Very, Very Interesting Encoding Problem

[nickelzy]

Alright, I've encoded about 80 movies so far using DVD Shrink and not one problem doing so. However this afternoon for the first time, it gave me an error and wasn't able to encode the movie (Perfect Storm). DVD Shrink stopped about 59% or so into the encoding process and gave me an error message stating something about copyright protection. Seems odd to me because the other movies that I've encoded without any problem have I'm sure been copyright protected as well. So why the problem now?

Ok, so I chalked that one up as being one movie out of about 80 that I've encoded that I wasn't able to use DVD Shrink with. I don't have any experience using DVD Decrpter, but I decided to give that a shot since someone suggested that I use it (whenever you encounter such a problem like I've described). I downloaded DVD Decrypter and got it started. It began encoding the movie like you would expect, however at the 47% mark, it encountered an unrecoverable error on the VTS_02 file. I thought maybe my computer was being hyper sensitive so I rebooted and tried again and same problem - it stopped at the same exact spot.

Alright, now what? Well, I decided to try another program that I've never used before - Smart Ripper. After I downloaded the program and got it running, it wouldn't continue because it kept giving me the following error:

VTS_02_0.BUP->win_IO locked!

Is there a way to unlock the file that I'm not aware of? I'm at a point where I'm not sure how to continue since I've tried 3 different programs and all of them failed to encode the movie. Any suggestions here how to encode this movie? And remember, I'm just starting to learn and only have a handle on the very basics, so please be as descriptive as possible with any suggestions you might have. Thanks!!!

[johns0]

If you havent already done this open the dvd with windvd or powerdvd and play some of the movie and then scan it to the end and then try ripping.

[nickelzy]

Ok, I'll give that a try. I'll let you know what happens...

[nickelzy]

I don't understand what's going on here - I've never had a DVD that has acted like this. Not only is it my first one that I haven't been able to encode, but I also can't seem to get past chapter 21 of the movie while watching it on my computer. When I get past chapter 21 all I get are copyright messages - I can't seem to view the later chapters (22-39). I've tried WinDVD and my ATI DVD Player. And what I'm describing is when trying to view the movie via the ATI DVD Player.

When I use WinDVD, if I even select a chapter, it goes to a menu screen.

What's going on????

[nickelzy]

Ok, something else interesting here - I went back to my ATI DVD Player, skipped ahead to chapter 21 and then was going to scan from there on to the end of the movie. Well, the movie is getting hung up on Chapter 21. It played fine on my Toshiba standalone player though. However, if there is a problem with the disc - could this be the source of the problem with encoding it and having it stop half way into the movie? Because just like the encoding stopped half way into the movie, so is watching it doing the same.

I'm hoping that it's just a case of a bad disc and not that the 3 programs that I tried to encode it couldn't do it. Has anyone experienced problems like this before?

[scopophilia]

sounds very strange, is there some kind of new anti-copying technique whereby we won't be able to play dvds in our computer drives, just like the wave of new cds that cannot be played in computer drives (at least not without some help, har har)?

[bdf24]

Sounds to me like a problem with the disk itself. Have you tried cleaning it? Or did you notice any scratches? I'm a little surprised though that your stand alone player played it fine and the software players won't. Usually it's the other way around?

[Faithful Follower]

Is this a different region DVD than your default drive?

[nickelzy]

OK LADIES AND GENTS - THE PROBLEM IS SOLVED!

What seemed to be a very difficult to diagnose problem ended up being very easy (although it took me a long time to determine this), but it WAS in fact the dvd itself. Interestingly, it wouldn't play in my computer worth beans, but would play on my Toshiba DVD Player. For the heck of it, I tried playing it on my Sony DVD Player as well, and it acted like my computer - it got hung up on chapter 21.

In an effort to put this problem to rest, I ran over to Hollywood Video tonight and rented a copy of the Perfect Storm (since my copy no longer works properly). After putting the DVD in the drive and opening up DVD Shrink, like I've done over 80 times successfully before, it worked as usual.

What threw me for a loop were the errors that I was getting from DVD Shrink, Smart Ripper and DVD Decrypter - they made it sound like there was a file that was copyrighted that was not able to be encoded. Turns out it was that file which had the problem.

So the mystery is solved! Man, I'll tell ya, you've got to have a lot of patience with this process or it will drive you nuts (especially when you're new trying to get your arms around this DVD copying process).

One unrelated question - and I know the answer could be found somewhere but I'm tired and want an easy answer (sorry for be lazy - but can someone help me out!). My questions are:

1. Why would you use DVD Decrypter in addition to DVD Shrink (like some people do). Why not just use DVD Shrink alone since it does everything in one step?

2. DVD Decrypter encodes the movie files but doesn't compress them correct? If I am correct, then you would still need to compress them, hence the use of DVD Shrink. But again, why would you do this rather than just using DVD Shrink? Am I missing something here or do I have this wrong somehow?

[bdf24]

Well from my experiences DVDDecrypter will rip the movie faster then DVDShrink will. Then I can analyze it, run deep analysis, and then encode from my harddrive instead of putting extra work to the DVD writer. Plus it's faster from the harddrive then the DVD writer anyway. Whether this realy makes a difference or not I don't know. But it works for me.

[dafreak]

I had a similar experience backing up fighting temptations. I couldn't rip to hd with dvd decrypter. tried in two different dvd-rom drives and it would get stuck at the same point. It hung at the same spot on my standalone player as well.

I took the disk back and exchanged it for another. backed it up perfectly.

never got the copyright messages that you did, but it just goes to prove that commercial, compressed, disks can have problems too.

[DoubleShadowIce]

Alright, I've encoded about 80 movies so far using DVD Shrink and not one problem doing so.

I'm glad you solved your problem but I would like to correct you before it gets worse. DVD Shrink does not "encode". It is a transcoder so the the correct verb is "transcoded". Now, Cinema Craft Encoder (CCE) is an "encoder".

[nickelzy]

I appreciate the correction, as I want to be able to describe accurately the different processes of what am doing regarding copying movies. However, you state:

I'm glad you solved your problem but I would like to correct you before it gets worse

How exactly is this correction helping me keep things from getting worse? I don't quite understand.

How about helping me with my two questions above!

[DoubleShadowIce]

1. Why would you use DVD Decrypter in addition to DVD Shrink (like some people do). Why not just use DVD Shrink alone since it does everything in one step?

Why? Call me old school but current DVD Shrink's ripping feature is not up to par with DVD Decrypter. DVD Decrypter is always being improved and it does well in it's specialty and that's "ripping". Now DVD Shrink's author will also tell you that DVD Shrink is not perfect and he will readily recommend to use DVD Decrypter. Besides, this has been talked about in this thread with many others at the official forum. I suggest to do a search there.

2. DVD Decrypter encodes the movie files but doesn't compress them correct? If I am correct, then you would still need to compress them, hence the use of DVD Shrink. But again, why would you do this rather than just using DVD Shrink? Am I missing something here or do I have this wrong somehow?

Another correction...DVD Decrypter is not a "encoder". It is a "ripper". Again, the answer to your question is replied by the author, dvdshrink, in the thread above. DVD Decrypter will always be reliable than DVD Shrink so to ease the pain on finding out the hard way the DVD Shrink cannot rip it, why not use DVD Decrypter first to begin with. This is my personal preference.

[terminator911]

Hello there fellas... I've had that same problem with about 3 movies and the last time I was able to fix the problem by trying on a different DVD Rom so after trying 5 or 6 times I was able to do it.

Some DVDs are strange like that of they have been damaged to the point where nothing you try will do the job.