Yer, didn't even think of that... couldn't care less about ripping movies or anything; I did a project for someone in my pre-Vegas days and he wants to add a new scene to it and all we have is the DVD.

Don't forget you can always just connect the DVD player to your camera/convertor/deck and capture directly into Vegas using pass-thru straight to a DV-AVI file. Just another option...

I could care less about ripping Pro DVDs too. I only use it to rip my own homemade DVDs and it works great. So I'm not going to avoid it just because it happens to rip through "Macrovision" or other encodings if it does what I need just fine. Can be ripped and ready to re-record in about 15 minutes or so. And I obtained it legally. It also comes in handy for simple re-authoring. (combining small files from separate DVDs)

DVD Decrypter is still the best and available on many mirror sites still ...

macrovision shut them (him) down because they feared he would break their new protection scheme (which already has been anyway) , one of the best apps on the web for pro use also - shut down by a company in a knee jerk reaction to the fact that the big studios are not using macrovision any longer and their income base is fast drying up -- a little to late anyway as most major studios have developed their own systems (like sony 's very good protection system - which, in the words of a sony spokesperson " it does it's job as it is supposed to and prevents the casual user from backing up their dvd". Never mind the right of fair use gone to the big tear drop in the sky in terms of any rights (you have none - or that different countries have different laws)) ..


more on this here - along with our resident copywrite lawyer's take on the law in the usa ..

http://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=270521

hmmmm am I missing something here? I downloaded DVD Decrypter and all it seems to do is transfer the files from the DVD to my HD. How do I get these files in Vegas?

Do a search here on DVD to AVI. There are about 1 million threads on it. Some will say that you have to rename the file to .mpg (don't expect these to work very well in the timeline), but you won't be able to get the AC3 to register in Vegas, so somewhere in those threads is information about getting the AC3 back to a .wav. If you're looking to re-edit, that's what you're going to have to do. If you just want to add another section to it, then you can either make a new menu with another 'button' for the new section, or you can use TMPGEnc mpeg encoder and it will stitch 2 mpgs together and it will play as one. WARNING: if you want to re-edit your mpg, it's not going to be easy. But stitching 2 pieces together is not a problem unless you don't have TMPGEnc. They used to have a 30 day trial, but don't know if that's still the case. TMPGEnc can be found at pegasys. Also, the free DVDShrink will allow you to add a new section and it is very easy to re-author. (drag & drop) But new sections have to be added between or at the beginning or end of sections. It's super simple and you don't have to "shrink" the files. (note: re-authoring with DVDShrink usually renders the menu as useless and it will play every thing, including the menu, in succession.)

wow, I was afraid of that. Thanks for the info TheGr8Steve! Looks like the big HD is the way to go! I figured it might be challenging if all we have is the compressed DVD. I'll check the other threads anyway, tho, thanks

it is actually very easy really

except - if you dont want to re-render the mpeg , then vegas is not designed for that ..

I use the ImTOO DVD Ripper found here:

http://imtoo.com/

It is the only one I found that looks smooth on the zooms and pans. I use it with the Main Concept DV codec which is compatible with Vegas and looks better than other options. The other way to do it is just capture video from your DVD player with a Canopus box. You can get around the Macrovision by holding the select button until the color bars appear then disappear. After that macrovision will be disabled.

The nice thing about DVD Decrypter, there is a procedure you can do that will allow you to strip the assets with which you created a DVD, create new menus, if need be, add extra footage, if need be; all without the the original footage. This is, of course, assuming you have room on the disk.

This was a real life-saver for me once. I had to redo a high school graduation DVD (menu(s)) and the original footage was no longer available.

I was able to re-generate it all as good as brand new. No re-encoding of the video/audio assets.

jetdv (Ed?)

Won't connecting a DVD player to a converter or DV camcorder create a darker-than-desired and less "crisp" image? I had edited a wedding video and deleted the original files (due to volume). All I had left was the DVD image on my DVD duplicator hard drive.. Later, the client found out he'd mispelled a name and wanted a fix. I realize I had a copy that was an analog image, but it was way too dark and "fuzzy". Am I missing something regarding your recommendation or should I make a DVD ripper software purchase?

Thanks in advance,
Mike

Ahh the minor changes in an otherwise perfect DVD: The easiest way to do that is get an mpeg editor. I use the Mpeg Wizard and Mpeg VCR programs found here:

http://womble.com/products/

You just copy the VOB files to your hard drive, rename them something.mpg, do your edit, then reauthor in DVD Architect.

I do it this way because the quality isn't diminished and it's really fast. Mpeg Wizard will edit mpeg video with an AC3 soundtrack directly, and it does a smartrender with mpeg 2 that is the same as what Vegas does with DV video. In other words, the only thing rerendered are sections of the video where edits occur. Everything else is just a straight file copy.

A final note that is kind of important: when you have the final mpeg you want to reauthor, the separate Mpeg VCR program has a demuxing feature which will let you separate the AC3 audio from the mpeg 2 video. This keeps you from having to rerender the audio. DVDA can't seem to extract AC3 audio from an mpeg file with embedded AC3 audio and rerenders the audio otherwise.

