Burn Single Layer Video DVD's With IMGBurn

Today I will be covering how to burn your  single layer video DVD's using IMGBurn. Usually you will do this after you have already ripped and compressed the DVD using some of the many programs out there.  I will cover compressing DVD's in a later tutorial.

First off, let me explain what constitutes a single layer disk for those of you who may not know. Most DVDs produced these days are dual-layer, meaning that they have two layers of information stored on them.

This comes in juxtaposition to a single layer DVD, which can only have one layer of information stored on it. Each layer can store around 4.31 GB of data. The upside to single layer DVDs is that they are much cheaper to buy than dual layer DVD's. The down side is that more often than not, when you are backing up your DVD to a single layer disk, you are going to lose some video quality. However, most people think that the trade off is more than fair.

Okay, now that we have that out of the way, let's get into how we actually burn the disk! To do this, we will be using the free IMGBurn, written by LIGHTNING UK! The same author of the old DVD Decrypter, as some of you may remember.

Let's begin.

Step 1)§

Assuming you have already ripped and compressed your disk, start up IMGBurn and select the "Write Mode" like I have done below.

Step 2)§

Now, we are going to use the folder selection button that I have highlighted so select our source folder that contains our DVD files.

Step 3)§

Now, navigate to where your files are stored. It's good to have them setup in a directory structure like I have below, but if you only have the VIDEO_TS folder, that's fine. IMGBurn will recognize that your are trying to burn a DVD and auto-generate the necessary folder structure for you if necessary.

Step 4)§

Once you have selected your source, simply click the big calculator button. If you only selected the VIDEO_TSfolder as I mentioned above, IMGBurn will ask you a few simple questions, all of which you can say "yes" to. When you have finished you should see that your source contains two folders, like I have highlighted.

Now that you have done that, the worst is over, I swear! As you can see, I have the Verify option selected. I do this because I'm slightly paranoid about my disk burning, so at the end of a burn, I like to have IMGBurn verify the burned disk against the data on my hard drive to make sure that everything made it through the burn process. This is by no means mandatory, just a good idea. When you are done, simply click the big Folder to Disk button that I have highlighted below the source area.

Step 5)§

If you have not already specified a Label for your disk, IMGBurn will ask you to confirm a label selection. A label is just a simple line of text that allows you to identify a disk when it is in your computer's disk drive. Simply enter something clever, or let IMGBurn choose for you, as I did in this case.

Step 6)§

Before the burning begins, IMGBurn will show a confirmation window like the one below. Most of the time you can just click OK, but it never hurts to read some of the info it's telling you to check for any mistakes.

Step 7)§

Now, you just let the program run it's course. It will display it's progress like the window below and send up a notification when it is done. Enjoy your newly burned disk!