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).
In France, not that common. I was the only one (I knew) that had a dual VHS. I pirated the movie I rented and liked, to see it many times (we loved to rewatch movies in the 90s) and to invite friends to my home to see them. I didn’t rent them, nor even lend them xd I had two big moments of glory. The first one was when someone came with a japanese OAV of dragon ball z (the one with Broly). The second one was when a week before Terminator 2 was out in theaters, someone I knew who worked there came to my house and told me ’ I have something secret, but you must not tell it to anyone!’ then pulled out a copy of the movie. I was crazy! It was the most awaited movie at the time. Like for the DBZ one, he wanted a copy for himself, and I acknowledged only if I could make a copy of my own. Everybody wanted to come to my house to see it :)