Copying DVD to HDD. Legal?

[Samdbugman]

howdy. what i want to do is install my dvd movies to a hdd and use an older machine of mine to play the movies on my tv without the disc. i own every movie that is in my collection, and i donot want to copy to disc,i just want to load my movies to a hard drive. what program do i need? is it legal? thanks all!

[TIGR]

Welcome to TPU!

It may be the right forum but the title should be more specific.

It is not legal, to the best of my knowledge, to copy commercial movies to your hard drive (even for personal backup purposes, even when you own a legal copy)—TPU's mods won't allow that to be discussed here. However, you didn't say yet that they are commercial movies—if you specify that they are home movies there should be no problem to get some help doing this.

[Samdbugman]

thanks for the fast reply. new here and dont want to start off on the wrong foot. i will delete post if i can figure it out.

[Wrigleyvillain]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_X_Copy

(E.g. It's not legal to make a copy, even a backup, though if you legitimately own the DVD I feel it should be...not trying to start this discussion here though).

And don't worry about "starting off on wrong foot". It was a simple, legitimate question.

[Samdbugman]

thanks. ive read the site for quite a while and i figured if anyone would know it was here.

[Wrigleyvillain]

Sure and welcome. For the record, I tried that app back in the day before it was banned and it worked great. Too bad it was legally prohibited.

[TIGR]

Originally Posted by Wrigleyvillain

And don't worry about "starting off on wrong foot". It was a simple, legitimate question.

+1 to that! Just wanted to give you a heads up before someone less friendly came around.

[W1zzard]

whats the legislation in the US for copying a dvd movie that i own onto my ipad, for example?
would that be a similar usage scenario?

[Easy Rhino]

Originally Posted by W1zzard

whats the legislation in the US for copying a dvd movie that i own onto my ipad, for example?
would that be a similar usage scenario?

don't tell anyone about it and you won't get a fine

we are free to copy as we please to devices we own.

[W1zzard]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripping#United_States

seems to agree with that

[Easy Rhino]

Originally Posted by W1zzard

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripping#United_States

seems to agree with that

i think most of us in the US simply adopt a "dont ask, dont tell' policy when it comes to ripping our media onto a bunch of different devices. plus, enforcement agencies are really only concerned with pirate groups that distribute and sell the stuff.

[n-ster]

Not a simple solution, but I like to backup my DVDs and games as ISOs... Get poweriso from poweriso.com and make an iso of each DVD, then mount whichever you want to watch.

Postives: If you lose your DVD, you can burn your iso on a DVD and that DVD is the EXACT copy of the original. Usually the best quality you can get out of your DVD

Negative: Takes space, you have to mount the movie when you want to see it (right click + click mount xD)

[Steevo]

I use magic DVD ripper. It works for my phone, and I can keep a hardware accelerated AVI file on the compy.

[W1zzard]

Originally Posted by n-ster

Not a simple solution, but I like to backup my DVDs and games as ISOs... Get poweriso from poweriso.com and make an iso of each DVD, then mount whichever you want to watch.

Postives: If you lose your DVD, you can burn your iso on a DVD and that DVD is the EXACT copy of the original. Usually the best quality you can get out of your DVD

Negative: Takes space, you have to mount the movie when you want to see it (right click + click mount xD)

does that work with dvd encryption? if yes then it seems like a perfectly legal way to do it because it is a backup copy and you didnt not circumvent the copy protection

[n-ster]

Yes I believe it does... not 100% sure..

but I had 5 recent movies that I had backed up before I had reformatted and they all worked great when I mounted them

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by W1zzard

whats the legislation in the US for copying a dvd movie that i own onto my ipad, for example?
would that be a similar usage scenario?

It is legal to do, but illegal to use or make any tools to break the encryption that allows it.

So ripping a CD to MP3s so you can listen to them on your iPod or computer is legal, as there is no encryption on CDs.

However, ripping a movie from a DVD to watch on your iPod/Computer is illegal because commercial DVDs are encrypted and breaking that encryption is illegal.

[Wrigleyvillain]

Right and that's why DVD X Copy was banned. It did just that. And quite well too.

[TheLaughingMan]

Copy to a HDD or other device you own is legal. You can create 1 copy for personal use such as watching on HTPC, digital library, iPad, etc. as long as you own the original physical disk. Some companies now provide a couple code or disk with Blu-ray movies that is a simple way to get a digital copy of the movie for you (in DVD quality).

*If you own a physical copy of the disc*
*Copy for your use, legal.
*2 copies for your use, not legal.
*Copy to let others borrow, not legal.
*Copy to sell, obvious.

At least that is how I remember it.

[Morrison5891]

fairusewizard.com

[Mindweaver]

You can also us anydvd i believe?

Edit: then use something like DivX pro converter to divx or avi.
also some of the newer movies have a digital download of the movie for your ipod from the maker.

[DaedalusHelios]

DVD43 to crack encryption
IMGBurn to copy the files from the disk
DVDShrink to remove previews or warnings you don't want
Mount Image with Daemon Tools when it is time to play it
Play the movie with windows media center, media player classic, or zoom player.

All that I listed are free ^^

[n-ster]

but illegal, at least the first one xD

I have already done that to back up a dual layer DVD into a single layer one

[DaedalusHelios]

Originally Posted by n-ster

but illegal, at least the first one xD

I have already done that to back up a dual layer DVD into a single layer one

First, we have trial by jury. Secondly, if you own it you can crack its encryption and reverse engineer products you own. The problem is one law says you cannot crack the encryption and another law says you have the right to do so. It would be a stalemate in court and prosecutors know that. I have read some EFF documents covering its legality and if you possess the originals and if it isn't shared you are fine.

The funny thing is our laws covering a "public showing" of a movie are very much harassment laws. If you have a block party and invite people to view a movie with you on your nice home theater system then technically you are breaking the law. Even though you bought the movie it is still a public showing even though no money was exchanged. But this is US federal law. I have no idea what other countries have covering it. I know Canada has more freedom in regards to "fair use" but I am unsure as to the details of its differences.

[slyfox2151]

Originally Posted by DaedalusHelios

First, we have trial by jury. Secondly, if you own it you can crack its encryption and reverse engineer products you own. The problem is one law says you cannot crack the encryption and another law says you have the right to do so. It would be a stalemate in court and prosecutors know that. I have read some EFF documents covering its legality and if you possess the originals and if it isn't shared you are fine.

as correct as that is, as far as im aware you don't own it. you have only paid the rights to watch it as it is and cannot be changed in anyway. you don't own the contents.

[DaedalusHelios]

Originally Posted by slyfox2151

as correct as that is, as far as im aware you don't own it. you have only paid the rights to watch it as it is and cannot be changed in anyway. you don't own the contents.

I am referring to US law and its "fair use" legislation. I have no idea what Australia's "fair use" laws are. They are different country to country.