Pros / Express mode makes it quick and easy to make copies of your DVDs.
Cons / Saving a DVD's ISO file to your computer is unnecessarily complicated.
Verdict / DVD Cloner's simplicity, powerful tool set and high-quality results make it the best DVD copier in our review.
Editor's Note: DVD-Cloner 2018 is now available. Clicking the Visit Site button will take you to this version. We will post the new test results and reviews when we next test DVD Copy Software.
DVD Cloner claimed the top spot in our review of the best DVD copy software because of its simplicity, versatility and high-quality results. It can make exact 1:1 copies of your movies as well as compress commercial DVDs to fit onto smaller-capacity blank discs. It also has the unique ability to merge the contents of multiple DVDs onto a single Blu-ray disc. It earned the Top Ten Reviews Gold Award by performing these tasks quickly with an interface that anyone can use easily.
There are two copy modules in this DVD copy software: Express and Expert. Like its name suggests, Express mode is designed to create a copy of a disc with as little effort on your part as possible. Expert mode is where you find tools to customize and configure your copy before you burn it onto a new disc. The simplicity of both modes is one of the primary selling points of this program.
To begin the copy process in Express mode, all you need to do is load a DVD into the interface and click Start – it doesn't get much simpler than that. The only other thing you may have to do is switch out the original DVD with a blank disc halfway through the copy process, but if you're using dual DVD drives, you don't even have to do that.
One of the most important tools in any DVD copier is the ability to circumvent the anti-piracy encryptions that prevent the copying of almost all commercial discs. This program has an automatic decrypter that unlocks the content of the DVD so you can copy it onto a new disc. However, this ability comes with a warning in the software's About window that it is "against the law to make illegal copies of any copyrighted material."
It takes DVD Cloner about 45 minutes to make an exact copy of a DVD movie. If you make a compressed copy for a smaller-capacity blank DVD, the process takes around 40 minutes. These are the average copy times for the programs in our review of the best DVD copying software.
If you have a DVD's ISO file (or ISO image) on your computer, you can load it into DVD Cloner and make a new copy without needing the original disc. An ISO file is the blueprint of a DVD and acts as a virtual disc you can watch on your computer's DVD player software. You can use ISO files to digitally back up your DVD library so you can have your movies long after the discs have been lost, damaged or thrown away.
You can save a disc's ISO file to your hard drive by unchecking the “delete the temporary files” box after your copy is complete. You can then go into your Temp folder and retrieve the ISO file. This is useful, but the process is clunky. We would like to see DVD Cloner make this option simpler.
To make an exact copy of a commercial DVD, you must use a blank dual-layered disc (DVD-9). Only these larger-capacity discs have enough storage space to make an exact copy. If you use the smaller-capacity blank DVD-5s, the software compresses the ISO file to fit. This results in some quality loss. However, we only noted minimal pixelation and compression artifact in our test copy. DVD Cloner created the highest-quality copies of all the software in our lineup.
This software does much more than make rote copies of DVDs. Expert mode gives you the ability to customize your new disc with only the content you want. The movie-only option strips away everything except the feature presentation of a DVD. This is a great tool that allows you to copy a commercial movie onto a DVD-5 with little to no compression.
You can also split a commercial DVD into two separate DVD-5s – one with the movie and the other with everything else, including bonus videos, trailers and commentary tracks. This means you can copy an entire DVD with no quality loss without needing the more expensive dual-layered blank discs.
One of DVD Cloner's most unique features is the ability to copy the movies on two different DVDs onto one blank disc. If you have a Blu-ray burner, you can burn movies from multiple DVDs onto a single Blu-ray disc. This is a great tool for condensing your physical DVD library or making anthology discs.
DVD Cloner comes bundled with a free copy of Open DVD Ripper 3 Lite. This program converts the movies on your DVDs into video files that you can watch on your computer or mobile device. It's a nice bonus feature that lets you take your movies anywhere you want.
In the event you have a technical or customer support issue, you can consult the software's official website to find a solution. You'll find a knowledgebase that has troubleshooting articles for every problem you're likely to encounter. There is also a robust FAQs section and tutorials that explain all the software's tools and features in detail. You can contact customer support either through email or live chat to get an immediate answer to your question. All these options make it easy to resolve your problem quickly.
DVD Cloner does much more than make copies of DVDs. It also allows you to compress, customize and archive your movies. Its dual-mode interface offers both the simplicity of starting a copy in one click and the control of customizing the exact DVD you want to burn. The end results are excellent. Exact copies are indistinguishable from the original, and compressed movies suffer minimal quality loss. These qualities combined earn this program the number one position in our review of the best DVD copy software.