Tutorial Thursday
What would you do if you lost your entire movie collection? Wouldn’t it be nice to have some backups laying around in case someone scratched your precious Rudy video or your dog ate an entire season of the Simpsons?
A popular application called DVD Decrypter lets you copy an entire DVD onto your computer’s hard drive, and it bypasses any copy protection mechanisms that would make duplicating a store-bought DVD otherwise impossible. The only problem is that new copy protection algorithms are frequently being created, and this application hasn’t been updated since 2005.
For that reason you should use Free DVD (kudos to xpgeek in the forum for pointing this out). It can copy an entire movie to the hard disk while removing all traces of copy protection (CSS, RC, RCE, APS, UOPs and Sony ARccOS). This application is frequently updated, and best of all it’s not hard to use nor does it require any installation.
How you copy a DVD movie:
- Put the movie you want to copy in the DVD drive of your computer. Open up the contents of the DVD using a file explorer, such as Windows Explorer, and copy the VIDEO_TS folder to a location on your hard drive.
- Download and run Free DVD (the free version, not the Platinum). It’s only 44KB, and doesn’t require any installation.
- In Free DVD, select the VIDEO_TS folder you copied to your hard drive in the first step. You’ll receive a prompt notifying you of the restrictions that will be removed.
- You probably won’t need to adjust any of the settings, but go ahead and do so if it’s needed. Then press the Free DVD! button to remove all copy restrictions from the movie.
- Then if you want to put this video on a DVD you can use DVD Shrink. This program will also remove copy protections, but it is well over a year old and you’ll probably run into some DVD’s that it doesn’t work with. If you use Free DVD first then all of your issues should be solved. The great thing about DVD Shrink is that it will also cut down the size of the video so that it will fit on a normal DVD instead of needing a dual-layer disc.
Backing up your DVD’s has never been so easy! Now remember, these instructions are for educational purposes only, and I guess they should only be used on your own home-made movies that you apply copy protection to. 
Once again a big thanks goes out to xpgeek in the forum for pointing out this great app!
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Tags: CyberNotes, Freeware, Software, Applications, Movies, Settings, Videos
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This looks promising. I’ll try it out later. Thanks for the tip.
An easier way with less steps: Use AnyDVD - it decrypts the DVD after you put the disc in - on the fly.
Then use CloneDVD to shrink and burn (all at once).
You can use both programs for free as trial versions, and then buy them.
AnyDVD is very frequently updated and if you buy it, the purchase price includes lifetime free updates.
It might be a little easier, but I can deal with the few extra steps and saving myself $50.
You’re using Free DVD there. The other program also on the download page, DVDFab HD Decrypter, requires installation, (no idea if it actually also works on HD-DVD’s as its new name would imply), but will rip the DVD for you while removing the encryption, combining two steps and saving some time.
Note : as you say educational purposes only, but, I think it’d be wise, just to be safe, to clearly state that in the US it is a direct violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, DMCA, and against the law to strip, break, or bypass, any commercial copy protection.
Good point xpgeek!
I agree AnyDVD is outstanding, I have used it for years and well worth the price.
It is entirely transparent, updated more then any other app I have ever used (although I wish they would make the update a little more automatic), and has never caused any problems whatsoever in XP or Vista.
You install it, and as far as any application on your system is concerned, no DVD in any DVD drive is unencrypted, period. I have never had a failure.
Look at Ryan teaching the CyberNet community about how to pirate movies.
(I’m kidding!)
I usually use DVD Shrink to backup some of my older movies, and sometimes the newer ones. It works fine for me.
Thanks Ryan & XP
It should also be noted that ripping a DVD to a HD can get rid of skipping.
Yes, AnyDVD is fantastic. This freebie looks worth a try though.
Thanks for the tip ryan.
I find it funny that there are companies who build software for pirates and they expect to sell them.
Most pirates will find a way to get those great tools for free.
I’m pretty sure both of those programs could be found on the torrent networks.
Can you please tell me how I save or make a cd or dvd of video files I saved in a folder on my desktop? Thanks richardm
The easiest way is to use a program such as Nero to burn them.