Special copy protection in Japan?

[HartleySan]

I'm using the latest version of DVDFab 8 Qt, and I almost never have any problems with copying DVD discs, but a few times, I have had issues.

All three times I have had issues, they have been with Japanese DVDs that all have the same Japanese copy protection warning on them. So, now I'm wondering, does Japan have some special copy protection that software like DVDFab can't get around, or is it that the three discs that I couldn't copy were just scratched or something? None of the three discs looked (heavily) scratched; at least not to the point where they shouldn't be copyable.

The thing is, in all three cases, I could actually watch the movies fine on my PC, but in all three cases, there was one VOB file in particular that could not be copied, and would freeze at the same location every time.

Any info would be greatly appreciated, as I have already search high and low on both English and Japanese sites, but have found nothing.

As a final note, I also tried using AnyDVD and DVD Decrypter as well, but they all froze in the same place on the same VOB files.

Thank you.

[mike20021969]

but in all three cases
What are the titles of these 3 DVDs?

[setarip_old]

@HartleySan None of the three discs looked (heavily) scratched; at least not to the point where they shouldn't be copyable. Despite your speculation, it sounds like your discs are physically damaged...

[HartleySan]

They're all Region 2 with Japanese subtitles, but: Magnolia, A Very Long Engagement, and L.A. Confidential.

The thing is, all three movies are watchable on my PC, but I read a post somewhere else today saying that a player can quite often ignore errors that a copier cannot. To that end, I turned on the Ignore Errors option in both DVDFab 8 and DVD Decrypter, but it did not change the end result. Hmmm...

[HartleySan]

Well, I can't test two of the DVDs, because I don't have them anymore, but with the one I still have, I was able to confirm that it is indeed scratched. About 40 minutes into the movie, it froze, and what do you know, it's right on the VOB that I suspected to be trouble. Anyway, thank you all for your assistance. It would seem that Japan does NOT have any special copy protection that can't be gotten around; it was just a scratched disc.

[setarip_old]

I can't test two of the DVDs, because I don't have them anymore Then you should not have included them in your posting here...
Anyway, thank you all for your assistance.My pleasure ;>}

[HartleySan]

Well, good news and more good news.

I got ahold of the other two Japanese DVDs, and boom! they copied fine in the newest version of DVDFab. So, in the end, I guess there were scratches on the original discs that were causing the problems.

I was just surprised that I could watch two of the DVDs all the way through, even though I couldn't copy them with the original, scratched discs.

Oh well, all the same. All's well that ends well.

[mike20021969]

I was just surprised that I could watch two of the DVDs all the way through, even though I couldn't copy them with the original, scratched discs.
Watching a DVD and copying a DVD are not the same process.
Error correction can help when watching a DVD when it is slightly damaged (e.g. with scratches).