Is this a stupid idea?

[JRSellers]

I've tried a bunch of DVD rippers this week...don't really like any of them, so I was thinking, what about something like dMC Audio CD Input for ripping identifing and ripping specific video from DVDs(e.g: music vidz) to various video formats.

I thought this would be nice cuz dMC is so easy to use.

[neilthecellist]

No. I don't think it's stupid. I would support this idea...but aren't there copyright issues over DVDs and stuff like that?

[LtData]

DVDs use encryption called CSS and breaking this will result in a good number of lawsuits.

[ChristinaS]

DVDs use encryption called CSS and breaking this will result in a good number of lawsuits.
All dvd's are not necessarily copy-protected. Home-made ones need not be. :smile2:

But video conversions are a lot more complex than audio conversions, I think, and this is quite outside the current scope of dBpowerAMP.

[neilthecellist]

yeah......that's what i meant LtData....


how about making it an "add-on" that costs a small fee?

[LtData]

All dvd's are not necessarily copy-protected. Home-made ones need not be. :smile2:

I assumed he was referring to commercial DVDs, but even then there are some independent DVDs that aren't copy-protected. However, the majority of them are. Frankly, if you can play the DVD in your computer, you can always use Auxiliary Input to record the audio as you play the DVD.

[ChristinaS]

I assumed he was referring to commercial DVDs, but even then there are some independent DVDs that aren't copy-protected. However, the majority of them are. Frankly, if you can play the DVD in your computer, you can always use Auxiliary Input to record the audio as you play the DVD.
I think he's referring to extracting the complete video from the DVD, not just the audio, as we've already covered that ground.

I know for instance that you can get the video from a vcd, it will be a file with the .dat extension adn it will most likely be an actual .mpg file. You get that simply by copying from WIndows Explorerer while exploring that cd drive. I haven't tried, but very likely a similar setup may be on a dvd. And I shall try it right now :D

[LtData]

Oh right, he wants the video. I'm sure there is a way to capture that, but it would involve having some sort of capture card and using the output from either a computer or DVD player.

[neilthecellist]

But this thread was posted in the "Wishlist" section, so I'm assuming that s/he wants it to be a future feature of dMC.....

But if s/he doesn want it in the future dMC, and is simply talking about extracting it, use a legal program (BUY IT) , like CloneDVD, DVD X Copy or whatever.....

[ChristinaS]

OK, Exploring a home-made DVD, created with Sonic MyDVD, I find 3 folders:

1) JACKET_P - empty except for 3 hidden files of type .mp2 that appear to also be devoid of image or audio. They play in WMP, though nothing is shown.
J00___5L.MP2 - 32MB
J00___5M.MP2 - 8MB
J00___5S.MP2 - 8MB

2) OpenDVD - a folder with other folders and files, some hidden, with information on the original sources used to create the DVD. It may be specific to DVD's created through Sonic MyDVD

3) VIDEO_TS - the actual folder containing the video clip(s) present on the DVD, both the video thumbnails that are optionally made, and the full size videos, as well as other ancillary files. Whatever is an actual video clip has extension .VOB, other small files are .IFO and .BUP.

The .VOB files, once copied to the HD, can be renamed to .mpg and will pay fine in WMP and also in Real Player. At least mine did. WMP says the file is encoded (or else being played) using the Ligos MPEG Video Decoder.

Now a commercial DVD:

This one is Ice Age, and it comes packaged with an autorun, games and other stuff. Also some programs which may or may not serve as copy protection. There's a program apparently fro playing it on the pc, also another folder with what's needed to play on a Mac.

The actual video segment is again a folder called VIDEO_TS and it include essentially the whole set of chapters which are all the different video clips that make up the movie. The are suffixed again by .VOB

But here's the problem: I'm not able to copy these files to my pc. I get a message the the maximum number of secrets has been exceeded or whatever. SO I suppose this where the actual copy protection kicks in. And again, this DVD doesn't actually play as a video on my pc either, only the various games that come with it. So maybe this wasn't a good example.

On the other hand, I have just come to realize that my beloved DVD burner is not capable of playing any commercial DVD's - which sounds like an aberration to me, therefore I must have something installed wrong with it, or at least the software that I have for it (PowerDVD). :vmad:

It burns my home-made dvd's ok, though :smile2:

[neilthecellist]

whoa.....that is a LONG post.......

how come your computer DVD drive can't play commerical DVDs? When did you buy it?

[ChristinaS]

whoa.....that is a LONG post.......

how come your computer DVD drive can't play commerical DVDs? When did you buy it?
Neil, I just bought it very recently and it's supposed to be a good brand. If I knew why it can't play commercial DVD's I'd not be wondering about it, would I? I have just realized this now, as my main focus wasn't to play commercial dvd's on it but rather to burn my own from my own home-made video clips, which it does OK.

I may not have installed it properly or else the software (PowerDVD) isn't cofigured properly for this, I don't know. I'm plenty upset over this, as you can imagine. :vmad:

[neilthecellist]

oh ok......(neil backs away from Christina)

[ChristinaS]

oh ok......(neil backs away from Christina)
LOL! :D I don't bite, you know.

