Bad Sector? Huh?

November 16, 2010 4:31 AM

I have some brand new DVDs and when I try to rip them (for LEGAL use, I OWN them) I keep getting told they ALL have bad sectors. What to do?

I just purchased some DVDs from Amazon. They're from a company I've not purchased DVDs from before, Clear Vision.

I rip all my DVDs to store on my own small cloud so I can watch them without having to pull out and risk scratching the physical media.

I rip using a Mac usually using a combination of Handbrake and Mac The Ripper.

With these new DVDs I am getting all kinds of error messages. My DVD drive on my Macbook Pro clicks and stops spinning and then starts again. Handbrake just freezes, Mac the Ripper pushes through but then gives me a message that my DVD has bad sectors and, indeed, the ripped VOB files don't play for me.

(I have tried on 2 different DVD drives, my Macbook Pro's internal, and an Pioneer USB external with the same results)

Now if this was just one disc I would chalk it up to a bad disc and return it, but I purchased 2 sets with 2 DVDs each and all 4 discs are giving me this error.

The discs are brand new and appear to have no scratches. And though I've not played them in a DVD player from beginning to end, they do appear to play in a console DVD player...

Any suggestions WHY I'm getting these errors, and how I can successfully rip them in full DVD quality for use on my media players?

posted by arniec to Technology (5 answers total)

These are deliberately introduced errors on the disc, ignored during playback, that are there to trip up ripping software.

Here's a tutorial for getting around the issue.
posted by Happy Dave at 4:46 AM on November 16, 2010 [1 favorite]

Copy protection is an ongoing war between rippers and the media companies. Maybe try RipIt or other apps.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:47 AM on November 16, 2010

They aren't bad discs. That's copy protection.

You need to do some research on the pirate boards to identify it based on movie titles and purchase date. You may luck out and software exists to read them. But, more likely, if they're new editions/releases, you'll need to wait for the ripping programs to catch up in the arms race.
posted by Netzapper at 4:48 AM on November 16, 2010

Have you tried playing the actual DVD, instead of ripping it first, from your computer, to see if your media is damaged?

If you can play the DVD I'm leaning towards copy protection.
posted by titantoppler at 5:05 AM on November 16, 2010

I used to use Mac The Ripper and now just use FairMount to get around any copy protection problems. (FairMount, copy to HDD and then Handbrake overnight to MP4.)
posted by Brian Puccio at 5:27 AM on November 16, 2010 [3 favorites]