Newbie guide to ARccOS Protection with DVD Decrypter

Ripguard Guide available as well. So far Ripguard does not cause problems, so the guide is more for information on spotting ripguard, but it also shows how to rip/back up the DVD as well.

Download available thanks to nofragile:

http://ee.domaindlx.com/pageone1/Ripping Guide for Newbies.pdf

Added guide for Legend of Zorro for removing corruption and editing first play and other items (THIS IS AN ADVANCED GUIDE):

http://rapidshare.de/files/13888439/Legend_of_Zorro.pdf.html

EDIT: Guide Updated on 12/12/2005

EDIT: A PDF for this guide and the advanced guide is available. If anyone wants it, they can request it by e-mail. Also, anyone that wants to host the PDF for download at their site is welcome to do so. Just post the link so that it can be accessed through this thread.

[bold]Ripping Guide for Newbies[/bold]
Sony ARccOS
By: Lord Heinrich Himmeßtüssen (Jaguargod)
V1.10.00 - 12/12/2005

Here is a newbie version of the Advanced ARccOS Ripping guide posted in the Advanced forums. For this guide, I will be ripping and burning “Stealth” Widescreen Edition using good old DVD Decrypter 3.1.0.0. I will make this guide as simple as possible and not include any editing of the IFOs whatsoever and no Blanking out extras. If you are interested in doing this, please follow this guide and before burning, refer to the advanced guide to blank out the extra features. Check out the Advanced guide when you are finished ripping and fixing the movie if you want to use VobBlanker.

The steps in this guide will be

Rip the main movie
Rip the rest of the Disc
Fix the movie
Fix VTS *New* (Thanks Cynthia!!!)
Compress/burn the movie

The tools needed are:

DVD Decrypter 3.1.0.0 or higher (I recommend the newest)
IFOEdit
DVD Shrink
VobBlanker
FixVTS

• 11/22/2005 – Version 1.00.00 of the guide written
• 12/12/2005 – [bold]Major Update 1.10.00[/bold]: Added section on fixing compression issues “Fix VTS”. The problem occurs in newer Sony titles. After manually removing the ARccOS, the cell IDs are still incorrect and this causes DVD Shrink to detect the audio size incorrectly and only compress the video a couple of percent. This problem can be fixed with FixVTS. I am considering this update a beta update because I will be doing some tests with IFOEdit’s “Strip VOB ID” function.


Link to Advanced Guide:

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/255980

[bold]Ripping the main movie in IFO Mode[/bold]

The reason I am using DVD Decrytper version 3.1.0.0 is to show that ARccOS protection was a waste of money. Also, note that all ripping/compression times will be a lot faster for you as I am actually ripping this movie while writing the guide.

For this movie the protected cell is cell 12. However, this will not matter because we will skip all but the last cell of chapter 1.



Now press the Decrypt button.

Here is the log:

I 12:42:12 DVD Decrypter Version 3.1.0.0 started!
I 12:42:12 Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Service Pack 4 (Build 2195)
I 12:42:12 Initialising ASPI manager...
I 12:42:12 WNASPI32.DLL - Adaptec's ASPI Layer - Version 4.71.2.0
I 12:42:12 Searching for ASPI compatible host adapters...
I 12:42:12 Found 3 ASPI compatible host adapters!
I 12:42:12 Searching for SCSI / ATAPI devices...
I 12:42:13 Found 2x DVD-ROM and 1x DVD-R!
I 12:43:17 Operation Started!
I 12:43:17 Source Device: [1:0:0] _NEC DV-5700A 1.91 (G
I 12:43:17 Destination Folder: E:\DVD_VIDEO\VIDEO_TS\
I 12:43:17 File Splitting: 1 GB
I 12:43:17 Fast Error Skip: No
I 12:43:17 Detect Mastering Errors: No
I 12:43:17 Stream Processing: No
I 12:43:17 Remove Macrovision Protection: Yes
I 12:43:20 Extracting Sectors...
I 13:16:38 Operation Successfully Completed! - Duration: 00:33:21
I 13:16:38 Average Read Rate: 2,616 KB/s (1.9x) - Maximum Read Rate: 3,328 KB/s (2.4x)

[bold]Ripping the rest of the disc in FILE Mode[/bold]

Before you can do this part, you have to know that there is usually a VTS or more in these movies that should not be ripped. For this particular film it is VTS_16. DVD Decrypter does not normally select these bogus VTS, but the old Decrypter does.