[neilthecellist]

lol. i know, i was joking, that's all.

[ChristinaS]

lol. i know, i was joking, that's all.
:komisch9:

[Razgo]

@christina, have you tried http://www.elecard.com/products/mpeg2player.shtml to play your commercial dvd's on. and my sister recently had trouble palying even an mpeg on her PC, so she installed the stinky mpeg codec from here: http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Stinky_MPEG_2_Codec.htm and then everything worked.

[ChristinaS]

@christina, have you tried http://www.elecard.com/products/mpeg2player.shtml to play your commercial dvd's on. and my sister recently had trouble palying even an mpeg on her PC, so she installed the stinky mpeg codec from here: http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Stinky_MPEG_2_Codec.htm and then everything worked.
No, not tried this yet.

I can play my own home-made DVD's, I can burn DVD's, I cannot play commercial ones. I can't remember if I could in the beginning and maybe changed something or never could.

I once installed a program that was supposed to unlock dvd regions or wahtever that's supposed to be (RegionFreeDVD). I didn't use it as it kept popping up whenever I tried to play anything, so I disabled it. I have a hunch this may have messed up things. I will uninstall it completely and see if it fixes things.

Otherwise I'll try the link you gave adn see what it can do. Thanks.

---- LATER ---
Nope, no difference after uninstalling that other program and rebooting. :vmad:

Ok, I'll check out your link. But which one do I actually neeed????

[ChristinaS]

Hah! it worked! Just with the codec from Stinky! WOW! Thanks, Razgo!

Very strange, since it seemed to me I could actually play mpeg2 files anyway, I could play my home-made dvd's. Unless they are not exactly the same format as commercial one ...

Whatever, it worked. :D

[Razgo]

yeh my sister could play some mpeg movies but no the ones i made and sent her. but after installing stinky she could play everything. so handy to know whatever it does i guess :thumbup:

[neilthecellist]

so.....what was the problem? What caused it ? (curious, please answer! :D)

[ChristinaS]

so.....what was the problem? What caused it ? (curious, please answer! :D)
Well, I don't know what caused it, but I know what fixed it :D

When I installed the stinky mpeg2 codec (honest, that's the actual name LOL) that Razgo sent me the link for it all worked.

[neilthecellist]

LOL! ok whatever

[JRSellers]

Interesting... 22 replies to this thread, but I never got an email notification, even though I set "Instant Email Notification" in my User CP. Hey Spoon, maybe it's time to upgrade to vB 3.0.3.

[JRSellers]

I think he's referring to extracting the complete video from the DVD...

Actually, I wanted to get the music videos from my some of my DVDs. For example, I can use DVD Shrink to "Backup" Title 24 on Daredevil disc2 to VTS_01_1.VOB to my HD. Using Winamp 5.08 with the PowerPlayer II plugin, I can play the .VOB video, but no audio.

[Razgo]

instant email notification is working fine. not sure why it isn't for you. is your email still the same?

[ChristinaS]

Actually, I wanted to get the music videos from my some of my DVDs. For example, I can use DVD Shrink to "Backup" Title 24 on Daredevil disc2 to VTS_01_1.VOB to my HD. Using Winamp 5.08 with the PowerPlayer II plugin, I can play the .VOB video, but no audio.
If you rename the .VOB file to .mpg you could probably play it in Windows Media PLayer.

[drspy00]

DVDs can be very complex, much more complicated that I ever thought before I started researching dvd burning and creation/copying.

Its not just as simple as copying a video file off the DVD. Sometimes many videos are encoded into one .vob file.

What you need is a tool called DVD decrypter or smart ripper, you can extract certain parts or audio tracks off DVDs with these. I wont put a link for them to avoid breaking forum rules or anything. They are 2 very popular free tools so just do a search to find them.

[JRSellers]

instant email notification is working fine. not sure why it isn't for you. is your email still the same?

I just checked it. It was my old Yahoo e-ddress. I changed it.

Thanks for the kick in the head. :p

[JRSellers]

If you rename the .VOB file to .mpg you could probably play it in Windows Media PLayer.

Tried that. No go. Strange too, it work in WinDVD.

[neilthecellist]

eh........instant email notification isn't working....

What's the best for DVD ripping? I have CloneDVD, and my brother has DVD X Copy. Is there better out there?

[JRSellers]

What you need is a tool called DVD decrypter or smart ripper...

I've tried DVD Decrypter. The thing is that in DVD Shrink, It was easy to find the video I wanted to rip cuz DVD Shrink has a preview window.

[ChristinaS]

Tried that. No go. Strange too, it work in WinDVD.
Ok, it worked for me with home-made DVD's. Maybe they are encoded a bit differently.

[JRSellers]

eh........instant email notification isn't working....

It is now. I updated my e-ddress.

What's the best for DVD ripping? I have CloneDVD, and my brother has DVD X Copy. Is there better out there?

I don't yet have CloneDVD, but if it's as easy as Clone CD, then I'd say go with CloneDVD (assuming it can copy copy-protected DVDs ).


