BD/HD DVD ISO Image Creation

[SamuriHL]

AnyDVD 6.4.6.1 makes this guide mostly unnecessary thanks to the new "Rip to image..." option. Right click the fox icon, and you will find it there. This will create an ISO of your disc for you.

However, there are some things to be aware of.

On the new Rip to image... page, there is a checkbox that says:

"Keep Protection (Blu-ray/HD DVD)"

This may cause confusion to a lot of people, but, I want this feature to stay so this guide will be the place to send people who have questions/problems. Please point people having issues or questions with this feature to this post!

By default, it is unchecked. When the ISO is created, all protection is removed in the resulting ISO. AACS, BD+, etc are all removed during ISO creation. A clean image that is stripped of protection that can be mounted, burned, whatever. MOST PEOPLE WILL WANT TO USE THE RIP FEATURE THIS WAY!! If you are planning on burning your images, this is the option you want to use. Update: Well, not so fast. It seems that if you are mounting unprotected ISOs on a virtual drive and AnyDVD is enabled for that drive, depending on what options you selected you could run into issues. My new recommendation for unprotected ISO users is simply to disable AnyDVD for the virtual drive. In the AnyDVD settings, under Drives/selections uncheck the virtual drive you're using to mount your unprotected images. I truly believe this issue is yet another point in favor of creating protected images but that's a personal preference.

Now, when you enable the checkbox, it disables all protection removal in AnyDVD for that image. That means it creates an image bit for bit from the disc with ALL protection in tact. AACS, BD+, etc, are all in the image. I want to make this clear so that support does not get a lot of calls on this...this feature should NOT be used unless you KNOW the consequences! It seems like quite a hassle, right? Why would you want to use this feature? I use protected images because they are as close to the original as you can get. They're literally 1:1 copies, warts and all. The major benefit is if a bug crops up in AnyDVD that causes a (sorry, Peer) glitch to show up, those who ripped with protection removal enabled will need to rerip the disc with a fixed version of AnyDVD. Those who keep protection only have to remount the protected image with AnyDVD. This is a great time saver.

Notes:
-AnyDVD *MUST* be enabled when you mount a protected image! Mounting a protected image without AnyDVD enabled will result in the inability to play it!!
-Do NOT use the keep protection feature if you plan on burning your image! If you do rip with the keep protection feature enabled, you CAN mount the image with AnyDVD enabled and burn from the mounted drive, however, make sure you know what you're doing. Media is not cheap!
-Ripping is done per image meaning if you insert another disc in another drive, the checkbox is set per disc. Confusing maybe, but, incredibly helpful! An example is I have 2 Blu-ray drives in theory. I stick disc A in drive 1. I decide I want a protected ISO created. I select rip to image and check off the keep protection checkbox. I start that one ripping. I insert disc B into drive 2. I select rip to image and this time I do NOT select the checkbox to keep protection. The second image will have all protection removed while the first will have its protection kept. SWEET!!!
-The key caching issue. This is mostly a non-issue especially now in light of new information I just found out. When you insert the disc, AnyDVD will scan it and go acquire a key for it if it needs to. (Assuming you are not using a trial) This key is cached locally so that if you create a protected image, AnyDVD can decrypt it properly and all that fun stuff. If you reinstall AnyDVD, obviously you lose the cached keys. BUT, and here's the kick ass part, AnyDVD can retrieve the key from a mounted image to recache it! It works because the key is already stored on the key server and AnyDVD just goes and retrieves the right key. This is truly awesome! Remember, this only works if someone scans the original disc and AnyDVD acquired the key from the key server. The key can't be found directly from a mounted image. It must already be known by the key server. Nonetheless, if you're ripping with AnyDVD, then the key is now known cause you let AnyDVD scan the disc. SWEET! (For those that don't understand this, don't worry about it. The latest version of AnyDVD always has all known keys. This key caching stuff only applies to REALLY new discs that come out in between AnyDVD releases. Once a new version comes out, it will contain the keys and this isn't an issue. This information ONLY applies to new discs that AnyDVD doesn't have a key for internally.)
-NOTE: I was asked to add this to the FAQ just to make it clear. When you create a protected image with the Keep Protection checkbox checked, none of the AnyDVD options such as region removal, etc are applied to the resulting image. It's going to ignore all those settings until you mount the protected image. It will then apply them dynamically to the mounted image. This means that you can change the options as you wish....just like when using an original.


