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AnyDVD HD no longer going to work with WinDVD HD & BD?

Socio said:
Looks like a mandatory patch for WinDVD HD & BD users that may stop AnyDVD HD use with it;

Important Update for InterVideo WinDVD
Click to expand...

No, not at all. It's just an update that includes new AACS keys and hides them better than in the previous version.
AnyDVD HD has nothing to do with WinDVD and WinDVD will still play non-encrypted content, which AnyDVD HD will continue to provide. Nothing changes.
 
WinDVD BD refuses to play with AnyDVD running anyway...

Hello!

This is my first post here, so I'm sorry if I just "hop in" in this thread...:eek:

I had wanted to ask the same thing, but just didn't get around to. I only have tried the downloaded-"trial" version of AnyDVD HD so far (the latest version, 6.1.3.3), and I have the same problem with WinDVD BD, even before the above mentioned AACS update that wa issued a day or so ago.

I have a brand new Sony Vaio VGN-AR31S and the bundled WinDVD BD for Vaio (patched up to version 8.0.08.70_2 and WinDVD BD absolutely refuses to start playback when AnyDVD HD is running!!!! As soon as I exit AnyDVD HD, WinDVD BD happily plays all my Blu-ray discs!!!

I've updated to the above mentioned AACS update but have removed it again as it actually seems to be a rather buggy new version.

That WinDVD BD refuses to start playback with AnyDVD running was mentioned a few days ago in this forum again by somebedy, but the post went unanswered... :(

So I don't think it has anything to do with the new "mandatory" key-update, but with a function of WinDVD BD to actually find AnyDVD in the system memory and flatout refuse to play!!! :( :(

In case anybody needs more specifics on this, please let me know.

All the best & happy Easter from Greece

Petros
 
Captain_Harlock said:
So I don't think it has anything to do with the new "mandatory" key-update, but with a function of WinDVD BD to actually find AnyDVD in the system memory and flatout refuse to play!!! :( :(
Click to expand...

Well that would be the most stupid thing to do.
After all AnyDVD HD is no threat to WinDVD. And if they made WinDVD not play with AnyDVD, this would simply make their competitors sell more software, because nobody would want that WinDVD no more...
So I don't believe that this is actually the cause.
It might be though, that since the latest updates, for some reason WinDVD would no longer play unencrypted content at all (which would be a bug, and they simply didn't test that prior to release).
If you do have the possibility to burn a copy of some BD and see, whether WinDVD will play it then....

EDIT: though this being a Sony Laptop, anything is possible. They would chop the hands off their customers, to keep them from doing what they don't want them to...

Unfortunately, I don't have a (working) copy of WinDVD to check this, maybe comments from other members whether or not they have this problem will help.
 
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peer said:
Well that would be the most stupid thing to do.
After all AnyDVD HD is no threat to WinDVD. And if they made WinDVD not play with AnyDVD, this would simply make their competitors sell more software, because nobody would want that WinDVD no more...
Click to expand...

3 things.

One, WinDVD no longer works when Alcohol 120% is runing.

Two, from what I understand from the information contained on that link, plus with what I noticed with it blocking running when Alc is on (and the other user stating it doesn't work with ADVDHD, for the most part it's no longer legal to use WinDVD outside of the US, as it conforms to the DMCA and thereby violates the "fair-use" clause of the International Copyright Act and can not be imported (or downloaded) in other regions.

Three, if you're interested in a new player, try out Cyberlink's PowerDVD. It does everything WinDVD does and more, and should still work with all your software.
 
Hi there!

peer said:
Well that would be the most stupid thing to do.
After all AnyDVD HD is no threat to WinDVD. And if they made WinDVD not play with AnyDVD, this would simply make their competitors sell more software, because nobody would want that WinDVD no more...
So I don't believe that this is actually the cause.
Click to expand...

You are so right... but I guess they might just be exactly that stupid!!!! ;)

peer said:
It might be though, that since the latest updates, for some reason WinDVD would no longer play unencrypted content at all (which would be a bug, and they simply didn't test that prior to release).
Click to expand...

I've installed the issued update and it is as it was before: WinDVD plays happily all encrypted content as long as AnyDVD is NOT running!!! It flatout refuses to even start playback while AnyDVD is in the system-tray!!! It just kills playback immediately...!!!!!
So I don't think it has anything to do with the new update... it seems to me (but I'm no expert) that WinDVD somehow detects AnyDVD running and simply stops!!! User "lostinlodos" reports that it also won't run while Alcohol is running, so I guess all this points in the direction that Intervideo (or Corel or whoever owns this proggy) has really implemented a memory check of some kind...

peer said:
If you do have the possibility to burn a copy of some BD and see, whether WinDVD will play it then....
Click to expand...

