Can You Recommend a DVD Digitizing Service?
May 20, 2017 3:59 PM Subscribe
I want to digitize my DVD collection so I can declutter the MANY binders of discs I have. I have read past questions on how to DIY this but I think I'd prefer to pay a service to do this for me. I am not tech-savvy AT ALL but all I'm looking for is to be able to play my movies on my macbook and TV (have a fairly new but non-smart TV with amazon firestick,do I need any other apps or devices to do this?) Can you recommend a company? TIA!
Response by poster: aw, blerg. didn't even think about copyright issues. I found this company - Vudu, but wasn't sure if they are good, hence my just posting a question on here. thanks, decathecting! oh well, if anyone else has any input, I'll keep watching this space.
posted by carlypennylane at 4:26 PM on May 20, 2017
posted by carlypennylane at 4:26 PM on May 20, 2017
It's not technically copyright that prevents commercial companies from doing it as much as the DCMA.
You might be able to pay some neighborhood kids a reasonable fee to babysit ripping them for you to avoid doing it yourself.
posted by Candleman at 4:34 PM on May 20, 2017 [2 favorites]
You might be able to pay some neighborhood kids a reasonable fee to babysit ripping them for you to avoid doing it yourself.
posted by Candleman at 4:34 PM on May 20, 2017 [2 favorites]
The Vudu service doesn't actually convert the films; it checks to see if they have the film in their digital library, then offers to sell you rights for a reduced cost. They have rights to about 8000 films.
posted by selfnoise at 4:37 PM on May 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by selfnoise at 4:37 PM on May 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
I have done the Vudu disc to digital and it was easy enough, then I sold the DVD's at half price books. If you have a computer with a DVD drive, or a smartphone for their UPC scanning service, I would do it without hesitations. Only problem is ultraviolet isn't supported any more on the fire stick ( Amazon wants people to buy from them, go figure), but a cheap Roku device can do it with the Vudu app. Or you can watch them on your computer with no issue.
posted by deezil at 5:07 PM on May 20, 2017
posted by deezil at 5:07 PM on May 20, 2017
I believe what you are looking to do is still illegal. To my knowledge owning a DVD does not give you the legal right to transfer it to a different format (unlike CDs). I think this is argued in court every few years and the last ruling I recall was from 2015. This means you are not going to find a legit service willing to do this for you.
posted by saradarlin at 6:38 PM on May 20, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by saradarlin at 6:38 PM on May 20, 2017 [2 favorites]
In the US fair use probably covers format shifting, but it does not cover cracking the DRM to allow the copied video files to play on devices that can't decrypt CSS, which is prohibited by the DMCA. Since you aren't allowed to crack CSS, this also means you can't convert them to MP4/MKV files to save space, either.
That said, a straight rip of the DVD, leaving the encryption intact, onto a NAS so that you can then play back the ripped DVD folder with VLC or Kodi should fall under fair use, provided you do it yourself and keep the DVDs. If you sell them or give them away after ripping them that is an unambiguous infringement of copyright.
You are allowed to rip and convert CDs because the audio tracks are not protected by any encryption scheme, unlike video discs newer than Laserdisc.
If you get an external DVD drive, plug it into your computer, and copy all the files into a folder on your hard drive, VLC or Kodi should be able to play them back unless your OS is doing something weird. IDK about Mac, but there exists software for Windows and Linux to make the process a bit easier by automatically creating and naming the folders for easier navigation.
posted by wierdo at 8:21 PM on May 20, 2017 [3 favorites]
That said, a straight rip of the DVD, leaving the encryption intact, onto a NAS so that you can then play back the ripped DVD folder with VLC or Kodi should fall under fair use, provided you do it yourself and keep the DVDs. If you sell them or give them away after ripping them that is an unambiguous infringement of copyright.
You are allowed to rip and convert CDs because the audio tracks are not protected by any encryption scheme, unlike video discs newer than Laserdisc.
If you get an external DVD drive, plug it into your computer, and copy all the files into a folder on your hard drive, VLC or Kodi should be able to play them back unless your OS is doing something weird. IDK about Mac, but there exists software for Windows and Linux to make the process a bit easier by automatically creating and naming the folders for easier navigation.
posted by wierdo at 8:21 PM on May 20, 2017 [3 favorites]
a straight rip of the DVD, leaving the encryption intact
is often infeasible because copyright protection is built right into the disc drives, which won't let your computer read any data blocks subject to copyright until it's supplied the drive with the correct authentication keys. I'm not aware of any ripping or playback software that knows how to supply those but does not also decrypt the resulting data.
Also, since the authentication mechanism is put there specifically to prevent copies being made, then even if such software did exist it wouldn't get a free pass from the DMCA (which prohibits bypassing any technical copyright protection mechanism, not only encryption).
That said, it's highly unlikely that a SWAT team will come crashing in if you break that law in the privacy of your own home and keep both the copies and the source DVDs, as doing this causes no conceivable harm to anybody. There is plenty of DVD ripping software out there and most of it is easy to drive, even for somebody without much technical skill. It's just time-consuming. It's also going to need a lot of disk space if your collection is of any decent size.
posted by flabdablet at 9:59 AM on May 21, 2017
is often infeasible because copyright protection is built right into the disc drives, which won't let your computer read any data blocks subject to copyright until it's supplied the drive with the correct authentication keys. I'm not aware of any ripping or playback software that knows how to supply those but does not also decrypt the resulting data.
Also, since the authentication mechanism is put there specifically to prevent copies being made, then even if such software did exist it wouldn't get a free pass from the DMCA (which prohibits bypassing any technical copyright protection mechanism, not only encryption).
That said, it's highly unlikely that a SWAT team will come crashing in if you break that law in the privacy of your own home and keep both the copies and the source DVDs, as doing this causes no conceivable harm to anybody. There is plenty of DVD ripping software out there and most of it is easy to drive, even for somebody without much technical skill. It's just time-consuming. It's also going to need a lot of disk space if your collection is of any decent size.
posted by flabdablet at 9:59 AM on May 21, 2017
Granted, it's been a long while since I used a DVD drive, but when I did, the drives were only checking for correct region coding. Beyond region locking, they didn't participate in any of the CSS DRM stuff. It's certainly possible that newer drives implement CSS in hardware, but given that the standard contemplates the keys being held in the software player, I'd be surprised the hardware manufacturers would spend the money.
posted by wierdo at 5:00 PM on May 21, 2017
posted by wierdo at 5:00 PM on May 21, 2017
AcidRip and most other ripping software is dubiously legal but ethically sound for what you're proposing. As mentioned, it's not technically challenging, just time-consuming; you'd just dump everything on a NAS and call it a day. Your other options are neighborhood kids as mentioned above, or just rebuying everything you have in a digital format.
I'd say almost any business that is willing to perform this service for you should not be trusted to do so.
posted by aspersioncast at 1:56 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'd say almost any business that is willing to perform this service for you should not be trusted to do so.
posted by aspersioncast at 1:56 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]
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posted by decathecting at 4:08 PM on May 20, 2017 [1 favorite]