Can't Copy Foreign DVDs

[Mark-Leon]

I wanted to make a Shirley Temple collection (I practice my graphic design work this way) but two movies weren't released in Australia - Stand Up and Shout and Little Miss Broadway (even though Fox is an Australian Company)

Really ? An Australian company ? Because it is owned by Rupert Murdoch (who has dual citizenship, by the way) ? That is the only connection to Australia Fox has.

Neither of these discs are exceptional in any way. The only conclusions are that either you are doing something very wrong, or the discs are damaged in some way. Neither is out of the question.

Well, it's really a side issue but, yes, Rupert had to take out US citizenship as well. I guess it's not quite an Australian company but we also have the studios here in Sydney too.

I may well be doing something wrong but that's why I posted here. To try to find out what is causing this problem and somehow correct it. Even if it's what I'm doing is wrong. If I do it the same way every time and two discs out of hundreds won't burn correctly, doesn't that tell you there is something different about the discs?

[Mark-Leon]

I kind of feel like going down to Fox studios and saying, Hey, if you're not prepared to release two old Shirley Temple movies in Australia for whatever reason, it's not fair to restrict us from watching them by encrypting them. Unless it's for some censorship reason.

[guns1inger]

I have been around these forums too long to be surprised by someone claiming to have found the unrippable disc. I remember the wonderful long posts when "Cars" was released, and the long discussion between some forgettable bod and an old member called Gurm. Despite the fact that everyone else had been able to rip this disc in a myriad of countries, this one user refused to accept that it was either just him, or a faulty disc. It had to be something new because he couldn't rip it. In the end this thread cost Gurm his membership when his head exploded.

This is a tale that has been retold on a regular basis. Many have claimed to have the unrippable disc, and for every post to say it can't be ripped, it has been met by a dozen or more that have successfully ripped the same disc with simple tools.

[Mark-Leon]

I have been around these forums too long to be surprised by someone claiming to have found the unrippable disc. I remember the wonderful long posts when "Cars" was released, and the long discussion between some forgettable bod and an old member called Gurm. Despite the fact that everyone else had been able to rip this disc in a myriad of countries, this one user refused to accept that it was either just him, or a faulty disc. It had to be something new because he couldn't rip it. In the end this thread cost Gurm his membership when his head exploded.

This is a tale that has been retold on a regular basis. Many have claimed to have the unrippable disc, and for every post to say it can't be ripped, it has been met by a dozen or more that have successfully ripped the same disc with simple tools.

Please go on. What simple tool would you suggest? I would really like to know how to rip these discs. I didn't find these titles in any other forum so, I don't know if it is the movies or my methods. Has anyone successfully ripped these two?

[lordsmurf]

DVD Decrypter, DVDFab
Owning a Mac for ripping DVDs is like wearing waders to a running marathon. Wrong tool for the job, sorry.

[Mark-Leon]

What a stupid and irrelevant thing to say. Why bother writing in this forum if you have nothing constructive to say?

[JohnnyBob]

Your mentions of a blank screen when trying to play your burned discs rang a bell. I don't know what Mac software is available but here are a couple of tricks to try, if possible:

(1) Using a video editor, remove the first 1-2 seconds of the movie at the startup/leadin. I use DVD Shrink in reauthor mode for this on Windows. It may fix a failure to start playing the movie, which sometimes happens with burnt movies that were ripped with DVD Fab under certain conditions.

(2) Use appropriate software to fix wrong PGC LBA pointers, and maybe remove unref. or blank cells. I use FixVTS for this on Windows. It may fix the same startup problem as in (1) above, maybe other problems too.

Perhaps you should mention the movie titles in case others have had the same problem with them. If they're Shirley Temple movies, I have several and didn't have any problems. Old movies like that are usually easy, and DVD Shrink almost always works on Windows. Of course if it's a recent release (last 2-3 years) they could've added something new.

If still no go, I'd have to bet on a region code problem, such that your ripping software or optical drive is being region-blocked. RPC1 is what you want. Some drives can be flashed to make them RPC1.

[lordsmurf]

What a stupid and irrelevant thing to say. Why bother writing in this forum if you have nothing constructive to say?

In many categories of computer tasks, Mac OS X has few to zero options. In many of the categories where Mac users have a few options, what's available is wholly inferior to what exist in Windows. Linux can't do it either. Wrong tool for the job at hand. MacTheRipper (and possibly RipIt) is not a good replacement of DVDFab, AnyDVD, or even reliable old DVD Decrypter.

