Is it legal to rip DVDs to a computer hard-drive, so you can watch movies via an alternative format?

It depends what country you’re in as to what their laws say about. I’m going to assume your in the UK based on the Sky box comment.

It is legal to format shift content that you own to a different media for your own use but (and here’s the kicker) it is illegal to interfere with DRM in order to do so. So for example you can burn a CD so you can play it on an iPod but you can’t copy a DVD because you’d have to defeat the DRM to do so (not that that is that hard these days).

Technically yes, grabbing the data from a hard drive is illegal except for certain educational purposes (in the US).

However, it’s simply to do (two clicks) and I have copied my entire collection of DVDs onto a couple of hard drives and I copy them to my tablet as needed. I paid for those DVDs.

Irish law may be different.

For my two cents: legal restrictions against DVD ripping are basically holding your data hostage to an industry that is still living in the 1990s.

Well, sure.

I believe that – at least in the USA – the laws on Fair Use specifically do permit multiple reproductions of licensed works for “personal use”. The injunctions that we always see, however, don’t make that distinction, because so few consumers seem to limit their reproduction to “personal use only”. When they’ve made one copy, they figure, what’s the harm in one more? And when they have multiple copies, then “What’s the harm in giving one to my great aunt Marie?” and so on.

If YOU have multiple copies of an item for YOUR OWN use, then first of all, who is going to learn of that? A law that can’t be enforced is no law at all. Feel free to make your copies, and just don’t violate any licensing agreement with the license provider: Don’t give away the copies to others.

@Lightlyseared I’m actually in the Republic of Ireland. We have Sky in Ireland too.

There is a paid application for the mac called MacX DVD Ripper. I’m not sure if that qualifies as altering the DRM. Then again I’m not informed enough to know what altering the DRM entails exactly.

All I know is MacX DVD Ripper reads DVDs and converts the footage from selected titles to a format of your choice. Usually mp4 format.

From what I gather it is illegal to defeat CSS (Content Scramble System) that is used to make DVD’s impossible to rip (HAHA) in Ireland. But nobody gives a shit.

If you are just using them for plex or other local storage there is pretty much a zero chance of trouble.

Piracy is kinda my thing.

If there is zero chance of getting into any trouble for it, why does it matter?

The copyright preventions were put into place to prevent unauthorized distribution, but it’s obvious that you have no intention to distribute to anyone else.

Do whatever you need to do to ensure that you can comfortably utilize media which you’ve LEGALLY purchased in your own home and your own devices.

Regardless of where one lives, the important principle is the difference between the spirit of the law vs. the letter of the law.

In other words, the strict letter of the law may be that you can’t make copies.

But, the law was passed to prevent others from profiting from someone’s elses creative work.

You have no intention of doing that, so you are adhering to the spirit (intent) of the law.

Go ahead and copy whatever you need. You paid for it. It’s yours. Since you aren’t distributing it, how would they ever find out?

Yes. The chances of you getting in trouble for it are pretty slim.

It is necessary to know the DVD Copyright Infringement Laws in your countries before you rip/copy a DVD to watch on smartphone, tablet, game console, HD media player, TV set, Windows or Mac. Is it legal to rip/copy/decrypt our own DVDs? Let’s break this down into different parts according to the different DVD regions.

Part II. DVD Ripping Legality in the world

1. United Kingdom -legal for personal use

In the United Kingdom, it’s now legal to rip/copy DVDs, CDs and ebooks for your own personal use. It was illegal to break the DRM (Digital Rights Management) or TPM (Technical Protection Measures) used on DVD to protect the content from ripping. However, it has been formally permitted to be legal if one makes DVD copies for personal use since 2012. Even more, the UK government has finally changed the law after inspecting DVD/CD copyright legislation and public consultation. It means that since October 2014, all people in UK are allowed to make copies of DVDs and other media freely as long as the copy is for personal use, such as DVD backup, or formats shifting.

2. Germany – illegal

Germany is a country with very restrict copyrighted content. According to German law, it dictates that it is illegal to circumvent mechanisms that prevent copying, but it allows the manufacture of copies of copyrighted digital material for personal, non-commercial use.

3. Norway – not a crime

It’s not a crime in Norway to make copy of DVD’s as long as it’s one’s own DVD.

4. Netherlands -legal for personal use

In Netherlands, all legally bought audio and video including DVD and Blu-Ray are allowed to make copies, which are also called “home copies”. However, those ripped files are only used personally.

5. Spain – legal

In Spain, anyone is allowed to make a private copy of a copyrighted DVD for oneself, providing that the copier has accessed the original DVD legally.

6. USA -require the consent of copyright owner

In the United States, copyright law has been extended many times over and copyright infringement is sometimes confronted via lawsuits in civil court, against alleged infringers directly, or against providers of services and software that support unauthorized copying. U.S. copyright law (Title 17 of the United States Code) generally says that making a copy of an original work, if conducted without the consent of the copyright owner, is infringement. The law makes no explicit grant or denial of a right to make a “personal use” copy of another’s copyrighted content on one’s own digital media and devices.

7. Australia or New Zealand -legal

In Australia and New Zealand, a copy of any legally purchased music may be made by its owner, as long as it is not distributed to others and its use remains personal. In Australia this was extended in 2006 to also include photographs and films.

8. Japan – illegal

DVD copy has been outlawed with corresponding amendments on copyright laws being coming out in Japan since October 1, 2012.

9. China -not clear

In China, the issue of digital piracy is not merely legal, but social. In most cases, the breach of digital copyright laws might not inquire into the cause.

@Sunderlandgreen the info on the UK is out of date. The 2014 act that made it legal to format shift CDs and DVDs was overturned in June or July of 2015.