There you have it. A new feature that I ABSOLUTELY appreciate beyond words. If you have questions or problems with this feature, please post in this thread.

Also, there's a lot of posts in this thread. Most of them pertain to the old method of doing things. Anything posted before this post is historical in nature and should not be considered current. Thanks!

 

[Humpa]

hmmm ... I guess I haven't been paying attention. I was not aware of the imgburn AACS check (whatever that actually is). Though I have the lastest version of imgburn, and it hasn't affected anything that I can tell. Though I have only just started using imgburn to "create image from disc" (for new movies), and converting some of my old hdd rips to iso ("create image from folder"). Though that 6gb padding that imgburn does is certainly going to be a factor, and is reason enough not to create anymore iso's using that method.

I rip everything on my PS3, so from what you suggest I should simply save those iso's and be done with it. I should mount and watch those with AnyDVD HD running and let it decrypt on the fly? I was never a big fan of that method - I figured I'd keep my CPU down as much as possible. How much does AnyDVD HD converting on the fly add to the CPU's?

 

[dharris]

I mean here is the way I feel about it....

All I ever want(ed) was to be able to rip my BR/HDDVDs to my hard drive and play them back seamlessly. I would say a majority of people are in that same boat. While this stuff is still bleeding edge...to an extent...most people trying BR/HDDVD playback have HDCP equipped components and capable hardware. I always fall into the "you never know whats coming or what you will want to do tomorrow" boat so I agree with you completely that a perfect rip is ideal - i mean the less you have to f- with the better right?. Like you said, AnyDVD can still run and do its thing. And no offense to the team as well as this program is a must have for me regardless.

However, given the obnoxious adverts and size of BRs relative to the actual movie, if there was a more full proof method for shrinking these BRs (and the method now is quite good as I have used it but its far from perfect) I would probably opt for that route. I have 3TB of storage and despite the falling prices of storage, its still quite an investment to store over 25 BRs - especially when you RAID it like I am....

FYI, I am trying your method now (using cloneCD)...thanks for the tip!

 

[SamuriHL]

That's a good question but in my experience it hasn't been much. ImgBurn 2.4.0.0 added a check for AACS so that if you try to create an image from disc without AnyDVD enabled it'll fail. If you're creating from PS3(my original method, as well, and I never bothered to rerip them when I got my LG drive), then you have a great image to keep. According to the Doom9 thread, ImgBurn will pad the images making them a few gigs bigger than the original. This is undesired for very obvious reasons. I would just keep your PS3 images and be done with it unless you think the CPU usage is too high. For me it hasn't been an issue at all.

 

[SamuriHL]

I most DEFINITELY agree with you that a "CloneBD" of sorts to remove unwanted content would change my attitude towards this, as well, however since we don't have that and I have no patience for the current methods of making movie only images, this is the best method I've come up with. Some day we'll have a CloneBD or whatever hopefully that will work like CloneDVD does now for DVD's. Until then, I ain't messing with the images.

 

[PrincipalityFusion]

That's a good question but in my experience it hasn't been much. ImgBurn 2.4.0.0 added a check for AACS so that if you try to create an image from disc without AnyDVD enabled it'll fail. If you're creating from PS3(my original method, as well, and I never bothered to rerip them when I got my LG drive), then you have a great image to keep. According to the Doom9 thread, ImgBurn will pad the images making them a few gigs bigger than the original. This is undesired for very obvious reasons. I would just keep your PS3 images and be done with it unless you think the CPU usage is too high. For me it hasn't been an issue at all.

Can you use CloneCD with AnyDVD running to create a "DRM Free" ISO. I totally aggree with what you are saying, so for me that's not the issue. My fear is that PowerDVD will at some point probably due to pressure from the studios, start to flag the AnyDVD executable so that it cannot be running while PowerDVD is playing (although i'm sure James, Peer and the gang would take care of that).

Anyways, if AnyDVD were to introduce a bug into the ISO, i would just re-rip since all of the Blu Rays are owned by me, so is it okay to rip using CloneCd and AnyDVD? Would the size decrease a small amount?

Can you use CloneDVD to make the image?

