Protected DVD-R!!!!!! Can't rip vob/ifo files!!!!

I got hold of a film on a DVD-R the other day of a so called m8 but I am having extreme difficulty in ripping the vob files so I can convert to svcd.
Have tried all the rippers etc and they all hang after a very short while.Playing the disc in Power dvd xp always results in it crashing and a warning message pops up about the disc apparently being damaged to prevent playback.The disc plays in my lounge dvd player perfectly.After a heated conversation with my (m8) the following was stated to me.
"if u try to rip the dvd-r to svcd it will go into protect mode,if u keep trying,it will flash the bios in your writer and motherboard".
Needless to say I wasn't a happy chappy as my computer froze and I had the blue screen of death saying something about not being able to load boot volume.Eventually I had to boot from my xp pro disc and do a recovery!
Other conversations with my (m8) indicate that he has somehow protected the dvd-r so i cant copy it.
Any-one any suggestions?
In my dvd drive it takes a while for my computer to display the contents of the disc.I can see the audio ts folder and video ts folder.But if i try to copy and paste them to my desktop for example, it copies a very small proportion and then stops.
Please, any ideas?
Thanks guys.

[Bullworth]

Have you tried vStrip? So far it's never failed me. You can get it at doom9.org with a guide as well. It's a command line program but there's also a GUI for it.

Just tried vStrip and it still hangs.It reports:- vStrip lost sync (not authenticated) [@LBA 896].
When i try to authenticate it in Power DVD, Power DVD hangs and reports disc may have been dameged to prevent playback, ie my m8s protection.

[Baldrick]

can you play other dvdrs? because some dvd-roms may have problem reading dvd-r.

[SLK001]

Why do you have to rip a DVD-R? These disks CANNOT have a CSS key applied, so they are just like a regular file. Just try to drag and drop the files where you want them. You will probably find a "non-DVDish" file that contains the protection that you mentioned (?). (Sorry, but this sounds like that computer virus that can demagnetize my refidgerator magnets!)

Beleive me my so called m8 is as paranoid as they come.Its the only dvd-r i have.There is some kinda protection on this disc.