Surely you have a friend with Windows. Go try it there.

[Mark-Leon]

Did I post in the wrong forum? I thought this was for Mac users. Why is there all this talk about other operating systems? Can someone please point me to the Mac forums?

[lordsmurf]

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/

[Mark-Leon]

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/

Sorry buddy. Take a look again. This forum is for Mac users. I think you are in the wrong place,

[Flarch]

This is definitely the Mac forum alright. Don't know why some are being pricks. Personally, I just love it when someone asks a Mac question (especially on a Mac forum) and pee-cee people answer "use a pc" or Mac people answer "create a dual boot system and use windoze."

I'd like to make a serious suggestion, but i've never had anything that would play in DVD player but wouldn't in VLC (which i'm not fond of). Just the other way round.

MTR 3.0.r14m usually works on everything except the very latest discs for me. I've had fair luck with Mac DVDRipper Pro and Ripit in some cases. There's DVD Remaster for burning also, but the problem sounds like more than the burn software given all the methods you've tried.

It's not for the faint-hearted, but have you tried examining the rip with MyDVDEdit. It's also not wholly functional, but it lets you wade through the structure of the DVD and edit. It has a debug mode allows stepping through PGCs. I don't think there's another app like it on any platform. It's comprehending the DVD structure, and how to use MyDVDEdit that are the real trick, but since version 1.0 showed, there has at least been some additional documentation written.

[Mark-Leon]

...but i've never had anything that would play in DVD player but wouldn't in VLC (which i'm not fond of). Just the other way round.

MTR 3.0.r14m usually works on everything except the very latest discs for me. I've had fair luck with Mac DVDRipper Pro and Ripit in some cases. There's DVD Remaster for burning also, but the problem sounds like more than the burn software given all the methods you've tried.

It's not for the faint-hearted, but have you tried examining the rip with MyDVDEdit. It's also not wholly functional, but it lets you wade through the structure of the DVD and edit. It has a debug mode allows stepping through PGCs. I don't think there's another app like it on any platform. It's comprehending the DVD structure, and how to use MyDVDEdit that are the real trick, but since version 1.0 showed, there has at least been some additional documentation written.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Flarch. Finally, some useful information!

OK, firstly, I did manage to rip a workable VIDEO_TS folder to the desktop. It plays in DVD Player AND VLC. It was the burned disc that was scrambled in VLC and just blank in DVD Player. Therefore, it is the burning that is the hitch now (no idea why). So, your info on DVD Remaster is interesting to me. It is one that I have not tried yet.

I want to try MyDVDEdit too but it sounds complicated. I don't know what "PGCs" are. I'll try just about anything at this stage.

Not sure if it's worth calling Fox. They probably won't do anything about it. They'll probably just say, buyer beware or, send it back to the store which, I can't do because I knew full well it was Region 1 when I bought it and you can't exactly get a refund because of copy protection.

Thanks again, Flarch. I will set about trying your recommendations and let you know how it goes.

[MacDSL]

I'v also had problems where I can rip a DVD and the VIDEO_TS will play fine, I can burn the VIDEO_TS and it will play fine in a standard DVD player; but if I put in the original DVD to watch on the computer, my machine does nothing but hang and hang. I have no good explanation at to why.... But I think you are not alone in this..

[MacDSL]

So, just to throw it out there... Does the original DVD play fine on the computer?

[BIFFtheSTIFF]

answer is simple. your trying to play an NTSC formatted file on a PAL formatted player. you first need to rip the NTSC US dvd, convert it to PAL, than make it to a dvd image or folder or however you want to burn to disc. The disc u keep burning shows up scrambled on ur tv set because your player cant convert ntsc to pal.

I bought two DVDs from the United States and I need to copy them to play in Australia but, it seems Fox has new copy protection mechanisms. I have tried every program I know and every method I could research but, I just can't seem to copy them.

Here's what I've tried:

Toast (obviously no commercial software will override copy protection)
Mac The Ripper - copies something that is not playable (seems to be scrambled)
Fast DVD Copy - also copies a disc that isn't playable. I get a blank screen and I'm not able to get to the menu.

The most successful so far has been RipIt. I managed to rip the VIDEO_TS folder onto the desktop and can play it but I can't burn it with anything: Toast, Burn, Disk Utility.

The most recent was the demo version of Wondershare DVD Copy. It also burned it successfully but, again, I get a blank screen. I have written to Wondershare and I'm waiting for a reply.

