Hey chaps,
I have a powerbook G4 and it has installed iDVD, iMovie etc.
I can play DVD's to my hearts content but can't seem to find a way to download them and copy. I only want to do this to save the master copy from getting scratched etc, anyone give me any tips or maybe what software I need?
Hope ya can help
Many thanks
Bill
x x x

You sure you have a DVD-Burner in there? You probably just have a DVD-ROM, in which case you will not be able to burn copies.

Just to let you know, in case you don't know already, making copies of copywrited DVDs is illegal, even if you own the original DVD.

Standard Hollywood DVDs have built-in copy protection via CSS (Content Scrambling System). To copy a protected DVD, you need software that cracks this protection. The 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act prohibits providing information or tools to evade copy-control technology. Therefore, it is illegal to use any software that allows you to break this copy protection and copy a protected DVD.

There is software called DVD X Copy that actually intercepts the A/V stream after the DVD player decrypts the CSS and allows copying from there. They claim that they are not violating the DMCA by doing this because they are not breaking the CSS protection. However, they were stilled sued by the MPAA for copywrite infringment, and they were forced to remove their software from sale (actually, you can still buy the software, it just no longer supports the copying of CSS protected DVDs).

I don't know if this program is available for Macs. It is fairly expensive as well.

My personal favorite software for copying DVDs is DVD Decrypter. It breaks the CSS encryption, removes Macrovision and Region settings, and allows you to make perfect unprotected ISO images on your computer. These ISO images can be burned to a DVD with the same program. Best of all, the program is completely FREE. I have a 16x DVD-ROM and an 8x burner, I can copy a single layer DVD in about a half hour.

Dual layer DVDs get tricky, though. Dual layer media is VERY expensive at the present time. Most DVD burners allow for dual layer burning, but it's just not worth it because the media is still too expensive. A 5-pack of 2.5x DVD+R DL is about 30 bucks. At six dollars per disc, it makes more sense just to buy another copy of the original.

For these dual layer discs, I use a program called DVDShrink. It takes a dual layer DVD and re-encodes the video so that it fits on a single layer DVD. You can also remove some audio streams, such as languages that you do not want, to get better video quality. I have found that the video quality is almost indiscernible from the original.

But getting back to your question, I have never really used a Mac so I can't really answer your question. I hope the information I have provided can help someone, though.