Help! ilo DVDR05 encrypted my home movies!

[benton]

Help! I purchased an ilo DVDR05 to move my home movies to DVD, thinking that would be faster than running everything through my computer. But after recording the first disc, I discovered that the ilo encrypts my own personal content! I could understand if I was trying to copy commercial tapes, which I have no interest in doing. If I proceed with this plan, my personal home movies will be locked away forever on these DVDs and I won't be able to ever go back and edit, recompile, take excerpts, etc. I've tried a couple of conversion tools on my computer but they refuse to open the files because of "copyright laws." Do all standalone DVD recorders handle personal content this way? Are there models that don't? Any way around this?

[Harpmaker]

Hi benton,

Welcome to the forum!

Very few users of the forum have R05's, but something I would try is using DVD Decrypter, use the IFO mode to rip a new .VOB file, that should strip any copy-protection that is on the discs. This is just a shot in the dark.

I honestly think something else is happening here, not copy-protection, but who knows?

No offense, but If you can, I would return the R05 and get an R04.

[Pink Freud]

How common is it for home DVD recorders to encrypt the DVD's created?

[Harpmaker]

How common is it for home DVD recorders to encrypt the DVD's created?

By encrypt, I take it you mean add CP to a disc; as far as I know, none of them do it.

As I think about it, I believe this would actually be illegal since much of the stuff transfered off VHS and camcorder tapes is private material and it would be legally questionable to copy-protect (which is inferring a copyright) that material without the owners knowledge. All a DVD recorder should do is allow any CP on the source material to be transfered to the DVD as well.

[Pink Freud]

How common is it for home DVD recorders to encrypt the DVD's created?

By encrypt, I take it you mean add CP to a disc; as far as I know, none of them do it.

As I think about it, I believe this would actually be illegal since much of the stuff transfered off VHS and camcorder tapes is private material and it would be legally questionable to copy-protect (which is inferring a copyright) that material without the owners knowledge. All a DVD recorder should do is allow any CP on the source material to be transfered to the DVD as well.

OK, now I'm confused. What kind of encryption is benton talking about?

I checked the DVD's created by the R04. They have .VOB files that are just standard mpeg format. I can copy them with Windows copy command and use them as mpeg files if I rename the extension. I'm assuming the R05 creates DVD's with CSS or some such stuff so the VOB files are scrambled.

[Harpmaker]

OK, now I'm confused. What kind of encryption is benton talking about?

I checked the DVD's created by the R04. They have .VOB files that are just standard mpeg format. I can copy them with Windows copy command and use them as mpeg files if I rename the extension. I'm assuming the R05 creates DVD's with CSS or some such stuff so the VOB files are scrambled.

It sounded to me as if Benton thought the R05 was adding copy-protection to his recorded DVD's. For reasons stated in a previous post I don't think that's the problem. It doesn't make any sense for a DVD recorder to create DVD's that only it can play. As I understand it, that would violate the DVD standard.

[Pink Freud]

It sounded to me as if Benton thought the R05 was adding copy-protection to his recorded DVD's. For reasons stated in a previous post I don't think that's the problem. It doesn't make any sense for a DVD recorder to create DVD's that only it can play. As I understand it, that would violate the DVD standard.

OK, try it this way. Most commercial DVD's have protection such that you can't just copy the VOB files and have an Mpeg file. You need DVD decryptor or some such. Do any of the DVD recorders produce similar "protected" DVD's. You'd be able to play them, but not freely copy them or edit them, just like commercial DVD's.

[Harpmaker]

OK, try it this way. Most commercial DVD's have protection such that you can't just copy the VOB files and have an Mpeg file. You need DVD decryptor or some such. Do any of the DVD recorders produce similar "protected" DVD's. You'd be able to play them, but not freely copy them or edit them, just like commercial DVD's.

As I understand it, the copy-protection schemes used on commercial DVD's are licensed, not free, which means that any recorder maker that used such copy-protection would also have to license it and pass the cost on to the buyer. I doubt that would happen on a sub-$100 machine.

Two people have reported not being able to play the DVD's recorded in the R05 on anything but the R05. That doesn't sound like copy-protection (just playing back); it sounds like a faulty recorder.

[Pink Freud]

OK, neat. Can a few owners of machines other than the R04 look at the disks produced and see if the .VOB files are just normal mpeg files?

[aahhaaa]

Two people have reported not being able to play the DVD's recorded in the R05 on anything but the R05. That doesn't sound like copy-protection (just playing back); it sounds like a faulty recorder.

Given the short half-life of some ILO recorders, if this is some Malwarts proprietarization scheme (that only future ILOs will play the DVDs), there is gonna be some real trouble in River City...

big stacks of 05s have suddenly appeared in the local store, and all other brands have been relegated to a back corner.

hmmm

[Brigand]

I dont think that would be the fact,since ILO really doesnt make anything it just a name and I think that would result in nobody buying them plus a large law suit IMHO

[Werder]

the 05 doesn't really encrypt your files, but it has some quirks that makes it look like it does. ..

I'm recording on TDK 2.4x DVD+RW (MCC-A01-00) and transfered over 30 disks contents to my PC without a single failure. DVDdecrypter, DVDshrink or TMPGEnc Editor all can read the files without problem. Same on 5 tested 2.4x TDK DVD+R.

However using fast 8x DVD+R from ILO or Sony brand (both are CMC MAG-E01-00) I only had bad recordings - some disk don't format, some don't finalize and some get stuck halfway through the movie replay. There are reports that the ILO service for the 05 sends on request a firmware upgrade that fixes the problems with higher speed DVD+R/+RW disks - I have not tried it myself yet.

