LEGALLY import/rip DVD's?

Is there any LEGAL ways, via LEGAL software, to import/rip my own DVD's for home and personal use?

Any help appreciated!

does 'the law' depend on what country you live in?

Hi there
this is one time where I really would tell the B/S Corporate Lawyers and suits to FOXTROT OSCAR in no uncertain terms.

I have a load of movies LEGALLY paid for on DVD's but I travel a lot so using software like CLONE / REAL DVD to copy an image of the DVD to a nice small portable 1TB external disk IMO is perfectly OK whatever the suits think.

I use Alcohol 52% to mount the ISO I've created and it behaves EXACTLY like the original DVD does.

VLC plays the "Virtual DVD" just as if it's a real DVD --just mount / unmount with Alcohol 52% or whatever "DVD Virtual Drive" software you have.

On a 1 TB usb drive I can get LOADS and LOADS of DVD images as well - not even needing any compression etc. I haven't bothered with BLU RAY stuff yet as these are too restrictive for use and "Bog standard" DVD's play just fine on a 10 inch laptop screen when in a plane / hotel too. My DVD cloning software copies the DVD to an ISO identical to the original whether it's 6 GB or 4GB or whatever.

I've PAID for this stuff so why can't I watch it when travelling -- and with modern storage techniques why shouldn't I be allowed to copy these to USB sticks or external HDD's instead of having to carry around loads of DVD's.

I don't support pirating software but making a copy of a DVD you've PAID FOR IMO is perfectly OK -- I'd just tell the MPAA to really FOXTROT OSCAR on this one.

Provided you aren't selling the content or making it available for "public" viewing then what's wrong.

There's a similar B/S restriction over recording TV programs -- but I haven't seen any Court prosecuting private individuals for making recordings for PRIVATE USE.

Cheers
jimbo

mckillwashere said:

But I can say this, if you have any home movies on dvd you would like to back up to your computer bit ripper is a great tool set it up to use the xvid codec and you can back up a full dvd of home videos at around 700-900 mb each :)

Hi there -- that's slightly different from the OP.

Incidentally after I've cloned the DVD's I can of course re-create them (minus Regional encoding and CSS encryption if necessary).

Sometimes you want reasonable backups of the originals - XVID isn't that great if you need to watch on a LARGE LCD TV.

Using a backup method of cloning DVD's your DVD's will play nicely on standard DVD players too and with decent upscaling will be nearly as good as Blu Ray even on LARGE LCD

Of course for DVD's > 4.7 GB you'll need the DVD Authoring software to re-create a PHYSICAL DVD Dual Layer (DVD-9) if you want to fit the movie with all the extras etc on to a single disc.

Clone DVD / Full DVD create ISO's of dual layer discs -- no prob and Alcohol 52% mounts these just like the original DVD -- when you play it you get everything just like the original DVD MINUS the regional encoding and CSS encryption if you want

You can of course leave the DVD regionally locked / encrypted but why on earth would you want to do that anyway.


Cheers
jimbo

x264 ftw!

Hi all
"You pays your money and takes your choice".

All I'm saying here that it IS perfectly easy to 100% clone commercial DVD's, copy to an HDD drive and play them from there -- and to re-create the ORIGINAL DVD optionally minus any CSS encryption and regional encoding should you want a physical DVD to play elsewhere.

Now this IS probably illegal but if it's for MY OWN PRIVATE USE with content THAT I'VE PAID FOR as I stated in previous posts you can just tell the Corporate Suits and Lawyers to FOXTROT OSCAR.

Cheers
jimbo