 

[SamuriHL]

You can't use CloneDVD at all in this process as it doesn't deal with HD images at all, but, yes, you can most definitely use CloneCD with AnyDVD running. Works fine. I've tested that, as well. Reripping isn't a big deal for me either, it just takes time. I'd prefer to not have to deal with that. And if PowerDVD does start blacklisting AnyDVD that'd be STUPID on their part. Slysoft would obviously respond and be annoyed by it. But anyway, if you want to use CloneCD and AnyDVD together to make unprotected ISOs, that'll work just fine. And as far as I know, CloneCD doesn't pad images. It just straight out copies the info bit for bit.

 

[Charlie]

Some good information there thanks for the share.

 

[damnskippy]

Hmm, I have not had time to keep up with the busy forums lately so I have just been watching this one. Kinda like a AnyDVD and digest of other forums a lot of the time So I had not heard any of this about ImgBurn. Why does it add the padding exactly? Is there any reason to use ImgBurn rather than CloneCD? I have owned CloneCD for a long time but have not used it to make any HD ISO images as ImgBurn was always mentioned in the tutorials etc.

 

[SamuriHL]

I have no idea why it does that. I'm sure there's probably some good reason as LUK doesn't just add things for the fun of it. However, in the case of reading an ISO from disc it's completely unnecessary and only adds space to the image. I have not tested that theory on any of my images as I've stopped using ImgBurn to read ISOs once 2.4.0.0 came out and disabled reading images that are AACS protected. There's absolutely no benefit at all to using ImgBurn over CloneCD. The reason it's recommended so much is because it's freeware and made by a truly talented author. I still use it for other things, but, not for reading ISOs anymore.

 

[Charlie]

I'm curious as why it needs the AACS to even read the disc in the first place?

 

[SamuriHL]

I'm curious as why it needs the AACS to even read the disc in the first place?

HUH? I'm confused by that question.

 

[Charlie]

HUH? I'm confused by that question.

I may be misinterpreting your sentence?

Indeed, since they added the AACS check in 2.4.0.0 I've not been using it at all to create images.

That's what I meant.

 

[SamuriHL]

What that means is that ImgBurn checks for the presense of AACS encryption on the disc. If it finds any, it pops up an error box and refuses to continue reading the disc. That means that you can only use ImgBurn to read a disc when AnyDVD is enabled so as to remove the AACS protection.

As that's not how I create my images, I was forced to stop using it which is not a big deal as James always tells me to use CloneCD anyway. But the reason I didn't recommend this method until recently is because James didn't think it was necessarily the best way of making images(i.e. leaving the protection in them) for various reasons. However, now with the latest protection found on Hitman he concedes that this method of ripping isn't necessarily bad. It's up to each person to decide the best way for themselves. I was just sharing mine in this thread.

Anyway, yea, LUK added a check for AACS because he doesn't want ImgBurn being used to rip protected discs. I can understand his fear on that issue.

 

[Charlie]

Ah I see now thanks.

 

[hlkc]

I really appreciated all your input in this thread and I've been using nothing but 1 method as using AnyDVD HD function, right click and use their "copy movie to HDD" function to my HDD and use either PDVD for BD movies and MCE for DVD movies. But lately I learned a lot for you guys about Imgburn, daemon tools... Now I guess I will follow your suggestion you described above going forward. Many thanks about that.

For my own reference, let me make sure I know exactly what am I doing instead of just follow your method. The whole idea of your way to back up BD here is try to duplicate a BD disk as original as we can, in your case it will be close to original if not 100% the same, to our HDD. Once we did that, we will use whatever application, in most of our cases here will be PDVD, and mount that BD .iso image and watch that. Am I right? Please correct me if I am wrong.

If what I described here is correct then where is the magic all the Studios have been putting in the disc and prohibited us to back up the BD in our hdd? I thought AnyDVD is where to come in and remove all those stuffs and let us watch it... From "-DISABLE AnyDVD -Load CloneCD - Select read. You do not have to manually change from .dvd to .iso. Simply give your file a .iso extension and CloneCD will create a single ISO file rather than the split .dvd file" why we can so easy to use daemon tools to mount/unmount the iso image to watch it at the first place?

Thanks for all your valuable input in advance!

