Copy DVDs with DVD X Gold

Frequently Asked Questions:

Is your product easy to use?
Yes, and we provide excellent step-by-step instructions and customer service.

Do I need a DVD drive on my computer?
Yes, you will need this to read the dvd's in the first place.

Do I need a DVD burner on my computer?
No, just a regular cd-writer. It has been tested on all major cd-writers with no problems.

I have a DVD Burner, do you support DVD to DVD?
Yes, you can make DVD to DVD copies.

What are the minimum system requirements?
Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP & at least 2 GB hard disk space.

Do you support Mac's?
No, unfortunately we only support pc's at this time.

Do you have a money back satisfaction guarantee?
Yes, you can experiment with our product for up to 60 days, and if you are not satisfied we will issue you a refund.

Is it legal to copy a DVD?
The issue of legality in duplicating DVDs (Digital Video Disks) has become a contentious point in recent times, evidenced by the ongoing litigation in Courts around the globe.

America:
In America, the issue here is the presence of “fair use” law which allows individuals to make a copy of, say, an audio CD that they own. However, fair use laws do not allow copies of DVDs to be made as they have encryption on them, usually coded by the geographic region they were designated for. The laws surrounding the encryption of DVD movies are currently being challenged in courts in the U.S. and we will keep an eye on any further developments.

The 321 Studios Case:
One of the largest current lawsuits involving DVD copying issues targets 321 Studios, software producer of DVD X Copy. The company is being sued for allegedly providing a software product that allows violation of the Millennium Copyright Act. 321 Studios counters that their software allows users to copy DVDs that they already own, a fair use of copy software.

The Fair Use Act has four criteria that is considered when defining when DVD copying is illegal.

They are:
What is the purpose and character of the use? Is the use of a commercial nature or is for a non-profit educational purpose?
What is the nature of the copyrighted work?
What relative amount of substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole?
What is the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work?
The lawsuit involves the interpretation of the above criteria.

Other Countries:
In some countries, it is considered illegal to copy a DVD. It should also be noted that certain countries do not have a “fair use” law, such as New Zealand. As such, it would be a violation of copyright legislation to make illegal copies of any commercial media – even if an individual were to own the original.

We do not encourage or condone the use of any of the methods of duplicating DVDs on DVD Copying Review to make illegal copies of DVDs.

What exactly is DivX?
DivX® is a codename for the MPEG 4-based digital video compression technology developed by DivXNetworks, Inc. (aka Project Mayo). It is one of many codecs (compression-decompression) that are required by computers to decode movie or video files. As DivX is used exclusively on computers, movies encoded with DivX cannot be played on standalone DVD (Digital Video Disk) players – a major disadvantage of the codec compression.

The major advantage of the video compression format is that it is an efficient codec that compresses videos substantially without any loss of quality. To give an indication of its efficiency:

It can reduce a MPEG-2 video (format used by DVDs) to as much as 10% of its original size
Video on VHS (Video Home System) tapes can be reduced to 1/100th of its original size
Furthermore, the quality of the end movie in DivX format is virtually undistinguishable from a DVD.

The size reduction means that movies can be easily downloaded using software such as iShareIt in a matter of minutes on a broadband connection. Without such compression, movies will take days to download over the Internet – especially for users on dial up Internet connections.

Most people prefer the option of sitting on their couch and watching movies on their television, as opposed to their computer screen and as such, DivX is ideal for those who travel, or prefer the direct availability of DivX movies over the internet. Alternatively, what has been gaining an increase in popularity in recent times is the addition of the computer in a complete home theatre system in which DivX technology complemets nicely.

Why a program for copying DVDs to DVDs?
Dual-Layered DVDs

Most DVD movies that you buy, or rent, are recorded on "dual layered" commercial grade DVDs. You can tell it is dual layered DVD by its gold color and the ability to select widescreen or full screen mode via the disc menu. Such disks have two layers of data, with one layer being semi-transparent so that the bottom layer can be read as well. They hold up to four hours of video. These types of discs are known as "DVD-9" discs and they can hold up to 9 GB of data. Blank DVDs that you buy to copy movies are "single layered" and can only hold 4.7 GB of data. For more information on DVD sizes and capacities.

