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Virtual dvd drive

zpeterk
Grafter
Posts: 430
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Registered: ‎14-04-2007

Virtual dvd drive

I just bought my daughter a HP mini note which has no optical drive and she has complained that she can't watch dvds on it. Is there  any virtual dvd drive software out there or is there a better solution?
Peter
12 REPLIES 12
pierre_pierre
Grafter
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Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Virtual dvd drive

cant she plug an extrenal USB DVD into it?  I have on my Asus EeePC (linux version)
bobpullen
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Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: Virtual dvd drive

Daemon Tools is what I use, but where's she going to be getting the DVD content from if it's not a disc? DVD Decrypter will allow you to create an image file from a disc (e.g. .iso) - You can open image files like this without having to mount them to a virtual drive using a media player like VLC.

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Oldjim
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Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: Virtual dvd drive

A lot of DVD's are copy protected so DVD Decryptor may not work. I use DVD Shrink but that also fails on some disks
Alex
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Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Virtual dvd drive

Yep, a lot of discs have deliberate read errors on them now.
So they play fine, but ripping software will complain and give up.
I know of one commerical package though which masks out the errors, allowing rips. Usual story, they put something in to make if difficult and along comes a bit of software to work around it.
But getting onto shady ground now, so I'd better stop there Smiley
So it's possible, but for the hassle I think you'd be best off buying an external DVD drive .. they can't be that expensive now?
Strat
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Re: Virtual dvd drive

A while ago I bought some DVD ripping software which stated that it would not rip copy protected DVDs as
Quote
the file xxxxx.dll was not included on the CD for legal reasons but is freely available on the internet
Crazy
For legal reasons I cannot confirm if this was in fact the case. Undecided
Go with the external drive zpeterk
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StickyMick
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Registered: ‎29-11-2008

Re: Virtual dvd drive

You may also have problems installing other software if it detects virtual CD/DVD software on the machine.
Alex
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Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Virtual dvd drive

I remember reading one version of the game copy protection mechanism - Safedisc?
It used to refuse to run a original game if it detected virtual drive software.
So it goes "Oooh, you've got a bit of software on your PC which you might be using for unlawful purposes .. I am going to refuse to run then" Roll_eyes
Which is ****** stupid since there are perfectly legitimate reasons for using virtual drive software.
Like with MSDN .. all the downloads are .iso images. So it's nice to be able to, you know, look at the contents of the disc so you can install them!
A rather short-sighted approach, very similar to the one that all P2P traffic is illegal.
samuria
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Registered: ‎13-04-2007

Re: Virtual dvd drive

You can run a dvd by just copying the files to a hard disk as long as you have a player you dont need a virtual drive its just a matter of clicking on the right files. How you get them there is another question but it could be done via the network,usb drive etc
zpeterk
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Registered: ‎14-04-2007

Re: Virtual dvd drive

I'm not looking to do anything ilegal, I have an ext dvd but she does want to take it with her.
So just copy dvd to hdd and play with vlc.
Thanks guys
Peter
Alex
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Re: Virtual dvd drive

My understanding of DVD's was as follows (so someone correct me if I'm wrong):
They can be encrypted (CSS) or not.
If not, you can do a straight file copy and play it from the HDD.
If so (which pretty much all commercial films are) then they can only be played from the disc.
In this case the only way to be able to play them straight from the HDD is to 'unofficially' decrypt them.
This is where the copyright brigade will say it's illegal. Reverse engineering, circumventing the copy protection and all that.
zpeterk
Grafter
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Registered: ‎14-04-2007

Re: Virtual dvd drive

Just tried copying one flew over the cuckoos nest but it won't copy.
dvorak
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Re: Virtual dvd drive

You can purchase software such as products from here http://www.imtoo.com/index.html that will rip DVDs to various formats.
I have use the DVD to PSP and it worked well.
Slysoft also do a range of software that can be bought.
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