Error in ripping: DVD looks empty but it isn't

[Instant Martian]

Hi guys,
I have a little problem here (I hope it's little):
I am backing up a tv series from original DVDs I purchased (as I usually do with all my DVDs).
The discs are double-layer and double-side.
Now there's a disc in which one side plays fine but the other is not readable by my DVD drive (Pioneer DVR-111D).
I tested it on my stand-alone player (another Pioneer) and it works fine but when I put it into my pc it looks like it is an empty disc.
RipIt4Me says "Disc is not a DVD", DVDDecrypter says "the drive is empty", ImgBurn says "the disc is protected".
If I open the drive directory Windows (XP) doesn't see any file or VIDEO_TS folder.
Any idea on how to solve this?

[Baldrick]

Try dvdfab decrypter and see if it finds anything.

[Instant Martian]

Just tried, it found nothing.
It's like the disc is empty (but it's not).
This is the very first time such a thing happens to me.

[Baldrick]

Try on another computer/dvd drive.

[teodz1984]

Looks like a protected DVD

rip with DVDFab HD Decrypter

DVDDecrypter alone doesnt handle opy protected disks...
You have to run it in combination with AnyDVD or AnyDVD HD to remove the protection

[jman98]

Looks like a protected DVD

rip with DVDFab HD Decrypter

DVDDecrypter alone doesnt handle opy protected disks...
You have to run it in combination with AnyDVD or AnyDVD HD to remove the protection

It makes no sense for one side of a 2 sided DVD to be protected differently from the other side so this is very unlikely.

Actually DVD Decrypter can decrypt many DVDs without any problems but as it has not been updated in years it cannot decrypt DVDs that use bad sector copy protection methods like ARCCOS. I recommend trying the free DVDFab HD Decrypter as you suggested as my experience is that if the DVD gets recognized and the rip starts, DVDFab will stay at it until it finishes, even if it takes hours.

[Instant Martian]

Try on another computer/dvd drive.

Unfortunately I can't.

As I said this disc is part of a series and I have ripped all the others (and the opposite site of this one too) successfully.
DVDDecrypter can decrypt (as the name suggests) and I have used it for years. Just recently it failed on some DVDs with most recent protections but it worked used with RipIt4Me.
It is ImgBurn that can't decrypt DVDs.
I tried DVD Fab HD Decrypter but it doesn't detect the disc.
I will watch the entire DVD asap on my stand-alone player to see if it works fine from start to end.
The fact that Windows doesn't detect it at all makes me think there could be some kind of problem not related to protections.

I was wondering if a try under a Linux system could be useful.

[jman98]

If one side of the disc is scratched it can prevent your drive from being able to read it. You might read up on how to safely clean DVDs and see if that helps. Some scratches can be very difficult to see.

[Instant Martian]

Thanks to you too.
The disc looks perfect: no dust, no dirt, no scratches.
Another disc of the same box had a scratch and the DVD drive read it perfectly.