BTW, copying is the correct term here, not ripping. Ripping is the digital extraction of audio and/or video to the user's HDD in a format the user chooses (MP3,WMA, MPG, etc.). Copying is simply making a duplicate of the original.

[JRSellers]

Ok, it worked for me with home-made DVD's. Maybe they are encoded a bit differently.

That's the difference. Your talking about a DVD you made yourself. I'm talking about a commercial DVD.

[ChristinaS]

That's the difference. Your talking about a DVD you made yourself. I'm talking about a commercial DVD.
I guess so, however I am not even able to copy the files form a commercial DVD. I copy them but I cannot paste them, I get a message thet the maximum number of scretes has been exceded. THus I cannot try teh thing about renaming the file anyway. I thought since you already have the files, that may work.

[drspy00]

I guess so, however I am not even able to copy the files form a commercial DVD. I copy them but I cannot paste them, I get a message thet the maximum number of scretes has been exceded. THus I cannot try teh thing about renaming the file anyway. I thought since you already have the files, that may work.
most commercial DVDs are encoded with css copy protection so the dvd or parts of it cant be copied without the right software.

[neilthecellist]

well, the right software can be put into future dMC creations? How about just making it an add-on that costs a small/medium fee? that would work. :)

[ChristinaS]

well, the right software can be put into future dMC creations? How about just making it an add-on that costs a small/medium fee? that would work. :)
Small? haha! First of all none of the existing DVD rippers are legal probably if they rip protected dvd's. So that pretty much kills it right off the bat.

I believe this would be tons more complex, it wouldn't be a plugin or add-on.

[neilthecellist]

Plz correct me if i'm wrong. My brother got his new computer at Chips and Memory.....it was an Athlon 64 3000+ that came with a DVD Burner AND DVD X Copy....it rips protected DVDs.....:confused: If this isn't legal, TELL ME NOW! He ripped one and only one so far.

[LtData]

Plz correct me if i'm wrong. My brother got his new computer at Chips and Memory.....it was an Athlon 64 3000+ that came with a DVD Burner AND DVD X Copy....it rips protected DVDs.....:confused: If this isn't legal, TELL ME NOW! He ripped one and only one so far.

Good luck getting support or updates for that. 321Studios was sued out of existance. The legality of it was never determined, as 321Studios closed before the trial was finished. Oh well. The legality in question is that it breaks the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) here in America. Something about breaking copy protection.. but here's the rub: DVD X Copy could make a backup copy, yes, but the copy cannot be copied and the copy can be traced to the original person who made the copy. Also, they have the normal legal gibberish about "this being intended to make copies of DVDs you already own." Yea.. that's all it was used for. Sure.

There are two things that will get dbPowerAmp into very fast trouble: Teaching people how to steal cable and giving people the ability to break CSS protection. Neither of these will ever be done. Sorry.

[Larry!]

Neil, I just bought it very recently and it's supposed to be a good brand. If I knew why it can't play commercial DVD's I'd not be wondering about it, would I? I have just realized this now, as my main focus wasn't to play commercial dvd's on it but rather to burn my own from my own home-made video clips, which it does OK.

I may not have installed it properly or else the software (PowerDVD) isn't cofigured properly for this, I don't know. I'm plenty upset over this, as you can imagine. :vmad:

K, it's a boring copy-protection issue with dvd afaik. Even though, that in most countries it's quite legal to remain silent while making backup copy of your dvd. =) And there's alot of soft that allows it to rip all contents off dvd to hdd easily. Doesn't matter if it css or region or both protected.

[ChristinaS]

K, it's a boring copy-protection issue with dvd afaik. Even though, that in most countries it's quite legal to remain silent while making backup copy of your dvd. =) And there's alot of soft that allows it to rip all contents off dvd to hdd easily. Doesn't matter if it css or region or both protected.
Errr.... was referring to just playing a commercial DVD, not copying it in any way. But the problem has been soleved by installing another codec for mpeg2 called Stinky. While I cannot copy such a dvd, I can play the dvd in my dvd player/burner drive, which is as it should be.

[Larry!]

Errr.... was referring to just playing a commercial DVD, not copying it in any way. But the problem has been soleved by installing another codec for mpeg2 called Stinky. While I cannot copy such a dvd, I can play the dvd in my dvd player/burner drive, which is as it should be.

Rofl, i've been pissed off once, when powerdvd 5 was refusing to play some protected dvd because my tv out was connected to tv...
But that's not even it... The other soft players were refusing to play it too, until i got rid of powerdvd 5 and cleaned up registry...
:teufel12:

[ChristinaS]

Rofl, i've been pissed off once, when powerdvd 5 was refusing to play some protected dvd because my tv out was connected to tv...
But that's not even it... The other soft players were refusing to play it too, until i got rid of powerdvd 5 and cleaned up registry...
:teufel12:
Well, at this point I have PowerDVD installed, and it now works fine, after the Stinky codec was added. I won't bother with the why's and why not's of it since it finally works.