I'll try it in the next few days, as I don't have an empty BD disc yet (they tend to be as expensive as the movie-discs themselves here in Athens!!)

peer said:
Unfortunately, I don't have a (working) copy of WinDVD to check this, maybe comments from other members whether or not they have this problem will help.
Click to expand...

PM will follow...

lostinlodos said:
(...) for the most part it's no longer legal to use WinDVD outside of the US, as it conforms to the DMCA and thereby violates the "fair-use" clause of the International Copyright Act and can not be imported (or downloaded) in other regions.
Click to expand...

It may well be so for the "full" version of WinDVD 8 that was scheduled to support Blu-ray (and HD-DVD) and was later removed from circulation (that infamous Japanese version), but the version of WinDVD BD that comes bundled with at least the Sony Vaios appears to be legal in all countries where Vaios are being sold. The update is donwloadable from the Vaio-support-sites of almost all countries (both in Europe, the US and many more), and the application-suite of the Vaio includes the setup files for the WinDVD BD for re-installation after a system-restore...

lostinlodos said:
Three, if you're interested in a new player, try out Cyberlink's PowerDVD. It does everything WinDVD does and more, and should still work with all your software.
Click to expand...

Well, you are abolutely right... I would not even sit and deal with WinDVD if it was not for another problem: PowerDVD seems to have many bugs and even version 7.3 doesn't run stable and w/o hanging & crashing on the Vaio. So I don't know if all this is maybe after all "just" a stupid Sony-related Vaio incompatibility...

The AR31S comes with an nVIDIA Go 7600 GT, 2 igs of Ram, a Core 2 Duo T7200 cpu... so system wise BD playback should not be a problem...

Oh well, just wait & see I guess...

I'll do some more checks and will be back later...

Thanks a lot for all your input & all the best

Petros
 
Captain_Harlock said:
It may well be so for the "full" version of WinDVD 8 that was scheduled to support Blu-ray (and HD-DVD) and was later removed from circulation (that infamous Japanese version), but the version of WinDVD BD that comes bundled with at least the Sony Vaios appears to be legal in all countries where Vaios are being sold. The update is donwloadable from the Vaio-support-sites of almost all countries (both in Europe, the US and many more), and the application-suite of the Vaio includes the setup files for the WinDVD BD for re-installation after a system-restore...
Click to expand...
It's only a matter of time before someone with the power and money bring this issue to court too. Being illegal and getting away with it are two different issues. :mad:
Well, you are abolutely right... I would not even sit and deal with WinDVD if it was not for another problem: PowerDVD seems to have many bugs and even version 7.3 doesn't run stable and w/o hanging & crashing on the Vaio. So I don't know if all this is maybe after all "just" a stupid Sony-related Vaio incompatibility...
Click to expand...

You're right I tried 7.2U and 7.3 on a AR270. Neither work correctly (stops at opening load and then crashes when you try to do anything else, like push the play button :confused: ). I can't figure out WHY it won't work, but it won't. :eek:
I have alot more learning to do on the whole BD/HDD scene before I really get around to dealing with this. Little ol' me still on red-laser HD :agree: for the most part. For anything else other than sony systems, PowerDVD's probably the way to go now, from my POV anyway.
 
I don't think it is Sony.

Machine works fine. AnyDVD works fine for "normal" DVDs.
For BDs... drive doesn't even see the BD discs.

No AnyDVD, drive sees and plays the BDs fine. :confused:

EDIT:
Ok, just installed PowerDVD... AnyDVD HD running and PowerDVD has no issues playing the BD.

WinDVD is borked!
Going to email Sony Support about them getting on Intervideo's butt to fix this!
I really am going to miss being able to use the remote for BD playback control. :(

Thanks guys!
 
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I also have Sony laptop (VGN-AR18GP), and PowerDVD works perfectly on it, both in XP and Vista. I only had problems when I installed version 7.3 on Vista, but updating audio driver to the latest version fixed it (7.2 did not have issues with old audio driver).

But I reinstalled my system from scratch. When I did this, I did not install the bunch of pretty much useless Sony programs which were originally installed on the laptop (except several utilities which enable external buttons). Some of them might cause problems with PowerDVD described in this thread.

I only worried that Intervideo included that AnyDVD check not by its own initiative, but by request from AACS LA. In this case we might well see the same thing in the next version of PowerDVD (which is due very soon). I hope that this check is somewhat dodgy and SlySoft will be able to overcome it in the next version (maybe the fix will be as simple as renaming executable or something like that).
 
