Maybe this information is already somewhere on the forum, but I can't find it. I'm very confused about how DVD copy protection works. How is it possible that a DVD player can play a disk that is mastered with bad sectors? How can the DVD player be any "smarter" than my computer? More specifically (and confusingly): why is it that with some disks (e.g. "The Da Vinci Code"), I can play the disk with no problems on my Mac using the DVD Player app, but when I use MacTheRipper (MTR v2.6.6), it reports bad sectors. Yet the DVD Player application can still play the resulting (ripped) data that MTR put on the hard drive, again, with no problems. However, when I use Popcorn or Handbrake to extract just the movie, the result is unwatchable (either skips the first chapter completely except for a few seconds, or does not produce anything at all - just a few seconds of the first chapter, then blank... nothing). What is the DVD Player application doing that Handbrake and Popcorn are not (or vice versa)? How can a crummy standalone DVD player manage to play this disk without a hiccup, but these sophisticated DVD copy utilities choke? I've successfully created backup copies of many of my other DVDs, including ARccOS protected disks, but a few disks are doing this ("Flightplan", "Chronicles of Narnia", etc.). Oh, and yes, I've tried the beta version 3 of MTR, and MediaFork instead of Handbrake. Same problems. Very confused. Thanks for any help...
I am not exactly sure why but my guess would be the DVD player just PLAYS the disk and doesn't try to COPY it, in turn the dvd copy program is trying to COPY it, thus that is why it is called Copy Protection, but again let me say i could be waaaaaaaaay off. BTW, the reason why u might not be getting a lot of replies is becuz not a lot of people on here are Mac users. If u wanna move this thread to the advanced forum u can ask a mod to move it for ya edit-spelling
Standalone DVD players and DVD_ROM's or burners that are in your PC use different logic to read discs....it is like comparing apples to oranges. When you play and view your DVD with no problems on your mac it is not ripping the disc, but merely reading it. When you open your ripping application the copy protection recognized what is happening and starts doing its job, that is why you get the errors that you are getting. Manufacturers are placing copy protection in between the sectors of discs to prevent ripping and actually changing the structure of the disc. This is why it is necessary to use a program such as VobBlanker or FixVTS after ripping to clean up all the crap that the removal of such protection leaves behind.
