the transcoded data onto blank DVD media.
 

To Burn a DVD you will need:

• A PC with a DVD Movie copy application installed. See our Test and Review Chart of guidance in selecting an application best suited to your needs.
   
• A built-in DVD/DVD-RW drive or an external DVD Burner.
   
• Blank, writable or rewritable DVDs to store all your information (each DVD will hold about 4.7 GB).
   
  • Don't know how to choose blank DVDs? Take a look at our Beginners Guide to Buying DVD Media
     
  • The Best of the Best - Taiyo Yuden DVD Media
     
• Before copying a DVD it is best to restart your computer. During the DVD copying and burning process it is best NOT to perform any other tasks.

Note: In the past DVD ripping, copying, and burning process took a very long time. In some cases, depending on the potency of your computer, 10 hours or more. With today's more powerful computers and dvd copy software the entire task can accomplished in less than an hour. In fact, in many cases less than 30 minutes. Our number one pick, 1Click DVD Copy Pro is one such application that has been proven to copy a full movie, with extras and menus in less than 30 minutes. Results will vary slightly depending on your computer configuration. See our Test and Review of 1Click DVD Copy Pro here.