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SuperGoof said:
I only worried that Intervideo included that AnyDVD check not by its own initiative, but by request from AACS LA. In this case we might well see the same thing in the next version of PowerDVD (which is due very soon). I hope that this check is somewhat dodgy and SlySoft will be able to overcome it in the next version (maybe the fix will be as simple as renaming executable or something like that).
Click to expand...

Just to resolve this thread:
Meanwhile I tested all this stuff thoroughly; WinDVD/BD does not care whether or not AnyDVD is running.
But it doesn't play any BDs while AnyDVD HD is running, simply because WinDVD won't play unencrypted Blu-Rays at all.
As long as this remains to be the case, I can only recommend, that you all use PowerDVD, that seems to be the only half-way decent high-def software player available. Nero Showtime is not (yet) an alternative either.
 
peer said:
...WinDVD won't play unencrypted Blu-Rays at all.
Click to expand...
thats the most stupid thing i ever heard.
so if you burn your own BluRay Discs with home movies etc...they wont play.wonderful.
well done intervideo.
when are these companies gonna realise that no matter what they do,whatever protections they put on their discs,people will still be backing them up using appropriate software.

i bought a regular dvd the other day from amazon and all it had in the way of protection was CSS.they may as well not have bothered.
 
mike20021969 said:
thats the most stupid thing i ever heard.
so if you burn your own BluRay Discs with home movies etc...they wont play.wonderful.
well done intervideo.
when are these companies gonna realise that no matter what they do,whatever protections they put on their discs,people will still be backing them up using appropriate software.

i bought a regular dvd the other day from amazon and all it had in the way of protection was CSS.they may as well not have bothered.
Click to expand...
Home movies are recorded in a different format (BDAV vs. BDMV).
The Blu-ray standard requires, that pre recorded discs (BDMV) must be AACS protected. :mad:
With HD DVD discs AACS is optional (and some discs you can buy are not AACS protected at all, saving the publisher the AACS icense fee).

I can't say this often enough: Vote wirth your wallet. Don't use Blu-ray. Buy HD DVD instead.
 
James said:
Home movies are recorded in a different format (BDAV vs. BDMV).
Click to expand...

Actually, the latest version of BD-RE spec (RE 3.0: http://www.blu-raydisc.info/spec_info/index.shtml#re3) supports BDMV on BD-R/RE discs as well. That's probably why latest firmware updates for Playstation 3 support playback of such discs, including those created with the help of AnyDVD HD (I did not test this though as I do not have PS 3).

James said:
The Blu-ray standard requires, that pre recorded discs (BDMV) must be AACS protected.
Click to expand...

According to the same site, this is for BD-ROM only. For BD-R/RE, using of AACS is not required (http://www.blu-raydisc.info/content_protection/re2_re3.shtml#re3).
Then interesting question is: can you intercept book type requests and make BD-ROM look like BD-R or BD-RE. Then WinDVD should play it or it's behavior will be against the spec. I do not care though as I like PowerDVD better and as soon as it works, I'm quite happy.
 
SuperGoof said:
Then interesting question is: can you intercept book type requests and make BD-ROM look like BD-R or BD-RE. Then WinDVD should play it or it's behavior will be against the spec. I do not care though as I like PowerDVD better and as soon as it works, I'm quite happy.
Click to expand...

A burned BD with unencrypted BD content still refuses to play on WinDVD.
PDVD - no problem.
 
I dont get it, if the disc is not AACS protected then the player should play it no matter what, its none of aacs-la's business what you do with unencrypted discs.
 
3r1c said:
I dont get it, if the disc is not AACS protected then the player should play it no matter what, its none of aacs-la's business what you do with unencrypted discs.
Click to expand...

This is why everyone should choose HD-DVD over BLU-RAY. HD-DVD's dont have to have the AACS encryption, but BluRay does. I am personally sticking with HD-DVD and dont intend on getting any Sony shtuff. :)
 
3r1c said:
I dont get it, if the disc is not AACS protected then the player should play it no matter what, its none of aacs-la's business what you do with unencrypted discs.
Click to expand...

WinDVD is a Corel product. That says it all in my book...
 
Slinger07 said:
This is why everyone should choose HD-DVD over BLU-RAY. HD-DVD's dont have to have the AACS encryption, but BluRay does. I am personally sticking with HD-DVD and dont intend on getting any Sony shtuff. :)
Click to expand...

Try telling that to the ****nuts at Best Buy! I ended up buying Dreamgirls on plain old DVD today for my wife instead of the HD-DVD because all they had in stock was the BluRay and DVD editions. WTF?! This irritates me to no end. Yes, I should have just ordered it online, but, my wife has been looking forward to owning this movie since she saw it in the theater. I absolutely REFUSE to buy BluRay!
 
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