Possible to play back "Digital Copy" of DVDs/Blu-Ray movies you buy, on Linux (Mint)?

[VirtualLarry]

Just curious if anyone's done it, or tried.

Friend of mine has a DVD, that came with a "Digital Copy". He thought that once he downloaded the file, he could play it back forever, that it was his to keep. I had to inform him that I thought that those video files were DRM'ed up the you-know-what, and that it would go out over the internet and get a playback key / license file every time he attempted to play back that file, and that if the content owner ever pulled the distribution rights to that movie that was in the file, that it would likely fail to obtain a playback license, and his movie file would be DOA.

So, he said he's going to try playing it back in Linux. I know that Linux has largely eschued DRM products and policies, but that Linux Mint will (optionally) install all kinds of media-playback-related bits if you tell it during installation, and that perhaps, possibly, those could be used to playback a "Digital Copy" movie file using, say, VLC.

So, I'm waiting to hear back from him if it's possible. If it is, then GREAT. But I have my hesitations about it.

 

[XavierMace]

I suspect the answer will depend somewhat on what the source was for the media. Some of the Digital Copies I've got are through iTunes, others are through.... I want to say Vudu?

For iTunes, that's a pretty simple answer. You're not going to play it without iTunes without using methods I don't believe we're allowed to discuss here. I don't think I've bothered to claim any of my movies through other sources, but I think Vudu's videos are also pretty much locked down to their player. Amazon Video is the same way. If he wants a truly portable copy, he's far better off just ripping his disk.

 

[whm1974]

Your friend is going to have to rip the disc and that would be the simplest solution as trying to "break" the DRM on the digital copy will be a major headache and we can't discuss how here without getting into trouble.

 

[whm1974]

Due to the DMCA, It is even to illegal playback Blu-Ray discs on Linux due to no licensed playback software being available for Linux. And if there was, most likely it would be ~$100 since getting the license is fairly expensive.

 

[AMDisTheBEST]

Pretty sure you can break DRM. I do it all the time to all the amazon kindle books I pruachse with calibre which works fine on my Linux mint laptop

 

[Elixer]

Well, you could rip DVD to a ISO, then use VLC to play that ISO directly.