DVD copying is a murky, controversial, and highly sought-after process. We wade into the fray.

No doubt you've been flooded in the past year with e-mail and advertisements touting a "remarkable" piece of software that backs up commercial DVD movies to CD or even to another DVD. Curious? DVD copying is a tricky but intriguing process; let's see if we can break it down.

First, consider the murky legal issues. The right to create copies of the media you've purchased for personal use is a long-accepted facet of the "fair use" doctrine in U.S. copyright laws (at least, it used to be).

Editor's Note: Many users presume that Australian copyright law follows the US model, but this isn't neccessarily the case. Proceed with caution, don't presume that just because you're a single user you won't be prosecuted, and seek the advice of a lawyer if you're at all concerned before acting.

However, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) says it's illegal to break the copy protection employed by the vast majority of commercial DVD movies. What does that mean? Most fair-use advocates say that the policy directly contradicts U.S. copyright laws, but for now, it does seem to indicate that you cannot make a copy of a DVD, even for personal use, and you certainly cannot give a copied DVD to anyone or watch copied DVD files on your computer. We assume that fair use will eventually catch up and be established as a safety valve for consumers (which has been the pattern with previous technologies, such as VCR), but for now, the territory is undefined and a bit dangerous.

Nevertheless, commercial products aimed at DVD copying continue to appear. If you're willing to brave the DMCA, two of the most heavily promoted DVD-copying packages are 321 Studios' US$49.99 DVD Copy Plus, and Internet Enterprises' US$39.99 Replicant. Both work as advertised, but here's the catch: the DVD-copying portions of both packages consist solely of instructions and minor extra software slapped on top of free, public-domain software. Both apps use, primarily, a program called SmartRipper to rip movie files from DVD and DVDx for transcoding and squashing them for video CD. You can download both programs and use them to do exactly what DVD Copy Plus and Replicant do--for free.

Overall, we recommend a healthy dose of skepticism when dealing with any commercial DVD-to-CD backup package. In addition to DVD Copy Plus and Replicant, programs called DVD-Squeeze 3.0 and DVDCopyOne (the latter's Web site and offerings look suspiciously similar to Replicant's) reveal the same basic setup: public-domain software repackaged with some essentially useless instructions, selling for US$39 and US$49.99, respectively. Since these free programs all circumvent the copyright protection on DVDs, they arguably violate the DMCA.

We did, however, find one program, DVD X Copy, also from 321 Studios, that does not appear to rely on public-domain software. (And 321 Studios was the only company that responded to our e-mail requesting more information on its products.) Because DVD X Copy preserves the copyright protection on DVDs, it appears to comply at least with the letter of the DMCA. Read the full review to find out more about DVD X Copy.

ZDNet Australia's Alex Kidman contributed to this report.

321 Studios DVD X Copy

If you've been looking for a way to back up your commercial DVD movies to DVD-R/RW without upping your geek factor, DVD X Copy may be for you. At US$99 (~AU$180), this program is expensive, but it's a bit easier to use and understand than public-domain alternatives such as SmartRipper or Flask MPEG. Plus, it's a little safer, legally. DVD X Copy places a digital watermark on copied discs to prevent further copying, meaning that if you lose your original disc, you can't copy your backup one. Neither will it let you burn copied videos to CD or video CD, and it can copy only movie files--it can't copy data DVDs (such as backup files or software). Public-domain alternatives are more versatile, flexible, and free, but only DVD X Copy appears to comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. For now, it's the only app of its kind that does what it does, and it's a good choice for movie archiving.

321 Studios sells DVD X Copy as a download or as a boxed, single-CD retail package. Though no setup sheet is included, installation for either is a straightforward process that requires only reading a license agreement, choosing where to install the program, selecting OK, and rebooting. A full installation requires only about 11MB, but you'll need an additional 5GB of disk space for temporary files when copying DVD movies.

Each time you run DVD X Copy, you're confronted by a dialog warning you that the only legal use for the program is making a personal backup copy of a commercial DVD movie. Once you've agreed to the copyright notice, DVD X Copy searches for a DVD movie in your DVD-ROM or DVD-RW drive. If it doesn't find a movie disc, you must either insert one or exit the program--frustrating if you want to get a feel for the software before you dive in. DVD X Copy can't handle data DVDs, such as backup discs--something almost any DVD-authoring app can handle. Once you insert a movie disc, a dialog pops up telling you how many DVDs you'll need for the copy process.

If you don't understand the layout of a DVD movie disc, you'll find DVD X Copy's main interface intimidating, especially the list of items to be copied, such as Titlesets and Videomanager. A brief tutorial on the left side of the program window helps explain most options, but there's no standard Windows help file, Windows Tool Tips, or What Is? function. The tutorial also skips some important details; for example, a red-light icon next to the working directory means there's not enough room on the currently selected hard drive partition to copy a DVD. Despite the daunting number of options and information, however, it's usually easy to copy a movie--just click Copy Now and follow the prompts. The process involves a lot of disc-swapping, since DVD X Copy combines the copying and burning processes, but it's easy enough to follow.

Though DVD X Copy works well within self-imposed limits, it lacks the versatility of public-domain programs such as SmartRipper. For example, DVD X Copy forced us to copy both the 4:3 pan-and-scan and 16:9 wide-screen versions of Tomorrow Never Dies , when we wanted only the wide-screen files. Also, unlike public-domain rippers, DVD X Copy leaves the Content Scrambling System (CSS) copy protection employed by commercial DVD movies intact, meaning you can't play movies from your hard drive or if you've burned them to DVD using another program.

Legally, that's probably a wise move on the company's part. The US Digital Millennium Copyright Act specifically forbids breaking or removing the copy protection on digital media (something public-domain rippers do), although making a single copy for personal use of any media you purchase has long been thought of as a consumer's right.

However, in its attempts to follow the letter of the law, DVD X Copy introduces its most annoying feature: a digital watermark on copied DVDs that says they were created using DVD X Copy. The watermark displays onscreen for 15 seconds every time you play a copied disc, and even worse, increases the size of your files slightly; movies that just barely fit on a 4.7GB DVD-R/RW suddenly require a second disc. The final insult: DVD X Copy will not copy a disc stamped with its watermark. If you ever lose your original disc, you lose the ability to back it up again.

Aside from the watermark issues, DVD X Copy performs as advertised. It successfully copied several commercial DVD movies using an HP DVD200i DVD+RW drive mounted in a 1.2GHz Athlon test bed. The program took about 10 minutes per 4.7GB to copy the files to the hard drive and about 20 minutes to burn each 4.7GB disc. Note: Copies of 9GB, dual-layer (DVD-9) commercial movies nearly always require two discs.

DVD X Copy
Company: 321 Studios
Price: US$99.99 via download

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