DVD Shrink

Launch DVD Shrink. If you don't have the program, simply search online for "DVD Shrink" to find multiple sites that offer free downloads. DVD Shrink is freeware, so do not be fooled by copycat products that want you to pay for it.

Insert the DVD that you want to backup into the DVD drive on your computer.

Click once on the "Open Disc" button in the upper-left corner of the DVD Shrink screen.

Select the appropriate drive from the "Open DVD Disc" pop-up window, and click once on the "OK" button. This will start a process wherein the DVD Shrink program analyzes the software.

Click the "Pause" or "Cancel" button to stop the disc analysis, if necessary.

Adjust the video compression, if necessary. As mentioned in the introduction, DVD Shrink is designed to adjust the original DVD to fit on a 4.7 GB disc. The "Automatic" video setting on the program shrinks the DVD by about 50%, but you can customize it or even perform a full backup.

Remove any extra audio and subtitle options you don't want. This is done by unchecking the boxes corresponding with the unwanted material. Please note that you will have to complete this step for all categories listed under the "DVD Structure" section of the program window.

Click once on the "Backup!" button after you've completed making any adjustments.

Select the appropriate DVD Region from the drop-down menu, if a window pops up regarding the R.C.E. protection on the DVD. This information is either on the DVD or DVD case. Most newer DVD movies will have some type of R.C.E. protection. If you're not sure of the region, you can still move forward by clicking once on the "Leave R.C.E. coding unmodified" bubble. Once you've made your decision, click once on the "OK" button.

Select the backup target and target folder from the drop-down menus in the "Backup DVD" window. Typically you backup the data to a folder on your hard drive so it can be burned to disk at a later time. Make certain to check the target folder. DVD Shrink sometimes selects the folder from the most recent DVD you burned. To change the folder, click once on the "Browse" button. You can also click once on the drop-down folder icon to the right.

Click the "Pause" or "Cancel" button to stop the disc encoding process, if necessary.

Click once on the "OK" button after the backup process is complete. Burn the backup files to disc using your DVD burning software.

Download a DVD shrinking program. Most programs are similar, although DVD Shrink is one of the easiest to use. Install the DVD shrinking program and restart your computer.

Insert the DVD you want to burn into the DVD burner drive. Open the DVD shrinking program. Click the Open Disc tab. Click OK when the box stating the DVD title appears.

Click the Backup tab. After the DVD is backed up, it will eject the disc and ask for a blank disc on the screen.

Insert a blank DVD-R disc into the DVD burner tray. Allow the disc to burn completely to 100%. The disc will eject itself once it is complete.

Download and install video compression software. One of the best programs to use is Magic DVD Ripper, because it already has a setting specifically for compression to 700 MB.

Insert your DVD into the DVD drive, and open your video compression software.

Select output format. Your video compression software should immediately detect the DVD in your DVD drive. If not, simply go to Source or Open Disc and select your DVD drive. Once the DVD is detected, select an output profile, which will change the output format. Select "AVI."

Change output size. If using Magic DVD Ripper, select "Split Mode" and "80 Min ISO DataCD (700M)." If using other software, the option could have a change ratio or change size option. Once all the options have been chosen, press "Start."

Insert the first DVD into the computer and open DVD Shrink.

Click the "Open Disc" tab at the top left of DVD Shrink and wait as DVD Shrink analyzes the disc. This process can take a few minutes so have patience.

Click the "Re-Author" tab located at the far right of the DVD Shrink window. You should see a number of different categories pop up in the right column (the Tab Labels DVD Brower) with folders listed such as "Menus," "Main Movie" and "Extras."

Select the file you want on your DVD (if it is the main movie, you'll find that under the "Main Movie" tab probably listed as "Title 1") and drag it to the left column (labeled as "Re-Authored DVD"). Drag as many files from the DVD Broswer column to the Re-Authored column as you desire (and as space will allow).

Click the "Backup!" button located around the middle of the DVD Shrink window and then click "Ok" on the new window that pops up. Wait until DVD Shrink has finished backing up. After it finishes backing up it will eject the disc from the drive and search for a Blank Disc.

Click the "Cancel" button and return to the DVD Shrink window. DVD Shrink will have saved the DVD file to your hard drive. The folder name is the same as the DVD name that shows up when you open the disc.

Remove the first DVD from the disc tray and insert the second DVD.

Repeat steps 1 to 4 in Section 1.

Click on the Drive menu located directly under the "DVD Brower" tab and select the Local Disc (C:).

Locate the file created from the first DVD and click on it.