Here is a way to tell which is bogus. Open VIDEO_TS.IFO in IFOEdit. Now look at the Title Play map:



See how it lists the titles and the VTS that belongs to each one? Also notice below how it says “Number of Title sets on the DVD:15 (VMG_VTS_ATRT)”. This means that there are 15 VTS used and they are 1 through 15. If you look at VMG_VTS_ATRT it will also show you which VTS are being used:



OK, now we know not to rip VTS_16. So now go into File mode and select all the files except the Main movie and those that belong to VTS_16. Also select the main menu which is VTS_01_0.VOB for this movie. The easiest way to do this is to have DVD Decrypter select the main movie and then select “Edit=>Invert Selection”. Then Hold down the “CTRL” key and deselect VTS_16:



Now click on the Decrypt Button.

After you are finished you can close DVD Decrypter.

[bold]Fix the Movie[/bold]

When you ripped the main movie, you completely skipped over all the extra Cell Commands that Sony puts so that the DVD Player will skip Cell 12 of this movie. In order to correct this, you will have to process the movie with IFOEdit.

Launch IFO Edit and press open. You will open VTS_01_0.IFO. This is the IFO of the main movie. Then select “Vob Extras=>Strip Streams”:



Take note of the destination and make sure that the “new folder” exists.

Click OK and you will go to this screen (remember to strip the DTS unless if you have CloneDVD2):



You can decide what to keep by having a check mark. I decided to keep the DTS stream here, because there is a chance that the movie will not need to be compressed even with DTS.

If you want to use DVD Shrink, this is where to Strip the DTS. Shrink will have a problem with the file size if you do not. Also, if you decide, you can keep all Audio Streams as this step is only to fix the corrupted IFO.

Press “Strip It” when you are finished. This will create a new VTS in the New Folder. When it is finished, make sure to Drag and drop the New VTS over the old one to overwrite it.

Here is the message you get when it is finished:



Drag and drop from the new folder to the Original:



Then OK overwriting the files:



*******The ARccOS protection is now removed.*******

[bold]Fix VTS[/bold]

Newer Versions of ARccOS corruption are found in the same VOB ID as the main movie. This causes problems when manually removing the protection following this guide. The problem is that the movie will not compress like it should with DVD Shrink.

Here is an example using Bewitched (ignore the fact that the movie fits on a DVD5):



Notice that the Audio is detected as only 7MB and that when compressed as far as it goes, the movie will only go to 98.8%. This is because the IFOs have some garbage in them. Thanks to some info from Cynthia, this can be fixed by using a free program called “FixVTS”. Just launch the program and drag and drop a VOB file on to it:



Next click on the “Full DVD” button and it will begin remapping the VOB files:



See how it is changing the Cell IDs “Remapping 1/28 to 1/6”. Also notice that it does not take a long time to do…280 seconds while I am multitasking is pretty good.

Here are the results:

Take note of the audio size now being 347 MB and the subtitles being 7 MB



In this shot take note that the movie can now compress as far as 43.9%:



Here are screenshots of the before and after of the IFOs as seen in IFOEdit (look at the V/C Id):

Before:



After:



[bold]Compress/Burn[/bold]

Import the DVD Folder to DVD Shrink. If it begins analyzing, then there are no problems:




Here is what Shrink gives you after you blank out the previews and have no DTS Audio (ignore audio size):



That’s it; just make an image and burn with Decrypter.

 

I am a real "[bold]newbie[/bold]" when it comes to all of this ARccOS security crap.

In the past, I somehow got lucky with being able to successfully rip "Hitch". Now, I have "Stealth" in my grasps, and without your "newbie" article that I have just followed to the T, I would not have gotten as far as I have right now.

I am curious. Where did you figure out that you only needed Cell 22 to rip the main movie and avoid all of the ARccOS protection ?

