i use Mac the Ripper to copy my own DVDs for backups to play on my MacBook when i travel. i also send the analog outs from my HD cable box into a miniDV cam(as a convertor) to record movies, shows & concerts, into iMovie, which i burn &/or convert to play on my 8GB iPod Nano. that little thing can hold a good bit of video & when i use my component out cable to an HD monitor it looks pretty good, considering the file size/pixel count.

I COPY EVERY MOVIE I CAN GET MY HANDS ON.  SOME RE-BURN ONTO DVDS, THE ONES THAT DON’T GET STUCK ON A PORTABLE HDD FOR TRAVEL USE.  DEMO GRAPHIC IS A LITTLE OFF.  I’M 40 AND HAVE OVER 600 PURCHASED (LEGAL) DVDS.  OVER 1500 VHS (YEAH, THEY’RE OLD).  ABOUT 20% OF MY HOME COLLECTION IS COPIED DVDS FROM NETFLIX.  THANKS GUYS!!

ssA

I’ll occasionally rip one of my own DVDs to take with me when I travel, but as far as copying a rental DVD, it doesn’t really make financial sense for me.

Here’s a quick formula to determine if it’s worth it to copy a DVD—
1.  Take your hourly pay rate and multiply that by the amount of time you take to burn that copy
2.  Add the cost of the blank DVD
3.  Add the rental cost of the DVD.  For a Netflix subscription, divide your subscription fee by the number of discs you get monthly.

If the number you come up with is more than the cost of the retail DVD, you’re spending more than you’re saving by copying it.

It is a bit of a drive for me to rent movies, 20 min each way to be exact. So yes I rip every movie I rent. Take into consideration the price of gas and the fact I have 2 young kids and a job who can change your evening plans in a hearbeat. So I rent 6 video’s at once, burn them, then whatch them when I can (home, work trip, cottage), sometimes twice or even three times. I sometimes go a month or so without watching one, but then may watch 4 in one week. I do not sell them and very rarely lend them out. Other then the part about lending them out, I do not see how this can be considered Illegal.

I burn every movie I rent, except Drillbit Taylor, that movie sucked. Any DVD and DVD Clone, works every time! I have one hell of a collection.
Incidently I am not in the 18 to 24 year old demographic. I am 36 with 2 kids.

Joe T. I don’t understand where you are coming from. Hourly rate has nothing to do with it. A 50 pack spindle of DVDs can be found on sale at Office Depot for less than 20 bucks. I get 20 packs of cases for $10. A new release rental from Hollywood Video is $3.99. Thats $4.89 a DVD.

Here’s the interesting bit from the article:  most of the copies were made from discs the person actually owns. 

This is like what I used to do with LPs I wanted to preserve:  I made a reel-to-reel recording of the LP and playing the tape.  The quality was just as good, and it preserved the LP.  I’d also make a cassette for listening in the car.

The fact that DVD copy protection never allowed for this, and the fact that AACS for Blu-Ray has apparently decided NOT to implement managed copy (sorry, media server companies, you are hosed) means that people are going to again need to use gray market methods to simply preserve their physical media from over-use (sticky fingered kids etc) damage.

No, I don’t think the low resolution, low bitrate, DRM-crippled copies of movies on some Blu-Ray discs is a solution, but it’s a step in the right direction.  Up the resolution and bitrate to the actual Blu-Ray content, and that’s a great step.

Chief, it’s called Time Value of Money.  Basically, your hourly rate is what your time is worth.  And to find out the true cost, it has to be included.

Tried a couple, but the reduced PQ keeps me honest :)

I too, used to copy my lps and make tapes to play, thus preserving the lp for future playing/recording as needed.
While I don’t copy every dvd that I rent, as a rule, unless its something I particularly want.  I do record a lot of the sat receiver using my set-top dvd recorder. Granted in it in the highest quality available or in surround sound,ect, but I do have a copy. and most of what I “tape” is older material, Ie, classic movies and older tv shows and some newer stuff, Its not a big deal, as I don’t have HD yet and probably won’t for a long time.

lower gas prices and maybe we will start buying more dvd