Ripping DVDs

[EngDrewman]

Does anyone know of any freeware or opensource (NOT shareware, trialware, or demoware) programs for either windows or linux that will rip a commercially produced/copy protected DVD? I've tried several programs such as Auto Gordian Knot and Handbrake on Windows and a couple other on Linux, and they rip home-made DVDs fine but won't touch a DVD that I've purchased at the store.

[Skyalmian]

http://www.makemkv.com/ - works on Linux, too (Arch 64 here).

When the timer runs out, it just says \"this application is too old, download the new version.\"

[Heretic]

So what you want is for someone to help you break the law. Copyright law makes it illegal for anyone to circumvent DVD encryption technology.

[AlphaDoG]

Keyword is \"purchased\", Heretic. Anyone should be allowed to RIP a DVD they have purchased simply as a backup to the original.

That being said, good luck finding one that will let you RIP 100% of those DVDs.

[Krom]

Yeah, finding something that can rip all DVDs for free is straight out impossible. AnyDVD is the best ripper/descrambler on the market right now but its pricy. http://www.doom9.net and its forums probably have a updated list of rippers/descramblers that get through most stuff (but not the newest stuff).

[flip]

DVDFAB. This used to be hands down the best and at one time they had a free version that would still remove the encryption just not burn the disks for you. I hav'nt used any of these in a long while so it may not be the best anymore. Definitely worth a try though.

[flip]

Just found the free version is still available. It's call DVDFab HD Decrypter.


Features Highlight

1. Copies entire DVD/Blu-ray movie to hard drive.
2. Removes all the DVD protections (CSS, RC, RCE, APS, UOPs and Sony ARccOS) and part of Blu-ray protections (AACS, BD+, RC, UOPS and BD-Live) while copying.

[Heretic]

To make a copy you have to circumvented commercial DVDs' antipiracy technology which is Illegal to do so Dog. Digital Millennium Copyright Act saw to that. It criminalizes the act of circumventing an access control, whether or not there is actual infringement of copyright itself.

[snoopy]

To make a copy you have to circumvented commercial DVDs' antipiracy technology which is Illegal to do so Dog. Digital Millennium Copyright Act saw to that. It criminalizes the act of circumventing an access control, whether or not there is actual infringement of copyright itself.

This is true.

I've had trouble lately getting software in linux (namely, mencoder and/or VLC) to even play back entire DVD's. I was watching a movie last night only to have it randomly stop in the middle of it.... I had to throw it on my PS2.

(BTW, that's illegal, too, since there arn't any non-curcumventing ways to even watch DVD's in linux. Yay copyright laws.)

[Xamindar]

OK Heretic and friends, there are enough threads on this board about the supposed illegality or ripping DVDs. No need to thread crap on another.

On topic, I have been looking for the best route to rip my DVDs as well. I just set up a nice huge media server and want to put all my DVDs on it so I do not have to look for the DVD when I want to watch it. Can just select it from the list on my media server.
Apparently a lot of people find using DVD Decrypter to get rid of the encryption and then Handbrake to rip the video a good way. I haven't tried it yet though.

[Krom]

It's fair use as long as you only use them privately in your own home and you destroy any copies of the DVDs you make if/when you resell the original. The DMCA can't override the Constitution.

[Heretic]

You are right about fair use Krom but that isn't what is illegal. A federal law has made it illegal to manufacture or traffic in a device or tool that allows a person to make copies, fair use can never be used as a defense to the act of circumventing anti-piracy protection technology. This is according to U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel

[Canuck]

And now recently passed in Canada regardless of the huge public outcries. Its OK to make copies... you just cant use devices or software to circumnavigate the code.

* On topic... even DVD Fab and Any DVD, (both great programs) have issues with some of the newer DVD's, which seem to tell your PC that you have no optical drive with some code buried in one of the index tracks. I've found a cheap USB to IDE adapter that allowed me to read the DVD with an external optical drive. DVD Fab then took care of the rest.

