blog/data/2011-09-17-dvdrip.txt

   1 Title: Ripping problematic DVDs using dvdbackup and genisoimage
   2 Tags: english, video, opphavsrett
   3 Date: 2011-09-17 20:20
   4
   5 <p>For convenience, I want to store copies of all my DVDs on my file
   6 server.  It allow me to save shelf space flat while still having my
   7 movie collection easily available.  It also make it possible to let
   8 the kids see their favourite DVDs without wearing the physical copies
   9 down.  I prefer to store the DVDs as ISOs to keep the DVD menu and
  10 subtitle options intact.  It also ensure that the entire film is one
  11 file on the disk.  As this is for personal use, the ripping is
  12 perfectly legal here in Norway.</p>
  13
  14 <p>Normally I rip the DVDs using dd like this:</p>
  15
  16 <blockquote><pre>
  17 #!/bin/sh
  18 # apt-get install lsdvd
  19 title=$(lsdvd 2>/dev/null|awk '/Disc Title: / {print $3}')
  20 dd if=/dev/dvd of=/storage/dvds/$title.iso bs=1M
  21 </pre></blockquote>
  22
  23 <p>But some DVDs give a input/output error when I read it, and I have
  24 been looking for a better alternative.  I have no idea why this I/O
  25 error occur, but suspect my DVD drive, the Linux kernel driver or
  26 something fishy with the DVDs in question.  Or perhaps all three.</p>
  27
  28 <p>Anyway, I believe I found a solution today using dvdbackup and
  29 genisoimage.  This script gave me a working ISO for a problematic
  30 movie by first extracting the DVD file system and then re-packing it
  31 back as an ISO.
  32
  33 <blockquote><pre>
  34 #!/bin/sh
  35 # apt-get install lsdvd dvdbackup genisoimage
  36 set -e
  37 tmpdir=/storage/dvds/
  38 title=$(lsdvd 2>/dev/null|awk '/Disc Title: / {print $3}')
  39 dvdbackup -i /dev/dvd -M -o $tmpdir -n$title
  40 genisoimage -dvd-video -o $tmpdir/$title.iso $tmpdir/$title
  41 rm -rf $tmpdir/$title
  42 </pre></blockquote>
  43
  44 <p>Anyone know of a better way available in Debian/Squeeze?</p>
  45
  46 <p>Update 2011-09-18: I got a tip from Konstantin Khomoutov about the
  47 readom program from the wodim package.  It is specially written to
  48 read optical media, and is called like this: <tt>readom dev=/dev/dvd
  49 f=image.iso</tt>.  It got 6 GB along with the problematic Cars DVD
  50 before it failed, and failed right away with a Timmy Time DVD.</p>
  51
  52 <p>Next, I got a tip from Bastian Blank about
  53 <a href="http://bblank.thinkmo.de/blog/new-software-python-dvdvideo">his
  54 program python-dvdvideo</a>, which seem to be just what I am looking
  55 for.  Tested it with my problematic Timmy Time DVD, and it succeeded
  56 creating a ISO image.  The git source built and installed just fine in
  57 Squeeze, so I guess this will be my tool of choice in the future.</p>