 

[SamuriHL]

For my own reference, let me make sure I know exactly what am I doing instead of just follow your method. The whole idea of your way to back up BD here is try to duplicate a BD disk as original as we can, in your case it will be close to original if not 100% the same, to our HDD. Once we did that, we will use whatever application, in most of our cases here will be PDVD, and mount that BD .iso image and watch that. Am I right? Please correct me if I am wrong.

This is correct.

If what I described here is correct then where is the magic all the Studios have been putting in the disc and prohibited us to back up the BD in our hdd? I thought AnyDVD is where to come in and remove all those stuffs and let us watch it... From "-DISABLE AnyDVD -Load CloneCD - Select read. You do not have to manually change from .dvd to .iso. Simply give your file a .iso extension and CloneCD will create a single ISO file rather than the split .dvd file" why we can so easy to use daemon tools to mount/unmount the iso image to watch it at the first place?

This is not. It's deceptive, really. The wizards of Slysoft are so good at making AnyDVD transparent. We need to be clear about this...ripping an image is *NOT* sufficient. At some point in the chain AnyDVD needs to be active and work *ITS* magic on the protection. What my method is doing is simply delaying the inevitible. What I mean is, when you rip with AnyDVD enabled, the protection is removed transparently in the background. You don't see this magic happen because, like I said, the wizards of Slysoft make it so damn easy for us to use. But rest assured, there is a *GREAT* deal of magic happening under the covers that you will never see. So what I suggest is ripping a protected image. By itself, a completely unplayable encrypted mess. However, once again the wizards of Slysoft have made things a bit too easy for us. Because AnyDVD contains a database of known keys, the mounted image can be decrypted in the background and because James took special care in how the BD+ protection gets eliminated, that too can be done on a mounted image. It is impossible to determine the AACS title key from an encrypted image. The key database MUST be used. But this is all transparent making it deceptive as to what's really happening. Thanks, Slysoft wizards!!!

 

[Humpa]

I'll probably still have AnyDVD HD running when I use cloneCD to make an iso copy. That way I'm done with decrypting. Or maybe I won't - I'm still undecided. Though I do really like the idea of my back-up iso's being totally unprotected - I'll sleep better at night knowing this.

But to follow up on why imgburn pad's the iso, I believe that just has something to do with the layer break. It is intended to be used for burning the iso image to a bd-r, so if the blu-ray is over 25gb the layer break is determined using whatever method is used for that. And perhaps the first layer needs to be padded to meet the standards - like there is a certain "packet" size. So it may need to pad to fill up the current packet, then instert the break, and then continue on with the second layer? Or maybe the first layer actually needs to be 25gb's?

Whatever the case, it doesn't happen with hddvd's, or blu-ray's that are under 25gb's - the encrypted and the decrypted iso's are nearly identical in size in that case.

 

[SamuriHL]

I do know what you mean about the unprotected images and feeling better having the protection completely removed, but, in my case I decided that AnyDVD HD will always be installed on my HTPC so I don't need to worry about it. IOW, I treat my images as I do the originals.

That's an interesting theory on the layer break. I hadn't considered that but it's very possible. I really don't know. You'd think, though, that reading an image from an existing disc it wouldn't need to pad anything as it's already been written. In any case, I've been using CloneCD and it works for me. Of course, I don't write images out but I can't image there'd be a problem there.

 

[DrinkLyeAndDie]

I'll probably still have AnyDVD HD running when I use cloneCD to make an iso copy. That way I'm done with decrypting. Or maybe I won't - I'm still undecided. Though I do really like the idea of my back-up iso's being totally unprotected - I'll sleep better at night knowing this.

For most BDs this will be sufficient and work w/o problems but there might be cases where it does not.

At present we know Hitman can't be fully handled. There have been issues reported with RoboCop & Ronin. I'm unsure if these have been fully confirmed and verified by a third-party since I believe the same person reported the issue with both discs. I forget if anyone else has confirmed it.

While it would be awesome to rip to an unprotected image I can also see the wisdom of SamuriHL's method because it looks ahead to the future. The removal methods may be improved and small glitches that may exist will be fixed. Having left the protections alone there's no extra work necessary to fix a problem since you already ripped the image. Let AnyDVD do its work on the image.

In the end we all have our different methods of doing things. Do what works best for you. Nothing is permanent until it's burned to a non-rewriteable disc.