Please READ THIS before you post!

Author's note: This is an attempt to condense the "first contact" information with the intent to help new-submitters to give us the minimum information for problem determination and to finally get rid of the fluff. Helpful comments welcome, then we'll see where this goes.

Please refer to the index below for instructions.

TROUBLESHOOTING YOUR PROBLEM:

1. Read Errors on a Blu-ray Disc: See post 2
2. Copyright related playback problems: See post 3
3. AnyDVD logfile creation: See post 4

CORRECTLY RIPPING A BLU-RAY DISC

1. My title is a 2D title: See post 5, section A
2. My title is a 3D title: See post 5, section B

 

Read Errors on a Blu-ray Disc?

All Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs can be ripped with (provided you have "keep protection" checked using the "rip to image" feature) or without Anydvd HD. They just can't be decrypted without Anydvd HD.

There's nothing on Blu-ray disc that prevents it from being ripped. Blu-ray discs IN GENERAL do NOT have a protection that simulates bad sectors on a disc.

• It doesn't matter if you claim the disc plays fine. Simply because a disc plays fine (especially in other drives or standalone players that you're not using to rip this same disc with), doesn't mean it is fine for ripping.
• Yes, Blu-ray media can be defective right out of the plastic wrap. They are also very susceptible to dust and fingerprints (according to James).
• It doesn't matter at all if your disc looks perfectly fine either; it doesn't matter if it looks flawless. Simply because a disc looks fine doesn't mean it is fine.
• It doesn't matter if your drive rips other discs perfectly fine either (other than indicating that your drive isn't the issue--and more than likely your original disc is defective).
• It is also not unusual for bad discs to run in batches. A bad pressing replicated itself over many copies so sometimes getting a new disc is not going to help. All it takes is 1 spec of dust on the press and you have thousands of defective copies.

The only currently known exception to this are DOD type blu-ray's (Disc On Demand).

As such the above statement DOES NOT apply to retail / rental discs!

Typically, these are your options in order of likelyhood:

• A. The original disc is bad even if it plays fine. Exchange it, preferably from a different location. "Borderline" bad discs do occur is batches, by the way.
• B. The disc is dirty. Clean it.
• C. Your drive is slowly dying. Try a different drive. (of course if you get the same error on different drives this can't be it, right?)

Read errors are ALWAYS either a defective disc and/or drive.

READ ERRORS ARE IN GENERAL NEVER THE RESULT OF A BLU-RAY PROTECTION!



A detailed explanation by @Pete:

Pete:

There is a persistent misconception regarding error correction. I should make this a sticky, because it comes up every now and then...

It's not something our (or any) software can do, error correction happens on the drive - all the time. Data is stored on discs with a certain amount of redundancy (Picket codes) and, by that, made robust, so a certain percentage of misread bits can be reconstructed.

There are two kinds of read errors - recoverable ones and unrecoverable ones. The only ones you ever get to see are the unrecoverable ones.

Note, that without this error correction active not a single disc, no matter how perfect in condition, will be read without fatal read errors. In other words: those read errors happen all the time, constantly and likewise bits are being routinely reconstructed by your drive all the time. These recoverable read errors and the correction thereof are part of the design (same with DVB, btw.) - recoverable read errors are expected.

Those read errors will not ever surface, you won't notice them and from your perspective the data is in perfect condition. That's the error correction.

When you do actually see read errors, the damage was so bad, that a reconstruction was impossible. At least a block of data (64kB) is screwed up (that's the error correction unit on Blu-ray Discs). There is no way on earth you can reconstruct that or apply some other "magic error correction" - no additional redundancy is available and since these read errors occur block-wise, at least a sequence of 32 sectors is broken at once.
That would be a lot of data to guess.

So at least one frame of video is going to be completely broken. Due to the way AVC and HEVC references frames, this will tear down on average a half second of video (the typical scenario, though, is a group of read errors, multiple blocks).

The only "error correction" means available to CloneBD, is to warn the user about trouble and try to skip the bad area - the video will more or less noticeably skip pictures.
CloneBD already does that - it tries to get past the bad stuff. But only up to a point. Sometimes it's not possible to resynchronize.

Oh... right - re-reading: CloneBD also does that, I think up to 3 times per read error.

 

Copyright related playback problems

There are several protection methods creators can use in order to prevent proper playback of a title. The method they use varies slightly between the type, but the instructions to correctly decrypt them are the same. Please see below on the variants and what to do.

Copy / Rip tool detected

This is a classic sign of screenpass / playlist obfuscation method at work. This protection method is designed to prevent proper playback of the disc by using playlists that do not allow the start of the movie, show a copyright message at the start and not progress from there. If you are seeing this message, then it means that the disc has not been correctly decrypted. In order for AnyDVD to be able to correctly decrypt the title so you can make a correctly functioning backup, you will need to provide an AnyDVD logfile. The developers will then be able to use that logfile to add the data AnyDVD needs to correctly decrypt the title, to the Online Protection Database.

Stuck at black screen after disc loading

This is usually a sign of playlist obfuscation being at work. This protection method simply uses playlist modification behavior where the title simply does not progress to the main menu screen (or preliminary trailers) after initial loading of the discs Java code. Please see "Copy Detected / Rip tool detected" above for instructions on what to do.

Scrambled scenes (scenes playing in wrong order) / Copyright message displayed some time into the movie

This is a classic sign of "Screenpass Protection". This protection method tells the player to load a random playlist that has the title's scenes in an incorrect order. This variant usually also comes with either a section of black screen during playback or a copyright related message some time into the movie. This version also has the classic sign of a few hundred playlists on the discs file structure. Please see "Copy detected / Rip tool detected" above for instructions on what to do.

