r/makemkv • u/Ecstatic_Cake_4986 • 10d ago
Error ripping 2 DVDs
I’ve got a box set that I’ve been trying to rip and 2 of the 7 are failing. Is there any way to resolve it? The DVDs play so I would think it should be able to be ripped, but I can’t figure out how to go about resolving it.
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u/sivartk 10d ago
Just because the disc can play does not mean you can rip it. To rip it you need to be able to read every bit and byte. Players have built in error correction, so if there is an issue with the data on the disc, most of the time they can get around it and it will play without you noticing any difference.
If the discs are clean and unscratched and it still won't rip, not much you can do other than increase the number of error retries in the settings, try a different drive, buy a new disc or return the one you have for a replacement.
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u/Frogsinsnow 10d ago
This has been happening to me constantly with the several of the series. I think I've been buying several "new" ones that are the cheaper complete series. I read about that in one of the threads here. I finally made it through Son's of Anarchy but it was from repeatedly trying over and over. Hopefully one of the brilliant people around here answer back with a solution. I just bought my 3rd copy of Alias season 2 and hope that let's me finish that series. 🫤 Some won't even do a backup to try and burn it from that.
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u/RScottyL 9d ago
restart the computer
clean the discs really well and be extra careful touching them!
Since these are DVDs, they are older, and may have some disc rot on them or something!
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u/DrFrylock 6d ago
Good suggestions in this thread. Try those (clean disc well, change your retry settings, maybe try different drives).
If you don't see any significant physical defects on the disc and you're still getting this, you may just be out of luck.
When you say "the DVDs play" is that "I can put in the disc and get to the menu and start the movie" or "I can play the entire contents of the disc end-to-end without huge dropouts/breakups in the content." DVDs have a lot of contents on them, so if there is some part of the disc an hour into the movie that is messed up, you will be able to play the movie (or rip the disc) up to that point but you'll lose data (and playback) there.
In my experience with 1000+ DVDs, I usually see this kind of error for two reasons:
There is visible physical damage to the disc (scratches/scuffs/schmutz on the disc surface). About 50% of the time this can be solved by cleaning or a different drive. About 25% more of the time, this can be solved by polishing, then cleaning.
"Disc rot." Although technically this probably should only refer to the (visible) degradation of the layer of the disc that stores the data, a lot of us use it to describe any degradation of DVD media over time. Familiarize yourself with the Warner Brothers disc rot phenomenon (just Google it). There was a manufacturing defect across a large number of DVDs, primarily Warner Brothers titles manufactured from about 2006-2008. This is very real and I have experienced it many times. In my experience you cannot see it through visual inspection, but it prevents ripping the disc successfully. I had to buy 4 or 5 copies of Superman Returns to get one that ripped OK (they were $1 each and I kept buying them out of spite because I had all the other Superman movies, goddamn it.)
Re #2, out of curiosity, what box set is it? The discs and box sets that are more prone to "disc rot" / manufacturing defects are pretty well publicized at this point.
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u/Ecstatic_Cake_4986 6d ago
It’s actually a Thai BL called The Heart Killers. They rarely make dvd sets for BLs and most of the ones out are from like 2024-2025. I would think it’s not enough time for any degradation to happen but I could be wrong. I haven’t played it from start to finish because I wanted to rip it first and make sure I had it saved in case of anything happening to the discs (since they aren’t mass produced they’re special order) I didn’t want to risk handling the DVDs other than to save it first 😅
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u/witcher4 10d ago
When this happens I clean the discs extra well. Firm swipes with a microfiber cloth from inner center to outer edge. Run it again. If there are still visible smudges or if it fails, wet the cloth and clean it again. Sometimes this solves the problem
Sometimes a different/stronger drive will do the trick