HandBrake making distorted MP4V rips of DVD series that it had no problem with in 2011

[Ubele]

Back in 2011, I bought a 20-DVD course called Learn and Master Guitar. At the time, I used HandBrake to rip the first 14, with the intention of playing the MP4V files on my MacBook Pro. Life got in the way, and I didn't get very far with my guitar lessons. Now that I'm sheltering in place due to the coronavirus crisis, I decided to give the lessons another try. I now have a 2019 iMac with the latest versions of Catalina and HandBrake (1.3.1). I tried ripping the remaining DVDs, and the resulting videos are blocky, pixellated, and otherwise distorted. I tried some different settings, but the problem persists. I also tried ripping a couple DVDs from Learn and Master Piano (my wife wants to learn), and the results were the same. My original 2011 rips are just fine.

Interestingly, I found a December 2019 thread on this forum in which the OP had the opposite problem: His old HandBrake MP4V rips are blocky, pixellated, and otherwise distorted, whereas new rips he makes are just fine. His problem wasn't resolved.

Any ideas? I copied the VIDEO_TS folders to my Mac, so I can watch them with VLC, but my original plan was to put the MP4V rips on my iPad.

 

[Ritsuka]

HandBrake does not remove the dvd copy protection.

 

[lostom]

Back in 2011, I bought a 20-DVD course called Learn and Master Guitar. At the time, I used HandBrake to rip the first 14, with the intention of playing the MP4V files on my MacBook Pro. Life got in the way, and I didn't get very far with my guitar lessons. Now that I'm sheltering in place due to the coronavirus crisis, I decided to give the lessons another try. I now have a 2019 iMac with the latest versions of Catalina and HandBrake (1.3.1). I tried ripping the remaining DVDs, and the resulting videos are blocky, pixellated, and otherwise distorted. I tried some different settings, but the problem persists. I also tried ripping a couple DVDs from Learn and Master Piano (my wife wants to learn), and the results were the same. My original 2011 rips are just fine.

Interestingly, I found a December 2019 thread on this forum in which the OP had the opposite problem: His old HandBrake MP4V rips are blocky, pixellated, and otherwise distorted, whereas new rips he makes are just fine. His problem wasn't resolved.

Any ideas? I copied the VIDEO_TS folders to my Mac, so I can watch them with VLC, but my original plan was to put the MP4V rips on my iPad.

You need additional software to work with Handbrake, look at libdvdcss.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Yes, libdvdcss was removed from Handbrake after version 0.9.2, from what I've read.

 

[Ubele]

Thanks, everyone -- that explains why it used to work!

 

[lostom]

Thanks, everyone -- that explains why it used to work!

Paid software may be your best option, if the media is important to you.
I'm not sure if links or names of apps is allowed here, so I won't do it, but there are options available.

 

[Ubele]

Thanks for the tip, lostom. I installed libdvdcss, and it solved the problem. I just wanted to rip these guitar and piano lessons to MP4V format so my wife and I can watch them on our iPads.

 

[lostom]

Thanks for the tip, lostom. I installed libdvdcss, and it solved the problem. I just wanted to rip these guitar and piano lessons to MP4V format so my wife and I can watch them on our iPads.

Great news, pleased to be able to offer some useful advice.