Burning regular DVDs

[Rageheuuu]

High guys, I'm sorry that this is off topic, I would have put it in the 'general chat' area, but I figured this one gets the most views. Mods, feel free to move/delete this at your discretion.

Anyway, what I'm looking for is a good forum/resource for burning regular DVDs. I was hoping some of you guys might have interests in making backups of your DVDs, and could point me towards the forum/resources that you like to use. Some of the questions I have include:

1. Are all dvds that we buy/rent single layer? Or are some of them DL DVDs?
2. What are the best/most reliable/durable/long lasting DVD media? I know Verbatim is the standard for DL DVD backups, but what about single layer?
3. Should I clean the discs with any kind of game/disc cleaner before attempting the burn? I'm trying to make the best backup I can.
4. Which program do you guys use to burn DVDs? I want to make exact copies of discs, as in.. not losing any quality, keeping all the extra features, etc

Again, I know this is offtopic, if you could even just link me to the forum/resource that you use, for these types of questions.. I would appreciate it.. thanks!

 

[lang]

1) Some are dual, some are single. Most that have special features and extras are dual because they need the space.

2) You answered it, Verbatim. I also like Sony single layer personally.

3) Wipe it with a clean lint free cloth, inside edge to outside edge in straight lines, don't do circles around the disk.

4) If you want to make exact copies, you'll need to use dual layer blanks for alot of DVDs. There's simply no way to make a 7+ GB DVD fit on a 4.4GB single layer blank without losing quality or dropping extra features. There are free programs such as DVDShrink that will shrink a large DVD to fit on one single layer DVD but it will lose quality.

As for programs, there are plenty of "one-click" options that you can find through Google but I prefer DVDDecrypter or DVDFabDecrypter to rip the movie to the harddrive and then Nero to burn.

Check out the doom9 forums, it is to DVD burning what this site is to 360 modding.