Strange ISO with duplicate files

[keypax]

Hello.

 

I have the same exact problem as this guy had 6 year ago:

 

http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?/topic/15693-iso-contains-multiple-phantom-duplicate-files/

 

In fact, while searching for a solution to this problem I found that topic which describes my problem exactly.

 

I wanted to reply there but it says I'm not allowed to reply there. Probably because it's a 6 year old thread.

 

Anyway, that problem was never resolved for him 6 years ago. But maybe in all this time there is a solution now?

 

My ISO is around 7GB. But extracted it is about 80GB! The 1st set of VTS files seem to be correct but then there are like 10 duplicates shown listed as VTS_02 through about VTS_13

 

What a strange problem. I hope there is a solution in this day and age. Thanks anyone!

[LIGHTNING UK!]

What solution are you hoping for? What are you actually trying to do?

If you have an ISO, just burn it. Don't try and extract it.

[Ch3vr0n]

Welcome to the world of structural protection which create fake vts files, same type of mechanic as screenpass protection or ssif files. Nothing a proper decryption tool can't fix

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P with Tapatalk.

[keypax]

What solution are you hoping for? What are you actually trying to do?

 

If you have an ISO, just burn it. Don't try and extract it.

 

I should have been more clear. This is a DVD of a TV show that I backed up many years ago. I keep ISO backups on a hard drive of all my DVDs just in case. Then yesterday my original DVD got damaged and so I'm looking at my backup now for the first time in years and I find this fake files in the ISO. It's strange because I never saw it before. I used AnyDVD back then, but it was so long ago that I guess AnyDVD didn't handle the protection correctly at that time.

 

So now I have this ISO which I guess is not a 1:1 perfect copy? What I want to accomplish is to somehow get it back to normal? Is it at all possible so fix this so I have a perfect copy? I don't even have a dvd burner anymore with my new computer. I'll have to see if I can get an external one. Should I burn it and then create a new ISO out of the burned copy? Would that fix it? I wonder. If I burn it, will it even be a perfect copy of the original? In the end I just want a perfect copy for backup.

 

 

Welcome to the world of structural protection which create fake vts files, same type of mechanic as screenpass protection or ssif files. Nothing a proper decryption tool can't fix

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P with Tapatalk.

 

Aha! So at least there is a name for it. Structural protection. It's so horrible that they do this. Do they expect the DVD I bought will last forever? We gotta have backups!

 

So I'm hoping for a solution now to get this back to normal. My original disc is damaged and the only time I ever look at my backups is when I need them. And now when I need the backup I find this. I'd appreciate any advice if there is a way to repair it.

Edited February 6, 2017 by keypax

[Ch3vr0n]

Well if you used AnyDVD back then, then you ignored the warning it gave you when you started the ISO ripper on the DVD. You're specifically told by AnyDVD NOT to do what you did, because of what would happen did. Unlike other protections SP cannot be removed on the fly. If you rip to ISO, the SP is copied along with it. It can only be removed when ripping correctly to folder structure, at which point AnyDVD flags the fake ones, and during ripping it only rips the real structure to hard disk. SP is nothing new. You can try to mount the ISO and use the AnyDVD 'rip video DVD to hard disk' option, but since protection is already removed I can't guarantee the folder ripper will be able to strip away the SP. If that's the case, you could try CloneDVD but no guarantees there either

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P with Tapatalk.

[dbminter]

Yeah, I recommend always using AnyDVD to Rip to HD and then use the VIDEO_TS folder to create the DVD.  Of course, you do have to remember to check the root directory of the disc you're copying to make sure there aren't any extra files that might be part of the DVD in the root directory.  However, you won't have to worry about the ISO mode copying over the structural protection.

[keypax]

Well if you used AnyDVD back then, then you ignored the warning it gave you when you started the ISO ripper on the DVD. You're specifically told by AnyDVD NOT to do what you did, because of what would happen did. Unlike other protections SP cannot be removed on the fly. If you rip to ISO, the SP is copied along with it. It can only be removed when ripping correctly to folder structure, at which point AnyDVD flags the fake ones, and during ripping it only rips the real structure to hard disk. SP is nothing new. You can try to mount the ISO and use the AnyDVD 'rip video DVD to hard disk' option, but since protection is already removed I can't guarantee the folder ripper will be able to strip away the SP. If that's the case, you could try CloneDVD but no guarantees there either

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P with Tapatalk.

 

Awesome, I think it's all sorted out now with your suggestion. I mounted the ISO and fired up AnyDVD which showed the SP detected. I ripped it to a folder and it seems to have stripped out the fake files. The folder came out the right size and has no duplicates. It plays fine in VLC as I can see the menu and select the episodes and all the extras. But with that being said, also the messed up ISO plays fine in VLC anyway.

 

In the DVD folder that I ripped with AnyDVD I see the main VTS is now VTS_10 and I think on the original disc it was VTS_03 because my other DVDs from the set have it at VTS_03. However I can't check the damaged disc. Oh well, this is as good as it's gonna get. At least my backup wasn't totally lost even though it might not be a 1:1 perfect copy, it's still fine. BTW I never got any warnings from AnyDVD like you said simply because I never actually used the AnyDVD ripper. I just fire up AnyDVD in the background and then use imgburn most of the time or other ISO rippers. I never even look at AnyDVD, not even changing any settings. I just thought it always works in the background so that's my mistake.

 

 

Yeah, I recommend always using AnyDVD to Rip to HD and then use the VIDEO_TS folder to create the DVD.  Of course, you do have to remember to check the root directory of the disc you're copying to make sure there aren't any extra files that might be part of the DVD in the root directory.  However, you won't have to worry about the ISO mode copying over the structural protection.

