I heard that even before copy protection encryption on DVDs companies tried to protect their VHS tapes with something called Macrovision. But I don’t understand how you encrypt analog output? I mean if the the TV can display the image then it’s not encoded, as TVs simply display raw analog video data as an onscreen image. Any encryption would corrupt the image data and make it useless. So how does it actually "protect" anything? Please explain.
So these techniques worked on old VHS tape players/recorders (a.k.a VCRs). Are they still effective against people using more recently made (such as post year2000) VCRs to make recordings? These newer VCRs have more advanced read/write head motor controls, tape drive motor, better analog electronics, and even more advanced digital electronics. Doesn’t the very EXISTENCE of newer VCRs in a way defeat these older technologies?

Plus ANYONE can play the original protected video as normal, but instead of connecting it up to the TV video input, it can be connected to a computer’s video input card (if it has one) and recorded directly to AVI video file, then burned to a DVD with software like Roxio or Nero. I think THAT would defeat the protection. Wouldn’t it?

Is there some kind of hardware that will read and transfer data from CDs and DVDs directly to a hard drive or my computer? There is no copy protection on any of them.
It’s not so much the software I’m looking for, but an actual machine that can read 100s of CDs and DVDs and connect to my computer.

I’m trying to copy a DVD (one that was homemade, nothing that has copy protection). And whenever I try to copy it using Nero or DVD Shrink, it will get an error saying: "Error reading data" and "Reading disk failed". This sometimes happens around 3%, sometimes around 65%, and sometimes at 98%. There aren’t any significant scratches on the DVD, in fact I know my dad was able to make copies of the same one. I was able to create an MP4 of the DVD using Cucusoft iPod to DVD converter, so it can obviously read the whole thing sometimes. I’d just burn the mp4, but I can’t figure out how to convert it back into *.VOB, while still keeping any semblance of quality.
Does anyone have any ideas what the problem is and how to fix it?

If I use a program to decrypt and rip a DVD I legally own, will the decryption process actually change the content of the disk at all? Will removing copy protection actually remove it from the disk or just from the data extracted from the disk? I want to know if the physical contents of the DVD will actually be changed at all if I rip it.

Thanks in advance.
But what about decrypting it? Wouldn’t removing the copy protection change the content of the disk?

I have two PS3s, at home and at dorm. I can not copy the save between the two, so I sent question to Capcom. Capcom responded as below:

Resident Evil 5 has copy protection on it’s save data. The decision to do this was based on the fact that the leaderboard function is tied not only to the PSN ID but also to the PS3. As of right now there is no way to copy the game save to another storage device.

CAPCOM Customer Support

Does anyone know of a way to copy the save data somehow?? Please help. I don’t want to start all over when I play the game at the other location. Thanks.

I want to start a parttime job backing up peoples CDs. They would bring me their CD collections and I would make them a backup on blank CDRs for a small fee. I don’t see how this would be illegal since you are entitled to make backups of any media you own as long as you’re not breaking copy-protection. I don’t think it’s illegal to pay somebody to backup your data if you own it. Am I missing anything?

Okay, so encrypted or not, data is data, right? So what is it about the 1s and 0s representing a DVD’s pits and lands where the CSS copy protection data is that supposedly makes them “impossible” to be written as 1s and 0s–pits and lands–on a kind of burnable DVD other than DVD-R for “professional authoring”? Now, I haven’t tried this for myself yet, but I’ve heard about it enough that I have the question anyway. Why is this data supposedly not like any other 1s and 0s that you can put on a DVD-R-general or a DVD+R?

Will you come back and see my responses to your answers, please?

Thanks,
Mike Christensen
Thanks, Mercuri, for your attempt to answer my question. However, that doesn't tell me anything about why we can only burn CSS to a DVD-R "for professional authoring" but not to a DVD-R-general (for general purpose) or to a DVD+R.

Anyone else wanna try answering this?