Why is it that the quality is SO MUCH better if you buy a retail DVD movie as opposed to if you burn it yourself? What trick am I missing here because every time I burn something onto DVD, I get significantly poor quality!?
There are many things you can do to improve the quality of your backup with DVD Shrink, Recode or other transcoders.
1. Backup the main title only, this removes the menus and special features leaving more room for the movie.
2. Use Deep Analysis and AEC controls.
3. Use quality media from Verbatim and Taiyo Yuden.
4. Don't burn too fast or too slow, 8X to 12X should do the trick.
5. Don't multitask while backing up, this includes surfing the internet.
6. Defrag your HDD often, especially if you are constantly ripping and removing these large movie files.
7. Keep your programs up to date with the current versions.
EDITED for spelling.
EDIT 2: If time is not a factor, use DVD Rebuilder...it will produce a much better backup than any of the transcoders, but will take considerably more time to do so.
I would use, in this order, the following programs:
1. Rip to HDD using DVDFab HD Decrypter (free ~ http://www.dvdfab.com/free.htm )
2. Compress with DVD Shrink. Use the quality controls if compression ratio is less than 85%.
3. Burn with Imgburn.
