OK, today i was just in the mood to write an egg so here we go.

1) First off you need a DVD burner (and some blank DVDs), if you dont have one you need to go and buy one.

Tips:
~Don\’t buy an external, its easy to install a internl drive, just follow the instructions.
~Don\’t be pressured in to buying a 8x drive, if you can find a 4x burner for a good deal ($20), buy it. remember, the thing only burn as fast as the disks alow, and most DVD disks out there only burn @ 1x, 2x or 4x. the 8x disks are very overpriced.
~MAKE SURE that it supports all writing modes (-R(dash not minus),+R, -RW, +RW) you will be pissed later if you don\’t.
~read some reviews about the product before you buy it. http://www.epinions.com/

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2) Now, your going to need to get a DVD to copy...

Blockbuster:
Pros~ Safe, No sub5cription needed (just lie)
Cons~ Pain to go back after 5 days, very overpriced

Safeway:
Pros~ Cheap(ish), safe, there idiots
Cons~ Still have to go back, very limmited selection

Store:
Pros~ can buy many at once, free(unless they only give store credit)
Cons~ gotta have alot of cash, might suspect something

Blockbuster.com: (my fav)
Pros~ only $16.31 (aft tax) for 3 out-at-a-time, great selection
Cons~ have to wait (DVDs are mailed), need credit card (ask your mom for a \"pre-paid\" credit card), loose a DVD its $20, MIGHT be going away in a couple months (no idea why)

Netflix:
Pros~ Might be a little faster mailing than blockbuster. here to stay.
Cons~ $21.71 (aft tax) for same as blockbuster.

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3) now you should have a DVD burner, a DVD movie, and some blank DVDs (and an Xbox), but you can\’t just go putting the DVD in your computer, itll want to download crappy software on your computer so you can play it.

Your gonna need to download this
http://www.dvdshrink.org/what.html
and if you don\’t have nero, you can download a trial here.
http://www.nero.com/en/nero-prog.php

Now you have everything you need to \"backup\" \"your\" DVDs. (sort of... talk about that later)

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4)now put your DVD in your Drive. in XP, you will either get a little box that says what to you want to do or a big box that says something like \"download chitty-player to play your DVD\", if its the little one, scroll down to the bottom, choose \"nothing\" and click \"always do this\", this will save time in the future.
~Now open up DVD shrink and click \"open disk\"
~select the drive with your movie in it.
~now just wait a while for it to decode the disk (depends on how fast your computer is, usualy 3 minutes)
~go in to your preferences and set the DVD size to custom, insted of the defult 4464megs, change the size to 4300megs (to be on the safe side... trust me on this one.
~now you can do one of 2 thing, you can go strait on to burning your DVD, or you can re-author the disk...

Go strait on:
the DVD will be nearly identical to the original, BUT there is a good chance that all the menus and special features will play at about one frame per second, and the movie will have shitty quality, this is because this DVD is about 4.6 gigs instead of like 8 gigs on a comercial DVD (unless you got a dual layer or a blue-ray burner)

Re-Author
this is what I always do, you can go in and change just about anything, you start out with a clean slate, and the movie files off to your left, i just drag the main movie file (the largest file size) over to the left, and say #%!@ the menus, they take up space and time, every DVD ive burned, i just pop in, and it starts playing the movie
now, look at the top, there should be a large green progress bar, if its under 100% you can either add special features after the movie or just click \"backup!\" if its over, then you can do a couple things...
~use 2ch audio insted of 5.1: hit \"commpression settings\", uncheck 5.1 and sheck 2ch, but MAKE SURE its not directors comentary, usualy it dosent say so you make to play the movie (lower left) while its playing, left click it and choose a different audio chanel
~cut off the credits/intro: click on the start/end button, it looks like 2 arrows pointing diff directions, one over the other.

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5)VARY RARELY, DVD shrink will not be able to decode the DVD, it may have somekind of new protection on it (only happened 4 times for me) in this case, you will need to download DVD decrypter
http://www.dvddecrypter.com/index.php?act=download
select an area to dump the DVD on your harddrive, then when its finnished, go to DVD shrink and click \"open Files\", itl act just like before.

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6)now you are ready to burn, dont put your blank DVD in yet, click \"backup!\" click ok. now wait for your computer to dump the DVD on your harddrive, and when it asks, put the blank DVD in. you can also burn more than one movie onto a disk (with reduced quallity... but your TVs shitty anyways) this way.

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Now your done, even have a better DVD than the stores because theres no crappy previews or menus to deal with (if thats what you chose), now, when your writing the title on the DVD, write it nice and neet and use a good pen, and dont go and put the DVD in the player the instant you write on it, because the ink is still wet and itll come out looking like one of those little spin-art paintings you make when you were a kid.


my collection (w/ proof)

http://img206.echo.cx/img206/6324/movies9sv.jpg
(url for quality)

i useualy keep them in a big 82 CD, CD case... didnt realize how may i had untill i took them all out, i forget to add my 5 disks of the Band of Brothers... i would call it a long movie, and also all the ones ive given away to trusted friends.

I can think of anything else to say, exept if you have any questions be sure and ask... i was talking kindov \"casual\" durring this whole thing... oh, and remember to rate my profile and this egg.

~thanks