Fundamentals Facts You Should Know

Is it possible to backup Hollywood DVDs?
Yes. With the right software it is surprising easy to backup commercial DVDs.

What about copy protection?
Hollywood DVDs are protected using an encryption technology called CSS (Content Scrambling System). Simply copying the files from a DVD to your hard drive or to another DVD will not work. However, free decryptors such as DeCSS (De-Content Scrambling System) can read the files on a protected DVD and can create an unprotected version of them. The unprotected (or ripped) version of the files can be played on your computer or can be written to a blank DVD, which can then be played on a standalone DVD player.

How is copy protection removal supported?
As you can imagine, the choice to support copy protection removal carries a certain amount of legal risk for the authors of DVD backup software. We have classified the backup software using the following 3 categories based on how they approach this topic:

• Built-In: Products such as DVD Cloner include support to decrypt CSS copy protection. The default install will allow you to backup CSS protected DVDs.

• Integrated: Products such as ‘1 Click DVD Copy’ do not directly support CSS decryption, however, they give you exact instructions and a link to install a free decryptor. Installing the decryptor is a straightforward one-time step that takes about 5 minutes. After installing the decryptor everything happens automatically so the software behaves much like the ones with built-in support.

• Separate: Products such as CloneDVD by EB offer no built-in or integrated support to remove copy protection. To backup a protected DVD, you must rip the DVD to the hard drive yourself as a separate step without assistance from the DVD backup software. If you are able to create an unprotected source by yourself, then you will find the DVD backup software useful to compress, alter, and burn a backup copy of the DVD. These extra steps and learning curve make the backup process more complicated but may be worth it for some users who desire editing features that are not available in other products.

Legal concerns about copy protection removal?
This is a valid concern of the DVD backup software manufacturers and the reason why they pick built-in, integrated, or separate support.

Charges against, Jon Johannsen, a Norwegian teenager credited with developing the DeCSS decryption algorithm, were dropped in January 2003. The DeCSS freeware is readily available on the Internet and its distribution is not being restricted by the court system.

However, 321 Studios (maker of DVD XCOPY) was recently ordered by a court to no longer distribute any decrypting code with their software. As of Feb 28, 2004 they are now offering RF (ripper free) versions of their DVD products. This moved them from the ‘built-in support’ category to ‘separate support’.

Is it legal to Backup Hollywood DVDs?
Stating the obvious, it is NOT legal to copy DVDs you rent or borrow from others or to sell copyrighted material. However, if you own the original you ** might ** be entitled to make a personal backup under fair use laws. Please read the disclaimers on the DVD backup manufactures’ sites. The software programs reviewed should be used with caution since they can be abused.

What about Compression?
Many Hollywood DVDs use a dual-layer media that can hold up to 8.5 GB and a typical movie will use about 6-7 GB of that space. The single-layer media used in your home DVD recorder only holds 4.7 GB. Since the video on the original DVD is already compressed, making it fit on 4.7 GB DVD is simply a matter of increasing the compression a slight amount. In our experience the loss of quality is not noticeable when viewing the backup – even on a big screen HDTV. All of the programs reviewed will automatically calculate the compression ratio needed and they all give you a choice to backup the entire DVD or just the movie portion without the bonus features. If you choose to only backup the movie portion then the additional compression required will be less. Some of the programs will also give you the option of splitting the movie on to 2 DVDs so additional compression is not needed.

How long does it take to Backup a DVD?
The speed varies slightly between the software programs but is mostly dependent on your hardware. With a hefty system (ex. 3 GHz PC, 8x DVD burner and 16x DVD reader) it will generally take less than 1 hour to backup a 90 minute movie (ex. 45 minutes to read, rip, and compress plus 10 minutes to burn).

We tested a more modest system (733 Mhz, 4x DVD write, 12x DVD read) and 90-minute movies take about 1-˝ hours to backup.