Drag the files into the left column (Re-Author) and click on the "Backup!" button. Wait as DVD Shrink backs this disc up and then pops the DVD out of the drive.

Remove second DVD and insert the Blank DVD Disc into the drive. DVD Shrink will now burn your "Re-Authored" DVD with both movies onto the disc. Once it is finished your have successfully copied two DVD Movies onto one DVD.

Insert the DVD you want to rip into the drive on your computer. Your computer must have a DVD drive to read the files on a DVD. A CD drive will not be adequate.

Rip the files from the DVD. In DVD Shrink, click "Open Disc." The contents of the DVD will appear under "Full Disc Backup" on the left side of the screen.

Change the compression settings for the DVD. Typical blank DVDs are 4.7 GB, but many DVDs on the market today use 8.5 GB. It is possible to make 8.5 GB of information fit onto a 4.7 GB disc by changing the compression. Under "Video," choose "Automatic" from the drop-down menu. This will compress the contents of the DVD so that they are the right size for a 4.7 GB disc.

Click "Backup!" A pop-up menu will bring up several options that can be changed. Under "Select Backup Target," select "ISO Image File." Click "OK."

Burn the ISO image to disc with DVD Decrypter. Under the "Mode" menu in DVD Decrypter, select "ISO: Write." Browse for the ISO file under "Source." The files will populate on the screen. Click the "Write" button, which is the button that shows a hard drive with an arrow pointing to a disc. Burning progress will be monitored in DVD Decrypter, and a pop-up will let you know when burning is complete.

Download and install the DVD Shrink program (see Resources).

Double click on the icon for DVD Shrink on your desktop.

Select a source of data that the program will use. You can select a DVD drive or existing DVD files from your system.

Click the "Open Disk" button to view a list of available DVD drives

Browse for files on your system by clicking the "Open Files" button. You will need to navigate to the location where the Video_TS directory exists for the DVD files.

Wait for the program to finish analyzing the video. The program does this automatically every time you select a data source.

Make changes to the DVD Structure or Streams. The DVD Structure will display all of the data files, their duration and size. The Streams section will display the video, audio and subpicture options that are available.

Click the "Re-author" option above and remove options that you do not need. This can include alternate audio tracks, the main menu or other options to conserve space.

Click the "Backup" button to re-encode the DVD files into a smaller size.

Open DVD Shrink. Insert your DVD movie.

Select "Open Disk" and select your DVD drive containing your movie. DVD Shrink will take a minute to analyze the contents of the disk. Once completed, select "Re-author."

DVD Shrink will then display the contents of the DVD. Select the Main Movie, typically named "Title 1" and drag it to the left-hand side of the program. On the right-hand side you should see the available subtitles and audiotracks. Deselect the unneeded additional audio tracks (other languages).

Select "Backup" and select "Create ISO" from the Target drop-down menu. This will create a disk image on your computer, which you can then burn to a DVD with a DVD-burning program. In addition, you can select "Hard Disk files" to save the DVD files in a folder on your computer.

In the final set of options, you can specify the DVD region (select "Region Free" if you are unsure of your region's code). In the Backup Options, check off "Compress with high quality adaptive error compensation: Sharp." Set the encoding process to run in low-priority mode if you plan on using your computer during the process as well as setting a sound to play when everything is finished. You will also be prompted to name the volume (ISO). Finally, press "Ok" to begin the encoding process.

Open Videora. Select "Convert" from the main screen. Select "Normal Mode." Ensure you have an Internet connection.

Select your video file. Videora converts your video to an iPod-compatible version.

Select your output folder. This is where you'd like the file to be saved. Follow the on-screen instructions and hit "Next" when appropriate. Select a title for your video file to be saved as.

Adjust the quality settings using the sliders. The higher the quality, the larger the file and the longer the conversion process. When satisfied, select "Next."

Select "Start Converting" to begin the conversion process. You can view the progress by select the "Progress" tab. Once it's complete, the file will automatically be added to iTunes and can be added to your iPod upon next sync.

Rule out the optical drive (the DVD player on the computer) as the cause of the error by attempting to read other discs with the drive. If you're successful, the drive can be ruled out as the cause of the CRC error, leaving the disc as the culprit. The disc could be scratched or damaged, or it could've had copy protection against duplication written into it when it was burned. If the optical drive fails to read other discs, then there is likely some problem with the drive itself.

Rule out the surface quality of the disc to be backed up. Even if it looks fine, check to make sure it plays or reads normally outside of DVD Shrink. The DVD could have been incorrectly burned. This happens often with cheaper CD and DVD media; it is rather rare with commercial DVDs. If you can rule out the surface quality of the DVD as a cause for the error, go to step 4. If not, see step 3 for information on attempting to clean the disc.

