Shoutbox

I repeat, it is NOT ILLEGAL to encode VOB files to another format. This is all a VOB file is:

"A VOB (Video OBject) contains several streams multiplexed together: Video, Audio and Subtitles. Video is MPEG-2, audio can be AC-3, Linear PCM, Mpeg 2 multichannel or MPEG1 layer2 2 channel audio." (http://filext.com/detaillist.php?extdetail=VOB). I can make VOB files of my own stuff and burn them to a DVD, being a VOB file on a DVD doesn't automatically make it illegal to copy. It could easily be my home videos or whatever the heck I want it to.

As for copying commerical DVDs, this is STILL NOT ILLEGAL UNDER NORTH AMERICAN COPYRIGHT LAW (USA and Canada). You ARE allowed ONE COPY of anything copyrighted you own, for backup purposes. This includes decrypting a DVD to your hard drive, making an AVI file of it, and burning it to a CD.

I cannot find the Canadian legislation, but here is the American:

" ...United States Copyright Law of 1976, as amended..."
"Copyrighted software may be copied without the copyright owner's permission only in accordance with the Copyright Act. Section 117 of the Act permits making an archival back-up copy."

DVD movies are considered "software" for the DVD player, software being defined by Dictionary.com as "The instructions executed by a computer, as opposed to the physical device on which they run".

In no way is making a single backup copy of a DVD (or anything else copyrighted you own that runs in an electronic device) illegal.

Oh, and you've got the software mixed up. You rip a DVD to the computer with DVD Decrypter, then use DVD Shrink to reencode a smaller DVD file (does not create .avi or .mpg) and then burn the file to a blank disc. Gordian Knot, on the other hand, will create .avi output files (using the DivX codec).