Keep Protection (Blu-ray/HD DVD)

[Shadow Lord]

Hello All,

I know there are a number of threads on this and there is quite a bit of personal preference. However, I was wondering if there has been any change in recommendation after the Slysoft disaster a few months ago? Basically my personal preference has been to keep the protection and let AnyDVD do its thing on the fly every time as I use an HTPC for most of my backup playback. This way if there are any updates to the protection routines they would be fixed with newer versions of AnyDVD.

However, I saw the folly in this a few months ago when Slysoft went bust and there was absolutely no attempt to give users access to their lifetime license or backups (e.g. creating a version that could work with an offline database that people could download and would allow things to work until the last released version). Instead everyone was cutoff.

Now before everybody jumps in with the Slysoft/RedFox people are not the same nudge nudge, wink wink I don't see any plans by RedFox either to protect their paying users against another catastrophe. I have another paid for lifetime license with RedFox (which is probably good only until MagentaFox corp is established) but have to wonder am I better off taking protection off the ISO backups? Has anyone changed their practice in regards to this? Or is everyone hoping there won't be another major disaster? Or does RedFox actually have a plan to protect the paying users?

 

[RedFox 1]

Silly question. Everyone is hoping their will not be another major disaster. Things have been put in place so this can not happen, but its not a guarantee. There are no guarantees in life. You buy the program at your own risk. No refunds will be honored. We are a project now, not a company, you cannot sue or take down a project. There is no owner, only a bunch of developers all over the world that are working on making RedFox the best it can be. I hope I answered all of your questions, because I am not going to spend my time answering silly questions like this anymore.

 

[Ch3vr0n]

The blu-ray issues section is reserved for disc related problems only. Topic moved. That said, i couldn't have said it any better than RedFox 1. Everything you need to know has been discussed, beaten to death and ground to a pulp a couple dozen times the past year. We're done discussing this.

 

[Clams]

Basically my personal preference has been to keep the protection and let AnyDVD do its thing on the fly every time as I use an HTPC for most of my backup playback. This way if there are any updates to the protection routines they would be fixed with newer versions of AnyDVD.

The real folly here.
Once you rip it with protections in place, no one is going to sneak onto your hard drive and add new "protection routines" to your existing rips. LOL!
So whatever old version of AnyDVD you used to rip it outta work during playback too.
-W

 

[Shadow Lord]

The real folly here.
Once you rip it with protections in place, no one is going to sneak onto your hard drive and add new "protection routines" to your existing rips. LOL!
So whatever old version of AnyDVD you used to rip it outta work during playback too.
-W

That was not my understanding of either issue:

1. As BD+ is updateable (and has in fact been updated to block AnyDVD) it is possible to also update old discs with new protection. I freely admit I am not aware of any studio having gone back and modifying protection on of their existing disk but it is possible. Also, removal is not guaranteed to be bug free. That is why AnyDVD continues to be updated. So If you removed the protection w/ buggy code you are SOL. So while your rips will not regain protection they could be buggy.

2. As I understand it (and I may be wrong here) AnyDVD needs access to its online DB for BD protection removal (this is not true for DVDs). So if it can not access the online DB (as the Slysoft versions no longer can) then it can not do on the fly removal anymore.

Of course if you can point to threads, FAQs, etc. where either of these issues have been shown to be resolved I am happy to educate my self.

 

[Shadow Lord]

The blu-ray issues section is reserved for disc related problems only. Topic moved. That said, i couldn't have said it any better than RedFox 1. Everything you need to know has been discussed, beaten to death and ground to a pulp a couple dozen times the past year. We're done discussing this.

While I appreciate both of your condescending responses a better response would be one that points to these "threads" you refer to showing how users are being protected against possible loss and the issue of leaving protection on in ISO images as that is what I am mostly concerned with. Yes, there are no guarantees but one can plan for the worst case scenario while hoping nothing bad will happen. Or not.