The Need for Software
In most cases, to fit a movie onto a single disc (which holds half as much data as the original DVD), you must either remove some of the extras (trailers, directors cuts, extra audio languages), compress the video even more or use a combination of removing extras and compressing the video further.

This is where DVDXGold™ comes into play.

DVD movies are already heavily compressed when you buy them. By increasing the level of compression by a small factor, the whole movie can easily fit on a single DVD and in most cases you will not see any difference compared to the original.

Additionally, the software allows you to choose extras that you wish to remove before the copying process commences if you desire to save space through this method.

How long does it take to copy a DVD to DVD?
How long is a piece of string? It depends...

DVD Copying Speeds
DVD copying speed is directly proportional to the speed of your computer and the DVD drive. On a computer with a Pentium 4 2.0GHz computer with a DVD drive that has 4X writing and 16X reading speed, a 90 minute long movie takes about 30 minutes to copy the movie (reading plus decoding and encoding if needed) and another 15 minutes to write the movie on a blank DVD.

Copying time will vary with the length of the movie and the makeup of your computer. Writing speeds are fixed by the DVD drive and media combination – some DVDs can handle higher writing speeds, some slower.

How to Speed Up Copying Speeds
To reduce the time it takes to duplicate a DVD, do one or a combination of the following:

Upgrade the computer (CPU and RAM)
Get a faster DVD drive
It is also highly recommended that you keep the drivers on the hardware (especially the DVD drive) up to date. Please refer to your drive’s manual for more information on how to update the driver.

How long does it take to copy a DVD to CD-R?
The time required for decoding will vary depending upon the speed of the computer, the level of quality of the DVD, the speed of the CD-writer and the speed of the DVD drive.

Your computer will be processing many gigabytes of movie data and when you consider the amount of data involved, the time required for the whole process is actually relatively short. Faster computers can typically decode a 2 hour movie in less than four hours. Slower computers will take longer. However, the process does not require your constant attention as you can begin the process before you go to bed or while you are at work.

For a computer running a Pentium III 850 MHZ with 128MB of RAM, you can expect the entire process to take between 4-6 hours for an average two hour movie.

How to Speed Up Copying Speeds
To reduce the time it takes to copy a DVD onto a CD-R, do one or a combination of the following:

Upgrade the computer (better CPU and RAM)
Get a faster CD-writer
Get a faster DVD drive
Reduce the quality of the movie (by choosing a strong compression method)
Delete (i.e. not copy) the extras e.g. trailers, menus, bloopers
It is also highly recommended that you keep the drivers on the hardware (especially the DVD drive) up to date. Please refer to your drive’s manual for more information on how to update the driver.

How many CD-R’s are required to copy one DVD?
That depends upon the length of the DVD video, and whether you plan to play the CD in a conventional DVD Player using Video CD technology or you intend to play it on the computer.

To store the movie in a compressed MPEG or DIVX format and replay the movie on your computer, or computer to the TV, one CD can be sufficient with specific compression method. But if you want to store the format in VCD and play it on your console DVD player, then two CD's will typically be required to hold a full feature length DVD (2 - 2 1/2 hours). You can store (depending on the CD-R) up to 80 minutes of video on one CD-R in VCD format.

What do I need to copy a VHS tape to DVD?
You require a modern video/graphics card on the computer that has a Video in port. You then need to either connect a camcorder or a VCR (Video Cassette Recorder) system to this port. The relevant software is also required on the computer to capture the video.

Do note that DVDXGold™ offers ways of copying a VHS (Video Home System) tape to DVD or CD. However, the basic requirement of a graphics card with a video-in port on a computer is still a basic requirement.

Disclaimer: DVDXGold™ V.5.0 is for personal backups only. If you don't own the DVD's that you are backing up, it is illegal to copy them, and we do not condone use of our product for such purposes.