Best way to convert my Anime DVDs

[Gunbuster]

Hi All,
I have a substantial Anime collection with a couple of long series (Patlabor and Last Exile) that I'd like to rip to MKV, OGM or some other subtitles supporting format for use down the network on my Xbox with XBMC.

I can rip successfully with DVD Decrypter, but the 4 episodes per disc are merged into one VOB and I want to split them back out into separate episodes. I have about 18 Patlabor discs to do and 10ish Last Exile discs so some sort of simple process I can go away from and let it run would be most ideal.

Does anyone know of some decent software I can use to do this? hell if there is an Xbox app I can use and leave running that would be amazing.

[Saracen]

Sorry, Gunbuster, but this is an area which is legally dubious.

Assuming these items are copyright materials, then under UK copyright law there is no "fair use" exception to copyright law that would allow you to do this.

Also under relatively recent copyright law changes (the implementation of the EU copyright directive) there is a potential criminal liability for anyone providing a service in the course of a business (like HEXUS) that facilitates bypassing such copy protection technology as may exist on these discs. We don't want to have to employ lawyers to decide whether allowing this type of technical discussion and advice constitutes "facilitating" or not, every time a thread appears, so we err on the side of caution.

Personally, I have a great deal of sympathy with what you're trying to do, and I can see no moral objections to doing this with material you legitimately own. But unfortunately, it's a legally dodgy area and as such, not something we can permit.

There certainly are moves proposed to change the law to allow such "personal" copying, as exists in the US under "fair use" provisions, but as far as we're aware, they don't yet exist here.


My apologies for removing the answers to this, Gunbuster, but unless you have a convincing reason for this not being illegal, I'm afraid it's board policy to remove such material. I still have the thread, and will replace it if you do have such a reason, so feel free to PM if you do.


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In the meantime, can we have no further technical advice (either directly or even hints at websites, etc.) on this, please.


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I'll leave the thread open, because I'm sure people will have views and opinions on this (as do I), which is fine, but no more advice please. If advice does persist, it'll be closed or removed.

[godsdog]

Stifling learning in the classroom.

BOOOOOOOOOO - GET OFF THE STAGE

[Gunbuster]

Fair does, I wasn't quite sure where we stood in the UK. I know in some ways we are ahead of the US and behind in others, like FM broadcasters for iPods. I never meant to get anyone in or potentially in any trouble.

The DVDs in question are Region 1 American I imported due to the lack of a UK distributer. So I would imagine whilst they are of US origin I am still a UK citizen and therefore bound by UK copyright law, even though who's copyright in the UK it might be is debatable (Manga and Beez only have rights to the first two movies).

Anyway thanks for the help guys and thanks for being fair and straight up Saracen.

[Funkstar]

I can understand the Hexus stand on this. And like many i don't agree with the restrictions and dubious nature of this topic.

It is a real shame that people that want to do this so they can actually consume more media, in a way that will probably mean more sales for the industry are lumped together with those that are out to avoid paying for content.

[Saracen]

.....

The DVDs in question are Region 1 American I imported due to the lack of a UK distributer. So I would imagine whilst they are of US origin I am still a UK citizen and therefore bound by UK copyright law, even though who's copyright in the UK it might be is debatable (Manga and Beez only have rights to the first two movies).

Copyright in original artistic and literary works (which covers a wide range) exists automatically from the act of creation. There's a very widely agreed international legal convention (the Berne convention) to which a very large proportion of the countries in the world are signatories. Those that are signatories then embed the principle elements of the convention in their own domestic laws - that being primarily the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act in the UK, those this has been modified by subsequent legislation several times.

Not all aspects of domestic copyright law are identical, but the core elements of Berne are present in all. One of those core elements is reciprocal recognition of copyright among countries, so if a work is created in the US, that copyright is enforceable in the UK in UK courts.

So, when you create a work that is covered by copyright, it is general the creator that has that copyright and it extends pretty much worldwide. The only copyrightable works that aren't covered by copyright are those that the owner has explicitly placed in the public domain, or those for which copyright has run out (which is at a minimum, some decades after creation, though it varies according to the type of work).

For instance, as a writer, when some of my work appeared without my permission in an Australian publication, the British company that published it were in breach of my copyright because they had UK rights only. A discussion occurred (amicably, it has to be said) and the "Ooops" was followed by a mutually agreed payment for those rights.

Most countries have a number of "fair use" exemptions from copyright, which basically provide for conditions under which making a copy isn't a breach of copyright. The most famous in the UK is the one that permits "time-shifting" of recordings of TV broadcasts.

Ironically, exactly what is considered "fair use" isn't nailed down by Berne. That's why domestic uses (like copying your CD collection onto a hard drive or an MP3 portable) isn't a problem in the US but, theoretically at least, is here. It is, of course, ignored like hell in the UK and has been for decades. People copy their CDs onto MP3 players, and have been doing that in principle since they started copying their LPs onto audio cassettes decades ago. I'm certainly not familiar with a single case where the owner of such copyright has even tried to take someone to court over such a copy, and there are sound legal reasons why they haven't, even if it did make commercial sense, which I doubt it does.

There are even moves by the industry to get copyright law changed in the UK to permit such personal use. But they haven't happened yet, and even if they do, they'll be a problem because the fact that such personal use may be legal when/if the law changes doesn't necessarily mean that it won't still be an offence to "facilitate" bypassing of copy protection technology to do it. We could well end up with the rather fatuous situation that creating such a copy would be legal, but bypassing the technology you need to bypass to do it is illegal. Rarely does anybody claim the law has to actually make sense.

[Saracen]

I can understand the Hexus stand on this. And like many i don't agree If so, with the restrictions and dubious nature of this topic.

It is a real shame that people that want to do this so they can actually consume more media, in a way that will probably mean more sales for the industry are lumped together with those that are out to avoid paying for content.

I presume you mean legal restrictions not the Hexus ones?

I don't agree with it either. If I've bought the CD, for instance, I'm beggared if I can see why I can't copy it to my portable player to use away from home. If the industry thinks I'm buying the CD and then buying it again to put on my portable player, they must be smoking something very potent. I've already bought a fair bit on LP, then bought it again on CD. How many times do they want paying for it? Similarly, why should I risk expensive CD originals in the car, only to lose them when some scumbag breaks into the car? Why should I not be allowed to carry a copy in the car?

To be fair, a large portion of the industry doesn't expect me to do anything other than rip to my portable player or carry a copy in the car, and doesn't really have a problem with that, providing I do legitimately own the original.

A lot of the problem is that the internet and the ease of CD/DVD copying technology provides for a vibrant market in pirate goods and large scale copying and distribution where people don't own their own legitimate original, and it's actually quite hard to phrase a legal framework that permits that first type of 'morally legit' copy without opening the door to the latter.

I don't like the stance we have to take over this, but it's Hexus' considered view that doing anything else is not a risk we want to take.

[Funkstar]

I presume you mean legal restrictions not the Hexus ones?

Oh absolutely. Sounds like we are of the same opinion Saracen

[Gunbuster]

The main difference in the past is that everything up to CD wasn't encrypted or region locked. Copying a real CD (not some shonky DRM disc) is a very simple process compared to the various lock ins of the DVD format and even more vicious formats like MiniDisc or Video Games. You don't have to circumvent anything and therefore if it actually existed fair use without cracking can happen.