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What's Going On With AnyDVD Development

_Bathrone_

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Hi, always much gratitude to RedFox and it's prior incarnations. What you folk achieved for digital video is simply outstanding, and despite what the media mafia cartels might like to claim, fair use, reasonable freedom for me to backup and enjoy the content I purchased, is indeed, a universal human right. So thankyou, I heart :)

I truly hope the Covid situation has not effected any of the Team. I hope the Team and their families are safe and healthy.

As a long time fan, a lifetime licence holder and so on, I know as much as anyone that the effort going into development of AnyDVD is allot less than what it has been in times past. I get every product has a lifecycle but I don't accept were seeing the death of consumer disc formats just yet. I decline no doubt, but DVD, BluRay, UHD 4K is still a big thing in film circles all the same. Betas are taking forever to become production releases. Frequency of beta updates are narrowing. You've got PowerDVD being patched which I assume in turn effects Cinavia treatment in AnyDVD.

I've consistently done my part by helping to beta test and contributing there over the years. I want to continue sharing my expertise to help.

I was hopeful for awhile it was due to something awesome happening behind the scenes like UHD 4K breakthroughs.....it's just so ridiculous the media mafia cartels are enforcing Intel only with SGX. But this doesnt seem to be the case, nothing new has been announced in the AnyDVD space.

James can we get an update, for the heart please :) Your fan

Cheers
 
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You are pretty vague with your post. What exactly is AnyDVD not doing that you are expecting it to do? All DVDs are able to be backed up. All Bluray are able to be backed up. There are a few UHD discs, but those are being added with a little time. What is lacking?
 
Frequency of beta updates are narrowing.
No need to update more frequently.

You've got PowerDVD being patched which I assume in turn effects Cinavia treatment in AnyDVD.
I don't know, what you are talking about.

I was hopeful for awhile it was due to something awesome happening behind the scenes like UHD 4K breakthroughs.....it's just so ridiculous the media mafia cartels are enforcing Intel only with SGX. But this doesnt seem to be the case, nothing new has been announced in the AnyDVD space.
With AnyDVD running, there is no need for SGX. Start PowerDVD 20 Ultra and enjoy original UHD discs. On a PC with AMD CPU, if you like.
 
Thanks for responding James :)

I don't know, what you are talking about.

In the past with AnyDVD, you have supplied patches to support defeating Cinavia with PowerDVD. When new versions of PowerDVD were released by Cyberlink, or when Cyberlink patched their builds, I recall you would release a corresponding beta update for AnyDVD, nominating in the release notes which build version of PowerDVD your new beta supported.

So naturally, with me sharing how development efforts and releases have changed with AnyDVD in recent years, part of what's relevant here is how your not syncing like you used too. PowerDVD 20 got patched in September 2020 to build 2101 and yet were still in a beta released by you all the way back in August 21 2020.

If AnyDVD is changed in a way that you don't need to sync anymore with PowerDVD build versions to defeat Cinavia in PowerDVD, then bonus, please say so in the release notes and let us know of this new benefit. As far as I know, no such announcement has been made.

Thanks
 
With AnyDVD running, there is no need for SGX. Start PowerDVD 20 Ultra and enjoy original UHD discs. On a PC with AMD CPU, if you like.

As a lifetime HD owner, I was thankful that RedFox made the commercial decision to add UHD features beyond BluRay without charging customers for this additional functionality beyond BluRay. So firstly, thankyou James :)

The information that has been provided so far says that AnyDVD has experimental support for some UHD features. That specifically, there is known cases where because AACS 2.0 / 2.1 has not been defeated with full cracking, only some titles work. My own experience on every beta, and in between me contributing to AnyDVD with prod versions when we aren't in beta, has been that none of my UHD discs that I own in my personal collection actually work via AnyDVD. Especially given my UHD drive has not been so far hacked by LibreDrive, I have no means of making personal fair use backups of the UHD discs I own in my collection unless I fork out for a LibeDrive supported friendly UHD player hardware.

So I wish it was the case that AnyDVD was defeating UHD, but I don't think you guys are yet. The only means I know of here and now, is to use PowerDVD and follow all the restrictions that Cyberlink impose on me, which ridiculously involves unplugging HDMI from my NVIDIA Geforce card into the embedded Intel HDMI port, enabling SGX on Intel, etcetc.

