Netflix, DVD's, and the IPad

No, you cannot copy a video DVD to your Mac, not legally anyway. Both the copy protection and copyright law prevent it.

Netflix has an app for the iPad, but it of course is streaming, not download. The iTunes Store offers the only download rentals I know of.

"Streaming" implies that you are in cell tower range doesn't it?

Or WiFi. I don't know if any cell service allows video streaming. Even if it does, it would burn up the allowance on most data plans pretty quickly, so it's not something I would choose to do.

I was wanting to watch movies on my iPad on a trans-continental flight.

If you want to watch a movie on a flight, you'll need to use the iTunes Store since, as I said, that's the only service (that I know of, anyway) that provides a download.

If you rent the movie, shouldn't you be able to watch it on your iPad as well as your home computer?

Depends on the service. If you're referring to the iTunes Store, if you rent the movie on your computer, you can then move it to the iPad. The reverse is not true, however; if you rent the movie directly from the iPad, you can only view it there, you cannot move it to another device.

I believe there are legal ways of making a copy of a DVD you own yourself. You need to make a file which is in quicktime format and then you can play it. Thats at least what I was told at an apple store by an employee

Not in the US, there isn't, nor in a number of other countries, not when referring to a copy-protected DVD, and anyone who tells you otherwise is wrong. The two applications that were released in an attempt to provide a legal solution, RealDVD and Drive-In, were both forced off the market by legal action by the MPAA. Neither of those apps would have been legal to use on a rented DVD in any case.

In the US, for movies you own yourself - the law is unclear about your rights to make a copy. The studios would have you believe it's illegal but it's not established. Many people make copies for travel or for archive purposes. As to question of Netflix movies, it is absolutely illegal to make a copy as well as against the terms of your Netflix agreement.

It is very much established. The DMCA expressly prohibits the circumvention of copy protection, something which would be necessary to make a copy of any protected DVD. The only exception to this, just granted by the Library of Congress and likely to be challenged in court by the MPAA, allows for the circumvention of copy protection solely for incorporation of short portions of motion pictures into new works for the purpose of criticism or comment or educational purposes (for which there are very particularly standards as to what constitutes educational purposes). The creation of a complete copy of a DVD is still not allowed.

Any other claims to the contrary you may have heard are incorrect.

Message was edited by: Dave Sawyer

Are programs like Daniusoft Video Converter Ultimate and others, that can make an iPad compatible copy of any DVD or any other video file, legal? They are sold and widely available.

If they break the copy protection on the DVD, no, they're not legal. Makers of such packages often are located in countries where it's not illegal or where enforcement is lax, or try to hide and hope they can't be found by the legal beagles from the content owners.

Technically, I think you can play the DVD on your Mac while simultaneously making a screen recording through Quicktime. Then, transfer that Quicktime video into iTunes, and then on to your iPad. I don't believe this would be a violation of copyright law because you wouldn't be making a digital copy of the movie, just a low-res copy for your own personal use.

I'm not at my computer... If I remember right the DVD player on the Mac doesn't let you screen record the DVD player. It gives you a blank screen.

icharis wrote:
I believe there are legal ways of making a copy of a DVD you own yourself. You need to make a file which is in quicktime format and then you can play it. Thats at least what I was told at an apple store by an employee

How is that legal if you're renting a DVD disk?

oldspook619 wrote:
Are programs like Daniusoft Video Converter Ultimate and others, that can make an iPad compatible copy of any DVD or any other video file, legal? They are sold and widely available.

Bongs are readily available. It doesn't make pot legal (unless you live in California).

Breaking copy protection is illegal. Unless you can provide me with case law that supports your anecdotes, you really should get your facts established first.

lakeshore wrote:
Technically, I think you can play the DVD on your Mac while simultaneously making a screen recording through Quicktime. Then, transfer that Quicktime video into iTunes, and then on to your iPad. I don't believe this would be a violation of copyright law because you wouldn't be making a digital copy of the movie, just a low-res copy for your own personal use.

I have QT Professional, and it absolutely doesn't do that. I will admit I don't know every workaround, but it does not do this.