I am new and trying to understand DVD ripping

[Elizabeth Jenkins]

If someone could please take the time to walk me through some steps, I'd sure appreciate it. I've tried all of the free dvd ripping things. I am (right now) using WinX Free DVD Ripper to copy an old dvd. I finally found one that this ripping thing could recognize. (It's copying it now). I have tried others ripping softwares. I tried Handbrake, and others. None of them could recognize my new dvd's that I have purchased. Good ones' not bootlegs. I can't view any of them in my dvd rom drive. I took it to the computer guy. He's a friend of mine and he told me "your dvd lightsribe drive can't read certain dvds" "You have to go and buy a dvd player". I'm disabled and can't do this.

So I tried to learn how to rip.

I have to learn all about encryption, codecs, etc. I have all the codecs, various media players, VLC, WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER, etc, on my computer. When I insert a dvd in the lightscribe drive, all the dvds play jumpy and the sound is jumpy.

I did successfully do 10 minutes of Avatar (but only 10 minutes). Can't remember which ripper I used.

But when I try and do it now, the ripper won't even recognize that one.

So here is my question. Are ALL dvd rippers free for only 10 minutes and then you have to pay for it? Or is there a free one (like Winx Free) that will copy the whole movie?

And where do I copy it to on my hard drive? Right now, the output says C. I didn't know what folder to put in.

I know I sound like a complete idiot to all of you tech people, but I really am trying to learn.

Someone bought me Avatar as a gift and I can't view it on my computer, and I have no dvd player. I just wanted to copy it to my hard drive.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

thanks much

Mel

[hech54]

Use this:
https://www.videohelp.com/tools/DVDFab_Decrypter

Guide on how to use it:
http://www.dvd-guides.com/content/view/225/59/

[Elizabeth Jenkins]

Thanks, I shall give your links a try. Will update if I am finally able to learn how to do this. Thanks again.

[Elizabeth Jenkins]

One more question. Is this free, am I able to copy a whole movie or just 10 minutes like some of them. Thanks much

[hardy]

The free version of DVDFab lets you copy the whole movie. If you want other options you have to purchase the software.

[Elizabeth Jenkins]

There are options other than copying a movie??

Boy I obviously have a lot to learn.

Thanks much

[hardy]

The options are to improve the copy, like choosing the main movie option to lower the file size. About 60% or more of the DVD's produced today can be burned to a single layer dvd with no compression, just by choosing the main movie option It helps by getting rid of unwanted previews, audio, subtitles, ect.

[Elizabeth Jenkins]

Okay, here is what just happened. I know how to follow directions, how to download and how to install.

I just did this. It also told me I had to enable something called DM or something like that and to reboot.

I did that.

I then launched the DVDfab.

I then put in my Avatar dvd, and a player thing popped up asking me if I wanted to open it and I hit cancel.

So right there up on top at the Source thing was AVATAR. I was thrilled. I got that part right.

I then went to Target and it already had a folder named Dvdfab right there so I just left it there.

Well, I never got a chance to press the START BUTTON.

Right in the middle of my screen a pop up window indicated:

OPEN DVD SOURCE E:\[AVATAR]

and all of a sudden it began doing something, blue thing going from left to right (I thought it was copying but I never got to press Start, so what was it doing?

After a few minutes it froze. Stopped going from left to right. I did the control alt delete and I got a message DVD FAB not responding, so I clicked on end and that was it.

So here is my first question.

Do I do the dvd copy or dvd rip (what's the difference).

And when to I get to press the START button?

And anything else you thing I did wrong, just tell me.

Anytime I insert a dvd in the drive a pop up player option asks me "what do you want to use to open?" and I always hit cancel.

So keep teaching me. I'll get this down yet.

lol
Thanks much

[hardy]

DVD Copy is DVD to DVD, which is what you want. It's the first choice on the list to the left of the program.
DVD Ripper is for compression, DVD to another format, AVI, iPod, ect.

1. The software will identify the source (DVD)
2. Choose your target folder manually or it will automatically choose a dvd drive (burner) as the destination.
3. Full Disc back-up, press start and it should be good to go.

[fritzi93]

DVD Copy is DVD to DVD, which is what you want. It's the first choice on the list to the left of the program.
DVD Ripper is for compression, DVD to another format, AVI, iPod, ect.

I hope fengtao wastes no time in correcting that terminology, because it will cause no end of confusion.

