DVD copying to hard drive for viewing with SageTV?

[steingra]

I have a growing collection of DVD's and wondered if its 1. possible, and 2. legal for me to copy my DVD's to a hard drive. I plan on having several 400GB external USB 2.0 drives to store a bunch of my DVD's onto.

Will just be nice (because I am lazy) to not get up, find the dvd, open case, insert into drive, etc Would be nice to just play them from SageTV directly.

So can anyone outline what steps I would take to do this?

It seems like there is DVD ripping software on the market. Cant say I have used it before BUT now that I have SageTV up and running, I want to steer all my pictures, cd's (already ripped all those) and now dvd's onto the HTPC

Thanks for any advice on this!!!

[src666]

Possible - Yes.
Legal - According to the MPAA and DMCA, no. But nobody is EVER going to care that you ripped DVD's that you own for your own use.

[nielm]

For legal reasons, you will not get any specific help on these forums for backing up DVDs to the HDD (and if you do, it may disappear quickly!), but there are several very good websites dealing with DVD backup that can be found with a google search...

[stanger89]

For all your non-CSS encoded () DVDs:
http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthr...ght=dvd+shrink

[steingra]

I will just search Google for answers. Thanks. Heck, I have so many programs on my HTPC now from installing all the tools, hardware, tuner cards, scanners, etc. There is probably already something on there for doing this If not, I am sure I can find something on the net.

I cant believe its actually illegal for me to make a single copy of one of my own dvd's to my own hard drive, so that I can view it from the hard drive whenever I want....instead of getting my lazy A$$ out of the movie chairs to go find it. I WANT EVERYTHING on the HTPC now Guess I am getting greedy!

[stanger89]

Technically, it's not illegal to make the copy, it's illegal to break the encryption (CSS) on most DVDs.

[steingra]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Technically, it's not illegal to make the copy, it's illegal to break the encryption (CSS) on most DVDs.

huh. It seems a little wierd that they could break CSS with Various DVD programs. I guess the Content Scrambling System must not be that hard to break (not that I could ever do it in like a million years) :-O

I wonder how many DVD's that are produced these days have this CSS on them? I would imagine they all do. I dont know why they wouldnt. If its made by holy-wood, then they probably want it protect.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by steingra

huh. It seems a little wierd that they could break CSS with Various DVD programs. I guess the Content Scrambling System must not be that hard to break (not that I could ever do it in like a million years) :-O

IIRC a 7-line pearl script can do it

I wonder how many DVD's that are produced these days have this CSS on them? I would imagine they all do. I dont know why they wouldnt. If its made by holy-wood, then they probably want it protect.

Most do, but considering how ineffective it is, I'm not sure why.

[Menehune]

To keep the honest people, honest?

[src666]

Actually, it keeps the honest people annoyed, and doesn't inconvenience the dishonest people at all. That's the real problem with most DRM schemes - they don't actually provide any protection at all from the commercial pirates. They just keep the consumer from using the content how he chooses (i.e. listening on a different computer, converting to a different format, etc.). That's the quickest way to turn a satisfied customer into a "dishonest character".

[steingra]

Originally Posted by src666

Actually, it keeps the honest people annoyed, and doesn't inconvenience the dishonest people at all. That's the real problem with most DRM schemes - they don't actually provide any protection at all from the commercial pirates. They just keep the consumer from using the content how he chooses (i.e. listening on a different computer, converting to a different format, etc.). That's the quickest way to turn a satisfied customer into a "dishonest character".

I cant believe how easy it is to break it. Geeeeeze why do they waste their time. It seems to me that if I pay the high dollars for all my cd's and dvd's that I should be able to do whatever I want with the content on them, within my own household. I mean thats why I buy them, to enjoy them.

sigh

[JasonJoel]

Not that I'm a huge fan of DRM, but....

You are right, it doesn't stop the commercial pirates.

However, it DOES stop a LOT of casual copying. I know dozens of people that have said 'oh, I would give you a copy of the DVD, but I tried it and it won't copy'. There a lot of people that won't dig into it any further than that. Either it copies or it doesn't. And without extra tools, it doesn't 'out of the box'.

Now, is that the piracy that the industry should be trying to stop? Probably not. All I'm saying is that DRM does indeed work against certain types of pirates - the non-techno geek and the 'I didn't know it was wrong to copy this' people.

Jason

Originally Posted by src666

Actually, it keeps the honest people annoyed, and doesn't inconvenience the dishonest people at all. That's the real problem with most DRM schemes - they don't actually provide any protection at all from the commercial pirates. They just keep the consumer from using the content how he chooses (i.e. listening on a different computer, converting to a different format, etc.). That's the quickest way to turn a satisfied customer into a "dishonest character".

[night]

what do you mean wrong

[src666]

The industry really has two choices, although they pretend they have more. The first choice is to make an unbreakable protection scheme, and get every country, electronics/computer manufuacturer and studio to mandate it. Of course, while there are any number of companies who tell the industry that this is available or "coming soon", anyone with half a brain knows that it can't be done.

The second choice is to give up, accept the fact of casual copying, and focus on the large-scale "for profit" copiers. Most casual copiers would never have bought the movie in the first place, so there is no lost sale for them - they just see more than they pay for. Now that fact stings a bit, but in reality it does the industry little to no real harm.

It's like the software piracy "lost sales" BS - 99% of the people running pirated XP Server at home would _never_ have bought it. The same goes for most commercial software, especially big-ticket packages. They aren't lost customers, because they would never be customers. Again, it's a matter of people getting more than they paid for.

Those are the real choices. That's it. There is no in between. They like to pretend there is, with their whole "speed-bump" argument, but the speed bump really doesn't exist.

Facts:

1. "For profit" copiers will find a way to make copies. Period. They will invest the time and money necessary. It will happen.
2. These copies will be available on the open market. Period. Can't be stopped.
3. Even if the average "enthusiast" can't make a copy of the original, someone will make copies of the cracked version widely available over the internet. Again, can't be stopped.
4. Anyone with broadband can get one of these copies.
5. Anyone with a friend who has broadband can a copy.

The "speed bump" is a myth. All it does is shift the distribution method. If Joe Geek can't copy a disk he rents from blockbuster or netflix, then he's going to download them. Eventually, tools will become readily available so that even Joe SixPack can do it without any special knowledge, just as tools appeared that made ripping/recompressing DVD's easy enough for just about anyone to use.

And guess what? Since the only way that Joe Geek can put the movies on his computer, or make a backup copy, is to get the cracked version, he will have _less_ incentive to actually buy it.

Now, I'm not dismissing the issue of "casual copying" that occurs today, where people copy their friends movies. That happens, and people really should buy what they use. But nowhere does the "speed bump" prevent that, and eventually the tools to circumvent the speed bump become simple enough that it's not even a dip in the road.

[Menehune]

I thought I read somewhere that within two hours of a game with new anti-copy protection being released for sale, the protection is cracked.