Making screen grabs

[martinu]

You need to rip the contents off the disk before trying to view/play it. Then you can play the content files (.vob, .ifo, .bup) direct from your computer.

Try DVD Decrypter or DVD Shrink (you might need to come back here for detailed steps if you aren't successful).

There other ripping programs I'll check on if these 2 aren't any help.

EDIT : Another one is DVDFab HD Decrypter

EDIT 2 : You could try converting the DVD to a computer video file. MakeMKV for an .mkv file, or Vidcoder for an .mkv or .mp4 file. Then you can play these files on a computer and get your screen grabs (Daum Potplayer is an excellent option for this).

I don't think that's going to help. This disc is failing at an earlier stage: the contents (VIDEO_TS folder and .VOB/.IFO/.BUO files) are not even visible because a DVD drive in a computer spits the disc out before it presents the files. I wonder what a DVD reader drive (ie not capable of writing) would make of this disc? If you can still find such a drive...

If the raw contents of the disc (.VOB files) had been visible, there are all sorts of tools which would have been available to play them, or to rip them from disc to HDD, maybe even cracking any encryption in the files. But we can't get that far.

[arthur linden-jones]

I don't think that's going to help.

You could but try. They're all freeware so not going to cost anything. If they don't work and you don't want to keep them, use Geek Uninstaller or RevoUninstaller (both freeware) to cleanly remove them.

This disc is failing at an earlier stage: the contents (VIDEO_TS folder and .VOB/.IFO/.BUO files) are not even visible because a DVD drive in a computer spits the disc out before it presents the files. I wonder what a DVD reader drive (ie not capable of writing) would make of this disc?

Then don't look for/at the DVD contents (like using Windows Explorer). Just go straight into DVD Decrypter/DVDFab/DVD Shrink.

Never found a DVD yet that can't be manipulated, whether it's been coded/crypted/region protected ..... there's always ways around. And if you own the DVD, you should be entitled to make a back-up copy without infringing any copyright law.

EDIT : Has your DVD drive been region "locked" after a certain number of region changes?? You might have to get access to a "region-free" drive (Hate that term, commonly used but there's no such thing as "region free, it's actually multi-region capable).

[Christopher Matheson]

All that sounds like it could be useful but I really have no idea what needing 'to rip the contents off the disk' means. So, seeing as I don't know what that means I naturally have no knowledge of .vob.ifo,.bup or Decrypter or Shrink or DVDFab etc. As you can tellI'm rather ignorant of all that you mention. Where should I begin?

[Christopher Matheson]

When I wrote my message, No. 18, I hadn't noticed that Nos. 16 and 17 existed. I was replying to message No. 15. I'm not certain if that helps in any way.

[Bonekicker]

I have only just noticed this thread, but something did occur to me.

what region is the disc? And what region in the PC?
usually, Region 1 discs load OK into a PC, and then the DVD software etc says its region 1 when it automatcially loads. VLC normally just plays it, no matter what.

however, its not impossible that the software on the disk and the machine are a bit sensitive.

the other possibility is that the disc is dodgy. If you put it into a normal dvd or blu player and it works, then that can be ruled out.
its very odd that it wont play at all, or even show up on the explorer window.

[Steve Crook]

On Windoze laptops, the DVD player often gets locked into a region after the first few plays. It’s not the physical device that gets locked, it’s just the Windows software that drives it

But the VLC player usually ignores regions. It ignores if the DVD player has been locked to one particular region. It can also usually play discs from any region.

Check the VLC player at https://www.videolan.org

Steve

[arthur linden-jones]

All that sounds like it could be useful but I really have no idea what needing 'to rip the contents off the disk' means. So, seeing as I don't know what that means I naturally have no knowledge of .vob.ifo,.bup or Decrypter or Shrink or DVDFab etc. As you can tellI'm rather ignorant of all that you mention. Where should I begin?

Ripping the contents to a computer extracts the DVD files off the disc and onto the computer. Ripping is a different process than just copying the contents.

Ripping software quite often overrides/ignore various encryption and/or encoding used to "protect" the contents, unlike playback software, and "content reading" programs like Windows Explorer.

Once the contents are ripped from the DVD onto the computer - decrypted and/or unencoded - you can play the files on most (any?) playback software (VLC player, Daum PotPlayer).

Your DVD is manipulatable, no matter what protection is involved. You may never be able to play directly from the DVD, you will be able to play from the contents ripped off the DVD onto your computer.

Unfortunately I'm away from home for a few days so haven't got access to any DVDs to give you the steps. But try MakeMKV for a start. Insert the DVD, open MakeMKV, and click the disk image/icon to convert to an mkv file (this is not ripping, but will produce an mkv computer video file).

[Christopher Matheson]

Arthur - Thanks for your suggestions although I haven't attempted anything yet.