Archiving a Dual Layer DVD onto a Single Layer DVD

* If you have DVD Decrypter v3.2.x and DVD Shrink v3.1.x.x with Nero 5.x or 6.x installed on your system, you can get instructions via this 2.3MB .pdf file that is tailored specifically for those versions and that combination.

Quick Links To Parts of this tutorial:
Getting Started
Using DVD Decrypter to RIP the DVD
Using DVD Shrink to Reauthor the DVD
Using Nero Burning ROM to burn the archive DVD

If your DVD is small, you may be able to “copy” it without compression – instructions for doing that are HERE

Learning to archive your DVDs isn't always as simple as it seems it should be.  It turns out to be one of those "it's easy when you know how" type of things.  Once you get the hang of it, you'll kick yourself for having not caught on earlier.  But all of us need a kick-start from time to time, I know I did for this stuff.  Because of this, I put together this 'tutorial' to assist anyone wishing to archive their personal DVD collection as a means of protecting their investment:  better that you scratch a copy than the original!  Do keep in mind that it's illegal to distribute copies you make, and that by law you're only permitted to copy DVDs you actually own.

This is a crash course - not intended to provide an in-depth discussion of the why's and what's of the process.  It is a How To discussion.  Much of what I picked up, I picked up at http://www.dvdrhelp.com which is an excellent source of information on all things computer-video related, including some simply outstanding how-to guides.  Other excellent source of guides, tutorials, and general information is Doom9.org and MrBass.org

The following examples use three tools to accomplish the task:
DVD Decryptor available FREE! at http://www.dvddecrypter.com
DVD Shrink available FREE! through http://www.dvdshrink.org
Nero Burning ROM - not free, but good!

You will also need a hard drive with at least 15 GB of available storage on it at the start of the process (10 GB for the ripped files plus another 5 for the final set to be written to the archive DVD).

What do the programs do?  How do they each fit into the process?

DVD Decryptor does the copying of the files from the DVD onto your hard drive.  During this process it also removes any encryption protection from those files.

DVD Shrink lets you "reauthor" the source files.  It gives you the tools to remove some features, compress others and then rebuild (reauthor) a complete package ready to go to DVD.

Nero Burning ROM takes care of the transfer from the files created with DVD Shrink onto the blank DVD, giving you a copy that you can safely let the kids handle, the dog chew on, or take outside and use for target practice without endangering your original investment in the source DVD.

For those that are interested, the following provides some information about the systems used to do all of this here.  I actually use two systems, but think of them as just one big one.  Most people will probably be doing this all from one computer.

The RIP/Reauthor System:
CPU: AMD 3200+
RAM: 1 GB DDR Dual Channel PC3200LL
F:\ is a LiteOn DVD player
G:\ is a 240 GB RAID 0 array (2 Western Digital 120 GB SATA drives) 
V:\ is a networked 200 GB drive on the system with the DVD Burner:
The Burning System:
CPU: AMD 1800+
RAM: 256 MB DDR PC2700
that 200 GB Western Digital drive mentioned earlier, and
Sony DRU-510A to do the burning.

Getting Started

For the tutorial, I'll make an archive copy of the LOTR - The Two Towers disk 1, since that disk (1 of 2) has the movie on it and it's a long one guaranteeing that we'll have to work with it to get it all onto a single DVD in the end.

Begin by putting the DVD into your DVD player and then canceling any viewer installation or player program (such as PowerDVD or WinDVD) that auto-starts.

Using DVD Decrypter

Start up DVD Decrypter.  Initially it will automatically select just the files that contain the main movie.  That's very polite of it, but for this process I find it is easier to get them all as it makes working with DVD Shrink easier later - at the expense of taking a bit more time at this stage.  However, do take note of the name of the .IFO file it highlights.  It isn't always VTS_01_0.IFO, and you will need to know which one it was later on while using DVD Shrink.

DVD Decrypter – auto-identified the main movie files.  But…

We want all of the files.  The file selecting works just like it does in Windows Explorer.