Also, is this process virtually identical for [bold]all[/bold] ARccOS movies, with the only two differences being which cells to exclude when ripping, and what VOB file(s) to exclude when ripping the rest of the movie ?

I want to practice on the movie Bewitched. Am I correct in understanding that the newer version of DVD Decrypter that I have (v.3.5.4.0) will be unsuccessful in helping me with this ?

Thank you for your time and hopefully for your assistance in helping me understand all of this.

 

Hey Jaguar,

I was just in the process of trying to rip this movie so I could watch it on my PSP. I own the movie and am frustrated that Sony would take extra measures to thwart back-up copying...almost to the point of me just giving in and buying the PSP version, but try explaining that to the missus.

Anyway, I just wanted to give you props, man. That was a great guide you wrote and often times peeps do a Google, find the answer they need w/o any sort of acknowledgement. I found your guide very useful and thought it worth the extra time for registration just so I could thank you with my first n00b post

EDIT: on my first attempt, I got to the point where Shrink tried to analyze the folder, but it didn't work. One question: when you copied over the files from the new folder after using IFOEdit, I noticed in the image above that you left out 3 files. I can't tell which files those were, however, does it even matter? I had copied all the files over from the new folder.

 

JaguarGod

All I can say is... awesome.

 

i was just wondering how you know which cells to keep and which ones are bad

 

Thank you for all the comments.

@Werdnah,

Yes, the newset DVD Decrypter will work. I actually messed up and deleted the rip, so I decided to do it again with the newest version. The newer Decrypter will rip a bit faster than the older one and it also detects some ARccOS so it will prevent you from selecting the bogus VTS. I only use the older version to make a point that ARccOS is nothing to fear.

Also, you are correct about the process being virtually the same for every movie. I have done it for Bewitched, which is the one you are attempting next as well as Resident Evil: Apocalypse, which has both wide and full-screen on 1 DVD.

Figuring out which cell to begin with is as simle as looking at the length of each cell. Cell 22 was the only cell that was over 1 second in length. You can also try ripping all of the small cells of the chapters and have Decrypter split by Cell ID. This will let you play back each cell so that you see which is needed and which are garbage.

@Tecra,

I am not sure exactly how a PSP needs a movie to be. I posted in different threads some possiblities, but they were pretty complicated because I do not own a PSP and do not know anyone that does. Let me know what type of files it takes and I could maybe be of assistance.

As for the files I skipped, these were the VIDEO_TS.xxx files. I am not sure if these files change at all, but just drag and drop all of the new files. The worst case is that they will be exactly the same as the previous files. I just highlighted the Main movie in the Screenshot.

Let me know what the Shrink error was and I could probably figure out what went wrong.

 

for example how did you know to keep cell 23 and none of the other ones. how will i know which ones if i want to do a different movie

 

i was just going through the cells and i found about half of them were longer than 1 second. but 22 was by far the longest cell. should i always just choose the longest cell by itself?

i also noticed that when you look at chapter 2's cells the only one it has is 23. and on chapter 3 it's cell is 24. so would it be right just to assume that chapter 1's cell is 22?

 

i also noticed that when you look at chapter 2's cells the only one it has is 23. and on chapter 3 it's cell is 24. so would it be right just to assume that chapter 1's cell is 22?

 

Ok.... so where am I going wrong???.... I get through and shrink gives me an error... So where does vobBlanker come in??? Is this a step I am missing or not seeing? I am not very familiar wiht that program.... have been using shrink and decrypter with great success until I hit this movie... Any guidance?

 

Hey Jag--thanks for the reply. I already know how to convert the decrypted video to the PSP format--sorry for the confusion there. You answered my question about the "stripped" files from IFOEdit. Going to go through your advanced post to see what else I can glean...Thanks.

 

Hey Jag, I am getting an error after using ifoedit. it appears to be something in german with the red circle error symbol. Any ideas? also... i had dvd43 running on my first attempt and wonder if that may cause a conflict? I also still do not understand where I am supposed to use the vobblocker program. Any hints? Trying to back this up for our weekend road trip.... dvd and kids in the car arent such a good combo... would feel much better taking a back up.

 

Cool. Thanks man.

