Do You Know How To Copy A DVD?

Many people burn copies of their CDs - Compact Discs - making copies of music, e-books, data files and just about everything else. But what about DVDs? Do you know how to copy a DVD and is it legal?

Lets look at the legal issues first, and then well examine how you go about copying a DVD -- a movie, for example, to a writable disc. Many of us are used to copying files to a CD - using drag and drop technology, which involves dragging some files across your computer screen and releasing them to the drive where the CD rests. But copying a DVD involves quite a bit more and there are legal problems to consider.

Before we even get started on exactly how to copy a DVD, you need to become familiar with two important terms - encryption and copyright law. LEGAL DISCLAIMER TIME: Now, I am not an attorney and do not play one in real life so make sure you consult one in your area of residence before doing anything on your own with this information. From what I understand its perfectly legal to burn a copy of a DVD - if its for your private use in your own home as a backup copy. For example - say you have an extensive collection of DVD movies, but you are worried about your DVDs getting scratched from using them so much - so you may want to make copies of all these DVDs and keep them in a safe place in case some of them get scratched. Thats fine.

But if your DVD is encrypted (as most movies are) - most software that allows you to make copies wont get around the encryption. (There are multiple sources that offer this type of software now, but its up to you to find them.) Bottom line - if its encrypted, youre not supposed to be able to copy it. Why? Because copyright law says you need to pay a royalty to the person or studio or whoever made the DVD - otherwise youre guilty of copyright infringement. If you copy only those videos for your own use, youre probably ok, but start burning them and selling them on eBay youll be in trouble with the Hollywood studio system and the government in a hurry.

In the interest of protecting well, their interests, Hollywood studios came up with a little encryption system known as CSS or Content Scrambling System. This encryption doesnt have anything to do with free speech issues - its all about money! The Hollywood studios figure that if they put all their cash into making the movie, the least you can do is pay them a royalty. Its amazing how many people arent willing to do that, which is why the software was developed that allows you to go around the encryption. Otherwise your DVD copies just would not work.

Now, of course the Hollywood studios and a very few others have the so-called keys to this system - after all, they designed it! But the rest of the non-paying public has to depend on those free, independent spirits out there to come up with a way around that encryption, as indeed they did.

Circumventing this encryption is generally known in the biz as ripping a DVD (and of course copying the files to your computer hard drive) - see, youre already well on your way to becoming a computer geek - geek talk and all. If you rip the DVD to the hard drive of your computer, you can tell if the size will fit on a regular DVD. If not, youll need to make one of the choices available to you - such as compressing the data, removing or splitting part of it so it takes up less space.

When choosing a software package that will allow you to rip DVDs youll need to choose one that fits your needs. By that I mean there are packages out there that will allow you to do it all - rip, compress, remove or split data, in addition to utilities that will let you play with the settings on your DVD and affect the quality of your final copy. If youre not a computer geek, you may not need all those extra features - the quality between a typical DVD and one thats been ripped is usually very slight to the average user. If you plan on going in the geek direction, you may want a higher quality end product - in other words, if youre picky, choose a program with more features that gives you more control.

_______________________________________________________

For a more detailed version of this article in html & pdf format go to: http://www.mx123.com/cms/2006/09/10/do-you-know-how-to-copy-a-dvd/ we are always adding new content to the site so come check us out!

Robert Barnard is the Co-Founder & CTO of http://MX123.com. Hes been involved with computers since the early 80s. He holds / has held many international industry certifications in the computer industry from CompTIA A+ to Microsoft Certified Professional & Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer.Caitlin Blog19590
Cacilia Blog85265