[Elizabeth Jenkins]

Okay, now I know I want DVD Copy, right? I just went back to the dvdfab thing. It was up on the screen. I inserted the Avatar DVD. Now here is where I get confused. How do I get the software to recognize the Avatar dvd in my E drive? Because up on the top where it says Source. IT DOESN'T SAY AVATAR. A little pop up thing comes up that says:

OPEN DVD SOURCE E:\[AVATAR]

and all of a sudden it began doing something, blue thing going from left to right (I thought it was copying but I never got to press Start, so what was it doing?

So exactly what do I do AFTER I insert the Avatar DVD, to get this software to recognize the fact that I want to make a copy. I know about the Target thing. I chose a folder. It's the SOURCE thing that is screwing me up. Or maybe it's my dvd itself. I have gone on youtube and watched tutorials. And every time the guy puts in a dvd, well it comes up in the Source thing.

My dvd of Avatar does not do that. The dvd fab software just seems to start loading.

Maybe I'm supposed to let it load, NO tha can't be right. It's supposed to say AVATAR up on top where it indicates Source, right?

My head hurts. lol

[Noahtuck]

Ripping = copying the files from a store bought pressed dvd to your HDD with absolutely NO changes, conversion or compression, just removing copy protections.

Compressing or transcoding is what you do to make a dual layer (dvd9) dvd fit on a single layer (dvd5) dvd-r.

Converting is what you are doing when you "convert" to another format, Xvid/Divx, MP4, etc.

@ fritzi93
Yeah someone made a point of that before how dvdfab has the wrong termanolgy.

But tons of people out there are under the misconception that "ripping" is converting a dvd to Xvid for example.

[fritzi93]

@Noahtuck:

Now that you mention it, yeah, I guess the point has been made before.

I'm not willing to let it pass, though. It's hard enough sometimes making out what some people are trying to say. When people misuse basic terms, they should be corrected.

So Fengtao, I know you're out there and you monitor this site for discussions involving DVDFab. Fix that, would you?

[Elizabeth Jenkins]

Okay, understood. I don't want to compress, convert or having anything to do with dual layers. All I want is to put in a dvd in my dvd lightscribe drive (E) and copy it to my hard drive.

Here is what happened. Oh, I have DVD fab 8 by the way. Don't know if it matters what version I have.

I brought up the DVD Fab, I inserted a different dvd that I have. A good one, no bootleg. All of a sudden the middle of the screen does it't thing and I get the same message.

OPEN DVD SOURCE E:\[FEAST OF ALL SAINTS] Then it started doing it's thing. I gather it was reading the dvd or something. I got so excited I can't tell you. I said outloud. Finally!!! I'm going to copy a dvd.

Well, another window popped up and said "Couldn't read the whole dvd, choose main movie, (which I had done already). I clicked on next. And I get a FAILURE thing up in the software widow.

Hey, I'm happy. I never got this far before.

I'm going to keep trying and you guys keep teaching me. A person is NEVER too old to learn this stuff.

So why the Failure message?

[Elizabeth Jenkins]

SUCCESS!!!! But not with Avatar or Feast of All Saints.

I popped in a dvd that I got in the cheap store. Called Sword of Lancelot. Guess what? it went through all the stages (this means I know what I'm doing right?) and it started to copy. It indicated that it was copying. I thought I would reduce the screen and go on the internet, come here and say "Wow, I finally am doing it", when the whole thing disappeared. Maybe i should not have reduced the screen? Didn't know I couldn't do that.

So now here is my final question. Since I know what I'm doing, and I almost copied something (it would have continued because I didn't get any error message), then how come it won't let me copy Avatar and Feast of All Saints.???

Are dvd's different from each other. I thought this dvd fab was supposed to take the copy protection thing off?

Thanks guys. I FINALLY LEARNED SOMETHING. lol

[Elizabeth Jenkins]

Okay, I finally completely copied a dvd onto my hard drive. I did a dvd named Harold Robbins Body Parts that I had bought from the store a long time ago. Because I couldn't copy Avatar I just wanted to make sure I could copy SOMETHING completely from start to finish, and go and find it.

I did it. I then went to Start, explore, C, my documents, searched for the folder DVD-Fab and there it was. It prompted me to open and I selected VLC. It played just fine. So I have found out that I can't watch dvds on my Lightscribe DVD Rom because of the jumpiness (both video and audio), but if I rip it, it plays just fine.

So I then tried to do Avatar once again. Actually 2 times. (Last night I tried many times).

