HOWTO: Back Up Your Kids DVDs
Kids love DVDs. They love grabbing the cases, ripping the discs out with their scrawny fingers, and performing unspeakable acts. They lay the discs face down the table. They put their grubby fingers on them, and are generally quite abusive toward the poor DVDs. Very soon the discs no longer play correctly.
Fear not! Most, if not all of your DVDs are easily backed up to your computer with some free software. This is probably old news for some of you, but for a lot of people the process can be very confusing and time consuming. For that reason, I've put together a DVD backup tutorial for parents... especially the parents of toddlers, who find themselves reading at an elementary level again.
The SoftwareThere are only two pieces of software you will need to get started. Both are free, and listed below.
- DVDFab HD Decrypter - This software gets around all the evil stuff that keeps you from enjoying scratch free DVDs. After installing, don't feel obliged to buy the full DVDFab "DVD to DVD" version of their software. You only need the DVD HD decrypter.
- Handbrake - This software will make sure that your PC still has room left after putting your entire DVD collection on your computer.
After installing the above software, please follow the steps outlined in the attached pdf. The pdf includes screenshots and step by step instructions on how to proceed. I've chosen to put everything in pdf to allow easier printing of the guide, as well as my own selfish desire not to clutter things up on simplefather.com.
Keep in mind that this guide is intended as a simplistic, step by step way of backing up your DVDs. I have left out many of the how's and why's along the way. I also know there are numerous ways to back up DVDs, but this way is a decent balance of ease, while keeping the video quality high. If you have any questions or comments (like how to back them up to DVD-R's instead of keeping them all on the computer) feel free to ask, but remember to go easy on me. This is my first real attempt at a howto.
photo courtesy of Mr. Tea
Good info, will have to bookmark this for later reference. On the rare occasion we put a DVD on, he doesn't have much interest in the TV, so we usually don't bother. But I know that will change shortly.
It's fairly rare that our oldest watches a movie, but even so, she loved taking the discs out, which irritated me to no end. So this, while requiring a little up front work, has saved me a lot of headaches (I'm very protective of my electronics/media/anything geeky).
My son loves to take the DVD out and put it back in the player. He's not too gentle about it either. I probably should back up his DVD's but I imagine this is something I'll be too lazy to ever get around to actually doing.
My daughter abused 'Finding Nemo' one too many times, and that was the straw that broke the camels back. Once you do it a couple times and get a system down, it doesn't take too much effort. I'd say about 5 minutes to start the 1st main step, and maybe 7-8 minutes for the rest. The waiting for the PC to do it's thing is what takes a while.
Thanks for this - this is something I have wanted to learn to do. My son loves the added challenge of my four disc directors cut volumes of Lord of the Rings. They provide a much more rigorous challenge to dismantle than the plastic pop out boxes!
Thanks for this - will print and see how I get on!
If you get stuck, let me know. I'll try to lend a hand.
Well done. This type of info is what out generation us going to need more of. Practical knowledge meets I.T.
Thanks for stopping by Chris. There's always a need for some handy I.T. guys!
I think the DVD companies planned this on purpose, or it works nicely in their favor. Something so easily damaged in the hands of children, lol. This guide will come in handy for a lot of parents and save them a ton of money when they don't have to buy a movie for the second time!
Another good trick is to rip the dvd to your computer and play it through your TV. This way there is nothing to break or get scratched!
I'm hoping to get a follow-up post written at some point, because that's exactly what I do.
HINT: The post may or may not be about xbmx. If you haven't heard of it, check it out.
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