Ripping DVDs - Windows Media Player and DVD Decrypter

Ripping DVDs - Windows Media Player and DVD Decrypter
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WMP 11 and DVDs

You’re reading the headline and wondering if pigs are flying or if a certain place has frozen over – actually, neither has happened – this article is about presenting you different options for ripping your DVDs to your hard drive and getting WMP 11 to play them, not actually having WMP 11 rip the DVDs for you, as Microsoft wouldn’t ever build such a function into their OS staple.

Let me first remind you that we here at Bright Hub don’t condone copying DVDs if you don’t actually own the original copy of the disk – that’d be what we in the business call “illegal”. Still, I can’t stop you from exerting your own free will. I’ll be outlining the steps for getting your DVD copied to your hard drive and from there, we’ll be burning the image onto a brand new disk. So have those blank DVDs ready. For the record, any torrent site will host a better copy of the DVD you’re about to spend an hour and a half ripping and burning. With the disclaimers in place, let’s get to the actual process.

First, you’ll need this delightful piece of software:

DVD Decrypter: https://homepage.ntlworld.com/gregoryfamily/SetupDVDDecrypter_3.5.4.0.exe

Now, this software is a powerful and versatile DVD ripping tool that everyone should have if they plan to make copies of DVDs. Once you have the software, here’s what you’ll need to do:

  1. Put the DVD you’d like to copy in your DVD drive (make sure that it’s clean and good to go).

  1. Once inside the DVD drive, launch DVD Decrypter.

  2. Put the program in Read mode – go to Mode → ISO → Read.

  3. Make sure the right drive is selected as the source (your DVD drive) and that you have a folder selected that can hold 10 gigs or so of information.

  4. Get the program to run by clicking on the DVD to Hard Drive Icon at the bottom (this step will take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour depending on several factors).

  5. Once done, restart the program in write mode – go to Mode → ISO → Write.

  1. Now, remember the folder that you put the ISO file in? Go back to that folder and select the MDS file that was created.

  2. Once the MDS file is selected, you’ll want to put the blank DVD into the drive.

  3. Once the blank is in the drive, make sure the drive is selected and the write mode is “DVD” and the write speed is “MAX”.

  4. This will burn to your new blank disk in a matter of minutes depending on how fast your equipment is.

Once the DVD has been burned, you’ll now have a fresh new copy of that exact same DVD you had before. Now, to test whether or not it’s working, you’ll want to open it up using WMP 11. If you’re on Windows 7, things work auto-magically to start playing the DVD. If you’re on Vista, you’ll need a DVD Codec to get things going, or better yet, download the videophile’s best friend, VLC (https://www.videolan.org/vlc/) and just get VideoLAN to run it, as it can run EVERYTHING. And that’s it – you’ll be copying all those DVDs you own in no time.