Go to the website "videohelp.com". Lots of info there, players, recorders, media, software...
As for (free) software, you should run:
dvd decrypter: copies dvd to disk
dvd shrink: writes to dvd media
the decrypter program is payware if you want to use it to write, but otherwise free
dvd shrink used to copy well, but recent dvds have more nonsense on them, so you need decrypter.
Richard