DVDBackup won't recognise all the files. It comes up with a file that is about a quarter of the size. VisualHub also can't recognise all of the files. I've also tried DVD2oneX and DragonBurn.

I even tried a method from another post that suggested loading up the disc image in Toast and ripping it with MTR. MTR couldn't read it.

I just tried DVD Ripper for Mac. It said it couldn't read VOB file set 4 and the audio files.

I'm all out of ideas. I would gladly pay for Wondershare if it worked.

Can anybody help?

[M-O]

answer is simple. your trying to play an NTSC formatted file on a PAL formatted player. you first need to rip the NTSC US dvd, convert it to PAL, than make it to a dvd image or folder or however you want to burn to disc. The disc u keep burning shows up scrambled on ur tv set because your player cant convert ntsc to pal.

That could be it. I wasn't aware which standard was used down under and the problematic playback symptoms didn't sound like what I've seen when playing PAL here, but what do I know about going the other way. I've also been told that in other parts of the world, players generally play both standards, another reason I didn't suspect. What I do know is that inexpensive methods for converting between standards properly (that is maintaining quality and doing all the steps at once) are basically nonexistent on Macs. I've done it twice using two different methods, neither very good.

[BIFFtheSTIFF]

well i dont know of any mac equivalents, but for windows theres a great program called tmpgenc 4.0 xpress...where once u rip a dvd, and convert it to, say a high quality avi, or mpeg2 file, tmpg will give u the option of converting that ntsc avi/mpeg2 to a pal mpeg2 dvd compliant file ready for burning with whatever program you have to vob...i used tmpg dvd author 3 w/ divx to convert my mpeg2 dvd ready files to vob files. like i said i dont know of a mac equivalent, but i know i can do it on my windows, at least until i find a mac equivalent.

[terryj]

geez....this thread is getting very long.

Hopefully, this will shorten it a bit.

In your original post Mark-Leon you wrote:

DVDBackup won't recognise all the files. It comes up with a file that is about a quarter of the size. VisualHub also can't recognise all of the files. I've also tried DVD2oneX and DragonBurn

This is the tell tale sign of what is wrong.

Your rip created an incorrect structure. This often happens due to the ripping software not being up to date
with current oddball copyright schemes. I've seen this a lot of times when someone uses say
MTR 2.66 on a DVD made ( pressed) in 2000 to 2004, and when someone tries to use MTR 3.0xxx on
a disc made (pressed) in 2008 - to present.

Believe it or not, the studios DO want to make things hard for you.

Upgrade your ripping software to MTR 4.0.2. Yes, you'll have to pay for it to get it.
But the wonderful thing is that it has this nice subset tool called "Rip and Rebuild",
which GB has built to handle your EXACT problem.

again, I quote you Mark:

Mac The Ripper - copies something that is not playable (seems to be scrambled)

Older versions of MTR would produce a scrambled DVD structure ( DISNEY / FOX related commercial DVDs),
this has been fixed in MTR with the new "Rip and Rebuild" feature.

1. Once you get the new MTR, and the new Manual, follow the steps to use the "Rip and Rebuild" feature.
2. Then process, that VIDEO_TS folder with DVD2ONEX as normal, if you need to shrink it to fit DVD-5.
3. Then burn it in Toast.

If you need to convert the now correct Video_TS folder from NTSC to PAL, you can after Step 2, drag and drop the Video_TS folder
into VisualHub and re-author to PAL, or use Toast and tell it to re-author from the VOBs to PAL
( i myself would let VishualHub do it).

[jman98]

BIFFtheSTIFF - What on earth made you think that after ONE YEAR of no further posting that Mark-Leon was stuck waiting for your post? Thanks for the grave digging - not.

Seriously - unless you maybe have an unlock code that nobody has yet provided in a thread asking about unlocking a specific DVD player, just leave these old threads alone.

[Noahtuck]

Not to mention his solution is probably incorrect....

Odd's are it is NOT a FORMAT isuue but rather a REGION issue and there is no reason to re-encode the video from one format to another.

Unlike U.S. standalone players PAL country players and TV's will play and display NTSC formats.
That is just a U.S. solution reversed for a PAL country which is not required.

And from my glossing over the original post, he seemed to have been having problems "ripping" it not playing it..

answer is simple. your trying to play an NTSC formatted file on a PAL formatted player. you first need to rip the NTSC US dvd, convert it to PAL, than make it to a dvd image or folder or however you want to burn to disc. The disc u keep burning shows up scrambled on ur tv set because your player cant convert ntsc to pal.