[Gekko71]

I have found Free Studio Manager to be a great program for this purpose. It rips content off (almost) all DVDs and it is very user friendly. There is a new version available that I have yet to try, but I can certainly vouch for the previous versions ...and it's totally free.

www.dvdvideosoft.com

[Xamindar]

I have found Free Studio Manager to be a great program for this purpose. It rips content off (almost) all DVDs and it is very user friendly. There is a new version available that I have yet to try, but I can certainly vouch for the previous versions ...and it's totally free.

www.dvdvideosoft.com

That one looks really nice but it will not rip copy protected DVDs which is pretty much all of them.

[Skyalmian]

Has anyone looked at the link I provided? Yeah, it has a timer, but it does everything.

[Xamindar]

Has anyone looked at the link I provided? Yeah, it has a timer, but it does everything.

Funny how something called "makeMKV" supposedly does EVERYTHING. From the look of the name AND the site it only looks like it can rip them into mkv files. I might check it out though, just haven't gotten to it yet because as far as I can tell it will still be the same amount of steps for me. I can:
-Use one program to rip the encryption off, then use another to encode it to whatever format I want. Or...
-Use makemkv to rip the dvd into mkv format, then use another video editor like avidemux or mencoder to transcode it into a format that my devices can read (ps3). Probably lose more quality this way.

So far, option one still seems the best route. MKV is a great container but not as many things support it.

[Krom]

MKV is just a container, PS3s don't support MKV but they can support MP4 which is also just a container. It is sort of like using zip and rar to store the same documents, the files inside are the same even if the containers are different. As long as the codec used in the MKV is compatible with what the PS3 can decode, you can take the audio and video out of the MKV file and put it in a MP4 file for the PS3 without a loss of quality. A direct stream copy like that should also be very fast, the speed of the hard drive is the main limit.

[Top Gun]

I've used DVD Decrypter to do the decrypting in the past, followed up by Avidemux to handle the actual encoding. Worked well enough for me, at any rate.

[kenedypaull]

[spam removed by mod]

[Gekko71]

I have found Free Studio Manager to be a great program for this purpose. It rips content off (almost) all DVDs and it is very user friendly. There is a new version available that I have yet to try, but I can certainly vouch for the previous versions ...and it's totally free.

www.dvdvideosoft.com

That one looks really nice but it will not rip copy protected DVDs which is pretty much all of them.

In my experience it usually will Xamindar - I use it for this very purpose quite regularly (granted, I haven't tried the latest version but previous versions gave me very little trouble).

The DVD Decrypter feature of this software should give you useable video, even with copy-protected content. (Probably the same software Top Gun has used).

...In case you're wondering, no I am not an IP Pirate - It's part of my job to access DVD video for editing purposes - which sometimes requires removing copy protection first.

[EngDrewman]

Thanks guys! DVDFab works great!

And for those of you whining about any kind of \"cracking\" the security is piracy, what else are you supposed to do about this kind of \"CRACK\"! (which btw happened after only a few uses- what a f---ing rip off )

[Xamindar]

I think I have settled on handbrake to do the ripping in Linux. Turns out it will rip the protected ones provided you have libdvdread installed as well. Handbrake just doesn't do it by default to stay \"legal\".
Here are some tips for Ubuntu since it seems everyone here uses that distro.
1) Follow the instructions on the handbrake website to install it

Code: Select all

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrake-snapshots
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install handbrake-gtk

2) Install libdvdread and run the script that downloads libdvdcss

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install libdvdread4
sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

Then run handbrake and go to File->Preferences->Advanced and make sure \"Use dvdnav\" is unselected. Now it should scan any DVD you insert and be able to rip it. I'm ripping The Matrix right now . Handbrake encodes into h.264 and you can choose either mkv or mp4 as a container as far as I know. There might be more options from the cli version but the options the gui gives me are all that I need. Can even set it to keep original language and tack on subtitles if it is not native language. Good for all those anme DVDs I have.

[Top Gun]

And for those of you whining about any kind of "cracking" the security is piracy, what else are you supposed to do about this kind of "CRACK"! (which btw happened after only a few uses- what a f---ing rip off )

From what I've heard of that movie, it was doing you a favor.

[Xamindar]

what else are you supposed to do about this kind of "CRACK"!

I have a good idea of what Warner Brothers would tell you to do.