The Basics

Copying DVDs can be a very straight forward process. The hardest part for most people is just figuring out the right components needed (hardware, software and media). You can break the copy process down into 3 steps.

Ripping the DVD
Compressing (transcoding) the DVD
Writing to a blank

Ripping the DVD is the process copying the movie from your dvd drive to your hard drive. Most movies are copy protected using CSS. This means you need special ripping software that is able to understand CSS copy protection and remove it. After ripping the movie, the new version on your hard drive will no longer contain CSS copy protection.

Now that you have an unprotected version of the movie available, the next step is to prepare the movie to fit on your blank dvd. Most commerical dvds use dual layer media which means they can hold up to 9 GB of data. The most common and econimal blank dvds are single layer and only hold 4.7 GB of data. This means you usually need to leave out some of the data (ex. extras, additional audio tracks) and/or compress the movie. This is the primary job of software like 1Click DVD Copy.

The last step in this process is to write the newly ripped and compressed movie to your blank dvd. This is the job of the burning software such as CopyToDVD SE which comes free with 1Click DVD Copy.

Once you get the hang of it those 3 steps are not too hard. However, it can be even easier if you use a copy program that handles these 3 steps for you. For example, 1Click DVD Copy can fully integrate with a free ripper and the included CopyToDVD burning engine. This means copying a dvd can be as easy as putting in the original, putting in a blank and clicking copy.

The Basics CSS Explained Rippers Macrovision Regions Dual Layer Blank Media
System Requirements