Bluh ... after they hand you the new copy .... hand it back and say, "I'd like to return this unopened DVD. It doesn't work."
They'll ask "How do you know?"
And you can say ... "I looked it up on the internet and it doesn't comply with the DVD standard, so because it's labelled with the DVD logo, it's actually false advertising and is not as advertised. I understand there are laws against false and misleading advertising."

Does returning the DVD make a difference?
Yes.
That's what effectively hindered copy protection on CDs in the US (Walmart and Amazon threw fits with the record companies and any CD with it had to be marked) and it still wasn't going far when Sony screwed up and killed the idea entirely.
Just a note : the movie companies won't listen to you but they'll sure as hell listen to big retailers.
I never heard the whole story about Mr. & Mrs. Smith but didn't you guys eventually get a copy without the protection? I read that the disks were being replaced at one point.
Starforce is another example.
I wondered why the US version of Dreamfall was in a 6 cd set until a friend in England asked me to send him the US version.
The European DVDs had Starforce but they couldn't use it in the US and sell the game.

Yes - I absolutely would! It is the only thing the entertainment industry understands or cares about - how much of your hard earned money they can pick out of your pocket. My Pioneer player shows "search" messages for every corrupt sector Sony jams onto commercial dvd's these days as it jumps around on the disc. If Sony puts any more of these corrupt sectors or adds any more bogus ifo directions or vts files to their products, these players may never get to the movie. Does this make anyone run out to buy another copy of the movie? Of course not. Do any of these titles have runaway sales figures as a result of putting all this crap onto the dvd? Of course not. I cannot imagine what these folks are thinking about. But they sure are wasting a lot of money and effort that could better be directed at higher quality films on less expensive/more effective media.

Rich,

While you will be returning every movie to the store there will 100, if not more, who will be watching the same movie, and paying for it, ignoring the fact that the DVD does not conform to a standard. As long as it plays in the DVD player they won't notice (and therefore won't care) a sh..

Will you be able to change something? I wish you would but that is not possible, and you know it better than I.

Studios and publishers will do anything possible, and even impossible, to stop you from backing up your own DVDs and you should do the same to keep your rights to back them up, alive. Who do you think will win? the one that can last longer! And how do you last longer? Not blaming them for trying! Take this as a new challenge. Because it is not over, more and more tricks will come.

I am not against you, believe me. But the point of returning the DVD seems a bit naive, with all respect.

Yes, I, for one, would return every single movie I purchased of its kind. If all the studios started doing this then they'd never get money from me again. Am I a bit extreme? Yep, I sure am. I expect to get what I pay for and I won't buy what is labeled a DVD and accept garbage. Returning them is far from naive. My returning the DVDs simply shows I won't stand for the added junk the studios think I will accept from them. I want a quality DVD and not something that is sub-standard.

Remember, change can start with one person. Am I saying the studios will end up doing this? No. Am I saying that a boycott could end it if they did? Maybe. What I do know for sure is that apathy and complacency are a bad thing.

I understand your opinion... I just completely disagree

Thanks for understanding, Drink.

Returning the DVD to the store and giving up seems to me like apathy.

No DVD standard includes CSS nor other protection feature. Based on the 'return the movie back' approach all DVDs including those should be returned too.

While in this thread it was almost entirely discussed about sending the movie back or not, others solved the issue. That is not apathy nor complacency.

It does. CSS is part of the DVD specification. As is APS.

A disc which cannot even be watched on a PC just "crosses the line". (I don't use a standalone DVD player, only a media / home theatre PC).
If I cannot even watch the movie without making a backup first, it is defective and should be returned. Simple as that.

What is the solution?

I have to disagree.
There is nothing naive about making the retailer from whom you purchased a product get involved in their customer's dissatisfaction. I heartily agree that those folks who do not care about whether their recently purchased optical media entertainment program conforms to standards and works in a computer won't even know there is an issue (assuming the disc actually plays properly in their dvd player). If those are the only folks the entertainment industry is interested in selling products to, they are on the right path. If the day comes when I can no longer purchase entertainment products I am satisfied with (ie, quality, playable anywhere, does not corrupt any of my equipment, including my computer), then I will no longer purchase these things. I'll get through life just fine. I love to read - walk - be outdoors - play golf - travel with my wife. I have been a customer of the entertainment industry since early grammar school, when I purchased my first 78rpm record. I've purchased multiple copies of favorite musical recordings and movies in order to improve my listening and viewing experiences. I already have plenty of good music and worthwhile movies to watch when I have the urge. It would surely make more sense for me to simply stop buying this stuff anyway. I know my wife would agree wholeheartedly with that assessment.

BTW - I also subscribe to the notion that in the case of optical media - if it can be read - it can be copied. It is just a matter of time. And these days, it seems to me that the solutions come out as fast as the new ways to corrupt dvd's do - so time isn't even much of an issue.

I suggest you try it using the latest RipIt4Me program and see if it handles this title any better than AnyDVD.

Backing up the main movie only with dvdfab 3.0.2.0.

If a movie has the “DVD” logo on the disk and a playback device has the “DVD” logo on the device this "DVD" logo movie by International Law has to play in that "DVD" logo device. If the “DVD” logo movie fails to play in the “DVD” logo device by International Law definition does not meet the “DVD” logo specification and is defective. If a “DVD” logo movie is defective the customer who purchased the defective “DVD” logo movie has every right to return the “DVD” logo movie and demand a replacement or a total refund. Customers have every right to expect that unopened band new purchased "DVD" logo movie meet the "DVD" logo specification and are not defective. Is this concept really that hard to understand?

Regards,
bjkg

hmmmm . . . "Stranger Than Fiction" - R1 wide vs. Lite-On SH-16A7S sata optical drive: This newly released Sony title has a slew of phony vts files, plus a couple of executable files on it set to "autorun", and my Lite-On sata drive will not read any portion of the disc under any circumstances. It considers the disc to have an incompatible format. The Lite-On will read other dvd's just fine. My Benq 1655 reads the "Stranger Than Fiction" dvd just fine. So - who to blame for this fiasco? Both of them, I guess.

@ TRU:

1) CSS was forced to the standard as a copy protection mechanism but it is not mandatory. Studios can still decide if they use it or not and it is obviously not needed for the disk to play.

2) The solution is in another forum that you can google. The idea was not to compare one product to the other but the attitude in the forum. While everyone here seems to be happy returning the movie others found a solution.

Just imagine if those back in 1999 would have returned every movie because it would not play in Linux. Or Muslix64...

Thanks for the way you replied.

Das Parfum

http://forum.slysoft.com/showpost.ph...69&postcount=2

Pretty disgusting . . .

Das Parfum

Backing up the main movie only with DVDFab Decrypter 3.0.2.0. No other Version works on this DVD

Goodyear2001, your version of DVDFab Decrypter is very old. Update to 3.0.8.6. Your luck will be greatly improved if you use the latest version.

What's the status on this with AnyDVD? Are there plans to make AnyDVD be able to back up or play these titles on a computer? Or are these titles finally the ones that prove to be impossible for AnyDVD to handle?

James (Slysoft), is waiting for Wer frueher stirbt, ist laenger tot to arrive in the mail. I'm sure the problem will be resolved given a little time once a physical disc is available to analyze.

The problem is (from what I've read in various discussion boards) that newer versions of DVDFabDecrypter cannot copy the movie. The older version 3.0.2.0 can copy movie only.

Right!