Convert Region 2 DVD to Region 1 in Linux

Hi,
My brother bought a box set of The Saint DVDs (18 discs) from Amazon. They're Region 2 with some slight encryption on them. BTW, he didn't know they were Region 2 when he bought them. He wants to convert them to Region 1 so he can watch them on this home DVD player. I was able to convert 2 of them to Region 1 by using DVDFab Decrypter, to rip it, then ConvertXtoDVD which changed it from Region 2 to Region 1 (plus it created an iso) while using Windows 7, but it took hours to do. He's got Ubuntu Lucid on his computer. Is there anyway to do the same thing under Linux?

Hopefully, someone has a solution.

Thanks for any help on this.

Later...

 

Trespasser, I am sure you know this. VLC ignores Region codes. So what I would do is rip the DVD(s) with VLC (select No DVD Menus for compatibility, mp4 encapsulation, resolution scale @ 1 and audio mp3 @ whatever bitrate ). Unfortunately this will also take a while. Once ripped just use Devede - then you can play them on your DVD player attached to your LED/Plasma TV and PC.
(There is a regionset tool -sudo regionset to launch it after install- but that is for the DVD drives and apparently you can only change regions 5x.)
Handbrake is another alternative.

Hope I'm not on the wrong track as to what you require.

Edit: You could just open the dvd with vlc and hit the record button. File will be saved as .mpg ready for devede. Trouble is this takes as long as the movie, so not really an option.

 

Thanks, Ocky. As usual you're a good friend.

I'm trying to find the simplest solution I can because I'll have to teach it to my brother, and he's not very computer literate. I experimented with running DVDFab Decrypter and ConvertXtoDVD under Wine last night and they did pretty well. I might resort to installing Windows 7 on his PC temporarily to accomplish this task. I'll have to wait and see how it goes since I'm traveling over to help him today.

Again, thanks for the advice, Ocky.

Later...

Bob

 

I have put together a quickie gif for ripping with vlc for your perusal



NB. Watch the vlc status bar and don't close vlc until streaming is finished and the staus bar is empty.