[mythtv-users] DVD ISOs

[Johnny]

> Johnny: I am talking about discs that the MythTV internal DVD player can
> playback without a problem.  Not only can I play these discs back through
> the internal player, I can also rip them using HandBrake or DVD::Rip or a
> number of other tools that have been built to transcode DVDs.   What I *can
> not* figure out how to do is rip an ISO.  I don't want to transcode my
> DVDs.  I have an abundance of storage space and a shortage of time.  I don't
> want to sit around waiting for my DVDs to rip.  I want it to happen at
> roughly the same speed it would take to copy 9GB from a DVD-ROM to my hard
> drive.

This is precisely what the copy protections are trying to do. They
want to allow playback but they are designed to prevent ripping an
ISO. I don't know or claim to understand exactly what they have done.
I do know some of things they do involve created a complex maze of VOB
files and fake titles etc., such that during regular playback the bad
sectors on the disc are avoided, but attempts to rip the disc will
fail. So take HandBrake for example. It plays the DVD back through VLC
and then it grabs each frame and transcodes it into the new video. So
it can work in a case like this. But when you try to rip an ISO it
will fail because it hits the corrupt areas (filesystem or sector,
etc). I am just saying you may find a way around it but I wouldn't
plan on it, and certainly wouldn't plan on it for all DVDs. That is
why Slysoft and DVDFab have to issue frequent updates to their
products. This is a cat and mouse game and you are always going to run
into discs that are designed to thwart your efforts to get an ISO.