Originally Posted by CPRich
It is indeed a violation of the TOS. And to do it, you most likely need to violate the DMCA also.
It's been a while since I read the RIAA v. Diamond case, and I'd forgotten that it was about AHRA and not actual copyright law. You are therefore correct that the case doesn't make it legal to copy DVDs, but the rationale that Diamond used certainly lends weight to the argument that DVD space-shifting should be legal (and I have yet to find a case that says flat out that it's illegal).
Furthermore, the Netflix TOS forbids violation of "United States and international copyright laws" and "copying of DVDs rented." Space-shifting the content of your DVD is arguably neither a violation of any copyright law (the DMCA isn't really copyright law) nor technically "copying" a DVD (it's "space-shifting," not "copying," right?
).