News Slysoft's AnyDVD HD ignores copy protection

[Da Dego]

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/02...py_protection/

[Firehed]

I wouldn't have even considered buying either format until this came out. Optical media for content is dead to me. First thing that happens is that it gets ripped and then encoded to a format that I can actually use. I don't see why I should plan to do anything different for HD content. In my... um... impartial testing, bit-torrent downloads et al never have things set up the way I like anyways (free/stolen or not, I'm still anal about that kind of thing).

In other words, three w00t!s for Slysoft

[kenco_uk]

Grammar error - 'off of' could really do with changing to 'from'.

What about ripping a hd-dvd and shrinking it down in a lossless format, losing all the other language soundtracks you don't want? It'd probably take up at least half the size, if not less.

[mclean007]

Originally Posted by kenco_uk

Grammar error - 'off of' could really do with changing to 'from'.

Yup, that particular phrase really gets my back up as well.

What about ripping a hd-dvd and shrinking it down in a lossless format, losing all the other language soundtracks you don't want? It'd probably take up at least half the size, if not less.

Doubt it. If you're talking lossless, you're not going to reduce the video size at all. You might save a few per cent by removing extras, cutting off the credits, getting rid of trailers / anti-piracy propaganda etc., and removing additional sound tracks, subs and menus, but really, the size of HD movies (I'd guess 80% minimum) is predominantly down to the actual video and primary lossless multichannel audio track.

If you're willing to sacrifice some video quality, you could easily pummel the size down, especially if you downscaled to SD, but what would be the point in that? I guess you might get better results re-encoding to a 700MB/1.4GB XVID file than you would with a DVD, because re-encoding from a higher quality original will reduce generation loss, but I would suggest that with anything bar the shoddiest of DVD transfers, the effect will be marginal at best.

Slysoft argues that piracy is of relatively little concern for the HD world. HD movies require 30Gb to transfer, which is a pretty massive download. In order to then burn the disc, a person would also need an HD-DVD drive and blank discs, which don't come cheap. Effectively, the cost of mass piracy far outweighs the cost of simply buying the discs legally, so the benefits of AnyDVD HD shouldn't cause a big dent in sales.

Yeah, for now. When DVD first came out in the 90s who would have thought seriously about storing a library of movies on their HDD? And who had DVD burners? You could legitimately have made the argument that home piracy was not a real threat with the technology of the time. Technology marches on, and you can now get affordable HDDs that will store 100 uncompressed DVD rips, and it's almost impossible to buy a PC without a DVD burner. I suspect that 5 years from now it will be quite plausible and economical to make perfect home rips / copies of HD movies.

Edit: I'll add that in the 90s very few home users would have entertained the idea of downloading a 4.5GB DVD-R image over their 56k narrowband connections. Now it's a pretty trivial overnight / couple of days download for most people with (A)DSL. I suspect this trend will continue as well, and while I double we'll see such a quantum leap in bandwidth as the 56k -> ADSL increase, neither is the difference between 4.5GB and 15/30/25/50GB (single / dual layer HDDVD / single / dual layer BR) particularly large in the grand scheme of exponentially increasing storage / bandwidth.

[Buzzons]

Just a question : why does every one make out that it is MSs fault for the copy protection-- hollywood forced it on them, as well as hardware manufacturers and the like... so its not really microsofts fault (and didnt this happen in OSx/OSXI as well?)

[Bursar]

The project basically nullifies the HDCP requirements that Microsoft was forced to put into Windows Vista

[koola]

Originally Posted by Buzzons

Just a question : why does every one make out that it is MSs fault for the copy protection-- hollywood forced it on them, as well as hardware manufacturers and the like... so its not really microsofts fault (and didnt this happen in OSx/OSXI as well?)

They had the power and muscle to say No. M$ are a joke

[Buzzons]

so did all the companies that make stand alone players, screens, gfx cards and the like..

[EQC]

so how does this relate to all the hacking news about "cracks" to AACS?

Does this mean that Slysoft is using the exploits found by the hackers?

Or does Slysoft have some other means of stripping the DRM?

Does this make the previous hacking efforts pointless -- as now the hackers can just figure out what Slysoft did and copy it?

IIRC, the various hacks were just to fake the encrypted keys...but stripping the DRM entirely sounds much more useful.

[Redbeaver]

Slysoft argues that piracy is of relatively little concern for the HD world. HD movies require 30Gb to transfer, which is a pretty massive download. In order to then burn the disc, a person would also need an HD-DVD drive and blank discs, which don't come cheap. Effectively, the cost of mass piracy far outweighs the cost of simply buying the discs legally, so the benefits of AnyDVD HD shouldn't cause a big dent in sales.

couldnt agree more...

[bilbothebaggins]

Ok, allow me to not get it

There's this content industry that invents various copy-protection measures (be it DVD / HD).
The manufacturers of playback devices and software implement these. (apparently?)

Then there's Slysoft. They just ignore the cp scheme and allow the user to actually use the content she's paid for.

The content industry doesn't take counter measures?

How can this hold / be legal / work ?

[Tyr]

So, I can play HD content on my non HDCP 1920x1200 notebook screen!!! YAY!!! Now if only nVidia could do HD video I'd be happy. Hardware decoding produces horrible artefacts and noise!

[DXR_13KE]

2 cents say that they will be sued soon.

[Kipman725]

sly soft are located on an island where the DMCA dosn't apply. Rember the law that made breaking DVD copy protection ilegal and caused the best ripper to no longer be devoloped?

[DXR_13KE]

Originally Posted by Kipman725

sly soft are located on an island where the DMCA dosn't apply. Rember the law that made breaking DVD copy protection ilegal and caused the best ripper to no longer be devoloped?

are you sure? i mean... look at pirate bay and allofmp3......

[Tyinsar]

Originally Posted by Article

Slysoft argues that piracy is of relatively little concern for the HD world. HD movies require 30Gb to transfer, which is a pretty massive download. In order to then burn the disc, a person would also need an HD-DVD drive and blank discs, which don't come cheap. Effectively, the cost of mass piracy far outweighs the cost of simply buying the discs legally...

The same was once true of CDs and DVDs. Eventually the bandwidth will increase and the cost of burners & blank media will drop.

[Aankhen]

Originally Posted by mclean007

I guess you might get better results re-encoding to a 700MB/1.4GB XVID file than you would with a DVD, because re-encoding from a higher quality original will reduce generation loss, but I would suggest that with anything bar the shoddiest of DVD transfers, the effect will be marginal at best.

With XviD, perhaps, but I'm very interested in H.264 rips of the HD formats. H.264 rips of DVDs aren't much better (compared to XviD) as it stands, mostly because they're limited by the source material.

[r4tch3t]

I for one will never use the original disks to watch a movie, just too much chance of skipping etc. I would much prefer to buy the movie, rip it and then watch it from my HTPC. DRM is useless. Way to go Slysoft.

[Phil Rhodes]

Oh, wow, Binky, look. That Took A Long Time.

P

[Redbeaver]

Originally Posted by DXR_13KE

are you sure? i mean... look at pirate bay and allofmp3......

piratebay, yes, but whatabout allofmp3....? they got sued.... didnt seems to stop them.