 

Yeah now I'm in the process of backing up the rest of the discs all over again the right way this time. Plus also checking through my other backups because I wonder if I messed up with other ones too. But now I learned to rip to folders! That's what I'll be doing from now on. I never even knew about this difference between ISO's and folders. I'm just gonna keep my backups in the folder format.

Edited February 7, 2017 by keypax

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Now I could be wrong as I don't deal with structural protection these days, but it's not going to cause you any trouble if you're reading the disc to an image file and only ever intend on using it as an image - mounting it or burning it.

 

Obviously those extra 'dummy/duplicate' VTS sets don't cause an issue on the original disc, so why should they cause an issue on your backup? If you hadn't tried to look at the files on the disc, you'd never have known any different and a proper 'licensed' player will handle it all just fine.

 

I guess there's always the possibly that leaving it in tact is better than partial or incorrect removal.

[Ch3vr0n]

Well you're wrong. :-) it's not guaranteed to happen but leaving SP intact can cause playback issues. SP stretches the DVD standard to its limits of what is allowed. Software players may be less prone to choking on it but when burning the image back to disc, you'll copy it back on to the blank. That's when the issues can arise, the standalone can choke on it for a while and then proceed, or simply refuse playback because it's a protection mechanism and it didn't get removed.

 

They don't cause an issue on originals because it's tied into CSS, on the backup CSS is gone but the SP wasn't.

 

Trust me, i deal with that stuff on a daily basis at the RedFox forums.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P with Tapatalk.

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Depending on how much is now bundled under that 'structural protection' umbrella, I'm still not convinced.

 

If everything that needs unscrambling gets unscrambled and everything is in the same place (file system wise and therefore LBA wise on the backup), I don't see why it wouldn't behave like the original disc. The only thing I can think of right now that would stop it from working is if the unreadable sectors *had* to be there - as although they could be emulated via software, they wouldn't be present on the backup itself.

 

Obviously I know you're very active at the RedFox forums (the world thanks you for that), but until you actually develop software for this field, there's a good chance you're just repeating what others have said and what you've 'discovered' / 'interpreted'. That may not be the whole story.

 

Now if you can tell me of an actual case where a playable disc has been correctly unscrambled, bad sectors ignored (and aren't required) and a ~1:1 backup wasn't playable, I'm all ears. That's isn't quite the challenge it sounds, I'm genuinely curious.

[dbminter]

I can verify from experience it can happen.

 

 

I tried to copy a DVD of a protected disc in my collection to ISO with AnyDVD.  I didn't know back then about the different results you get between the ISO ripper and the HD ripper.  I burned that ISO to a DVD+R DL, but it wouldn't play properly on my PS3.  I tried playing it in some PC software, I forget which, and it wouldn't play right.  I tried playing the mounted ISO and it wouldn't play properly still.  Once I used the HD ripper, it worked fine.

[keypax]

It's a really nasty kind of protection. I wouldn't even call it protection anymore. It's more like them ruining or spoiling what I bought and this kind of deceit makes me not want to buy discs anymore. I remember reading about a rootkit that Sony put on their CDs or whatever it was... are you kidding? We can't trust these people. So when I buy my next dvd or bluray what am I secretly getting along with it? Who knows. I feel like I'm a victim now. I don't think I deserve to have an imperfect copy of my disc #1. They did this to me and it bothers me the more I think about it. 

 

I guess there's always the possibly that leaving it in tact is better than partial or incorrect removal.

 

For this reason + the hope of a future way to repair it back to a clean 1:1, I'm keeping my messed up ISO as well as my newly created AnyDVD folder rip of it.

 

[dbminter]

Plus, IMO, structurally protected DVD's might cause more actual physical wear and tear on your standalone DVD players.  Protected discs take longer to load because the player has to skip over all those protected sectors crap.  This means it takes longer to read the disc.  More time is spent spinning up the motor, wearing it out sooner, if you ask me.  I know on the PS3, it takes longer to start playing a protected DVD than it does to start just a CSS protected one.

 

 

At least, with DVD's dying, the only company that seems to insist on protecting its DVD's anymore is Lionsgate.  And no one is wanting to copy their crappy movies, anyway.  So, they're just wasting their money protecting discs no one wants, let alone anyone wants to copy.  More power to them if they want to accelerate profit loss by licensing a protection that won't stop anyone.

[Ch3vr0n]

It's such a nasty thing / problem causer because SP stretches the DVD standard to its limits, as I previously stated. But it is a protection just the same, doing what is designed to do. Prevent proper playback or even playback at all. By nature that's no different than region coding or basic CSS. SP is nothing new, it's existed for years now.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P with Tapatalk.

[dbminter]

I had the same situation where I never got a warning from AnyDVD about the ISO creation.  Because it never COULD warn me.  I, too, was using AnyDVD as the decrypting layer and using ImgBurn's read mode to read the disc to image files.  I did that because I have splitting set up with my images in case I need to split a DVD-9 image temporarily over 2 DVD-5's.  I could have used AnyDVD's ISO read to a single file and ImgBurn's Build mode to create split images.  Then, copying those split image files to a new image.  Had I tried to use AnyDVD's ISO read mode, it probably would have warned me about the read mode of structurally protected discs.  I only learned the hard way when I later tried to burn the read images and discovered that it only worked for some discs if Rip to HD was used instead of reading protected discs to images.  It was after my first 2 discs I came across this "limitation" that I learned to always use Rip files to HD.