Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Overriding Nero Copyright Proctection...

Jan 28, 2005 6:22AM PST

Ok, I am trying to burn a copy of Friday Night Lights using Nero. Whenever I try to burn it tho, it won't let me because it says that it has copyright protection. Is there any way I can override that or something.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
No.
Jan 28, 2005 6:30AM PST

Other software such as DVDSHRINK is used.

Bob

- Collapse -
Illegal software
Jan 28, 2005 8:36PM PST

Don't advise other people to use illegal software. You are encouraging other people to seek help in these forums in overriding copyright-protected materials. I would rather ask the other moderators to lock this thread, or would you do it Bob?

Swisse

- Collapse -
Not illegal. I use it to...
Jan 28, 2005 10:50PM PST

When I make a DVD with Ulead I found if copy it DVDSHRINK it plays in more players.

Also, I used DVDSHRINK to duplicate my DVDs for a roadtrip. This is not unlike us duplicating an AudioCD for the road. All the same rules here.

For me, it would be unthinkable to bring a dozen 20+ dollar DVDs on the road trips. But the cheap copies can get scratched/lost and I still have the master at home.

This is one fine piece of software and will help in many ways.

Bob

- Collapse -
thanx man
Jan 29, 2005 12:16AM PST

thanx for the help guys

- Collapse -
Still illegal...
Jan 29, 2005 6:24AM PST

Which way you look at it Bob, it's still illegal. Overriding the copyright, decrypting encrypted materials, they are still illegal. Be careful what you're writing here Bob... remember you once said that the "powers might be" in the US might one day like to talk to you? I'm just bringing it back to you. It's for your own protection, remember?

Swisse

- Collapse -
Still undecided in the courts here.
Jan 29, 2005 6:29AM PST

If it bothers you, please start using report offensive post button.

Let's put it another way. I paid for a DVD. It for some reason doesn't play on my player. Right now, they don't warrant the media or have a replacement system that you can use.

Fair use and more lets us make a copy for personal use and backup.

Bob

- Collapse -
I'm with you on this one, Bob.
Jan 29, 2005 7:47AM PST

What you're doing is not illegal. However, the software may be taken off the market because it could be used for illegal purposes (and in fact, probably is used that way more often than not). But the Holywood and software moguls don't seem to care much that their various "copyright protection" schemes also block people's legal right to make backup copies of that which they purchased.
-- Dave K.

- Collapse -
Decryption algorithm
Jan 29, 2005 3:54PM PST

Dave,
The issue here is the use of the decryption algorithm, which is called "ripper", and if you read my response to Wayne I provided there links to the news regarding the court rulings against the company 321 which supplied the DVD copy software DVDXCopy. And in the first place if you don't agree with what is written on the DVD not to reproduce it don't buy it.

Swisse

- Collapse -
Bravo for honest people!!!
Jan 29, 2005 8:03PM PST

I have 3 grandchildren. They are 10, 7 and 5. They do not always handle their software properly, they misplace it in the enormous amount of junk they call valuable and some friend always walks away with it in the wrong case.

I own hundreds of dollars of educational and entertainig software and 3 PC's in my home. Every purchase, I made 2 extra copies. Put the original on the shelf and let them enjoy.

I guess I am a pirate but they are all in "gifted and talented" school programs thanks to those protected copies.

- Collapse -
Taking good care of your expensive CDs
Jan 29, 2005 10:26PM PST

Hello Debbie,
I think you should not entrust your expensive CDs to your grandchildren expecially to the 5 year-old. You should take good care of your CDs.
As to calling you a pirate,well it was you who called yourself a pirate not I.

Swisse

- Collapse -
Just my own 2 pence worth
Jan 29, 2005 9:20PM PST

I copy and burn CD's all the time. They are my own CD's purchased legitimately, and to protect my investment I make a copy, in case the original corrupts in any way.

The legitmacy of such actions has been open to question for many years. Ever since vinyl records and magnetic tape recorders were introduced, and people used to copy records onto tape. Then came cassette tapes, and people making copies. Then music CD's and finally software CD's.

The question "seems" to be one of intent. If I intend to copy records, tapes, CD's, whatever for resale, then I infringe on copyright law and I am at risk of prosecution. But it has been argued that if I copy my media "for my own use", then this should not be treated as an infringement of the copyright laws.

However, I am unsure how far this has been tested in law, and if it has for records, cassette, music CD's, whether the ruling also applies to software CD's.

I agree with what Bob has said in this case.

But I note something from the original question. This was;

"Ok, I am trying to burn a copy of Friday Night Lights using Nero. Whenever I try to burn it tho, it won't let me because it says that it has copyright protection. Is there any way I can override that or something."

My own question for this is, "Where did the original come from?"

I don't know what Friday Night Lights is, but if this is an original that the poster purchased himself from a legal source, then I would support his attempt to make a back-up copy for his own use, even though the legality of it may not be certain.

But if it is an illegal copy, then what he proposes is also illegal.

Furthemore, if he intends to sell the copy he makes, this is also illegal, whether the original is a legal copy or an illegal one.

So really, to give a full answer to his post, we need further information from him.

Even then, the legality of what he proposes may not be all that clear.

Mark

- Collapse -
Let's get specific here. . .
Jan 29, 2005 8:49AM PST

An exact digital copy might be considered pirated. The software that Bob is talking about does not create an exact digital copy. As the software name implies, the copy is a compacted/shrunk copy and is not an exact digital copy.

This from the DVDShrink Help:

"Most DVD video titles are simply too large to fit, without modification, onto a single recordable DVD-R disk. DVD Shrink overcomes this problem by compressing or "shrinking" the data from your original DVD."