Using DVD-R or DVD-RW in the ILO 05 it appears the recorder is doing just fine and with low speed blanks the ILO 05 itself plays the disks back perfect. However the recording is not standard. I found none of my other DVD players could play it back and none of the above mentioned program could read the recording on the PC. Again with higher speed -R/-RW blanks the recorder seems to have writeablity problems.

[Harpmaker]

Hi Werder,

Welcome to the forum!

Thanks for the report. It sounds like the DVD drive in the R05's needs to be updated big-time.

Does anyone know what DVD drive is used? If an R05 owner could pop the top and take a peek it might provide some clues.

[aahhaaa]

on the idea that Malwarts might have an active agenda in the DVD arena, I just noticed that there are suddenly BIG stacks of ILO DVDs (both + & -, but no RWs) displacing the other brands at the local store...

also a PS- there are 25 pk Memorex DVD+RWs sitting on some Officemax clearance tables, marked down from $29 to $9, but they ring up at $5. They are 2.4X which is supposed to work more reliably?

I'm not putting this in the hot buys thread because of all the negs MemX has drawn over their DVD media, but the price is certainly right, and MemX does have an exchange warranty policy.

[Normando]

I mentioned in an earlier post regarding DVD Media ID codes.

CMC = "Crappy Media Company"
MCC = Mitsubishi Chemical Company = Good media

I would not recommend buying any media at Wallyworld.

I buy my media at http://www.rima.com, OfficeMax or BestBuy. The latter 2 only if I am in a pinch and they are running a good sale.

Rima sells Taiyo Yuden 8X -R for $41/100pk. Obviously, these discs are for my computer (w/NEC 3520... TY 8X burn at 12X on the 3520), not my iLO HD04.

FYI... PBS uses TY -R discs. TY is the good stuff and is highly compatible.

I am set w/ my HD04... picked up a 25 pack of 4X +RW discs (Philips ID code) for $15 at CompUSA a couple of months ago.

[Werder]

My recorder is a DVDR05/ZU manufactured in March 2005.

The DVD drive inside the 05 is marked as "DVD drive Model# DR021C"... but no hint of the actual manufacturer of the drive.

Another useful thing I found opening the device is that there is a mechanical lever accessable from the bottom of the recorder to eject the disk... the manual doesn't mention it as far as I read it.

In regards to the 8xR+ CMC MAG-E01-00... both batches from Memorex (not as I said before Sony) and ILO record perfect in my PC (SONY DVD RW DRU-500A 2.1a) - not a single bad recording out of about 20.

As I said before I see three failure modes on the 8x R+ disks: doesn't format, doesn't finalize, or movie freezes when replayed. When I rip the ISO file of the disks that freeze during replay with DVDdecripter to HD... at some points of the process DVDdecrypter slow down to 0.1x to 0.3x read speed. Taking the ISO file and burning it on my PC to another 8xR+ CNC blank gives me perfect disks (that's how I recovered some recordings...).

At this point I wouldn't suspect the quality of the CNC blanks for the inability of the 05 to write to the disk.

Otherwise I like the small 05... picture quality is not as good as my JVC DVD recorder, but comparable to my Panasonic DVD recorder... it's just perfect for my bedroom and it replaces two DVD players I had there before (a Sony and a cheapo for playing PAL disks) and it adds recording capabilities.

[Harpmaker]

Werder,

Thanks for opening your R05 and looking around! If you ever do it again could you snap a few pictures?

That eject lever is good to know about, many LiteOn and iLO x04 users would have loved to have one! One of them had to physically open the DVD drive to recover a disc!

I did a Google search on "DVD DR021C" and got nothing. I searched the same string at Clusty.com (which I'm liking better than Google all the time) and got a hit on a German DVD forum, the only problem is I can't read German. I didn't see any recognizable DVD manufacturers. The DR021C drive is also the one in the Cyberhome 1600.

[Werder]

I have pictures, but so far I couldn't figure out how to post the pictures here.

Besides, the post on the German DVD forum in regards to the Cyberhome 1600 means...
-----
I couldn't resist to open the device:
A clean layout
1. Switching power supply
2. Small board with tuner: Tuner XuGuang Tech Co., Ltd (JS-6B2F/L-121-D5H)
3. drive: DVD drive DR021C, the main board is hidden under the drive
I was not in the mood to disassemble the drive, so I can not report any details (chip set etc).
------

Today at Fry's I checked the bottom of the Cyberhome 1600 and I couldn't find the slot to access the mechanical tray release. On my ILO DVDR05 I tried the mechanical tray release today and it works great.
Also it helps you to take out the drive/main-board unit, with open tray just to slide off the drive front brezel and after a number of srews the drive/main-board unit comes easy out of the case. Also the ILO 05 drive has a metal cover over the lens assembly that comes off without any problems. Cleaning the lens should be straightforward: open the cover, remove the metal drive cover and go clean the lens.

[Normando]

The trick to adding photos to our forum is to first upload your photos to ImageShack so that they are available to everyone. Then you copy one of the links that they give you to our forum's IMG tag.

Here is a link to imageShack:

http://www.imageshack.us/

[Jasam]

I purchased the new 05 recorder and was pretty happy with it at first.. I have since found out that I cannot make a copy of a +R disks that I used to record some episodes from TV on, HOWEVER I CAN COPY TV Programs on +RW discs most of the time. (I'm using Record Now in a Hp p4 computer.) Is This some form of Copy Protection that breaks the chain of sucessive copies? I record tv programs in my living room and then copy them to -r disks on My Hp computer's external drive so I can watch them at my bedside computer. what gives here...? P.s. all of the disks recorded on the ILO 05 are playable on the ilo 05.