DVD Copying
 

Okay I have a question for everyone. I was asked about the possibility to making some DVD copies of an event video. The guy who made the master doesn't make duplicates so it's all legal as far as that goes. It's nothing copywritten or anything like that. The guy had told this woman that to make the duplicates you shouldn't transfer the data to a computer then burn the copies from the computer because it would degrade the quality.

This went completely against everything I thought. I was under the impression that if you took a dvd and copied the disk or an iso of the disk to the drive then there shouldn't be a loss in quality. Since it would all be done digitally there shouldn't be a loss in quality between the original and the duplicates should there? If I'm wrong then how do duplication houses do there copies?

Anyone have any input? Am I off with my logic here? Was that guy right?

You're correct and he's totally off his rocker. Sounds like he's spending too much time in the VHS world. His statement only applies to analog copies, but for digital data you could make as many copies as you want and the quality won't ever degrade.

Just FYI, copyright exists as soon as the work is created regardless of whether it's registered or not. Just to be safe, I'd ask your client to get permission to make the duplicates in writing - this guy sounds like just enough of a flake to say it's okay then sue you when you make a buck making the dupes.

Thanks.
 

Thanks for the replies. I thought that was the whole point behind having things digital in the first place. As for the copywrite I completely agree. In fact the DVD is of my grandmother's dance recital she does every year and I had already made a montage of past clips that was played at the recital. He included this on the DVD he put together and I already thought it was odd that he didn't ask me for any type of release to add it to the DVD. I guess it takes all kinds. At least i know i'm not nuts about the degredation in digital copies.