News RealNetworks launches DVD ripper

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/09/09/realnetworks-launches-dvd-ripper/1

RealNetworks, best known for the RealMedia streaming video codec, has launched a $30 DVD ripping package it claims is fully legal - but comes with major DRM.

 

Riiiiight, so anyone else think this will be a complete flop then!?
I am certainly not sold by this product.

I personally can not stand any of the RealNetworks software, mostly due to poor gui and bloatyness and formats that are not comatible with anything other than RealNetworks own software.

On the bright side, I got a giggle from this feeble attempt

 

Buffering...

 

So you can pay to legally download this software to allow you to rip your DVDs with a stack of sh***y DRM, or you can legally download DVDDecrypter for free and legally rip your DVDs with no DRM and then legally encode them with your choice of codec, again with no DRM. Tough call.

By analogy - imagine someone made a CD ripper that cost £15 and you could only rip to a copy protected format at 64 kbps, that you could then only play using that ripper on that computer or up to 4 others (each of which also had to have a £15 copy of the ripper on it). Or you could use EAC / Windows Media Player / heck even iTunes and rip to your choice of unprotected format at quality of your choice. I bet that software would fly off the shelves at PC World.

 

same, RealAlternative Cheesecake

this one will be a flop, sure, it's a legal way of doing it, but just like DRM discussion, it saves so much space and so much easier if you just rip into 700MB Xvid or 1400MB m-HD x264.

i even take it as far as down converting some not so good films to iPhone format for long term storage.

 

FAIL!

 

Seriously? But HDD space is absurdly cheap nowadays - why not keep the original vob rips, or at least full res high bit-rate xvid / h264?

I archive my movies as straight rips (main movie only, no extras, no subs, no additional sound tracks etc.), then encode as required.

 

I'll be sticking with Handbrake, thank you very much.

Still, I don't see how this could be legal, at least within the US. The "illegal" part about ripping a DVD is breaking the CSS encryption on it, not that possible fair use issue. Unless this software not only outputs a css-encrypted file but retains the original encryption (which I think is impossible unless you're just ripping the video_ts directory outright), it still violates that damned DMCA.

 

Haha yer this is true, so id be interested in how they do this... yet im sure we are unlikely to find out as no one will buy it hrhr.

Handbrake be made of much WIN.

 

because a single DVD doesn't quite fit 6 750MB films, so if i down-convert a not-so-good one, it'd fit them perfectly.

it's all about most effecient backup (and idling quad core wanting to be used)

 

Completely useless IMO

 

hehe, same here.

Even more WIN once the BluRay build is released

 

so spending time installing the software, learning how to use it, spending a logn time ripping a dvd and then burning it back to another dvd and only being able to play on machines with the package?

its just so much less effort to just download themovie.avi

 

Come on guys, this is RealNetworks, what did you expect?!

 

True, i gave up any hopes of them making any software worth installing back in 1998

 

That's realNetwork all right

 

Sony, Universal, various parts of the AOL collective and probably the MPAA and their little dog too.

How many ***Associations do they need?

 

RealNetwork


Bwuuuoooohahhahahaahaahahahaha

yeah right!