Availibility of bootlegs from LD

[colwood]

I have a question for the technologically-advanced members here:

I have heard that it is very easy to copy a film from LaserDisc to vhs tape. My question, is it possible to record a LaserDisc onto a DVD (DVD-r I think its called)?

And if so, would the copy be of only the film or would one be able to copy the entire contents of one LaserDisc onto one DVD?

I only ask as I am interested in obtaining the Criterion LD of Othello on dvd instead of vhs and was wondering if that was possible.

[Jeff Wilson]

Yes, assuming you have a standalone DVD-Recorder. It would be like hooking up the LD player to a VCR. If you have an LD player that switches sides automatically, you're really in business; otherwise you'll have to do that manually. It's really only a matter of time before we start seeing bootlegs of the various rare LD titles popping up on eBay (if they already haven't). One note: if you want commentaries, you'll have to re-record the movie a second time (or more, for multiple tracks).

[TheMcGuffin]

The easiest....well i think it is easier....if you have any kind of editing equipment we are talking iMovie and up. You can easily hook up a LD player to any MiniDv or Digital 8 camera and copy the LD on some type of digial format and then import that onto a computer and burn with most any burning program, Nero, iDVD etc. If you really are tech savy and have a Mac I suggest editing on Final Cut Pro and burning with DVD Studio Pro. DSP is a professional grade program and you can create just about any kind of dvd feature on there. This means you can program the DVD so the commentary is on a seperate audio track and such. That is what I will start doing this summer when I begin porting all my LDs over to DVD. I really don't want to loose my LDs to the ravages of time.

Rob