ImgBurn L-EC Uncorrectable Error Ripping Commercial Discs

[koberulz]

I'm trying to go through and back up my DVD collection, and I keep getting this error. I tried searching, but the advice given is always 'use a lower write speed', which doesn't apply in this case.

Are these all dead discs?

[hech54]

IMGBurn does not remove copy protection.

[koberulz]

I'm running AnyDVD, copy protection shouldn't be an issue. I have managed to successfully rip all eight seasons of Psych, plus a locally-bought copy of the 1991 NBA Finals. My imported NBA DVDs are failing at a spectacular rate, though, so I'm not sure if there's some oddity about how they're authored or if they just had a really poor manufacturing standard and the discs are dead.

[Krispy Kritter]

Try using a different tool to RIP the disc. I use DVDFab, but there are numerous options, especially as you are using AnyDVD (such as the old DVD Decrypter).

Assuming issues continue with other tools, it could simply be a failing drive.

[JVRaines]

Try ISOBuster.

[koberulz]

Tried ISOBuster and a different drive, still no dice. Looks like the discs are all dead, then?

[aedipuss]

can you play the dvds without any problems?

[october262]

Try using dvdfab.

[koberulz]

That seems like an expensive experiment. I'm sure I remember DVDFab being free? Had it on my last machine, and apparently it remembers that because my trial is now expired.

Haven't tried watching the discs in question, might give that a shot tomorrow.

[october262]

Once the free trial has ended it reverts to the free HD DECRYPTER version.

[dannyboy48888]

Imgburn rips on a sector level so maybe a issue, does the disc rip fine when using anydvd rip to iso function?

[JVRaines]

Not usual for commercial discs, but do they have adhesive paper labels?

[koberulz]

Once the free trial has ended it reverts to the free HD DECRYPTER version.

But it doesn't, it just throws up "Trial Expired" messages everywhere and won't let me do anything.

Downloaded a newer version, which let me start the trial over again. It won't even load the disc...and just as I say that it finally does. Took about five minutes. Fails ripping though.

AnyDVD's Rip to ISO fails at exactly the same point as ImgBurn.

No paper labels.

[dannyboy48888]

Going with Bad drive then, only 100% way to verify would to try another drive, as I had drive I thought were dead but after trying in a new drive I found out it was a badly stamped disc

[koberulz]

Already tried a different drive, mentioned that upthread.

[awgie]

I suspect you're correct in guessing that they had lower quality standards. Depending on where you imported them from, there's a good chance they used extremely cheap discs and burned them using a very cheap drive.

I would say your best - and perhaps only - chance would be to try and get your hands on a good commercial-grade blu-ray drive (maybe borrowing or renting one), as that has a better likelihood of getting past read errors. But don't hold your breath. The L-EC error usually means there are physical errors on the disc, and any drive you use is going to have the same trouble. Think of it as spilling a bucket of paint on the pages of a book. No matter who tries to read the book, no one will be able to read those pages.

[hech54]

plus a locally-bought copy of the 1991 NBA Finals. My imported NBA DVDs are failing at a spectacular rate

Judging by the vague wording of this....I'm guessing these discs are burned/homemade and not factory pressed?

[koberulz]

I suspect you're correct in guessing that they had lower quality standards. Depending on where you imported them from, there's a good chance they used extremely cheap discs and burned them using a very cheap drive.

The US. Amazon, IIRC. They're made by Warner Brothers.

Confirmed unplayable, too. *sigh*

I have a handful I picked up a couple of years earlier that are still in good nick. Odd.

Judging by the vague wording of this....I'm guessing these discs are burned/homemade and not factory pressed?

Incorrect. It was just quicker than being more specific.

You couldn't get NBA DVDs here until relatively recently, so I imported a bunch from the US. Initially picked up the Dynasty Series sets, which work fine, and then later added all the Finals sets. 1985, 1989, 1994, and 2006 are all dead, as is the Indiana Pacers Greatest Games. 1986 appears to have survived. The Essentials sets were released here, and my Chicago one is dead. Boston survived. Fingers are crossed for New York and my imported copies of Top Ten Greatest, the Spurs four-championship set, and Ultimate Jordan.

[awgie]

I have to wonder if some outside physical influence had affected those discs – either before you got them or even after. It's odd for that many DVD sets to all go bad like that, especially from someone like Warner Bros.

Assuming they were actually made by WB in the first place, that is. It's possible that WB farmed out the manufacture of those series (or maybe whoever actually made them somehow partnered with WB and that may be the only reason that WB's name is on them at all). They would appear to have been manufactured by a fly-by-night studio with less-than-commercial quality equipment.

[hech54]

There are quite a few bad Amazon reviews in these sets.

[koberulz]

I have to wonder if some outside physical influence had affected those discs – either before you got them or even after. It's odd for that many DVD sets to all go bad like that, especially from someone like Warner Bros.

Well, my entire DVD shelf collapsed a year or two ago, spilling all my DVDs across the room. But the errors seem isolated to that one batch of NBA DVDs, other than the 1986 Finals. A 2005 ROH DVD also failed to read, but the bottom of the disc is stained some weird color in patches so I have zero questions about that one.

