Unable to copy John Q DVD.

[reeman50]

This is just a general question this time, independent of what version of DVDFab you are currently using.

Has anyone been successful at copying the 2002 NTSC format Denzel Washington movie called "John Q" (mine is region 4 Australia), as the DVD appears to be filled with corrupted sectors (I got a replacement thinking it was damaged, and it was exactly the same as the first one)?

I now strongly suspect that this is intentional and part of the copy protection system, but I am making a backup of my own legally purchased and paid for commercial disc.

Presently I cannot even get the VIDEO_TS IFO to completely load in DVDFab, so that I can get some idea as to exactly what the problem and most likley solution might be.

I was instead forced to use the freeware "VSO Inspector" utility from http://www.vso-software.fr/products/.../inspector.php (the same people I believe who make the pcouffin device driver used by DVDFab), to find out about the corrupted sectors through an extensive surface and file scan.

I have tried every setting I know of in DVDFab, even different make DVD burners to read it, but still no joy.

If anyone has any constructive comments to offer to help me make my own personal backup of John Q (which plays OK in all my hardware DVD and Blu-Ray players, as well as on my computer), I would greatly appreciate hearing from you.

Yours frustratedly,

reeman50

[AGJ]

Did you Disable Pathplayer for this 2004 release

[Guest]

If VSO Inspector is showing error [red] then the disc is most likely defective and you will never get it to copy.


Yes it is more than possible to get more than one defective disc as they are stamped out by the thousands.

It may play ok but still not be able to copy.

I assume you have cleaned the disc regardless of how pristine it looks?

This is an older move so....
Have you tried it with Pathplayer turned off?

[Guest]

Did you Disable Pathplayer for this 2004 release

2002 in my area.

[AGJ]

2002 in my area.

You right it was released 2002 not 2004. Wonder why amazon has it wrong

[reeman50]

I wanted to thank you all, including those members who have sent me constructive suggestions about how I could possibly get around this problem through private messages, instead of on the board itself, but I have come to accept that there is no practical purpose to me continuing to flog a dead horse.

It seems totally irrelevant to me whether the bad sectors have been intentionally inserted for copy protection purposes, or whether instead it is just another one of a series of faulty discs.

The DVD only set me back 7 Australian dollars after all, and looking at the reviews on the Net if they are anything to be believed, I would not be missing out if I were unable to play it at all.

Perhaps that is why it was significantly marked down in price in order to clear what was otherwise dead stock.

But the fact is I can play it (we should all be more grateful for small miracles) and I will certainly make my own mind up about whether it was a bargain, or if I need to put this one down to experience as part of the gamble I took by purchasing it without having any idea as to what it was like.

Sometimes you win, but at other times you lose.

For those of you who suggested that I should convert the DVD to another image format such as with MakeMKV, the same problem keeps coming up over and over again.

If for whatever reason the disc cannot be accurately and reliably read, there is no point expecting that one of these often beta programs is going to have any chance of achieving what DVDFab was incapable of doing itself.

The DVD has no visible scratches, marks or stains on its surface, but VSO Inspector is I believe telling it like it is, and is independent of any specific program in convincing me that at least when it comes to attempting to make my own personal backup of the disc, the numerous bad sectors permanently prevent this from occurring.

I suppose in the end I am a practical realist when it comes to such matters, and have much more pressing issues to lose sleep over than worrying about what is reportedly a B grade movie at best.

Once again I wish to sincerely thank you all for listening and wanting to be of assistance to me with this, but this is only one of 1400 plus movies in my private collection, and it is far from being one of those which I would not want to lose.

Much appreciated, but I feel that it is now time for me to move on to more important matters than John Q.

Cheers everyone,

reeman50

[signals]

Put the disc in your drive with DVDFab closed. Using windows expliorer, copy all the IFO files to a new folder somewhere and zip them. Compress along with the IFO files a Notepad text file explaining the problem and a link to this thread. Send the resulting zip archive to fengtao (at) dvdfab (dot) com. If windows cannot read the IFO files, copy the BUP files.

[reeman50]

Put the disc in your drive with DVDFab closed. Using windows expliorer, copy all the IFO files to a new folder somewhere and zip them. Compress along with the IFO files a Notepad text file explaining the problem and a link to this thread. Send the resulting zip archive to fengtao (at) dvdfab (dot) com. If windows cannot read the IFO files, copy the BUP files.

Once again I wish to sincerely thank you all for listening and wanting to be of assistance to me with this, but this is only one of 1400 plus movies in my private collection, and it is far from being one of those which I would not want to lose.

Much appreciated, but I feel that it is now time for me to move on to more important matters than John Q.

Cheers everyone and thanks once again for caring enough to respond,

reeman50