US law is a bit convoluted in this area. There are precedents for what is called "fair use". Most people, even many in Congress, believe that you should have the right to make backups, and change formats for media that you have purchased. The problem is one part of the DMCA law passed in the late '90s. It prohibits breaking encryption.

So, theoretically, you have the right to "fair use", you just can't break encryption to actually do this. A classic Catch-22. Or a perfect example of an industry buying laws to suit their interests over that of the population.

No one has been prosecuted for breaking encryption on media they own, or shifting formats. Not in the US. And I don't believe the media companies want this type of thing to go to court and possibly lose. They wouldn't want the precedent.

Now, they have gone after companies that produced software that breaks the CSS protection on dvds. And similar actions have occurred in England and Australia after DMCA type laws were enacted there. Media companies are desperately trying to control the content they produce, and they are losing this battle, even as their money buys more and more restrictive laws.

So, to answer your question, breaking encryption on dvds probably does violate the DMCA. There are fair use exceptions outlined in the DMCA, but individual use isn't one of them. How anyone is supposed to exercise those rights without a decryption program is beyond me.

As an individual who is only doing this for media he owns, and for his own use, you are fairly safe from prosecution. Just don't share it online, or start selling copies from the trunk of you car.