This was during an era where VHS was standard and DVD’s were just brand new at the time (before streaming sites existed). Chains like Blockbuster were booming back then with people renting movies or even TV shows for a fee but have to return them by an expected date, what happens is that in order to “keep” a copy, people would use a PC with disc burning software to burn the contents from that DVD onto a blank one.
Know those blank white DVDs? Basically those were used on storing a “pirated” disc for themselves before returning the rented copy back at the video rental store. When I was a kid, I remember encountering what clearly a pirated copy of The Prince of Egypt (so who ever pirated it kept the rented copy) since the disc art is crappy & low quality (it’s been printed then glued onto a blank DVD used for copying upon peeling it off).
honestly wasn’t worth it. in the 90s you either had enough money to get one of those dual VHS recorders or you had two VHS players that you somehow wired up to each other to do it. you still had to pay for the blank tapes so I mean you’d rent a tape for like $3 but you’d be spending more just to have a copy of it. In many cases it was just cheaper to either record from a tv broadcast or just wait for the rental place to take the product off the shelf and sell it used.
and even when DVD-Rs came out that was still expensive. The blank discs weren’t cheap and the drive itself was expensive. Add to the fact that burned DVDs just don’t last anywhere near as long as pressed DVDs. I thought I was smart burning Dreamcast games but I’d end up having to reburn them every couple years. THEN consider the fact that many people just simply didn’t know how to burn DVDs correctly so good luck getting one to play on everyones player perfectly.
You could use one of the extended records and have multiple movies on one tape. Very common.