DVD Decrypter also creates a default folder to put the extracted files in to.  It is fine to accept that default as long as there is enough space on the hard drive for them.  The Destination section of the display tells you how much free space is available on the drive and the number in the lower right of the display will tell you how much space you need.  If you need to change the destination to another drive, click that little folder icon (circled in red) and follow the on-screen prompts to choose a different location.  When you're ready to continue, click anywhere within the area I've indicated with the blue circle - that's all just one big button.

DVD Decrypter will begin doing its work and will show you the progress, both on the current file it's working with and on the job as a whole.  The faster your DVD reader and the faster your CPU, the quicker the job goes.

You'll notice one reason I chose this reader: it's reading at 4.6x and during this process I've seen it hit 7.5x or more.  If I were on the other system then 2x would be the maximum and it would take a bit longer.  Your speeds will depend on the DVD drive you're using.  NOTE: There doesn't seem to be anything time-critical about this process, nor even with the next phase (using DVD Shrink).  I often continue to do other things on the machine during these phases and haven't had any problems.  Your mileage may vary (depending mostly on CPU speed and RAM size, I should think).

16 minutes and 25 seconds later (slower readers/CPUs will obviously take longer, faster ones less time) I get notified that it was all done and with no errors.  I'm happy!  Click the [OK] button to close the message window and go ahead and close DVD Decrypter as we're done with it.  As a matter of fact you may also remove the DVD from the drive after shutting down DVD Decrypter because we'll be working completely from the hard drive from here on except for the final burning process.

Using DVD Shrink

If you are using DVD Shrink 3.x.x then go HERE!

Start DVD Shrink (version 2.3 was used for this) and choose the Open Files option because we will be working with the files that we just created in the first phase with DVD Decrypter.  If you haven't removed the original DVD from the drive yet, now would be a good time to do that.

When you click the Open Files button, DVD Shrink will open up a navigation window.  Us it to find the folder that the extracted files were saved into by DVD Decrypter.  Only a few file names will appear, they will all end in .IFO.  You want to choose the .IFO file that you took notice of at the very beginning of the DVD Decrypter phase, the one that is associated with the main movie files.  That was VTS_01_0.IFO this time.  It contains information about the movie files themselves, no extras, no menus, etc.

When you click that filename, DVD Shrink will take some short tome to "analyze" the movie and set things up for the next steps.  Eventually you will end up with a display that looks something like this:

Notice that pretty green and red bar running across the top portion of the display?  Well, the fact that there’s red in it is telling us that currently there’s more information to be burned than will fit on a DVD.  We’re going to have to do some things to get that total number down from 7,454 MB to no more than 4,456 MB.  We do that by a either removing some features from the movie or by compressing the files, or a combination of both.  We’ll do both.

One quick and easy thing to do is to make the menu(s) all still pictures instead of the neat video streams that they are.  Doesn’t detract from the movie itself and gives us that much more room to NOT compress the actual movie files.  Also, I normally totally remove the Subpictures (subtitles), as I don’t normally ever use them.  We’ll leave the audio alone here – good music/intro.

OK – This is important -- Because we selected the VTS_01_0.IFO file initially, we must RE-AUTHOR the DVD.  If we’d have chosen the VIDEO_TS.IFO file and worked with the whole thing then we could have simply used the BACKUP button.  The RE-AUTHOR feature will rebuild the required VIDEO_TS.IFO for us properly.  So we hit the RE-AUTHOR button.

Initially this screen comes up with nothing but the “Source Titles – Click and Drag” area near the lower right filled in.

This picture shows how it looked after I dragged the “Title 1” entry there up onto the New DVD entry in the left frame.  Next we remove some things and squish some others and see if we cannot get this to fit on a single DVD.

Ok, after playing around some, I elected to go with the choices above:
I deleted all the subpictures and did away with the 2-channel audio.  BTW: You have to keep at least one AC3 audio track.  By choosing to keep the 6-channel track, I found that I had to go to level 8 before I got a green-only bar.  If I’d have kept the 2-channel track and done away with the 6-channel track, I could have “only” gone to Level 7 compression.  Your choice.

