Improperly Ripped DVD's

There are two errors you may see when you try and play an improperly ripped DVD, an improperly ripped DVD disc image or an improperly ripped VIDEO_TS folder with Apple's DVD Player .app.

1. "There was a problem opening the media. The media type is not supported."

2. "DVD Player encountered an error it could not recover from The disc copy protection could not be verified. The disc cannot be played." (yes it's missing a period in the actual alert box)

The cause of these errors in my case is a client tried to rip one of their companies DVD's which has copy protection and didn't do it correctly. 

Since nothing really surprises me anymore I wasn't alarmed at all (just assumed it wouldn't work) when the DVD the client handed me (a DVD-R) had a .dmg of the DVD they were supposed to give me.

Stranger things have happened. So, On the DVD-R is a rip of the DVD they want me to pull footage from in the form of a .dmg file.

I mount the .dmg and even let it verify and see that it is at least a UDF volume, then, as expected, DVD Player fails to launch. It will play the intro company logos and things then tosses up error #2 up there when it tries to play the menu track.

I'm guessing one of three things happened.

1. They literally made a .dmg from their retail DVD without using a proper ripping tool.

2. They copied the VIDEO_TS folder from a retail disc to their desktop, then used something like Toast to burn it. Again, without using a proper ripping tool.

3. Ripped the DVD somehow and used some app to re-compress it to a DVD-5. And of course never tested the thing.

I'd place my money on #1 this time.

The only option to play it quickly is VLC at this point.

Calling the client (the actual person who contacted me to get this quickie job done for them, btw) and asking "This DVD image you gave me has issues playing. Any idea if I can get a retail version from you?" gets me this pass-the-buck-response, "I wouldn't know. Let me forward you." CLICK then an answering machine for their "media department".

Just for fun I tried copying the VIDEO_TS folder to my desktop and then playing it with DVD Player .app but it was wasn't happening. If I cared just a little bit more I would try ripping the mounted .dmg but I don't.

Luckily I can still use this method to get the few tiny clips they want for their project.