Absolutely clueless on copying/ripping DVD

[app1mpo]

Brand new to DVD and ripping...and new to forum.... please bear with me.
I've only copied data DVD's.... never video.
A friend gave me a home made DVD for the purpose of copying it. It is only a slideshow of family pics.... nothing copy-writted. The problem is that the NTI DVD software that came pre-loaded on my laptop can't read the disk. It plays fine.
Looking at the files on the disk there is the normal VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders. But the VIDEO_TS folder shows VTS_01_01.vob - VTS_99_01.vob files each 440,290 kb in size for a total of 40gig on the disk.
I have no idea what kind of encoding this is or what tool I can use to copy.
My friend is no help in how she made the DVD. She says she just dragged and dropped and burned... and now no longer has access to the machine she used.
Does all these files sound familiar with a certain building process ? Can anyone recommend a tool I can use to rip and/or copy ?
Any comments will be appreciated.

[rumplestiltskin]

Well, 40GB just isn't really there as a single layer DVD is 4.3GB or thereabouts. If it's a slideshow, then the VOBs probably contain each photo and the transitions between photos. If you manage to get the frame that is the complete photo (and there may be more than one for each photo), that will be 640x480 at best so the original quality of the photos is lost.

If you only want a copy of the slideshow video, then I suppose DVD Shrink would do the job. You may also use MPEG Streamclip and save the entire video to your hard drive in a number of formats but VIDEO_TS will do nicely if all you plan to do is burn it back to a DVD later as there won't be any need to re-encode that file; whatever authoring software you decide to use should simply de-mux it to the constituent streams necessary for a DVD.

Others will post soon.

[Kerry56]

If it isn't copy protected you can make an ISO file of the disk using ImgBurn. ImgBurn is a free burning program.

Install ImgBurn. Put the disk in the drive. Since ImgBurn starts up in EZ Mode, click on Create image file from disc. Once the file is created on the hard drive, you can put in a blank dvd, then burn the image file to this new disk. Use ImgBurn again, but this time click on Write image file to disc to start the process. Select the new ISO file you've just made, set the burning speed, and make the copy.

If you just want the video on the hard drive in file format, use DVDShrink or some other ripping program as suggested previously.

[app1mpo]

Thanks for the suggestions....
I've tried creating an ISO with some burning software(UltraISO or PowerISO I think) and it fails when trying to read the disk. (Again the disk plays fine... I don't believe it's damaged).
It was my assumption that the file system showing as 40gb + is some kind of (unintentional) copy protection that was put on there when the disk was made. There are only 20 or so pics in the slide show so each VOB isn't only a pic and transitions. I'm not sure what they all are. The whole slideshow is 10 mins.
I only need to make a copy of the disk. I'm not trying to actually rip (sorry if wrong forum) the video out to modify and/or convert and re-author.
Would DVDShrink help with just making a copy ? I'm not really interested in having a copy on my harddrive... Or do I need to get it on my hard drive in order to make the copy ?
Thanks again.

[filmboss80]

I'm not really interested in having a copy on my harddrive... Or do I need to get it on my hard drive in order to make the copy ?

It helps immensely.