Travel Technology - Protecting your DVD's

Basically, i'm wondering, is thier a way to make a backup copy of your dvd's to take with you when you travel? Also, is this legal? I would imagine it is since you own the dvd already. Would you need to carry proof that you own the dvd's such as a picture of your collection or reciepts? Equipment and software required?

I ask this because carrying a lot of dvd's with you always consumes space, to make sure they are safely stowed. I figure, if you make a copy of your dvd's you can just stack them and throw them in the bag with no worries if they get scratched or damaged.

Thank you in advanced.

Copy DVDs to hard disk, then watch on the road (in the sky):

http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/autogk.htm


Don't have to carry DVDs
Save battery since you don't have to run DVD player
If you have an external or swappable DVD player, leave it behind. (swap in a second battery
No switching DVDs in cramped E- seats.

Here is the skinny in the US. ( I don't know about any other jurisdiction.)

First, Federal Law prohibits disabling any copy protection mechanism when copying a DVD. So making a back up of a DVD is illegal.

That said, if you wanted to make backups for flights, you should look at DVDShrink which will make a copy of any DVD onto a DVD-/+R. Most purchased DVD have more than 4.7 GB of data and must be compressed to fit on a -/+ R DVD. Also, DVDShrink will remove the macrovision copy protection and remove the region code so it will play on any region's DVD player. Use the above website for more info and use this program at your own peril.


BSL

Seems that it would be a lot less work and totally legal to sign up for unlimited movies from Inmotion for a monthly charge of $9.95. This would also probably be cheaper since the DVD+R discs are not that cheap and your time is also worth something. No hassles either!

BTW, how many DVDs are you carrying to worry about the extra weight? I travel weekly and watch three DVDs on the planes/week. The additional weight in my carry-on luggage is negligible.

Seems that it would be a lot less work and totally legal to sign up for unlimited movies from Inmotion for a monthly charge of $9.95. This would also probably be cheaper since the DVD+R discs are not that cheap and your time is also worth something. No hassles either!

BTW, how many DVDs are you carrying to worry about the extra weight? I travel weekly and watch three DVDs on the planes/week. The additional weight in my carry-on luggage is negligible.

I like to carry about 20-25 movies or so with me so I have something for every mood. Thier good to change my mood, waste time, help me sleep, etc. Sometimes I carry more, sometimes less, depending on my length of travel. Also, I voiced my concern over damaging the discs while transporting them in my bag and wasting the extra space with thier cases/dvd holders. I will definately check out the Inmotion service (never heard of it) and I will definately check out DVDShrink to see what exactly that is.

I like to carry about 20-25 movies or so with me so I have something for every mood. Thier good to change my mood, waste time, help me sleep, etc. Sometimes I carry more, sometimes less, depending on my length of travel. Also, I voiced my concern over damaging the discs while transporting them in my bag and wasting the extra space with thier cases/dvd holders. I will definately check out the Inmotion service (never heard of it) and I will definately check out DVDShrink to see what exactly that is.


DVDShrink rocks! I don't believe it will burn DVDs though, just shrink them down to a burnable size. For burning, I use DVDDecrypter, which is also free and also works very well. If you're willing to hunt a bit, you can find 8x DVD+Rs for about 50 cents a disk. If you really want to splurge, buy yourself one of those new DVD+R dual layer burners. Then you won't have to shrink them.

DVDShrink rocks! I don't believe it will burn DVDs though, just shrink them down to a burnable size. For burning, I use DVDDecrypter, which is also free and also works very well. If you're willing to hunt a bit, you can find 8x DVD+Rs for about 50 cents a disk. If you really want to splurge, buy yourself one of those new DVD+R dual layer burners. Then you won't have to shrink them.

Does shrinking them effect the film quality?

Does shrinking them effect the film quality?

It can, but the latest MPEG-4 codecs (like DiVx) do a great job. (DVD is MPEG-2). On a laptop, you will probably never notice.

I used a program called DVD shrink to do this. Had several movies and it shrunk them to dvd-r size and burned them (using nero). Even a novice like me can use it. DVDs are just too easy to scratch!