The same thing always happens. It starts to read the dvd and just when you think you might have a shot and getting to the next level - COPY', the whole thing just stops working. I waited and I waited thinking "well, it's trying to read the dvd, give it some time".

I waited ALONG time, and when it wouldn't let me select any options, I knew it froze, so I had to end the whole program and when I did the control alt delete it told me that DVD-fab was not responding.

Okay, you wise people., why is it doing this and can I do anything about it?

Thanks much

[classfour]

You may want to see what programs are running in the background - there's no reason to be able to watch a DVD that's in the drive.

It may also be what's causing ripping problems with DVDFab.

[striker9]

Yeah don't play the disc while it's ripping it'll stop or go really slow and screw with it i usually don't run and program while im ripping unless u got a really good computer

[Elizabeth Jenkins]

I don't have any programs running in the background. And a few months ago, I had to bring in my computer to get the motherboard replaced. When I got it home, it computer worked just fine, and because I don't watch dvds regularly I had no idea that the dvd rom was not working. I put in various dvds and all of the jumped and skipped (the dvd rom drive worked fine BEFORE I took it in.)

I then took a walk a few blocks into the computer guy's store, told him what happened, he said "bring the computer back in". I said "are you kidding, it's hard enough to walk to your store, let's try another way". Then I went home, found the dvds that I had, brought them back to the store, and they all skipped and jumped, except for AVATAR, which played fine.

He then told me about the codec thing. I downloaded K-light and the problem continued. I tried various codecs and I have VLC but for whatever reason, EVERY dvd I have skips, plays slow and jumps in the Lightscribe drive. I gave up and said "what the heck, go and buy a dvd player" But then I said to myself, "people rip dvds all the time".

So until I buy a dvd player, I just want to copy Avatar onto my hard drive.

It's too hard to pick up this computer again, bring it into the computer guy. I gather he would have to replace the dvd rom drive altogether. But I'm not sure about that either.

So until I save enough money to buy a dvd player, I would like to learn to rip. I like learning new stuff about technology even at my age.

So guys, if you'd like to teach a person who is old enough to be someone's grandmother (and by the way, the reason I am a bit techno savvy for someone my age) is that 40 years ago, the place I worked chose me as the first employee to go to IBM school. That's right. I had one of the first IBM desk tops with a dot matrix printer (look that up why don't you). My hard drive was 20 megabytes. I'll never forget that. The monitor was a green colored and we used DOS. Remember DOS??? I used DOS.

When I bought my first IBM desktop (with dot matrix printer) I paid $3700. And that was about 25 years ago. Imagine!!!!

So I'm old timer who still has brain function and I want to learn.

Thanks much for being patient. I really have no one else to ask. Have no kids or grandkids who are as smart as all of you.

[Elizabeth Jenkins]

What do you mean play it while I'm ripping. I didn't play anything. Whatever I wrote in my previous post, is exactly what happened when I tried to rip Avatar. Someone told me they have a super copy protection on that particular dvd. Oh well.

[striker9]

most people don't recommend codec packs as it can clash with alredy installed ones though i use k-lite full as i have had no troubles i recomend u uninstall k-lite pack restart the computer then reinstall it then then open dvdfabdecrypter (making sure you have the latest version http://www.dvdfab.com/hd-decrypter.htm) select your dvddrive it wont open in a cddrive select it set the output options to C:\ or whereever wait for it to finish and open in mediaplayer classic select open dvd find the folder open it and watch it or burn using imgburn http://imgburn.com/index.php?act=download or yeah if dvdfab decrypter ask's what your region code is for the dvd is well ur in US so region 1 and also if your dvd doesn't work try opening mediaplayer classic and just play it from the disc if that doesn't work then it's something with the codecs

[Elizabeth Jenkins]

Well, I am going to have to read your post (striker9) about 10 times to understand it all. But last night I got the surprise of my life. Where upon I have NEVER to get Avatar to play in my DVD rom drive without jumping and slow audio etc.

Last night I said "What the heck, I put in the Avatar and bam, it started playing using VLC. Played beautifully (and don't ask me why it did this, I have NO idea).

So I sat back and prepared to enjoy Avatar. No such luck. I'm watching and all of a sudden it stops working. I then take it out, put it back in, it plays, I go back to the part I was watching, it plays for 10 minutes, then stops.

I have no idea what is going on with this dvd rom thing.

And you know something, I'm too tired to care anymore.

I will go over what you said about the codecs.


Thanks VERY much

Liz