Q: Reliable DVD Backup solution for either Linux or Windows ?

[Darksoul71]

Hi all,

since DVDFab has been forced to remove any functionality to remove copy-protection from the products, DVDFab HD Decrypter is neither updated, nor available anymore.
I have moved toward HD stuff (Youtube, BD, HDTV from DVB-S2) over the last years but every now and then I need to copy newer DVDs. Since my main PC is runnning under Linux I have had good success for backing up DVDs with dd_rescue and dvdbackup. Lately I came across a DVD with a strange copy protection scheme where the same VOBs are referenced multiple times. So a plain dvdbackup in mirror mode will let you end up with a "DVD structure" that is much (!) bigger than the DVD itself. DVDShrink failed to parse the DVD. I ended up by dumping the main movie with mplayer and remastering a DVD with DVDAuthor. This process is a bit clumsy and errorprone. Especially since you loose lot of informations such as language tags for audios and subtitles.

Does anyone know a reliable backup solutions for DVDs which either gets updates regularly or is able to remove newer sorts of copy protection ?

I know that MakeMKV does DVD backups as well but I prefer DVD to DVD copies and AFAIK MakeMKV only supports MKV output for DVDs.

Open source / free software would be prefered since I really do not want to shell out another $$$ for the rare case of backing up some DVD for a friend or the used ones I sometimes buy from the bay.

TIA,
D$

[manolito]

Hi all,

since DVDFab has been forced to remove any functionality to remove copy-protection from the products, DVDFab HD Decrypter is neither updated, nor available anymore.

Where does this information come from? They were obviously forced to move their site to a different domain in a different country (dvdfab.cn), but all their previous products are there with full functionality.

Otherwise nothing beats AnyDVD(HD) IMO...


Cheers
manolito

[Darksoul71]

Heya manolito,

nice to "hear" from you and thank you for your reply.

Where does this information come from? They were obviously forced to move their site to a different domain in a different country (dvdfab.cn), but all their previous products are there with full functionality.

Otherwise nothing beats AnyDVD(HD) IMO...

This information simply comes straight from their mails you receive as paying customer :D

I for one simply own BluRay Ripper but no DVD-related product. They only provide either test versions or payed versions which offer DVD ripping features because of the lawsuit they received. Don't ask me details. The mail was too long ago. So no more free DVD HD Decrypter.

As stated I know what I talk about because I have Fab installed and when you copied DVDs back then, it reported "falling back to DVD HD Decrypter" but now you only have a few weeks to "try". :devil:

So once again my question: Is there a reliable DVD backup solution similar to Fabs HDD Decrypter ?

I guess the copy protection I ran into lately was similar to those Disney DVDs with > 20 titles resulting in a something like 40 GB big HDD structure if you use dvdbackup under Linux.

Slightly OT:
Oh yeah, and in regard to the fox company: They simply were much more expensive when I was looking for a "life-time" license for a BD backup solution. MakeMKV and BluRay Ripper were equally expensive but DVDFab simply won because of more stable, better ripping.

TIA,
D$

[manolito]

So no more free DVD HD Decrypter.

I can still download the free DVD HD Decrypter (which shuts off a lot of features after the trial has ended but continues to remove the DVD protection).

http://198.50.118.114/download/DVDFab9168.exe
or
http://174.142.97.100/download/DVDFab9168.exe

If the download does not work you might have to connect through a proxy.

It has been a while since I last tried DVDFab, but I do remember that the protection removal was still working after the trial ended.


Cheers
manolito

[Darksoul71]

Thanks for the hint but this does not help since....
1) DVDFab HDD does not get updated regulary anymore (= newer copy protection might not work)
2) DVDFab HDD can not be installed along with an up2date version of DVDFab (which includes my BluRay Ripper license).

So DVDFab unfortunately is out of option....:(

[Groucho2004]

So DVDFab unfortunately is out of option....:(
In that case AnyDVD would be your best choice. I agree with Manolito, can't really top AnyDVD nowadays.

[Kerry56]

If you don't want to buy AnyDVD, which is the best decryption program around in my opinion, you can try TDMore Free DVD Copy. This should be very similar to DVDFab HD Decrypter: http://www.tdmore.com/free-dvd-copy.html

In fact, it may be the same program with a new GUI. But I can't confirm that.

The same limitations apply to this program as Fab HD Decrypter, in that very new movies may have encryption that it cannot handle and you'd have to wait for an update.

[Darksoul71]

@Groucho2004: Thanks for your reply but AnyDVD is no option since I have a working BD copy solution and ripping DVD is only a rare case (e.g. 5-10 DVDs a year).

@Kerry56: Thanks for the hint. I will try....

[Ghitulescu]

Well, I never relied on DVDfab and the like. I always ripped my DVDs with free tools that were fully dumb. I supplied the intelligence, though. Among those DVDs were some later Disneys and Sony Pictures.
I never thought of writing a guide, for everyone relied on the latest upgrades/updates from AnyDVD.

And it may even simpler if one drops the menu (mostly useless and/or annoying IMHO) and keep the movie as in cinemas (do you have a menu there and/or a skip commercials feature? :) ).

[Darksoul71]

@Ghitulescu: Valid point...it is simply that I usually make an iso from the dvd with ddresue if it is "structural protected". Afterwards I either user dvdbackup or DVDShrink (via WINE) to remove the menu and only keep the audio tracks I am interested in. But here is the point where my usual tools under Linux fail if I run into such a structural protected DVD. Those usually have a lot of fake titles, three to four titles which are not the full movie and result in an imense DVD structure on your HDD being much bigger than the usual 8.5GB.

The last one was "Five Friends". I could do a copy by using mplayer's dumpstream feature but this way you loose the language tags for audio and subtitles plus it is additional work to remaster the DVD.

It would be nice to reduce manual intervention and keep the language information. If one points out a working solution to parse those "99 title"-DVDs and find out the right title to rip for the main movie I might considering wrapping those tools into some python / bash script and publish it here. I am not much into Windows anymore those day. I merely keep my Win7 box for Gaming (Steam), BD Ripping and HDTV processing.

Similar to BDs it is really a PITA that I have to pay so much attention to something I own legally simply for the fact that I either want to backup it or watch it on smartphone, tablet, Raspi.