Windows 7: Handbrake and DVDs

Sorry if this is posted in the wrong forum.



If I own a DVD purchased out a shop and I want to place a copy on my Hard Drive, is it legal in the UK to do this? I tried Handbrake to rip a music dvd (owned [personally]) but it wouldnt play the file back. Tried WMP and VLC but neither could read the file. Is this an ordinary occurance and all i need to do is try again and hopefully the next time it will work?

I can't answer about the legality, but I can tell you that you skipped a step. You need something to remove the protection first. The most common and easiest method is to use DVDfab HD Decrypter (which is free) to rip the movie to your HDD, and then Handbrake can take that folder and turn it into whatever type file you need.

It may be legal in U.K. by now. Just check whether the laws have been changed as planned.

UK finally makes ripping your own DVDs and CDs legal

Hi clark33,
My fav ripping tool is DVD Shrink, How to use.

I have to caution against using DVD Shrink for the actual ripping. It hasn't been updated in years, so it fails on many recent DVDs since that time. It works great for the actual shrinking processes, but you still would need DVDfab HD Decrypter to rip the DVD to your HDD. DVDfab is updated often.

Hi, I use DVD Shrink on a regular basis and never had trouble with it, so far. Will try your suggestion next time, to compare results.

It fails on nearly ever recent DVD I've tried it on. It was a great program, but when it was abandoned by its developers, the community pretty much did the same. DVDfab does everything DVD Shrink used to do....including the ripping and the shrinking.

I have to admit I have not used it on the latest DVD's as all my stuff is like me, rather old.