I'm going to be spending some time in hospital soon and wanted to copy some DVD's onto my laptop in .avi format rather than take the external drive and a pile of DVD's. Trouble is i keep running into the copy protect wall. There must be a way that someone out there is aware of?

dvd to divx is a really good program to use, it will rip dvd's to avi format no prob it will take awhile to do though, a dvd takes 8 hours on my comp! but it will be a really good quality avi.

however u can use dvd decrypter to copy the dvd to the hard disk in a format that u can play on ur computer using a dvd player. this doesn't take as long only about 20 mins but will take up the dvd file space, ie at least 4 gigs of hard drive space. whereas the dvd to divx will be much smaller

u can get these progs from download.com

[Edited on 13/6/06 by trogdor]

Thanks very much I'll give that a try.

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=40154

to be honest by far the quickest and easiest way is to download them using limewire or such, i was gonna do it youre way but some films download in 1/2 an hour, rather than converting which usually takes 8hours at least, never mind the headache. plus im pretty sure ripping is illegal, unless you own the dvd's (which im guessing you dont as you could just take them to hospital), so youll be breaking the law both ways
Joel

well downloading them on limewire is deffo illegal too, u are more likely to get nicked downloading them than ripping them.

also ripping produces a really good copy, some of the downloaded stuff is really rubbish, of very poor quality and sometime not even the film it says it is....... apparently.

from the first post it appears that u own the dvd's u just don't want to cart them around, then its legal to make a copy of them, or rip them to ur computer.

half an hour download time is a bit optimistic, i know that its possible, but its unlikely thst will happen, over night is a better estimate

[Edited on 15/6/06 by trogdor]

[Edited on 15/6/06 by trogdor]

I just bought a license to a trial version of AnyDVD 6.0.11. After testing the software for 21 days I thought it good enough to buy a copy. It will copy ANY disc I have thrown at it... Matrix, Final Fantasy VII. All these have had the latest anti-copying coding. The Matrix is considered to be uncrackable. Most other software simply turns up it's nose... bad structures, read error, software encryption etc. It can re-process a full DVD in approximately 90 minutes, though the facility to copy Main Movie is also an option. Personally, I like to retain the extra's and stuff.

AnyDVD will bypass ro remove the CSS structure, deregionalize and leave you with a properly structured DVD folder. If you need to, you can then reduce that folder by using Nero DVD Recode, to create smaller IFO's and VOB's (DVD Shrink turns it's nose up) then burn these video files it to a smaller 4.7Gb Disc using "NERO Make your own DVD" again.

I do this to protect my original copies and boxed sets. Experience has told me some CD's and DVD's cannot be replaced - especially when they get stolen.

HTH - Steve

[Edited on 16-6-06 by Hellfire]