Season 2 dvd issues

[Elizar]

Okay, got my set today, so I poped it into the dvd player, and at the end of the 3rd episode "Geometry of Shadows" It skipps and then gets stuck. Could it just be because I watched so much at one time...or what?

 

[Jade Jaguar]

Having a continuing glitch at a specific point shouldn't be caused by "watching it so much at one time," but would seem more likely to be a spot of dirt, or a scratch, or some other flaw in the disc.

 

[GeoKuutio]

I think that it's just a scratch... Look your DVD against light with that data-side. If you see there one or more scratches.. then you could maybe get a new one from retailer that you bought your DVD's.

 

[FlipperPA]

Also, don't forget to clean your DVD player's laser. You can get cleaners at just about any DVD-rental or purchase place. Most players recommend cleaning every 10-20 hours of viewing time, which might be overkill. However, cleaning has fix quite a bit for me.

Also, when I get rentals, they often skip (people stack them and treat DVDs without proper respect)... after a simple DVD cleaning, they typically play perfectly.

Regards,

-Tim

 

[sleepy_shadow]

I copy mine to the hard disk -- just to be sure.

Takes a hellish amount of space, but gives me certainty that I won't have to re-acquire copies of scratched disks. Recommend to everyone with leftover time (and disk space).

 

[Markas]

Pardon the horrifying lack of understanding sleepy, but how does one copy an entire DVD to HD?

 

[sleepy_shadow]

First, one takes a DVD ripper. For example, DVD Decrypter for Windows or QuickRip for Linux. In a familiar operating environment, setup should not take long.

Then one rips the files, in the process removing copy protection measures (for example CSS/CPM). This process may take quite a while.

Then, if something awful should happen to original disks, one can create replacement disks (must split or recode -- current burners cannot do double layer) or watch the movie from hard disk.

On the issue of playback from hard disk, I will try providing better descriptions -- after making a couple of experiments.

So far, I have not needed my backups. However, given the physical imperfection of all data storage... this time will come.

 

[Elizar]

Thanks guys. I'm going to take it back to Best Buy and get a new one. Because, i've tried it a few times and it happens at the same point.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Then one rips the files, in the process removing copy protection measures (for example CSS/CPM). This process may take quite a while.

Just to clarify one point: CSS is not and was never intended to be a form of "copy protection" The studios assumed that it was, and the DVD Consortium didn't correct them. Every news story and internet post since seems to get this point wrong.

CSS is an enforcement mechanism for the DVD logo program. It has absolutely nothing to do with copying. The idea is that no (commercial) DVD should be able to play on any player (piece of hardware) that does has not paid a fee to the consortium to display the DVD logo and to have the firmware (in stand-alone players) or software (in PC DVD programs) required to decode CSS. This became a computer and eventually a copying issue because the Consortium didn't give much thought to the open source crowd. PC users running Linux wanted to watch DVD movies on their PCs in their DVD drives. For PCs and Macs, this wasn't a problem. The vendors who intended to get into the DVD playback market simply paid the fee and added CSS decoding to their programs. But there weren't any major commercial outfits writing Linux DVD players - they were mostly user-written. There was no central group to pay for or control a CSS license. So somebody just cracked CSS. That allowed users of Linux systems to watch DVD movies on their machines. It also, as a by-prodcut, made it easier for Linux users to copy the files on a DVD to their hard disks, because the unlicensed DVD access software written for Linux didn't incorporate any of the real anti-copying features that licensees of the DVD Consortium used. But CSS itself was never intended to prevent copying, and was never really capable of doing so.

Regards,

Joe

 

[sleepy_shadow]

From the viewpoint of backup, you are right. One might backup files without removing CSS. Should need finally arise, this can be done later.

Unfortunately, immediate playback of scrambled files from hard disk... would fail under many programs. Since I generally watch DVD on my computer, I prefer storing backups in unscrambled form.