Now that I've got a bit of a grasp of ripping DVD's, I've been looking at the file structures of any DVD I can get hold of, using Smartripper.
I've just looked at a 2 DVD set (The Planets) and I'm completely out of my depth - again!

Each disc contains 4 x 50min. episodes from the TV series. Smartripper shows (on disc 1)

Pro. chain 1 / angle 1 = 0 mins.
Pro. chain 2 / angle 2 = 49 mins.
Pro. chain 3 / angle 3 = 0 mins.
Pro. chain 4 / angle 4 = 49 mins.
etc.

Chain 2 is obviously the first episode. When I tried to rip it, starting with chain 1, Smartripper froze at 9%.

What's the secret to ripping (and burning) a disc such as this, with multiple episodes?
And why is Smartripper freezing on me? I'm obviously doing something wrong, 'cos it works fine on "normal" DVD's.

You were right, Pro. chain 2 / angle 2 = 49 mins. is the first Episode. SmartRipper should be able to rip that out to a folder, then rip Angle 4 in your example, to a new folder. Basically rip each Chapter to its own folder and then re-encode each separately.

Clean the disk and if SmartRipper is not working for you, then try DVD Decrypter instead.

Bewdy, cobber.
So I ignore chain 1, because it's got nothing in it, and encode chain 2 to a cue/bin.

I'm curious, however - what's the significance of the 0 mins. in chain 1?

Who knows, who cares. Hollywood tends to do all sorts of crazy things when they author some DVD's, I'm conviced they do all that just to confuse us all, well attempt anyway

Just look at the time length for the Episodes you want and rip accordingly.

Thanks for clarifying the nothingness of the chain . Problem I've got is that now people know I can rip DVD's they think I'm an expert . Little do they know......

I managed to rip the programme I was having trouble with before (The Planets). I noticed a couple of fingerprints on it (not my disc, by the way) - they don't normally cause any great problems, but these must have been greasy, so I cleaned the disc and it's fine now, so you were right - again

And before anybody asks, I use Iso-propyl alcohol swabs to clean my discs. We use these at work for cleaning fibre optic connectors and can be bought at chemist shops.

So, until my next problem
Cheers.

Fingerprints are worse than scratchs actually. Metho on a tissue or cotton ball would be better as those IPA swabs contain a lot of water and dissolves greasy finger prints less. But if they are free from work, then I suppose they are great

You can at least rip a movie and convert it, 9 out of 10 dont even know where to start. So yes, you are an expert now.

Funny you should mention water in IPA. Some time ago I tried to clean the blade of a Stanley knife by soaking it in Metho. I forgot all about it and when I came back the Metho. had evaporated and the blade was covered in rust!

Obviously Metho also has a significant amount of water in it, which was left behind when the alcohol evaporated, resulting in rust.

Yeah, I know, it's off-topic (but you mentioned Metho and water first ).

NP, Retail Metho is 93% Ethanol, 2% Methaol (piosonous) and 5% water + a few small extras to make it taste bitter.

The Swaps you were using are 70% IPA and 30% water.