*** Update #1 at the bottom
After reading many posts about people complaining about AnyDVD being slow to overcome new protection methods and DVDFab being "Johnny on the spot", I thought that I would take a moment and waste your time explaining how I back up my DVDs, and why I think that DVDFab is NOT the PERFECT solution.
NOTE: I own a valid license(s) for DVDFab Platinum and ALL of the Slysoft programs, and any other software mentioned in this post.
First things first, a backup is only good if you can get the same results from the copy as you would from the original. Case in point: I "cloned" "Blades of Glory" using DVDFab Platinum, the version released on the same Tuesday as "Blades of Glory". While it seemed to be OK, when I ripped the movie to ZUNE format, the movie didn't play correctly. After encountering a few more anomalies with the backup, I resigned to the fact that DVDFab wasn't able to make a working "clone".
After AnyDVD v6.1.7.2 beta was released, I tried a trick. My normal backup method is to create an ISO image using UltraISO and AnyDVD running in the background. NOTE: I use DVDFab when I want to combine discs or put original DVD9 movies on 2 discs [something Elaboratebytes should have added long ago]. I disable the removal of autorun.inf and trailers, etc. In other words, I want an exact clone except for the protection(s). I had one problem movie, "Infamous", that even AnyDVD could never make a perfect/working clone of. So, here's the trick: I created the ISO image with UltraISO as usual. I then loaded that ISO image in my Alcohol 120% virtual drive with AnyDVD still enabled. Guess what, AnyDVD reported that there were STILL protections on the DVD in the virtual drive. I then used UltraISO to create an ISO image of the ISO image loaded in the virtual drive. After its creation, I reloaded the second-time-around ISO image in the virtual drive - AnyDVD reported no further protections. I reloaded about twenty DVDs that I had ISO images of on my hard drive in my alcohol virtual drive and many of them STILL had some type of protection. I re-cloned some of them, and it looks like that it takes at least two passes through AnyDVD to strip all of the protections. I also tried this trick using just DVDFab as the cloner, and loading the DVDFab ISO image in the virtual drive with AnyDVD enabled the second time-you guessed right, there were still some protections in the ISO images. This was the case with at least most of the latest DVD's that I have bought recently.
I think that perhaps AnyDVD will have to take a note from GDatas AntiVirenkit Anti-Virus program: it loads two separate scanners to scan for viruses, if the first scanner misses, the second one will usually stop the virus. Perhaps that's what has to happen with these heavily protected DVD's: AnyDVD makes one scan, makes its corrections and protection removals, and then scans the newly generated IFO files a second time to see if anything was missed the first time, or, if further corrections still need to be made. This would at least save me from having to make two separate ISO images every time I clone a DVD.
I realize that there are lots of variables including the emulation settings of the Alcohol virtual drive, but from what I've seen, I'm having to use this method now to get a "clean" clone of practically all of the new DVDs (just me repeating myself).
Just thought I would throw this out there to see if anyone else has done something like this or exactly the same and achieved similar results.
Comments and questions welcome of course.
az_raiden
After reading many posts about people complaining about AnyDVD being slow to overcome new protection methods and DVDFab being "Johnny on the spot", I thought that I would take a moment and waste your time explaining how I back up my DVDs, and why I think that DVDFab is NOT the PERFECT solution.
NOTE: I own a valid license(s) for DVDFab Platinum and ALL of the Slysoft programs, and any other software mentioned in this post.
First things first, a backup is only good if you can get the same results from the copy as you would from the original. Case in point: I "cloned" "Blades of Glory" using DVDFab Platinum, the version released on the same Tuesday as "Blades of Glory". While it seemed to be OK, when I ripped the movie to ZUNE format, the movie didn't play correctly. After encountering a few more anomalies with the backup, I resigned to the fact that DVDFab wasn't able to make a working "clone".
After AnyDVD v6.1.7.2 beta was released, I tried a trick. My normal backup method is to create an ISO image using UltraISO and AnyDVD running in the background. NOTE: I use DVDFab when I want to combine discs or put original DVD9 movies on 2 discs [something Elaboratebytes should have added long ago]. I disable the removal of autorun.inf and trailers, etc. In other words, I want an exact clone except for the protection(s). I had one problem movie, "Infamous", that even AnyDVD could never make a perfect/working clone of. So, here's the trick: I created the ISO image with UltraISO as usual. I then loaded that ISO image in my Alcohol 120% virtual drive with AnyDVD still enabled. Guess what, AnyDVD reported that there were STILL protections on the DVD in the virtual drive. I then used UltraISO to create an ISO image of the ISO image loaded in the virtual drive. After its creation, I reloaded the second-time-around ISO image in the virtual drive - AnyDVD reported no further protections. I reloaded about twenty DVDs that I had ISO images of on my hard drive in my alcohol virtual drive and many of them STILL had some type of protection. I re-cloned some of them, and it looks like that it takes at least two passes through AnyDVD to strip all of the protections. I also tried this trick using just DVDFab as the cloner, and loading the DVDFab ISO image in the virtual drive with AnyDVD enabled the second time-you guessed right, there were still some protections in the ISO images. This was the case with at least most of the latest DVD's that I have bought recently.
I think that perhaps AnyDVD will have to take a note from GDatas AntiVirenkit Anti-Virus program: it loads two separate scanners to scan for viruses, if the first scanner misses, the second one will usually stop the virus. Perhaps that's what has to happen with these heavily protected DVD's: AnyDVD makes one scan, makes its corrections and protection removals, and then scans the newly generated IFO files a second time to see if anything was missed the first time, or, if further corrections still need to be made. This would at least save me from having to make two separate ISO images every time I clone a DVD.
I realize that there are lots of variables including the emulation settings of the Alcohol virtual drive, but from what I've seen, I'm having to use this method now to get a "clean" clone of practically all of the new DVDs (just me repeating myself).
Just thought I would throw this out there to see if anyone else has done something like this or exactly the same and achieved similar results.
Comments and questions welcome of course.
az_raiden
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