"New" form of copyright protection of DVDs?

[john111]

Hi all,
I recently encountered an interesting phenomena with a couple of DVDs I was trying to backup.

It all started when I noticed that powerDVD would play only up to the root menu (so the ads at the beginning play fine) after which, it would encounter an error and just stop playing.

I tried running it through dvd shrink and again - as soon as it gets to the menu an I/O error pops up.

With DVDdecrptor I was able to Isolate the problem to the Menu file. Decryptor came up with a similar I/O error trying to rip that file.

I should also mention that when I tried to play the DVD through an older version of powerDVD (v4.0) it gave me an interesting error message something like: "...the disk has been modified physically as to inhibit playback, try cleaning the disk..."

oh I should also mention that the rest of the VOB files on the disk play fine its just that I have to click on them individually (not through the .ifo or the menu file which is the Videots.vob or something like that)

At first I thought it was a coincidence BUT then I put Vol. 2 DVD (the second DVD of the set so same prod. company/DVD maker) in and the same exact thing happened.

So it just occurred to me that this might be some sort of a weird new way to stop/inhibit people from copying or backing up the DVD.

I can see the logic behind it but anyone who knows a bit of DVD backup would still be able to backup the DVDs minus the problematic menu. (i.e. rip the regular VOBs ;create an .ifo file; and even ,if you wanted to, use tmpgenc author or some other software to create a customized new menu)

So I guess my theory is that either there's an actual accidental problem with the way these DVDs are manufactured, or alternatively, they just trying to be a bit annoying

I was wondering if you guys encountered this phenomena or maybe you have any alternative theories to suggest.

[Baldrick]

have you tried anydvd or dvdfabdecrypter? dvd shrink and dvddecrypter hasn't been updated for a while...

[capvid0429]

It would be nice to know what the name of the movies are.

[SLK001]

This kind of action is really not new. Apparently, a standalone player has sort of an "ON ERROR, RESUME NEXT SECTOR" type of error handling that is NOT allowed on software players. MGM disks exhibit this type of "error handling", but they seem to have an "ON ERROR, RESUME VTS BEGINNING" and go to the start of the particular VTS. You can explore MGM disks and see the sector that the player jumps to.

Now, though, it seems as disk errors are hardcoded on the disk (like a incorrect checksum burned on the disk) so that the operating system will think that the disk has an unrecoverable error and cannot be corrected by CRC checksum (since it is wrong anyway).

You may be able to get around this type of error by piece meal ripping, extracting the elementry streams, then reassembling (RE: reauthoring). A complete pain in the ass, for sure.

[john111]

Thanks for all the replies.

I think SLK001's explanation nails it. It would be interesting to see if POWERDVD or any other DVD playing software will change its error handling from "ON ERROR, STOP PLAY" to "ON ERROR, RESUME NEXT SECTOR".

Hardcoding an error on a DVD to inhibit backup - that sounds exactly what’s happening here....I'm sure all the people who use their computers as their primary DVD players "enjoy" this feature.

I wonder if any of the Studios are aware that by manufacturing DVDs in this manner they are actually inhibiting DVD sales. Moreover, in my opinion, there should be some sort of a warning/info label on the DVD informing the purchasers that this DVD might not play on their players (if they use their computers, for example, as their players).


just to address some of the other replies to this post:

have you tried anydvd or dvdfabdecrypter? dvd shrink and dvddecrypter hasn't been updated for a while...

I havn't tried these softwares. However, since the error is hardcoded on the disk, I don't think that they would be effective - ....but it's worth a try...

It would be nice to know what the name of the movies are.

The DVDs in question are the "Phoenix nights" series one and two. I wonder if Peter Kay is aware that his DVDs are not selling as well as they should. Also, he has a new DVD coming up (Max and Paddy) so it would be interesting to see if there are any hardcoded errors on this DVD as well.

[coodbe]

John 111 wrote:
"Hi all,
I recently encountered an interesting phenomena with a couple of DVDs I was trying to backup.

It all started when I noticed that powerDVD would play only up to the root menu (so the ads at the beginning play fine) after which, it would encounter an error and just stop playing."

This appears to be exactly the problem I ran into. Please see thread "Upside of Anger Difficult to Rip"

Rip the DVD to your hard drive and then run it through VobBlanker before burning to DVD (don't change any of the setting on VobBlanker) You should be OK then.

Also see my other thread "Tool to scan Disk and Identify Protection Systems"

There may be some common protection on the DVD's that is causing this to happen. I remember that the extras and comming attractions played back on the computer using Power DVD but that was all. The main movie would not play.

[ebenton]

I haven't tried DVDFabDecrypter on a lot of disks, and I don't *know* anything about the actual software code, but it *appears* that DVDFab Decrypter will often, if not always, do the set-top-DVD-player "ON ERROR, RESUME NEXT SECTOR" error handling. This is different than most copy programs, which on error, figure they can't read the disk and give up.