In the case of Stealth (which by the way, I seem to have successfully ripped tonight), there was just that one cell (cell 22) to have checked when initially ripping it. From the advanced guide to ARccOS, the example in that one has two cells to keep checked.

Is it right to assume you just select the ones that are more than a few seconds ?

Also, you made a mention of the fact cell 12 is the corrupt cell for ARccOS on the DVD for Stealth. How did you determine that ? Did you use IfoEdit to find that out, and if so, how ? Also, is that relevant ? Will the corrupt cell or cells ever show as being more than a few seconds to confuse us ?

Thanks again for your words man. You are starting to unlock this paradox for me.

 

And a much simplier way to bypass Sony's ACross protection and rip movies such as Madagascar.

Rip using the ISO Read mode in DVD Decrypter

Open DVD Shrink - Go to File - Open Disk Image

Analyse - Re-Author - then burn with Nero or similar - easy.

 

I will do my best to answer all questions I have read:

@jerecho,

The way you determine which cells to keep, is to look at the time played. The only way they will split a chapter into more than 1 cell is at a layer break (this is going to be only 1 time in the middle of a movie), or with something like the Lady Liberty Logo at chapter 1. Thus means that after Chapter 1, every other chapter should only be 1 cell. That is how Sonic Scenarist splits a movie when you create a new scene (chapter point).

The protection will most likely only be in Chapter 1 of a movie. If you cannot tell by just looking at the length, then rip the cells in IFO Mode, but set Decrypter to split by Cell ID. Right click on the PGC and select "file splitting=>by Cell ID". Also only rip Chapter 1. Decrypter will lock up on the ARccOS cells. When it does, abort and choose to skip the file. Then it will continue to rip.

After it finishes, you can play back the VOBs one at a time using either Windows Media Player or some other software player. I use Media Player Classic. You will not need any cells that play a blank screen. Also, make sure you are not fooled by some of the protected cells. For Bewitched, there are a few protected cells that contain some video. I mentioned these cells in a different thread, but I cannot remember where. Just for that movie, you will need to keep 2 cells in chapter 1 and they will be the last 2 (I think Cell 23 & 24, but I do not remember for sure).

You are correct about Cell 22 being the first real cell in the movie. The others are not necessary.

@snew22,

First of all, this guide is meant for ripping with DVD Decrypter, without using help from other programs like AnyDVD or DVD43, so yes, disable DVD43.

I am not sure what your error is. What are you trying to do when you get it? There is a good chance that you are trying to save the new VTS to a folder that does not exist. Make sure you create a new folder inside your VIDEO_TS folder before you try to fix the VTS.

Also, after IFOEdit is finished, you will have to drag and drop the new files from the "New Folder" to the "VIDEO_TS" folder.

Also what error are you getting in DVD Shrink. If you get an error right away like "Error in VTS_01_1.VOB ... invalid data", then you are forgetting to replace the old VTS_01 with the new one.

VobBlanker is used to blank all the VTS outside of VTS_01. This will turn the 100MB previews into a blank 40kb or so VOB. Look at the advanced guide for more info on this. I took screenshots of blanking out VTS_05 of Resident Evil. You will use the same process, but blank out VTS_02 through VTS_15. If you want to keep special features, do not blank out a VTS with those. Use the "preview" or "prev/cut" function in VobBlanker to preview a VTS.

@Werdnah,

The easy way to figure out which cell is protected is to try and rip it. Decrypter will give you read errors. You can tell by looking at the IFOs Cell commands. You can also use PGCEdit which may be a bit faster, but I am not too familiar with the program yet.

As for length, you are correct about Sony trying to fool us with longer length garbage cells. Bewitched was one example. There were some cells that contained a bit of video from the Lady Liberty Logo, the Red Wagon Logo, and the opening credits. However, if you also looked at the 23 second cell, it contained the Lady Liberty Logo in full and the Red Wagon Logo in full. THen the opening credits were in the next cell.

