Difficult to rip section of dvd

[anamorphic]

I've been hired by a film financing company to create a sizzle reel showcasing their properties. They gave me all their films on commercial dvds, so I've been ripping the sections I need, having to bypass copy protection, of course. For the most part, this has been tedious, but not a problem. I'm on a Mac, and I've been using HandBrake and MPEGStreamclip. I also have MacTheRipper handy.

Anyway, like I said, this has mostly not been a problem, but I ran into one issue that has me stumped. I'm trying to rip just the theatrical trailer off of one of the dvds, because it contains the exact images in order that I've already been told they want to use. But, although I can play the trailer fine on the dvd through a dvd player, I can't for the life of me find it to rip off.

When I access the disk through MacTheRipper, it shows the disc has four title sets. Two of them are two different versions of the feature (one widescreen, one fullscreen). The other two title sets are two making of/behind the scene docs. The trailer doesn't seem to be there anywhere. And yet, I know it's on the disc somewhere, because I can play it through a dvd player.

Another thing I noticed: when I do play the trailer on a dvd player, it has no Chapter info... where that should be is just blank. Is this a clue as to where it might be hidden?

So, I can go into the movie itself and get the images I want for my work, but now I'm really curious as to how they hid the trailer like this, making it (apparently) inaccessible. Also, I'm wondering why they would have done this?

Anyone have any ideas?

[Baldrick]

Nope...I'm just moving you to our mac section.

[anamorphic]

Nope...I'm just moving you to our mac section.

Ah, okay, thanks. But even though I'm on a Mac, I'm not entirely sure it's a Mac-specific question... in fact, I'm almost positive it's not. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the way the dvd was put together. They somehow authored it so that the trailer is inaccessible, and doesn't come up with chapter info, and I was wondering if anyone know how they could have done that... I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with me being on a Mac.

[jman98]

Yes, it IS a Mac specific question. Here's why. Technically, yes, you are right that however this DVD was put together has nothing to do with Macs. However, the problem is that most of here would simply say "You need to rip with ... oh wait... nevermind, that only works with Windows". Welcome to the wonderful world of Macs. You need Mac specific help with this.

If I had this on a Windows box, I'd rip it with something like DVD Decrypter (it should work fine since the odds of them using ARCCOS are minute) or DVDFab HD Decrypter and use a Windows only editor like MPEGVCR or VideoReDo to examine the individual VOBs. But since I do zero video work on any Macs I have access to, I can't suggest any Mac specific tools to use. You need help from someone who uses Macs for video work.

The trailer is certainly not hidden, you just can't find it with what you are using. Hence that is why I would rip the whole disc and examine the individual VOB files until I found it.

[anamorphic]

Ah, gotcha jman98, that does make sense! I hadn't thought of it that way.

Worse comes to worse, I can take it over to a friend's house and use his Windows box and try some of the tools you suggested, and see if that works.

For the record, I actually DID already try ripping the whole thing and going through each VOB... the trailer is definitely not any of them. That was the first thing I thought of when I was having trouble with it. That, combined with the fact that no chapter info comes up when played on a standard dvd player is what led me to believe it was somehow "hidden".

As I said, I can get around my specific issue by pulling the shots I need from the full dvd rip... at this point it's really more a question of curiosity! I've ripped about 25 dvds for this particular project, and many more in the past for other projects, and this is the first time I've come across this issue, so I was really curious as to how they might have authored the dvd this way.

Again, thanks for your help, and sorry for putting this in the wrong forum initially!

[tomlee59]

The trailer probably does not have its own VOB, but is part of one. If you only looked at the beginning of each VOB, that explains why you didn't see it. It's most likely a particular chapter within a title (VOB set). It's there, I'm fairly certain. Been through this many times myself.

[jman98]

tomlee59 is quite right. This trailer cannot be hidden. It is there, you just aren't seeing it. I've also seen this kind of thing, but not often. I just blamed it on poor authoring.

[anamorphic]

Yup, you both are correct. It was in the middle of a VOB that began with menus, which is why I didn't scan all the way through it initially. Lesson learned.

Thanks for the help!