NOW! We can hit the BACKUP button.  And that brings up a file navigation window so we can determine where the processed files will go.  This folder can have any name, but it should be EMPTY so you can figure out which files to use during the burn (all of them).  I’m writing them to my V:\DVD_WORK\VIDEO_TS folder. 

NOTE: That folder I’m writing to is actually on another machine on my LAN, the machine with my DVD burning unit.  Typically this would probably be a folder on the same drive or at least the same system as you’ll be doing all of your work on.  Hope I don’t confuse you.  Just think of my LAN as a kind of big distributed system.

My process is going to take about an hour to compress it all and ship it across a 100 Mbps fast Ethernet.  So I’ll take a break and pick up on the other machine with Nero and go through it’s process.  But actually, at this point, you can go to the folder where you put these processed files and use any DVD burning program, be it Nero or EasyCD/DVD or anything else and use it to create the movie DVD.  Things to note about the actual burn:

Burning the Archive DVD – General Notes

#1 – All the files that you create with DVD Shrink must be written into a folder on the DVD named VIDEO_TS.
#2 – There should also be a folder on the DVD named AUDIO_TS, but you don’t have to put anything in it at all.
#3 – The DVD must be finalized (or at least should be).  If you burn in multi-session mode, some players may not be able to handle it.

Using Nero Burning ROM’s Wizard to Burn the Video DVD

Nero version 5.5.x.x was used to provide these instructions.  Screens in other versions may vary, but the general process applies.  You can use them as a pattern for probably many DVD burning programs.  The goal here is to get all of the files created with DVD Shrink burned onto the DVD.  It’s that simple of a task, and the Wizard makes it very simple.  Let’s go:

Step 1: Choose the [DVD] option and click the [Next] button to continue...

Step 2: Choose the [Compile a new DVD]  option and click the [Next] button to continue...

Step 3: Not an Audio DVD, not a Data DVD, must select [Other DVD Formats] option and click the [Next] button to continue...

Step 4: Aha! Select the [DVD-Video] option and click the [Next] button to continue...

Step 5: This screen tells us what kind of files we need, and that after clicking the [Finish] button that this screen will disappear and we will have to click the Burn button on the Nero toolbar to continue.

Note: In case you’re wondering just what these files are/contain, here’s a quick rundown:
.IFO files are index information files telling where everything is located on the DVD.
.VOB files actually contain the movie, maximum size of each is 1 GB.
.BUP files are BackUP files of the .IFO files.  They must be there in case one of the .IFO files ends up corrupted, the system can use the info from the .BUP to continue working right.

Step 6: After clicking the Burn button, NERO sets up to burn.  The folders in the left window (DVDVideo1_DVD) were placed there automatically by Nero.  Use the File Browser window (on the right side) to navigate to the folder containing the DVD Shrink created files.  Select them all and drag them into the VIDEO_TS folder.

Step 7: Make sure the files are in the VIDEO_TS folder, not at the root or in the AUDIO_TS folder.  This is crucial to the DVD auto-playing for you.

Nothing has to be in the AUDIO_TS folder at all, but I think it has to be on the DVD so I just leave it alone.  Neat freaks may panic, but, jeeze, it’s only a folder and you’ll never see it after you finish this process!

Step 8: Almost done.  Make sure that the Create Image box is NOT checked, and that the Write Speed selected is compatible with your burner and the DVD in it.  Click the [Burn] button and sit back and wait.  At 4x it takes roughly 15 minutes to burn a full DVD

And that’s what you’re waiting for.  (Note the time for this not-quite-full DVD at 4x: 15m18s).  Click the [OK] button and then shut down Nero.

The Finishing Touches:
I do not put paper labels on my DVDs.  They tend to get old, the edges curl, they can rip, etc.  The balance of a DVD is pretty critical for proper playing.  They spin pretty fast, and being out of balance due to a torn label or such can make them useless.  I write the name and other desired information on the label side with a fine point, felt-tipped pen with permanent ink.  I like the Sharpie brand ultra-fine point pens that you can get at Staples, Office Depot and probably even at WalMart and they come in colors for those of you that think black is too plain.

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