For those of you who are about to buy a DVD recorder for your PC, there is now a nice version of a freeware program (
http://dvdshrink.org/) that copies, with or without compression, commercial DVDs (which are
dual layer DVD-9) to DVD-5. This last format is the currently available for home use. All DVD writers for PCs record to DVD-5 but soon (maybe now) there will be recorders for DVD-9.
The 5 and 9 allude to the approximate storage in GBs. All commercial movie DVDs are recorded in DVD-9 format. When said disk contains over 4GB or so, it won't fit into a regular 4.2 GB blank DVD.
That's where this freeware program comes into play. It will
shrink (compress) the original movie with all its menus and special features into a regular blank DVD-5.
I have not noticed any degradation in image quality. I don't have a super audio system so... Nor do I have a HDTV.
If you want to see how it works without downloading it, see the info pages at
http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/mpg/dvdshrink31-main.htm I liked this particular one because of its animation:
http://www.dvdshrink.info/guides.php About a year and a half ago I bought two commercial programs to do what this one can do for free (well, almost).
In the rare case (like
West Side Story for me) that I want to copy a long movie DVD with its special features and everything BIT BY BIT, I still use DVDxCOPY from 321studios.com. It offers no compression and will split a DVD-9 into two DVD-5s very simply. The duplicate being identical with the original. The disadvantage is that you have to get up at a point in the movie and "insert DVD #2".
It has already been in the tech news that dual layer DVD writers are soon to be available (if they are not now already).
The prices for the WRITERS are going to be good from the start, as I understand it. However, the write speed is going to be 2X initially and the cost of a blank 2X DVD-9 too high for me.
I will personally wait until the DVD write speed is what I have now (4X) and when the dual layer blank DVD-R (or +R) are 4X AND also less than $2 a pop.