(Miguel Cruz) wrote in message ...
Mark Hewitt wrote:
"Charles Newman" wrote:
The software to do that is illegal in the United States. The MPAA and
DVDCCA recently had 3-2-1 studios shut down because their software did
just that.

Really? I thought it will fall under making a backup copy for your own
purposes?

It does, which is legal. However, the DMCA has provided a shortcut that
undercuts a lot of rights like that and makes formerly legal things illegal.
Among other things, the law makes it illegal to counteract an 'effective
technical measure' put in place to prevent copying. To me that seems pretty
absurd, since if it can be counteracted, it's not effective. But as the
courts are interpreting it so far, basically it comes down to if the judge
can't figure out how to counteract it in about 30 seconds, then it's
"effective".

miguel


Since I will be mainly copying my own home-made DVDs of television
programming to the hard drive, this is moot. No government
intervention required.
I'd just need way to watch them from the hard drive so I can save
battery usage. I may even buy one of those super ultra light notebooks
where the DVD drive is an add-on and I don't want to have to carry the
CD/DVD with me Some laptops let you install a second battery where
the CD/DVD would normally go. With that setup I might get 8 hours
battery life on the plane, but I wouldn't be able to play DVDs from
the discs, but I could still watch them if they were viewable from the
hard drive.
My current laptop only has a CD rom with no DVD at all so it will not
be useable for DVDs.
Are there any portable DVD players that can play even 4 hours per
battery so I can have 8 hours of use without carrying more than 1
spare battery?