Audio suddenly muted (Cinavia)

Cinavia is an AUDIO DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT tool, embedded in the video. It is NOT a copy protection. Copy protections are designed to STOP YOU FROM COPYING the disc contents. Cinavia DOES NOT stop you from copying the disc contents, it stops you from fully WATCHING THE COPIED CONTENT by muting the audio if unauthorized backups is detected (around 20 minute mark usually).

What's an unauthorized backup? Simple. An ISO with protection removed, a protected iso with AnyDVD active (as anydvd will then remove encryption and make it appear unprotected = unauthorized) or even an ORIGINAL disc with anydvd active. Yes, even original discs get flagged as unauthorized anydvd is active. This is because anydvd does its thing on-the-fly and will make the disc APPEAR unprotected to the PC. When played back then on a cinavia detecting software player, the player will see no protection and assume unauthorized disc and mute the audio.

What can you do?

Just as simple, if you play your discs on PC using a LICENSED BLU-RAY PLAYER (such as PowerDVD 11 or higher (and even the last few builds of 10), keep the anydvd program setting enabled "Prevent cinavia detection by software player". Second checkbox from the bottom, enabled by default! This will PREVENT licensed players from DETECTING the signal, it DOES NOT REMOVE the signal itself. Unlicensed players such as VLC/MPC-HC don't care about cinavia and as such don't detect it either, the drawback is the unlicensed players usually have little to NO menu support (especially if the menu is java based)

If you play on cinavia detecting standalone player (connected to a TV, all models from jan 1st 2012 and above are required to detect it), then you CAN remove cinavia from the source with the AnyDVD + CloneBD combination. Warning: this WILL have a side-effect to the audio, some can live with it while others can't.

The choice is yours

 

AnyDVD Logfile Creation:

When you request assistance on the RedFox Forum you can greatly increase the effectiveness of any response by reviewing this thread first and then providing the readers with as much information as possible about your problem. Without an anydvd logfile, the developer staff simply cannot help you. Regardless of how detailed your problem descriptive post is. In order to succesfully create a troubleshooting topic. Please follow the instructions below.


1. Get and install the latest version of AnyDVD as seen at the very top of this Forum
Many times a beta is shown here and this may contain the fix you need for your disc. If not already done, please install that version and proceed as needed. If your license prohibits the latest version, use the latest your version allows.

2. Set "Default" status in AnyDVD
Left click the AnyDVD icon in the system tray (lower right of your screen) and click "default". Try your disc again. If this works we want to know about it anyway. When you post be sure to mention what setting you changed that caused your error.

3. Next, tell us about your problem but explain it and avoid under-statements like:

• "won't work"
• "can't copy anything"
• "stopped working"
• "Help!!"
• I COULD NOT MAKE A BACK UP COPY
• "keeps stopping"
• "I'm getting errors when I copy"
• "All other Blu-ray's work, just this one will not"
• "I am having problems copying my movies"
• Any idea what I can do about a <insert title> that won't copy?

Tell us:

• the title of the disc and its country of origin
• EAN / UPC number (barcode)
• Webshop link if you have one (amazon, ebay,...)
• what you are trying to do or setting you wanted to use when the error occurred
• what is not working and what is happening?
  
• IMPORTANT: what is the error message?

4. Post an AnyDVD log file. Many times the answer to your question is visible to experienced users or RedFox support or a developer right away.

Ensure Anydvd is running.

1. Put the problematic original disc in your optical drive/reader. Wait for Anydvd to scan the disc.
2. Right click the red fox icon on your system tray (to the lower right).
3. Select "Create Logfile"
4. Wait for Anydvd to create a log file. In some circumstances this might take 5 minutes or longer.
5. A pop-up screen will appear. Take note of the location where Anydvd created the logfile "Anydvd_Info_<xxxxxxx>.ziplog" (or something similar)
6. Click "ok". A Windows Explorer will open. You will see a zip file called "Anydvd_Info_titleofmydisc.ziplog"
7. Click "Create new topic" on the top or bottom right of a forum section.
8. Describe the problem
9. Below the text box you will see 3 buttons. Click the middle one that states "Upload File".
10. A small pop-up screen should appear (if it doesn't please ensure your browser is enabled to allow pop-ups from the RedFox forums)
11. Click the "Browse" button, and locate and select the .ziplog file you created.
12. Wait for the progress indicator in the top right corner to finish. Then click "Close"
13. When you submit reply, or submit a new thread, the .ziplog file will be attached automatically for us to take a look at.

 

Ripping a Blu-ray disc

A. My title is a 2D title release:

NOTE: Although 2D titles can technically be ripped to a folder structure, this is not recommended for blu-ray discs in any form. One of the reasons being (but there are others) you lose the optimised disc layout that is present on the physical copy. If you wish to proceed either way. Follow instructions below.

1. Insert your disc into your optical drive
2. Rightclick the masked fox that sists in your system tray (bottom right hand corner of your screen, next to the clock/date)
3. Select "Rip Video DVD to Hard Disk".
4. Select your optical drive if you have multiple, then under "Target folder" navigated to where you want the disc ripped.
5. Click "Copy Disc" and wait for anydvd to finish

B. My title is a 3D title release:

NOTE: 3D titles MUST BE RIPPED at all times to ISO FILE! Failure to do so (and ripping to folder structure instead) will result in a folder structure that is TOO BIG to burn back to disc

1. Insert your disc into your optical drive
2. Rightclick the masked fox that sits in your system tray (bottom right hand corner of your screen, next to the clock/date)
3. Select "Rip to Image"
4. Select your optical drive if you have multiple, then under "Target folder" navigated to where you want the disc ripped.
5. Click "Copy Disc" and wait for anydvd to finish