How to Use DVD Shrink & Nero

Nero and DVD Shrink are excellent tools for backing up your DVD movies.

DVD Shrink and Nero Burning Rom are two pieces of software that are often used in tandem with one another by DVD owners to create working backups of their legally owned DVD movies. DVD Shrink copies the DVD to your computer's hard drive and shrinks the actual movie down enough so that it will fit on a standard recordable DVD, and Nero is a program that can be used to burn that movie onto the blank DVD. Using these programs together is a fairly uncomplicated process.

Things You'll Need

• Blank DVD

Instructions

Using DVD Shrink

1. Launch DVD Shrink and insert your DVD movie into your computer's DVD-R/RW drive.

2. Click the "Open" button in the DVD Shrink window, then select the drive containing your DVD movie in the drop-down menu and click "OK."

3. Select which options you wish DVD Shrink to include on the copy of the DVD movie. You have the option--using the various checkboxes located in the DVD Shrink window--of removing subtitles and audio tracks from the movie in order to reduce its size, which in turn will allow for a lower compression ratio when DVD Shrink copies it to your hard drive. Lower compression ratios equate to higher video quality.

4. Click the "Backup" button once you have finished making your selections. A new dialog box will pop up.

5. Select a location on your hard drive using the new dialog box. This location will be where DVD Shrink saves your DVD video files.

6. CLick "OK" to start the copying process. Once the process is finished, eject the DVD movie and insert a blank disk into the DVD-R/RW drive.

Using Nero Burning Rom

1. Launch Nero Burning Rom once DVD Shrink has finished backing up the files to your hard drive.

2. Click the drop-down menu at the top-left corner of the Nero screen and select "DVD."

3. Click "DVD Video" in the left pane, then click the "New" button.

4. Double-click the red "Video_TS" folder in the left pane, then browse to the folder you created in Section 1 using the right-hand pane. Open the folder.

5. Select all the files in the right-hand pane, then drag and drop them all over to the left-hand pane. Click the "Burn" icon once all the files have been moved. Click the "Burn" button in the next window to start the copying process. Once the process is finished, you should have a fully functional backup of your DVD movie.

Tips & Warnings

• Please keep in mind that using Nero Burning Rom and DVD Shrink in the manner prescribed is only legal if you own the DVD in question.

• DVD Shrink is no longer under development, so it may not be able to copy more recently released DVD movies.

References

• Doom9: DVD Shrink Guide
• DVD Guides: How to Burn a DVD-Video Disk with Nero Burning Rom