as opposed to the full DVDFab package, which is much more powerful with many options
You can't directly compare Anydvd to dvdfab platinum since dvdfab platinum tries to be an all in one solution. Anydvd is primarily a decrypter. That said, I could not possibly disagree more that dvdfab (any package) offers a more powerful decrypter than Anydvd.
1. dvdfab doesn't help me when I want to play original discs on my system from other regions
2. dvdfab doesn't offer subtitle transparency on the fly when I want to watch dvd movies
3. dvdfab does not decrypt on the fly, allowing me to use almost any other program I want--faster for almost all releases (with the exception of some of the newer Sony/Lionsgate releases; and for that Anydvd ripper since 6.1.4.2 now provides full disc backups with Shrink )
dvdfab also doesn't do the following:
from
http://www.slysoft.com/anydvd.html
# Prevents automatic launching of 'PC-friendly' software on video DVDs
# Allows adjustment of your monitor refresh rate for both NTSC and PAL monitors
# Allows execution of external programs on disc insertion and removal
# Allows speed control of your DVD drives
# Works transparently for the operating system: DVDs can be shared over the network and copied with the command prompt or with Windows Explorer, etc"
So purely examinging these programs as decrypters, Anydvd offers far more flexibility. And that's a fact.
If you want to argue that dvd platinum burns, converts to other formats, etc., that's good and fine, but Anydvd isn't intended do accomplish those things. dvdfab is certainly intended to decrypt, and on that level, it doesn't offer what Anydvd can.
Dvdfab's real competing product to Anydvd was dvd region +css free/dvdidle, and that program hasn't been updated since Oct. 2006; consequently it can't handle new protections. Since development on that program is on hold indefinitely it's now become freeware (for the most part).
One more additional benefit is that when you buy Anydvd, unlike dvdfab, you're not supporting the use of commercializing
stolen code