What I want to know is, if you successfully manage to copy a movie using whatever app or combination of apps, if the disc has trouble playing or won?t play at all, could it possibly be due to the software/methods you used, and actually not hardware (record/playback/disc) or firmware related at all?
In other words, if the software says you made successful copy, did you (hardware/disc brand aside)?
Also, I have noticed that the latest Sony releases appear to be much easier to copy than they have been over the past months- why is this?
Is this due to them dropping extreme protection measures for the sake of set-top player legit-copy compatibility, or has the protection become more sophisticated, thus making apps think they are making a successful copy, but in fact you are making a disc with unstable/erratic/flawed playback?
The reason I ask this is because recently I have been burning disks that have been having playback issues (many Sony), after hundreds of discs with no issues at all. Is this just coincidence?
there are plenty of reasons why certain dvds won't play in other players:
1. burning speeds: burn at 4x so there will be less writing errors (rule of thumb is to burn at half the rated speed of the disk--8X disk burn at 4x).
2. read manual for your stand alone player and use the disks that will play in your player. If your player is less than 2 yrs old then it should play the + or - R disks! I said SHOULD that's why you read the manual.
3. try booktyping your drive to DVd-ROM so it will make your +R disks more compatible to players. Read this:
http://k-probe.com/bitsetting-booktype-faq.php 4. make sure that there are no finger prints or scratches on your disk that make it hard for the player to read the disk!
5. use good quality media (rule of thumb....buy the ones that are Made in Japan.) Verbatim is a top notch disk and is the only exception to this rule....some Verbatims are made in Taiwan and they are top notch!
6. and don't burn too close to the outer edge of the disk ..... which will make the disk unreadable! but using good media you will be able to burn close to the edge better than lesser quality media. Just in case I only burn no closer than 4400MB, so if you can set your programs to that, all the better!
follow these little tips of the trade and you'll have better success! good luck.
but as far as new encryptions go, by Sony Pictures, I don't think they have changed to easier encryptions at all. Just different. And the software has kept up to the new ecryptions with updates and have been very good about it, too! I don't have a problem with it either.
As far as playback on different players.... I know it's a disk/player situation not the software as outlined above. The only exception is if your player is physically not able to read certain disks...... like some won't read MP3s while the new players will! Some will only do certain brands of media and it doesn't matter whether it's -+R disks. that the player needs a firmware update. soooooo it's the player or the disk. ...... not the software. Of course there are better softwares if you are looking transcoders/encoders. I think once you find what works for you EXPLOIT IT! use it many times and often if you get the results that work for your equipment. I resently purchased new DVD player for this purpose. My old player, which is still great, just didn't play MP3s so I went out and bought a new player, same brand that I always do (Sony) and now it plays all my DVDs and MP3s and I'm very happy with it. It also does DTS audio channel with my receiever that does DTS, also..... and it even has a HDMI connection to give 720i just under HD! It's quite good and for 150.00 I couldn't pass it up. Plays everything. Now if they can only decide on HD-DVDs or Blue-Ray! hahahahahaha I am prepared for the future, now. I won't upgrade to those formats till it's absolutely nessissary, which will be yearrrrrrrrrrrrsssssssss from now.
IHoe, you have made some very valid elaborations, but going back to the issue of the latest Sony releases being way easier to copy, I can copy the latest releases by Sony using nothing more than the last version of DVD Shrink or DVD Decrypter, combined with an OLD (5.5.5.1) version of AnyDVD!!! This sets off alarms in my head- what's going on?!
if you're using an old version of AnyDVD then it couldn't be a legit version that you bought! why would any one use an old version when you get the updates for free after you buy the program?
I used to do movies with DVDDecrypter that others would tell me that it shouldn't do! It wasn't until THE FOG came out (1/24/06) that I couldn't do the rip with DVDDecrypter any more for the newer movies.... had to use Voblanker to correct it! Like this:
http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/293994http://forums.a...
soooooo if you're using old programing and still getting success .... then it's not because the encryptions are getting easier. Just something that's working for you on your system! And what movies are you doing that will do with just DVDD and Shrink alone?
As for why I am using an old version of AnyDVD, I'd rather not comment on that;)
But the last two I copied with just the above mentioned software (no DVDFab or Ripit4me- amazingly!) were The Cavern and Edison Force.
very good..... I did them with AnyDVD and CloneDVD...... the up to date versions! LOL anyway..... Like I said....... I used to get great rips from DVDDecrypter that others had trouble with and I didn't. Seems you're having a bit of luck, too. there will come a time when you won't and then having RipIt4Me will come in handy for you! You'll seeeeee it won't stay this way for long.
Well that's great, but it just seems strange that the same combination (namely Shrink with old version of AnyDVD) could not negotiate the likes of slightly older ones like Pink Panther or When A Stranger Calls etc., but some of the latest ones are no issue at all.
P.S. It almost seems like you object to using "pirate" software to "back-up" (piracy in the RIAA's eye's) DVD titles- is this not a little hypocritical, or were you just testing the water in my case?
