DVD_COPY(1)

NAME
dvd_copy - copy a track from a DVD to a file or stdout

SYNOPSIS

dvd_copy [PATH] [OPTIONS]

DESCRIPTION

The dvd_copy(1) program will copy a track from a DVD optical disc, image, or directory to either a file or stdout.

The default device is based on your operating system, and is the primary optical drive.

Default output filename is dvd_track_#.mpg where the number is a zero-padded string of the longest track.

Some DVDs are intentionally authored to break playback and copying software like this one. An example of a "poisoned" DVD is where the indexes on the disc point to the same locations multiple times, and your rip may end up to be dozens of gigabytes in size.

dvd_info(1) examines tracks closely to check for flags that would make a track invalid, and you can use that as a reference if something may be broken or not. dvd_copy doesn’t use any checks, and will copy whatever is requested.

Sending the track directly to stdout makes it useful for things like piping to other programs. Since the output is decrypted, it’s a clean stream that at that point can be re-encoded, remuxed, etc.

An example using ffmpeg, remuxing a track into a Matroska file:

$ dvd_copy -o - | ffmpeg -fflags +genpts -i - -c copy dvd_track.mkv

To backup an entire DVD, see dvd_backup(1).

OPTIONS

-t, --track=TITLE
    Copy the selected track number. Default is the longest track.

-c, --chapter=CHAPTER[-[CHAPTER]] Copy the selected chapter range. Default is to copy all chapters.

-o, --output=FILENAME Save to filename. Default is dvd_track_.mpg where is the zero-padded track number.

    'FILENAME' can be '-' to send to standard output. All display output
    is switched to standard error output.

-h, --help Display help output.

--version Display version information.

SEE ALSO

dvd_info(1), dvd_backup(1)

BUGS

dvd_copy does not wait for an optical device to be ready. Wait for it to finish "polling" before running the program.

Please file bugs at

AUTHOR

dvd_copy was written by Steve Dibb

RESOURCES

Source code available at GitHub:

COPYING

Copyright (C) 2023 Steve Dibb. Free use of this software is granted under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2 (GPL).