DVD and Blu-ray ripping

[Spotted Horses]

I don't know if there is a thread for this.

I encountered something that hasn't happened before. Handbrake warned me that a DVD (not a particularly new release, Conspiracy Theory on Warner Brothers which seems to be from 1997) is encrypted and I should proceed at my own legal peril. When I did the rip the video was garbled. I subsequently ripped it with MakeMKV and it was fine. There are encrypted DVDs?

On a related topic, MakeMKV has not updated the temporary beta key that allows it to rip Blu-ray Discs. It expired at the end of February and as or March 3, has not been replaced. I hope this is not the end of an era, I just purchased a blu-ray release that will be useless to me if I can't rip it!

[drogulus]

    Copy:

    T-ocdqxyxgcXfTChWA2wWkv9P0QVVolgkD3GyOgZ1Z30p7t1Fm14kPcT5eIAYEneuDBx

     Oops! That's the Feb. key. I tested it with a DVD and it worked on version 1.7.5. Until the new key comes out it should work.

[Spotted Horses]

Copy:

    T-ocdqxyxgcXfTChWA2wWkv9P0QVVolgkD3GyOgZ1Z30p7t1Fm14kPcT5eIAYEneuDBx

     Oops! That's the Feb. key. I tested it with a DVD and it worked on version 1.7.5. Until the new key comes out it should work.

Oh yes, I know about that, I probably found out about it from you, and I have the page with key updates bookmarked.

https://forum.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1053

The trouble is that, as you mentioned, the key expired on February 28, 2024 (presumably should have been February 29) but as of March 4, no new key. I'm hoping the guy is just busy, but starting to be concerned that the free-in-beta thing may ending.

The other weird thing is that even without the key MakeMKV managed to properly rip a DVD which Handbrake said was encrypted and failed to rip. Just a reminder that the stairway to video ripping lies on the whispering wind.

[drogulus]

Oh yes, I know about that, I probably found out about it from you, and I have the page with key updates bookmarked.

https://forum.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1053

The trouble is that, as you mentioned, the key expired on February 28, 2024 (presumably should have been February 29) but as of March 4, no new key. I'm hoping the guy is just busy, but starting to be concerned that the free-in-beta thing may ending.

The other weird thing is that even without the key MakeMKV managed to properly rip a DVD which Handbrake said was encrypted and failed to rip. Just a reminder that the stairway to video ripping lies on the whispering wind.

     I doubt MakeMKV will cease to allow free use. They'll eventually fix the problem.

     I seem to have forgotten that I bought the program a while ago. Therefore I can't test solutions because MakeMKV will always work for me even if I don't update it right away.

[Spotted Horses]

I doubt MakeMKV will cease to allow free use. They'll eventually fix the problem.

     I seem to have forgotten that I bought the program a while ago. Therefore I can't test solutions because MakeMKV will always work for me even if I don't update it right away.

You can buy it? I don't see any reference to purchasing it on makemkv.com. (Still no updated key.)

[drogulus]

You can buy it? I don't see any reference to purchasing it on makemkv.com. (Still no updated key.)

    Just go to Help at the top right, click it to see Purchase under Online help.

    Or just go to:

    https://www.makemkv.com/buy/

[drogulus]

     Just a minute, just a minute......

     The new key is here, good through April:

     T-nG89YZ0OKvZx4umZwYcU0bh2M5DwF7hcp3JeoMn0zzbQG@zgvLRURcxMSN6ldZzF72

[Spotted Horses]

The other weird thing is that even without the key MakeMKV managed to properly rip a DVD which Handbrake said was encrypted and failed to rip. Just a reminder that the stairway to video ripping lies on the whispering wind.

Expanding on this point, a second DVD which I tried to rip with Handbrake produced the attached message, that copy-protected sources are not supported. I have been using Handbrake for years and ripped hundreds of DVDs without seeing this message, and as far as I know I have not updated the handbrake application. I get it with DVDs I ripped with handbrake as recently as a few months ago. What gives? Did Handbrake silently update the application in response to getting sued? It seems like I can work around it by ripping my MakeMKV and using Handbrake to produce an output to serve my needs, but that is less convenient and who knows if MakeMKV is next.

(I am using Handbrake 1.16.1, which dates to January, 2023.

[drogulus]

     I don't rip with Handbrake, but I tried with a BD and I got a similar message. The same disc works fine with MakeMKV.

     

[Spotted Horses]

I don't rip with Handbrake, but I tried with a BD and I got a similar message. The same disc works fine with MakeMKV.

     

Yes, the message has always appeared with blue ray discs, but the last few months Handbrake seems to have forgotten how to decode generic DVD discs, even though I have changed nothing. Possibilities that come to mind are an operating system update, or the program updating itself.

[Spotted Horses]

I solved the puzzle. I pulled the old machine I used to use for DVD ripping out of mothballs and it ripped commercial DVDs just fine using handbrake. Then a little googling led me to the fact that Handbrake needs to have libdvdcss installed to read commercial DVDs. I did a search of my computers in use and libdvdcss is not there. On the machine I pulled out of mothballs, I did find libdvdcss in /usr/local/bin (or something like that). I have no memory of having installed it, and can't find the installation files in the place I usually keep them, but I must have done it.

The proper way to install libdvdcss is to download from GitHub and compile your own, but I did find a library pre-compiled for Mac and I'm ripping with Handbrake again.

Using MakeMKS to read the DVD and Handbrake to compress and customize the audio, subtitles, etc, is viable, I'd rather do it in one step (although there are some funky discs that flummox Handbrake and rip find with MakeMKS).

[drogulus]

Using MakeMKS to read the DVD and Handbrake to compress and customize the audio, subtitles, etc, is viable, I'd rather do it in one step (although there are some funky discs that flummox Handbrake and rip find with MakeMKS).

    I often want to rip losslessly, only removing subs and audio I don't want. MakeMKV is ideal for that.

    I had an Attenborough nature series I Handbraked down and I got terrible banding. Fortunately I had the MakeMKV original so I put that on my archive and user drives. Now there's no banding.

[Spotted Horses]

I often want to rip losslessly, only removing subs and audio I don't want. MakeMKV is ideal for that.

    I had an Attenborough nature series I Handbraked down and I got terrible banding. Fortunately I had the MakeMKV original so I put that on my archive and user drives. Now there's no banding.

I can't recall an instance of being unsatisfied with Handbrake output, but numerous discs that Handbrake choked on and MakeMKV handled without difficulty. My main nagging worry is that due to the legal grey area of ripping commercial discs the lawyers will succeed in making these tools harder to access.

[drogulus]

I can't recall an instance of being unsatisfied with Handbrake output, but numerous discs that Handbrake choked on and MakeMKV handled without difficulty. My main nagging worry is that due to the legal grey area of ripping commercial discs the lawyers will succeed in making these tools harder to access.

     The banding thing was a rare occurrence during an extreme sequence in the introduction to episodes. I could try a higher quality squish but I'm lazy so I didn't.

     I doubt the rights owners really want to prevent copying your discs. They certainly are aware their customers have been doing this for decades. They want to make it difficult enough so copies don't proliferate.

     Disc collectors have always archived their content as files. Most of my discs have never been played, and some can't be played.