The problem with backing up a regular store bought movie DVD is that it simply won’t fit into a normal blank DVD. The movie DVD is a 9GB monster, and the blank a svelte 4.4GB. There are two solutions to this: re-encoding and transcoding. This article is a quick guide to performing a transcode using K9Copy (similar to DVDShrink) on GNU/Linux.
Simplifying terribly, re-encoding takes the better part of a day or longer and the result is an .avi or similar file. These are so much smaller than the original that you can fit four or more reencoded movies onto a single 4.4GB DVD, but they won’t play in a regular DVD player. On the other hand a transcode takes about an hour and results in a single movie on 4.4GB DVD, which will play on a regular DVD player.
Transcoding works by lowering the quality of the movie to make it smaller. The smaller the desired end result, the worse it is going to look, but with a normal sized movie you shouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
