Question about TV show download from Itunes

[jimdagys]

I know somebody that paid $30 to download 12 TV shows from Itunes. I haven't had a chance to look at the files, but I am wondering, in general, are these types of downloads unencrypted, I mean, can I just burn the files as a data disk to play in a newer type DVD player?

[Baldrick]

Nope, they are DRM protected. But I guess you can remove it, see for example http://hymn-project.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2586

[jimdagys]

I don't understand one part given in the above link. Also, do the following steps work for protected video?

Remove iTunes DRM protection using iTunes + CD-R
Follow these 5 steps:
1 Create an iTunes playlist containing your purchased songs.
2 Insert a blank CD-R or a CD-RW.
3 Burn the playlist to disk.
4 Re-import the songs after a successful burn.
5 Deleting the original purchased tracks.

Once the TV show is burned to the disk, how do you "re-import" the the TV show? Is that feature a specific Itunes software function?

[Ai Haibara]

Those directions are for use with iTunes music tracks, not video. It's a cheap way to get around the DRM on the music files by having iTunes create an audio CD, then using an MP3 ripper on the audio tracks from that CD to create MP3s (or, in the case of these directions, importing them again into iTunes will do much the same thing). You can't burn video files to CD/DVD from iTunes, to my knowledge.

[jimdagys]

Is there some kind of software that will
1) break the DRM, ( I am in China so USA laws have no teeth here) or is it necessary
2) to play the TV show in real time and use a software to record it into a regular file?
The second method, it seems like the payware WM Capture will do the job.
Any other suggestions?

[Ai Haibara]

To be honest, I don't think there's anything to remove DRM on iTunes video files (I could be wrong). The second method's probably better, but only because it would save you some headaches. The thing is, iTunes may take up a lot of memory/system resources, so any capture program might have problems keeping up unless you have a powerful system.

[craigarta]

Well one idea would be Camtasia Studio it's not free but probably really do the trick

[festmaster]

Tunebite is supposed to work for iTunes video files, http://tunebite.com/en/audio_video_drm_copy_protection/index.html. They don't have a free trial version for the video cleaning so I can't attest to whether it really works or not.

[jimdagys]

Do you know where I can get a free Itunes DRM video clip so that I can test these various "video capture" softwares?
Also, I don't know anything about Itunes.
Is DRM video just a file, or is it like a DVD, (multiple files)? I guess I have to download a Itunes video player.
That video player should play the DRM files, is that right? Any comments about this would be welcome. Actually, I just want to learn about this. I would never download a TV show, even if it were free. The last time I watched TV was "I Dream of Jeannie", 1965.