Thanks
 
No need to update more frequently.

James, lets explore facts with for example the lifecycle so far in the 8.4.9.x builds that your company has had in beta.

Current Prod release is build 8.4.9.0 2nd June 2020

I'm an IT Pro like you, so I know, the reason why software testing occurs, what the differences are in different test phases, what value a semi-closed beta test phase has (given if I recall correctly the beta only works on licensed AnyDVD though its been ages since I got my lifetime license.) I think most would agree that the value in semi-closed beta phases is that the test configuration coverage is expanded to a broader range of hardware, that you have a bigger pool of people having eyes over the functionality of the build and that is has value to protect against regression style defects from entering your production builds for those customers who don't want to risk or participate in semi closed testing.

8.4.9.1 24th June 2020, noting release notes for supporting new bluray protections and fixes to RIPs of blurays.

This step is fair enough, youve got your Prod build released, now you goto beta to address some new bluray protections and fixes to RIPs. This is sound lifecycle management and a standard testing approach.

8.4.9.2 7th July 2020, another test compile adding this time some DVD protection changes in the release notes.

A few more weeks in beta where Prod doesnt have this content. How long is needed to identify regressions in semi closed betas? At what point is it causing more harm to delay a Prod release over keeping it in Beta?

I say look at the .3 and .4 builds, which I think most reasonable IT pros would find to be concerning decisions.

Since August 21, beta build .4, has fixes in:

- New (Blu-ray): Support for new discs
- New (DVD): Support for new discs
- Fix (Blu-ray): Missing files when "ripping to folder"
- Fix (Blu-ray): Crash with some discs
- Some fixes and improvements

None of these are in Prod builds, it's now the 7th October 2020. Dude, thats since July 2020 that youve had this 8.4.9.XXX build series held back in beta.

There is no reason to support this problem by saying, we have to do it to facilitate enough time to do regression. Since August 21, build .4 has been released.

These unusual and strange release decisions are causing harm by not being provided to the Prod stream.

James you would know as well as I do, that with modern trends like DevOps and deep auto build and auto testing frameworks for software, the trend is to have less time in test phases, not blow out test phases into months and months for no good reason on a technical computer science level. I can help if you were interested in test automation and related fields.

All of this is very different to release policy in years past that youve as a company ran with. And I don't see any benefit, only tangible negatives, to how in modern times this is being managed by you. Mate Ive been contributing to your company betas because I'm a fan and because Im skilled to help. Not everyone wants to use non production software though. Especially in paid commercial software like AnyDVD. Protecting your prod customers from regressions is a duty yes, but so too, is fixing defects and keeping the software current, especially when there is changes to the ecosystem like where you nominate both DVD and BluRay new protections in the wild not handled by Prod builds. Being in October for semi closed Beta while having Prod builds all the way back into ancient history from June just isnt good policy by your company.
 
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The betas I do are production release quality. (If not, this is noted in the changelog).
You are safe to use them. Not to release them as .. "final" is a, lets call it, "political" decision.
 
The information that has been provided so far says that AnyDVD has experimental support for some UHD features. That specifically, there is known cases where because AACS 2.0 / 2.1 has not been defeated with full cracking, only some titles work. My own experience on every beta, and in between me contributing to AnyDVD with prod versions when we aren't in beta, has been that none of my UHD discs that I own in my personal collection actually work via AnyDVD.
Quite the opposite, I would say. "Most" work.

Especially given my UHD drive has not been so far hacked by LibreDrive, I have no means of making personal fair use backups of the UHD discs I own in my collection unless I fork out for a LibeDrive supported friendly UHD player hardware.
Get a different drive.

So I wish it was the case that AnyDVD was defeating UHD, but I don't think you guys are yet. The only means I know of here and now, is to use PowerDVD and follow all the restrictions that Cyberlink impose on me, which ridiculously involves unplugging HDMI from my NVIDIA Geforce card into the embedded Intel HDMI port, enabling SGX on Intel, etcetc.
Get a different drive, and your nightmares are over.
 