Clean the faulty disc. It is possible for any amount of scratching, grime or residue to cause read errors. Use a disc cleaning kit, or use water or alcohol and a piece of cotton shirt. Make sure that you wipe against the tracks and not with them; wiping with the tracks can cause further damage.

Having determined that the cause of the error lies in neither the drive nor the disc itself, there remains only one possibility: the cause of the error is the disc's encryption, or copy protection, of one type or another (several different types exist). Going any further in attempting to "crack" the encryption would likely violate copyright laws. In this case, if the DVD you want to back up with DVD Shrink is in good condition and still gives a CRC error, it means that the disc was designed to give the error upon copying, and the manufacturer doesn't want you to be able to back up the disc.

Launch DVD Shrink.

Insert the disc that you want to copy into the DVD drive in your computer.

Click the "Open Disc" button and select your DVD drive from the drop-down menu. Click "OK" to load the file into DVD Shrink.

Open the Internet browser on your computer---Internet Explorer, Firefox or other browser.

Type www.afterdawn.com/software/download_splash.cfm/dvd_shrink into the URL box at the top of the browser screen.

Press "Enter" or "Return."

Click "Open" or "Run" once the "Opening dvdshrink32setup1.zip" box appears on the screen to open/run the program and install the latest version of DVD Shrink directly from the DVD Shrink website.

Click "Save" or similar wording to save the DVD Shrink program to your computer's "Desktop" or other location for installing the program later.

Click "OK" or similar wording to start the download of the latest version of DVD Shrink.

Follow the on-screen prompts to setup the DVD Shrink on your computer if you selected the "Open" or "Run" option when downloading the program.

Navigate to the directory where you saved the DVD Shrink download file, if you selected the "Save" or similar word option when downloading the program.

Double click on the DVD Shrink setup file to install the latest version of DVD Shrink on your computer.

Restart your computer, if prompted, once the DVD Shrink installation process is complete.

Download and install DVD Shrink by following installation instructions.

Run the DVD Shrink software.

Insert the DVD that you want to make an ISO of.

Click on the "Open Disk" option.

Select the DVD drive where the DVD is located. The DVD will load and DVD Shrink will analyze it.

Select the "Menu" option under "Full Disk Backup," then under the "Video" drop-down menu, choose the "Custom Ratio" option.

Move the slider to the left to shrink.

Select "Extras" and repeat Steps 6 and 7 for each "Extras" step.

Repeat Steps 6 and 7 if any "Unreferenced Material" exists.

Click the "Full Disc" square button.

Choose "ISO Image" in the "Back Up" DVD screen. The "Select target image file" option is the location of and the ISO description. Click the "OK" button. This starts the encoding process.

Eject the DVD when "Back Up Complete" appears; the program is done creating the ISO file. The ISO is located in the target image file location.

Turn on your computer, insert your DVD movie into your DVD drive and start DVD Shrink.

Click the "open disc" button and select the drive that your movie is in.

Select the "main movie" option in the left portion of the DVD Shrink window, then look at the options displayed in the right frame and find the "audio" section.

Select the audio tracks you wish to remove from the DVD copy by un-checking the appropriate selection boxes.

Continue to copy the DVD as you would normally. Only those audio tracks with their selection boxes checked will be copied over.

Download and install the DVD Shrink software (see resource below) by following the program installation instrcutions.

Run DVD Shrink by double-clicking on its desktop icon.

Insert the DVD that you want to backup on your hard drive into your computer's CD/DVD player.

Click on the "Open Disk" feature.

Choose the DVD drive that has the DVD inerted in it. DVD Shrink will load and analyze the DVD.

Select "Menu" under "Full Disk Backup," then select the "Custom Ratio" option in the "Video" drop-down menu.

Move the slider to the left to shrink the video.

Choose "Extras" and repeat Steps 6 and 7 for each "Extras" step.

Repeat Steps 6 and 7 only if any "Unreferenced Material" exists.

Click on the "Full Disc" button.

Choose "ISO Image" under the "Back Up" DVD screen. "Select Target Image file" refers to the location and description of the ISO file. Click on the "OK" button to begin the back-up process.

Eject the DVD from your computer's CD/DVD driver when the "Back Up Complete" message appears. Your DVD has been successfully backed up on your hard drive in the form of an ISO image file, which can be burned on a blank DVD at a later date. The target image file location contains the ISO image file.