How to Combine Two DVD Movies Into One With DVD Shrink
By Finn McCuhil
Inexpensive digital cameras and movie-editing software have made it simpler than ever to create home movies. However, a home movie isn't usually long enough to fill an entire blank DVD, and once you burn and finalize the DVD to enable it to play in a standard DVD player, you can no longer add content to it, which can leave you with a large number of partially used discs. DVD Shrink enables you to combine two finished DVDs on a single disc, so that you can reduce wasted recording space as well as the number of discs you have to store.
Step 1
Open DVD Shrink on your computer.
Step 2
Click the “Re-author” button in the main toolbar at the top of the application window.
Step 3
Insert the first DVD to be copied into a DVD drive.
Step 4
Insert the second DVD to be copied into the remaining DVD drive.
Step 5
Click the “DVD Browser” tab at the top of the application's right pane. The information in the pane displays a list of available drives.
Step 6
Click the entry for the first drive. A popup window appears while an initial analysis of the disc is performed. Once this is complete, a list of disc contents is displayed in the window's right pane.
Step 7
Click the entry labeled “Title 1” under the “Main movie” heading in the list of disc contents. Hold the mouse button down and drag it to the left pane directly under the “DVD” icon. A new entry labeled “Title 1” appears, listing the movie's duration and size in megabytes.
Step 8
Click the “DVD Browser” tab in the right pane.
Step 9
Click the entry for the DVD drive containing the second disc. A popup window appears while an initial analysis of the second disc is performed. Once this is complete, a list of disc contents is displayed in the window's right pane.
Step 10
Click the entry labeled “Title 1” under the “Main movie” heading in the list of disc contents. Hold the mouse button down and drag it to the left pane directly under the previous entry. A new entry labeled “Title 1 (2)” appears, listing the movie's duration and size in megabytes.
Step 11
Click the “Compression Settings” tab at the top of the right-hand pane. Set the video compression to “Automatic” for the best balance of compression and performance.
Step 12
Click the “Backup!” button at the top of the application window.
Step 13
Select a target folder for the completed file in the popup window.
Step 14
Press the “OK” button to begin compressing and saving the movie.
References
Tips
- If you don't have a second DVD drive, copy the first DVD image to your hard drive as an ISO file, then use additional software to mount the image file as a virtual drive for playback or use with DVD Shrink.
Warnings
- Only use DVD Shrink to copy movies you own the rights to or have permission to copy. Reproducing copyrighted material, even for backup purposes, is illegal.
Writer Bio
Finn McCuhil is a freelance writer based in Northern Michigan. He worked as a reporter and columnist in South Florida before becoming fascinated with computers. After studying programming at University of South Florida, he spent more than 20 years heading up IT departments at three tier-one automotive suppliers. He now builds wooden boats in the north woods.