Just getting into trying to back up dvd's and have gotten myself pretty confused. I've read lots of info on this an other sites, and thought someone here knows )

HP DVD 100i, Smartripper, Nero 5.5.6.4 demo, Sony DVP-S530 and NS300 decks, HP DVD+RW media, JVC SR-VS20 DV firewire deck, WinME, titles:The Breakfast Club, and The Professional(which are both well within size limits and authored 9/98 or so). I'm trying to do the simplest things, just rip and copy the whole DVD without any other fussing about, and play with transfers to DV via analog, just testing....

After rip, both title sets play fine on the computer using several software players. Using Nero(UDF/ISO, being careful to preserve VIDEO_TS in its original state), Breakfast Club plays perfectly on both players. Using the same procedure, The Professional will either play the full screen logo and warnings, and then stop before the 16:9 movie starts, or the player will just flash C 13 00(meaning anything specific?).

I came across a post where someone cured a similar problem by using PrimoDVD instead of Nero, but my HP did not come bundled with it, and it doesn't seem to be available other than bundled. So i suspect Nero, the players, the DVD gods, and everything else. I have repeated everything at least several times, so i don't think there's any luck involved.

Using the same titles, i try to transfer to DV tape by taking composite video & audio from one machine to the other, but as soon as the title starts, the DV stops and says ERROR. De-Magnivison in circuit does not help. The DVD that will transfer is my good copy of the Breakfast Club(but not the original).

Am i experiencing watermarking? I thought that was still in the works. I don't see a lot of posts like this, so i wonder if there is a piece of gear that i should throw out the window... or just jump out myself? I'll go and try some more titles, but i hope someone can lead me out of the dark before i end up trying to copy every title in my collection! tia!!