I have been using Mac the Ripper v2.6.6 and Toast Titanium the latest edition. For about a year I was ripping and burning my DVDs fine but as of late I can't rip anything (like Transformers 2, Star Trek, Observe and Report, UP and a few others). Has anyone been able to rip and burn any of these films on a MAC? I am always willing to try new programs but these are the ones I have the best luck with.
However, I did a bit of exploration and can give you an opinion about why some backup companies are legal, opinions that the more informed can correct.
Reviewed the old U.S. court decision on Hollywood vs. Little Backup Companies. It seemed to me the court really didn't want to hear this case. In its decision, it gave instructions on providing people with the ability to play their backed-up copy & preserve the original. My personal reading of it is that only companies distributing backup programs or instructions on backing-up must stop. However, (1) they must be in the United States (clearly), and (2) the application's 'only limited commercially significant purpose' must to to circumvent copy protection.
It's interesting to see why those current programs available on Macupdate are legal.
My Mac has a great graphics card that appears to interpolate DVDs on high-resolution analog monitors. The image is amazing. My little LCD HDTV (before it broke) had both analog & digital ports to my Mac. Many programs, such as Handbrake, are distributed in the US. Because they don't produce VIDEO_TS files, but produce high-quality files to be viewed on your Mac, iPod, or iPhone, they appear to satisfy condition (2).
it would appear that several new copy-protection schemes have appeared in 2009.
This new application seems legal because the download site is in Malaysia, owned by an Australian company. However, it too won't copy 'Transformers'. One of the newer copy protections appears in Pixar Films, which I believe was founded by Steve Jobs. :-) It's amusing that the above program now emphasizes its purpose is to save your battery by playing from hard disk (which is legal). It satisfies (1), and claims to satisfy (2).
is a small part of the French VLC, distributed from Canada. It clearly appears to satisfy both (1) and (2). It won't read ArccOS damaged discs.
Some newer copy prevention modifications appear installed in newer operating systems, principally Microsoft.
If so, this would always fail to prevent an open-source OS, like GNU/Linux, from copying them. Several distributions of Linux, including Debian, Fedora, & Gentoo, come in live distributions for many processors, including 32-bit & 64-bit Mac PPC. You can include both KDE4.3 (which reminds one of the Mac desktop) and GNOME 2.28.
The copy program K9Copy is included with KDE, and Thoggen is optional for GNOME. Fedora comes with enhanced security, but this free copy onto CD or USB may not be for Macs. GNOME 2.28 has HDTV support and MythTV, a free, open-source TiVo.
Because no program appears to resolve all difficulties in making a backup to play, it would appear sensible for one who values the originals in a film archive to employ several legal programs. These were just some personal opinions on why such applications remain in MacUpdate.