 

[Ch3vr0n]

There's nothing condescending in it. That's what the forum search is for. We've done that, people still didn't read or want to read it and opened up yet another topic on the subject. We're done doing that. It's been a year since Slysoft got shut down and people are still blaming / crying to the wrong people.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn Nexus 7 met Tapatalk

 

[Shadow Lord]

There's nothing condescending in it. That's what the forum search is for. We've done that, people still didn't read or want to read it and opened up yet another topic on the subject. We're done doing that. It's been a year since Slysoft got shut down and people are still blaming / crying to the wrong people.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn Nexus 7 met Tapatalk

Actually it is. I don't give a rats ass about the Slysoft shut down (as I have pointed out I already bought another lifetime license from "redfox") outside of how it effects my ability for playback in the future. My concern is that a shutdown is a real possibility still (they can go after individual developers and frankly once the one or two key developers are gone that's it). Or if not a shutdown the developers can quit, pursue other projects, decide the money/work ratio is not beneficial, or whatever. The point is there are no guarantees.


So with that in mind:

1. Would it be more prudent to rip the protection out my backup iso images (play it safe but risk having a glitch/broken image as I won't be able to test every single feature on a disc for every image)

2. Is there anything concrete being done to safeguard users (outside of it is a project now) in case of a shut down. If the program is truly dependent on an online DB to do its work IMHO it would be prudent to release the DB to registered users on a regular basis (say annually or semi-annualy). Of course I am thinking of what is best for the customer which may or may not be the top concern for the developers. If the SW is not dependent on the DB (i.e. it will work but will be slower or whatever) and that has been stated somewhere I am happy to be corrected.

 

[Ch3vr0n]

1. I never keep protection intact, precisely so I will be able to play back my backups if RedFox were to get shut down.

2. For users yes. Everything is double encrypted. Which is why in the event of even a forum downtime it requires 2 separate admins to even boot that server back up. Discs up to a year old currently require the opd. James has stated that in the event of a room, he'd look into making a 'final' release with the entire opd up to that point.

I don't know if a regular release is doable but not a bad idea.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn Nexus 7 met Tapatalk

 

[Shadow Lord]

2. For users yes. Everything is double encrypted. Which is why in the event of even a forum downtime it requires 2 separate admins to even boot that server back up. Discs up to a year old currently require the opd. James has stated that in the event of a room, he'd look into making a 'final' release with the entire opd up to that point.

I don't know if a regular release is doable but not a bad idea.

Well hopefully nothing will happen but if it does and James does come through w/ a "final release" that would be excellent. I had thought the same had been said of the Slysoft release though, or am I confusing things?

A regular release just helps to avoid "surprises" but is more work for the developers. I am sure I am not the first to suggest it but if you can pass it on to them that would be great!

 

[Ch3vr0n]

that was the initial plan yes, but then redfox started and there was no need for it

 

[nebostrangla]

FYI:
Some DVD's with structural protection (lionsgate mostly) also use the online database for decryption as well. But just like with Blu-ray once it has been seen by that machine then it uses the local database to decrypt it again.

 

[Shadow Lord]

FYI:
Some DVD's with structural protection (lionsgate mostly) also use the online database for decryption as well. But just like with Blu-ray once it has been seen by that machine then it uses the local database to decrypt it again.

Yes, about that: the key thing is that the local DB is not easy to backup. So in a new install or post crash recovery situation you will not have your local DB with all the info in it. An automated backup facility built into AnyDVD would be another line of defense for the users (i.e. if on every boot an/or shut down the local DB would automatically be copied to a secondary location for safe keeping).

 

[nebostrangla]

Yes, about that: the key thing is that the local DB is not easy to backup. So in a new install or post crash recovery situation you will not have your local DB with all the info in it. An automated backup facility built into AnyDVD would be another line of defense for the users (i.e. if on every boot an/or shut down the local DB would automatically be copied to a secondary location for safe keeping).

You can back it up regularly if you want. Just search for the location of it on here.

 

[blank]

You can back it up regularly if you want. Just search for the location of it on here.

Can I ask for a hint - cause I never found the local database on my machine.