In one of the reviews I read for a PDA the reviewer said he uses it to watch his favourite episode of [program] on it.
How might this user have got an MPEG file (I presume) of his favourite episode of something? Can they be extracted from DVDs legally?
As far as I know, extracting a movie from a DVD is the only way to create an MPEG file of the movie. If you own the DVD, it is perfectly legal to make a backup copy of it. So, anyone who owns the DVD can copy the movie to their PDA, or computer, or whatever.
However, it is illegal to circumvent copyright protections, encryptions, etc., on a DVD, even if you own it. So, you can copy a DVD, but only if it doesn’t have any security measures on it (which is hardly ever).
If you’re talking about current TV programs, the reviewer very likely downloaded the episode from either a peer-to-peer network or Usenet. Episodes of popular TV shows often show up on Usenet within a day of airing; those video encoder people work fast.
You can also capture episodes yourself with a video capture card and VCR software, or a DVR device like Replay or TiVo.
I often do this when I could watch the show live. Right now, for example, I’m catching up on re-runs of a show I never managed to watch when it was in first run. I could watch it on my TV or computer, but I prefer to save it and watch it while I work out. Some shows simply work better for exercise (for me) than others. For example, shows where one or most of the cast is soft spoken or speak in dramatic whispers don’t work as well for me as shows where the actors emphatically declaim their lines. One friend likes to exercise to action-adventure, while another uses soap operas (which she ordinarily doesn’t feel comfortable spending hours out of her busy day on) as a private treat, a reward for exercising.
One does wonder, however, if you strip the soap commercials from a soap opera, is it just plain opera?