Burn media files on DVD or CD Part 2: Movie DVDs

In contrast to the almost hidden function for copying audio CDs in iTunes, copying DVDs is relatively simple and can actually be done with the Driver Utility of your MAC. This however covers only unprotected DVDs. In case you have to work with a DRM protected DVD you need to get a software that can remove the protection. I, as I would recommend, you use the VLC player, choose FairMount to do the job. Actually some mid price DVD Rippers like the Wondershare DVD Ripper are supposed to get rid of DRM in some language versions.

In case you plan to add several shorter videos to a larger file you will need software with a little more advanced cutting abilities.. Most mid price DVD Creators or DVD Burners from companies like Wondershare, Leawo, Xilisoft and others will do. If you, however, need to re-sample a very large movie file to fit on a 4.7 GB writable DVD you will have to reach out for one of the higher priced products like Toast.

A very common task is to create a custom DVD from self made videos. You will again need a specialized authoring software for that. This kind of software takes separate audio and video files, combines them into an MPEG2 stream and creates a custom DVD out of it. (You might have seen the folder "VIDEO_TS" before.) In order to play that DVD on an ordinary DVD player a special UDF file format is needed.

Common UDF Formats:

- Blue-ray and DVD(AVCHD) use UDF 2.5 or UDF 2.6
- DVD Videos are in UDF 1.02 with an ISO 9660 and an UDF 1.02 File System
- UDF 1.02 with ISO 9660 is used only by Philips DVD+VR

Previously mentioned low to mid price DVD software programs can add UDF to your DVD.

Having said all that, MPEG videos make a difference, they need to be converted before they can be burned . MACs own iDVD is too limited for that and again a decent DVD burning or creation software will be able to do the job.

As a conclusion, in addition to your MACs own tools like Disk Utility and iDVD you will need some addition. You should probably look into buying a DVD Ripper, media file converter and/or authoring tool depending on what you plan to do If you plan ahead you might be able to save money and get a nicer integration of your work flow by purchasing a suite.