The Warner-labeled NBA DVDs I picked up earlier are all fine.

Mind you, they're not all dead, just at least one disc in each. If I have to buy replacements I have to re-buy the whole set anyway, so if I get one unresolvable failure I'm not too concerned with continuing to investigate the rest of the set.

As for negative reviews..."this CD is in black and white" (it's a DVD and it isn't), "this footage from the 80s isn't in very good quality", "two minutes are missing from one game"...people are idiots. The first half of game one of the 1985 Finals being absent is worthy of complaint, and I was hugely disappointed to discover that when I popped the set in after first buying it, but archival footage disappears sometimes.

The 1994 set is the only one I can find genuine-seeming complaints about manufacturing quality.

[koberulz]

I have to wonder if some outside physical influence had affected those discs – either before you got them or even after. It's odd for that many DVD sets to all go bad like that, especially from someone like Warner Bros.

Well, my entire DVD shelf collapsed a year or two ago, spilling all my DVDs across the room. But the errors seem isolated to that one batch of NBA DVDs, other than the 1986 Finals. A 2005 ROH DVD also failed to read, but the bottom of the disc is stained some weird color in patches so I have zero questions about that one.

The Warner-labeled NBA DVDs I picked up earlier are all fine.

Mind you, they're not all dead, just at least one disc in each. If I have to buy replacements I have to re-buy the whole set anyway, so if I get one unresolvable failure I'm not too concerned with continuing to investigate the rest of the set.

As for negative reviews..."this CD is in black and white" (it's a DVD and it isn't), "this footage from the 80s isn't in very good quality", "two minutes are missing from one game"...people are idiots. The first half of game one of the 1985 Finals being absent is worthy of complaint, and I was hugely disappointed to discover that when I popped the set in after first buying it, but archival footage disappears sometimes.

The 1994 set is the only one I can find genuine-seeming complaints about manufacturing quality.

[Bigbill]

Tried all the free rippers, no good. Plus I bought Wonder Fox, too much work.....no success..................Anybody have something that works?

[october262]

Tried all the free rippers, no good. Plus I bought Wonder Fox, too much work.....no success..................Anybody have something that works?

What disc are you trying to backup ??

[awgie]

Tried all the free rippers, no good. Plus I bought Wonder Fox, too much work.....no success..................Anybody have something that works?

If the free rippers aren't reading your disc, it's highly unlikely that any paid programs will be any different. If you've tried ripping it in a different drive and still have no success, you may be sunk. Does the disc play in a standalone DVD player?

[Bigbill]

[QUOTE=october262;2481825]

Tried all the free rippers, no good. Plus I bought Wonder Fox, too much work.....no success..................Anybody have something that works?

What disc are you trying to backup ??[/QUOTE

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA

[october262]

[QUOTE=Bigbill;2481939]

Tried all the free rippers, no good. Plus I bought Wonder Fox, too much work.....no success..................Anybody have something that works?

What disc are you trying to backup ??[/QUOTE

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA

Try the latest version of dvdfab. The registered version should work
The free trial hd decrypter may not work on this title yet.

[Bigbill]

[QUOTE=october262;2481941]

Tried all the free rippers, no good. Plus I bought Wonder Fox, too much work.....no success..................Anybody have something that works?

What disc are you trying to backup ??[/QUOTE

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA

Try the latest version of dvdfab. The registered version should work
The free trial hd decrypter may not work on this title yet.

Thanks for that info, was even think of buying their DVD copy. I'll try their freebee first.

[cholla]

I know it has been over a month since koberulz asked this question.

Try IsoPuzzle used with AnyDVD .
IsoPuzzle has the ability to use several drives to work on the same DVD.
Starting where it left off from the previous drive.
It could be your copy of AnyDVD is too old to remove the encryption from these NBA DVDs but it shouldn't be.
If IsoPuzzle fails with AnyDVD you could try the free version of DVDFab Passkey with IsoPuzzle .

I've recovered some really "bad" DVDs this way.
They do occasionally have artifacts.
Sometimes the .iso won't mount in a virtual drive but it normally does.
If it doesn't you can usually burn them to a DVD with ImgBurn.
Good luck & I hope both koberulz & Bigbill see this post

[koberulz]

Epic bump, but I bought a new copy of the 2006 set and the same discs are bad. Odd since I definitely watched the first set when I bought it, which I can no longer do, so a manufacturing defect doesn't make sense.

I'm using MakeMKV now, and quite a few of them are just ripping three quarters of the game, and not notifying me that there's been a problem at all. Lots of stuff in the log, no idea what any of it means, but the whole thing is just bizarre.

I rebought the 1985 set too, and managed to cobble together working backups for every disc, but I had to frankenstein the shit out of it including one game where I had to rip three quarters of the game from one copy and the first quarter from the other, because neither would rip in full. My rebought Indiana Pacers set works perfectly, at least...well, I say perfectly, it rips perfectly. MakeMKV still throws a whole bunch of ILLEGAL REQUEST:READ OF SCRAMBLED SECTOR WITHOUT AUTHENTICATION errors.