[ale] backup/salvage scratched encrypted DVDs

[Brian Pitts]

Richard Bronosky wrote:
> One of my daughter's DVDs is garbling and freezing near the end when
> played in a STB DVD Player. I have tried to rip it using the most
> effective (six nines) tool I've ever seen which is
> http://ripitapp.com/ and it gets to 99.1 and hangs. I'd like to try
> some form of geeky Linux rescue. I don't know much about what ever it
> is that encrypts a DVD, so please be gentle. I'd like copy the disc
> with ddrescue, then decrypt that. This thread
> http://ask.metafilter.com/68265/But-its-just-a-little-scratch makes it
> sound like ddrescue will copy the disc decrypted if it is opened with
> libdvdcss first. That sounds like crazy talk and if true means I know
> even less about the encryption voodoo than I thought.
> 

Yes, you should be able to use ddrescue to copy it. You can then burn
that copy, no need to decrypt. Linux dvd playback software will use
libdvdread to access the disk. libdvdread will use libdvdcss to decrypt
the content as necessary.

-- 
All the best,
Brian Pitts