You should also know, that if they split up a movie into too many cells and place garbage between them, this will cause bad playback. Try blanking out the FBI Warnings and previews without changing first play and see how long it takes for a movie to load. This is because cell commands and pre commands take a while to execute. So, a movie will almost certainly be continuous. There will not be blank cells in between real cells as this will cause the playback to pause. This will also change the cells to be non-seemless. So, the good cells will always be at the end of chapter 1 and they will always be next to each other (if there are more than 1).

@colw,

You are mistaken. Madagascar is [bold]NOT[/bold] ARccOS protected. This is the first major Ripguard protected Movie. Look at the studio in the back of the box. You will see "Universal" somewhere and "Dreamworks SGK" in the fine print. ARccOS is only found in Sony Movies. I am not sure of all their studios, but I know Columbia & MGM are owned by Sony.

Your thinking is in the right track though, because both are structure based protections. I am not sure if this guide will work on Madagascar. I have looked at Madagascar's IFOs and found some problems in "VTS_08 PGC 5" and "VTS_08 PGC 1; Cells 2 & 3". Both of these problem areas would be in VTS_08_1.VOB, so it is very likely that the protection is somewhere in those areas. I suggested blanking out PGC 2, 3, 4, & 5 of VTS_08 in another thread and this made a full-disc backup with no problems for a few people, so keep this in mind for newer Ripguard movies.

ISO Mode will most likely not work on an ARccOS movie, though I have not tried. I remember that ISO mode still inserts Dummy Sectors, so if you do not have a PSL, I would assume Decrypter will have lots of errors. There is however a chance, that setting it to ignore errors may work, but like I said, I have not tried.

 

JaguarGod...YOU ROCK!!!! I Made about 6 DL coasters of Stealth using DVDDecryter, AnyDVD, DVDFab, DVDExpress, DVD43 and Stealth PSL2 File with Video Vault. Finally, I happened upon your thread "Newbie guide to ARccOS Protection with DVD Decrypter". The screen shots were excellent. I'm using the latest (last) version DVD Decrypter. Downloaded the IFOEdit as you suggested. My problem was in the first chapter (or scene if you select from the menu). Everything else would copy perfectly except for the first scene. Followed your EXCELLENT instructions and got everything including DTS. I still used Video Vault as the burning program. If anyone else is having problems with Stealth go this link: http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/260734

 

Looking good, but i have to say all this is fine IF the movie has blank cells.

Try working on "Be Cool". i have been trying for a few weeks now to backup this DVD. but the protetion is IN the movie.

I can play the dvd from one computer and capture it on another computer to an MPEG2 file, use DVD lab Pro and remake the DVD, but i want to bypass this ARooCS protection.

I have tryed everything, and just about every pice od software that says it bypasses the sony protection, but need less to say ....no luck.

Every other movie before Be Cool i have got around even Starwars III and Madagasgar.

if anyone has any ideas, that would be great, this Be Cool has been a real chalange.

Thanks for any input

 

Does DVD Decrypter fail when trying to rip??? I do not have this movie, so I cannot give a definate solution. Are you sure it is ARccOS protected???

I can almost guarantee that Sony will not be stupid enough to place protection on an actual movie cell. This would cause a DVD Player to crash.

Post your DVD Decrypter Log

 

Great Post. I might have sent you a direct reply. If so, please excuse the duplication.

Let me start off by stating that I'm truly a newbie here, so please don't get too aggravated with me. I really appreciate your post on how to get the movie Stealth copied. Your post has taken me past any of the others. I think I’m past the decoding part, but I have found another issue.

I have followed your post to the letter. Everything has worked according to plan until I get down to the DVD Shrink part. The problem I'm having is the files are too large for the backup. I've tried to reauthor the dvd files for Stealth, but I'm not doing that correctly either because I've burned it twice, and I keep getting an "No Playfuction on DVD" when I try to play the movie in the DVD player. I have been at this movie all day. I guess my question is how do I correctly reauthor to get rid of all the extras? Or should I be trying and/or using something else for removing the extras?

Thanks in advance for all your help.

 

If anyone is wondering how I responded, I suggested to use VobBlanker to blank out the Previews. This is a great program that can significantly reduce the size of a DVD.

http://jsoto.posunplugged.com/vobblanker.htm

and guides over here:

http://jsoto.posunplugged.com/guides/VobBlanker/blanking/index.php