>>DVDA can't seem to extract AC3 audio from an mpeg file with embedded AC3 audio and rerenders the audio otherwise.

DVD Decrypter can and does...perfectly. You are left with video elementary streams and AC3 files.

Mike, it looks the same captured as it does when played on the TV. I haven't noticed a "darker-than-desired and less "crisp" image".

kentwolf:
What am I doing wrong? I dowloaded DVD Decrypter, used it to copy files from my daughter's recital DVD. The destination folder containes the video files in the video_ts folder, but no audio_ts folder is created.

I can play those video files, and the audio is present in them. What must I do to separate the audio.?

My original intent was to bring the entire piece back into DVDA3, or, if necessary, back into V6 to make some changes.

I can import those video files onto the V6 timeline, but there is no audio present.

Decrypter looks simple enough, but, I must be overlooking something.

Thanks for any helpful advice.

Del

>>What am I doing wrong?

The key is in the DVD Decrypter setup...and it is not intuitive/apparent in my opinion.

See here.

...never mind about the part about Encore. It doesn't matter. That is where the info happens to be posted.

Do *exacty* what it says and all should work for you.

By the way, I would not reccomend taking the video back into Vegas then re-rendering, but tht is up-to-you. The intent, pretty much, is to take the exact same video/audio footage and essentially "re-package" (Re-DVD) it without a re-render.

Audio TS folder is only for DVD-Audio spec - not what you are dealing with here
It has been a while since I have used DVDDecrypter (I mostly use MPEG Video Wizard or Virtual Dub for these efforts with DVDs) but my recollection is that if you go to Mode menu and switch to IFO mode you are presented a Stream Processing tab that has options to demux (de-multiplex or separate the various streams - audio , video , various translations , etc. )

Shame to hear about the demise of a good app - spare the tears for the great Media Gods losing millions to the minions

BJ_M wrote this:
...most major studios have developed their own systems (like sony 's very good protection system - which, in the words of a sony spokesperson " it does it's job as it is supposed to and prevents the casual user from backing up their dvd".

- First of all, it's not my intention to highjack this post, but.......I would really like to see this new protection :)
BTW, DVD Decrypter is a fantastic tool and as some users have stated, it is still available. Similarly, Clone CD has moved from Europe. That's what Elby says on its homepage, even though it can be downloaded (and yes, updated versions) at some other sites, legal sites, on the web - anyone can check that out.
I don't know what all the fuss is about. Despite the fact DVD Decrypter is a fantastic tooI, I don't care to backup anything because I buy a DVD seldom, maybe twice a year. It's just that I don't understand how someone can watch the same movie 10 or maybe 20 times.....I mean, DVDs are not like music, that you can listen to a thousand times or even more. When I wanna watch a DVD around here, I go to the nearest Blockbuster and rent it. Furthermore, it doesn't do any good to backup something that is already outdated. Bluray or whatever you call this new technology is right here. Think about that: all the people who got huge libraries full of VHS tapes...Are they converting those VHS movies to DVD?

>>...Are they converting those VHS movies to DVD?

Hey! I did some... :) All of the others, I bought the DVD version...some (VHS) were thrown out...

I did actually convert some from VHS to DVD...but I suspect I am in a minority.

Thanks, Kentwolf / Fultro. I would not have figured that out in a million years.
I now have the separate video/audio files.

Next, let's see if I can work with them.

I agree with previous statements concerning copying of commercial titles. I have one film that I can watch more than once - Hoosiers - you'll all probably think that a goofy choice, but, the rural setting in which it was filmed, and the subject matter take me back to my roots. I can smell those school buildings, feel the softness of the fields under foot. It really takes me back, even though it's just a well done formula film.

I own it on both VHS (paid a lot for it) and DVD (paid 12.00 for a better than VHS version in a mini-mart convenience store, LOL).

It's the only film I would want to see more than once (unless something else comes out that also reminds me of me.

Can't imagine what anyone does with a pirated library of films other than let them sit on the shelf - perhaps show them to guests on occasion.

Del

i have 1000's and 1000's of dvd's and laser disks .. many not available any longer and Ive backed up many of the laser disks to dvd now and back up the rare dvds.. i also back up the kids games and PS2 games - as well as their DVDs which they use in the car or house w/ their friends .. we have a screening room/ theater at home here also.

the "new" sony protection is just a new form of their standard ARccOS system - right now it is being used on a few region 2 disks ("Closer" and "The Mechanic") ..
The old and new forms of ARccOS make dvds very hard to copy for the average users - though both forms can be done pretty easy if you know what you are doing. The macrovision (the sobs that took down dvd decrypter) method is different than the SONY method in that it does make some disks unplayable on some machines.

A perfect method to protect your own productions on dvd (like weddings) is to drill a hole in it (or burn a spot w/ a laser) - for real .. to a black only chapter not called by any menu function and drill a hole through it where it resides on the disk .. That is in effect the sony method - except no physical holes , just bad sectors . I need someone to write an app to work on a burner to burn a bad sector on a burnable dvd in a certain location. And - give your clients two copies - so they have no need of an excuse to back it up themselves (which i certainly could understand) .