For this reason I do not use it although I have it installed. I have a 55" Wide Screen HDTV and wouldn't think about playing a "compacted" movie on it.

HTH,

Click here to see the CNet faces, learn a little about internet
connections and data, and download free software.

Suppose you were an idiot. . . And suppose you were a member of Congress. . . But I repeat myself.
--Mark Twain

- Collapse -
Specific?
Jan 29, 2005 3:43PM PST

Wayne,
I don't know if writable 8.5 GB DVD's are already on the market, but as of now there are only 4.7 GB DVD's. So all DVD copy softwares shrink the content of these films which are usually over 4.7 gigs so that you can burn them into those 4.7's. And those are not exact digital copies. But did you hear about the story why the company 321 took its product DVDXCopy off the market? Read these links:
1. Link 1
2. Link 2
3. Link 3
And did you oversee this paragraph in the DVDShrink website?
"Most DVDs are designed to prevent you from making copies.
The first preventative measure is encryption. Commercial DVD titles are often encrypted, which prevents you from either copying them to your hard drive, or if you manage to do so, being able to play the resulting files. DVD Shrink overcomes this problem with built-in decryption algorithms."

And overcoming the encryption problem with the decryption algorithm, which is the "ripper", is exactly the issue if you read the links I provided.

Swisse

- Collapse -
And Did You See This
Jan 29, 2005 9:21PM PST

from your own first link:

>>>>The fate of 321 Studios will serve as a deterrent to any other firm tempted to help users break encrypted digital-rights management software. "There are no other companies providing software for illegal copying of DVDs," Goodman said, "and no other companies are likely to come along and do it openly.">>>>

Evidently DVDShrink doesn't come into the category legally of being illegal at this time. As long as a product has NOT been ruled as illegal by our courts, recommending that product in an open forum would be acceptable and not part of the CNET Terms of Service copyright laws.....at least not in this Moderator's opinion. I have emailed Lee Koo about this as I mentioned in my email to you, and as he normally is gone on the weekends, I expect he will be responding sometime tomorrow morning either with a post here or with an email to me, and I will post whatever he has decided to do about this topic (assuming he will be talking with the CNET legal staff).

You had mentioned in the email that perhaps because DVDXCopy was a company based in the USA and other companies such as DVDShrink may be based out of the country isn't a basis for believing that DVDShrink is 'protected' from the copyright laws. The reason they wouldn't be protected from the laws is because there are also European laws in effect to prevent copyright laws and those laws were also used against DVDXCopy. Until the USA and European laws decide otherwise, DVDShrink is a legal program to own and use for personal backup purposes, in my opinion.

What's involved with all of this is that we already have a constitutional right to make backup copies of what we purchase legally.......and the movie and music industry especially are getting around the rights that WE have had in place for a long time in order to by getting their own laws enacted through governmental pressure to override ours.

TONI

- Collapse -
Quality
Jan 29, 2005 8:29PM PST

Actually, you can't tell the difference between the "shrunk" copy and the original. Omit the menus and other garbage on the original and a 90 minute movie needs no shrinking.
As far as illegal copying, this was happening in the VHS days as well. I don't think it will stop until another type of media is introduced and phase out the DVD. The industry is not hurting from this or you wouldn't see these huge-budget films. They will only react when it is cost effecient. Sueing all "home use" copys would not be possible.

- Collapse -
Quality
Jan 29, 2005 10:06PM PST

Judge Susan Illston, a San Francisco federal judge ruled against 321 as quoted in the news:

"In her ruling Friday, Illston proved unconvinced by any of 321's arguments.

Hollywood critics have long said CSS simply controls access to DVDs and that it's not a direct copy protection mechanism. And 321 has argued that since consumers who buy a DVD have the right to access their own movie, it would not be illegal to help them access it by using 321's software.

Illston disagreed, saying CSS was plainly a way to protect copyright holders' rights, as envisioned in copyright law.

She said blocking people from making perfect digital copies of their DVDs did not unconstitutionally hamper free speech or fair-use rights. People were free to make copies of movies in other, nondigital ways that would give them access to the same content, even if not in the same, pristine form, she said.

'It is the technology itself at issue, not the uses to which the copyrighted material may be put,' Illston wrote. 'Legal downstream use of the copyrighted material by customers is not a defense to the software manufacturer's violation of the provisions (of copyright law).'"

So you see you can make a VHS copy out of your DVD, because it does not directly override the copyright protection. It's a nondigital way of copying it. You directly override the copyright protection when you copy a DVD film to a blank DVD using "ripper" software like DVDXCopy, DVDShrink, and the like. It's like first cracking CSS, which is the protection mechanism, and when it's cracked copying the film.

It's true we can not stop these people from copying copyrighted material, but maybe we can start here. What I originally intended to say was that we avoid suggesting to other forum members to use such "ripper" programs in order to override copyrighted material.

Swisse

- Collapse -
The real problem
Jan 30, 2005 1:15AM PST

Shrink is not the problem. Instead of wasting time going after the software makers MAYBE find the LOSERS that are copying for profit. I hear all the time how a movie STILL at the theatre is on the blackmarket as a DVD. THIS IS THE PROBLEM.

- Collapse -
ya, but those are mostly VCDs....
Jan 30, 2005 1:54AM PST

they are on DVD discs, but most of the time, when a movie is out before it is out on theaters, it is because someone taped it in the theatre, then put it on their computer. Then people download it and make a VCD of it. The difference between DVDs and VCDs is that VCds don't come with menus (you can make them tho) and the quality isn't nearly as good. Parts of it also don't work some times, as in the audio will work, but the video won't work and vice versa.