One of the most-asked questions in regards of DVD Catalyst is the non-standard DVD protection popup.

It looks more complicated than it is, however, there are certain things about it that can save you a lot of time and hassle.

The popup only appears with some DVDs that have a copy-protection system that is not conform the official DVD standard. The protection system on these DVDs, designed to prevent piracy, add a large collection of fake DVD tracks to the DVD, and in some cases even scramble the scene order on some of the fake ones. When an automated conversion tool such as DVD Catalyst (and most similar tools) reads the DVD, it scans all the tracks, and in the end its up to you to determine what is real and what is fake.

The normal scanning method used by DVD Catalyst will assist in eliminating the fake tracks, however, the scanning process can take a long time. To eliminate the long wait, the non-standard DVD protection popup appears, enabling you to manually select the tracks you want.

Due to the large amount of tracks found, this can be quite confusing, so to make it as easy as possible, we highlight the different steps here.

Method 1: DVD player software or stand-alone DVD player

If you are reading this, you probably already see the popup, so you can skip the first few screenshots, but for completion, lets start at the beginning.

1. Start DVD Catalyst using the shortcut on the desktop:

2. after a few seconds DVD Catalyst will appear. If you run DVD Catalyst 4 for the very first time, it can take a little longer.

3. Insert your DVD, and DVD Catalyst 4 will scan it for content.

4. During scanning if you notice the 99 tracks, you most likely will run into some complications with this particular DVD. If you have been through this before you can actually close DVD Catalyst at this point and continue to the Windows Media Player screenshots a bit further down this article, but if this is your first time, we recommend to follow along.

After the scanning is complete, you end up with the non-standard DVD protection popup.

5. By default, DVD Catalyst highlights the longest track it finds, but for some movies it already knows what track to use. To make sure, you can use the preview button to make sure.

From here, you have 2 options. You can select the correct track to use and click “ok” (recommended, skip to the Windows Media Player screenshots a bit further down to find out how to find the correct track to use) or click “Cancel”, which will have DVD Catalyst scan all the tracks reported on the DVD, and filter out the fake ones by itself. The “cancel” option can take a while (sometimes 10 minutes) though.

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6. Wait until the scanning is complete.

7. After the scanning is complete, start the conversion. After the conversion is complete, you probably end up with a collection of files. As a general rule of thumb, the file with the largest file-size usually is the actual movie.

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The best way to find the correct track on a DVD is to either play the actual DVD in DVD player software such as Windows Media Player / Power DVD, or to play it on a stand-alone DVD player (connected to your TV).

6. If you are using a software player, you can leave DVD Catalyst running at this point to save time, and start the player application, otherwise close DVD Catalyst, take the DVD out, and insert it in your DVD player.

7. Play the DVD, and make sure you go through the trailers and such.

8. Start playing the actual movie, and make sure you move into the movie a bit. Sometimes the very beginning uses a different track than the actual movie (movie studio logo for example)

9. At the very top left in WIndows Media Player, or on the LCD display of your DVD player, you will see the track ID. In this case, Track 40.

This is the one we want to use for conversion.

10. close media player, and go back to DVD Catalyst 4 with the popup.

11. In the selection box, pick the track you found, and click OK. DVD Catalyst 4 will only scan the selected track.

12, now just start the conversion and sit back.

Method 2: 3rd party software

Install a program such as SlySoft AnyDVD, DVD Fab Passkey or DVD43. All 3 programs act as a layer between programs such as DVD Catalyst and the actual DVD, eliminating fake tracks directly. With any of these programs installed, the DVD will appear to be protection- and region-free, and thus making the conversion process as simple as possible.

SlySoft AnyDVD is the best option, but unfortunately not free. A free 21-day trial version is available though. You can find out more about it here

DVDFab Passkey is a new app similar to AnyDVD, and is a bit cheaper. You can find out more about it here

DVD43 is a free application similar to the above two, but has not been updated for a while. More information can be found here

Installing any of these applications will also speed up DVD conversions a bit as well.