The information that has been provided so far says that AnyDVD has experimental support for some UHD features.
Yes, and the reason for this is very simple: There is NO WAY to decrypt discs with unpatched official UHD drives. (DeUHD uses an on the-fly-patch for some official drives).
 
Can you sugest a drive or drives that are know to work? Thank You.
I use Pioneer drive BDR-211UBK. There may be an updated one to replace it, but this works fine on Ultra DVD's. Just make sure to load the software on it. It works better with the software. You can get it through Amazon or New Egg. It is a UltraHD and Blu-ray burner and player.
 
Thanks for your responses James. Basically your saying you get my points, that your facing some politics getting in the way of expected standards in lifecycle and release management, and you suggest that a work around is for customers to treat your beta releases as not actually beta but production pipeline releases with expectation of production grade quality, with the caveat if you say in the release notes of a given beta its an actual beta test then everyone should treat it as per a normal standard beta test phase. Seems weird but politics is like that :)

Your time is precious and respected so I wont ask questions already addressed in other areas of the forum - the supported UHD drives are called out and defined its clear. As too its clear its one thing to have firmware hack drive support at the bus level of the drive, but a whole other thing to decrypt it, and not to mix the two but instead go with the pre-requisite hacked firmware then AnyDVDHD ontop.

So what I suggest is:

* A developer to clarify If AnyDVDHD customers still need to wait for AnyDVDHD new releases to synch to specific builds of PowerDVD for defeating Cinavia, or just what the case is now, for us to be told please. As far as I know unless something has changed we have to wait for you to support a given patch version of PowerDVD before AnyDVD will work with cinavia defeating. Or if youve removed support let us know please etcetc
* Maybe a moderator could change the language in the sticky post on UHD AnyDVDHD capabilities. The language is "With UHD becoming more common, AnyDVD has received EXPERIMENTAL support for such titles a little while ago" which is stark contrast from your current statements where you share with a friendly drive on hacked firmware, AnyDVDHD will decrypt most UHD discs apart from a minor few.
* A useful feature request in relation to UHD is for AnyDVDHD to better understand LibreDrive and MakeMKV use, better handle the use case and bonus auto set the config it needs to not corrupt on bus encryption uncertainty

Thanks
 
There's no need for another developer to say that. James is the lead developer. What he sais goes. As to the sticky, pretty sure it already states uhd support is experimental

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There's no need for another developer to say that. James is the lead developer. What he sais goes. As to the sticky, pretty sure it already states uhd support is experimental

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

Perhaps you've misinterpreted. I'm not asking for any alternate decision or alternate response, the fact is there has been no response so far on the query. So therefore I am asking any of the Developers whoever responds first with the facts if it still is the case that we have to wait for builds of AnyDVDHD to sync to PowerDVD patches for defeating Cinavia or not? Its especially relevant because James indicated he felt that was no need for old times where more frequent beta releases were made, I pointed out there is a patch for PowerDVD 20 from Cyberlink which in times past would necessitate a new beta build from AnyDVDHD that so far has not arrived. Its a pretty simple question Ch3vrOn, Im not saying anything more than that.

As to the sticky, thats exactly my point. My point is, since James has said its not a case of most dont work, but the majority do work and it leaves just a few that dont. So I think clearly progress has been made and maybe the sticky should be updated to reflect the added confidence/robustness from the initial experimental stuff. If you dont want too as the moderator having considered my feedback, well all good mate its your show to run as moderator.

All the best
 
So therefore I am asking any of the Developers whoever responds first with the facts if it still is the case that we have to wait for builds of AnyDVDHD to sync to PowerDVD patches for defeating Cinavia or not? Its especially relevant because James indicated he felt that was no need for old times where more frequent beta releases were made, I pointed out there is a patch for PowerDVD 20 from Cyberlink which in times past would necessitate a new beta build from AnyDVDHD that so far has not arrived.
New major PowerDVD versions (e.g. PowerDVD 19->20, 20->21?) certainly will need a new AnyDVD version.
If minor PowerDVD updates require changes to AnyDVD depends on Cyberlink. If this is necessary, you'll (usually) get it. IIRC with PowerDVD 20 (and 19?) this was not the case.
 
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