DVDShrink... loosing its touch?
 

There have been a couple times in the last month where I am unable to back up a commercial DVD with DVD Shrink. The error message will say that it is not possible because of copy protection on the disc. I have the most recent version of DVD Shrink. Anyone else with a similar experience? So after that I'll use DVD Decryptor to extract the files, and then I try DVD Shrink on the extracted files, and I get an error message that there's a problem with the VOB files. Is there a better back up program than DVD Shrink now?
Neuro

Stop using DVD Shrink to decrypt a disc.

For one, it's inferior to the decryption algorithms found in a dedicated ripping tool (DVD Decrypter, AnyDVD, etc). And second, decrypting at the same time you transcode (shrink) the video can lead to visual artifacts on screen, even audio glitches.

DVD Shrink 3.2 is an excellent transcode/shrinking tool. But decrypt in advance.

Use DVD Decrypter, DVDFabDecrypter, AnyDVD, etc. Most of the time DVD Decrypter works on all but the "latest and greatest" or "big name" movies. TV shows and the likes are unaffected.

Since DVD Shrink had trouble with the files that DVD Decryptor produced, do any of the other decryptors you mention also shrink?

DVD Decrypter has some issues with newer encryption methods, there are a few threads at videohelp and on other boards about how to fix this, its a very limited selection and if you search hard enough for whatever title is giving you problems you should be able to decrypt it just fine with DVDDecrypter

The problem is DVD Decrypter will not tell you it cant decrypt most of the time, thats the trick with the disc because you think you have decrypted it, you wont realize it till you try to burn it or try to watch back the decrypted files. The industry is attempting to get smarter by putting in padded VOB's and other little things that will trip up the basic decrypter program

2 examples were the movies Aliens vs Predator and Resident Evil 2, they exhibited the same errors you are talking about and it took a few weeks but people on the net figured out a way to get it decrypted correctly

Jay, I use AnyDVD and DVD2One 1.5.2 which decrypts and shrinks at the same time and does a pretty good job and is fairly quick. It takes 20-30 minutes on a commercial DVD. Mark is right, they are getting trickier with the structural protection. AnyDVD can usually handle it and they have constant updates, sometimes it can take them a little time to get the update out. You can try it out for free to see if it works for you.

I sometimes find that if you can get another copy of the title you are trying to back up that your encrypting/ shrink programs will work. I did have one a while back that I couldn't copy, The Legend of Zorro. I was able to finally get it done by using decryptor and then Shrink, but AnyDVD couldn't crack it for a week. You can usually back up the movie portion with no problem, they always hide the invalid VOB is the special features section. It took some playing with DVD Decryptor's setting to back up the whole disc. I believe DVD Decryptor has a setting which will remove invalid VOBs, but it's not a default setting so you have to check it.

DVD Decryptor is such a great program, it still works even after not being updated for over a year. I use it to copy all of my non-commercial DVDs now days. I just wish I would have figured it out a lot sooner. I sure would have saved a lot of time versus using Nero and VSO.