DILEMMA: "DivX5 Adware summary & DivX5 Pro Cracked"

[snowbeach]

Doom9 described in his thread "DivX5 Adware summary & DivX5 Pro Cracked" (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?threadid=19583) how to get rid of the adware, which is in the free version of DivX5 Pro. But in the FAQ (http://support.divx.com/cgi-bin/wonderdesk.cgi?db=faq&uid=default&from=&language=english&wdauth=&view_records=1&ID=154&ww=1 (http://support.divx.com/cgi-bin/wonderdesk.cgi?db=faq&uid=default&from=&language=english&wdauth=&view_records=1&ID=154&ww=1)) of DivX Networks (http://www.divx.com) you can read the following:

Question:
I don’t like advertisements, so I blocked the GAIN software from accessing the Internet and now DivX Pro won’t work. What’s wrong?
Answer:
The ad-supported version of DivX Pro is just that: supported by advertisements. If you disable the GAIN ad-support software, DivX Pro will no longer work properly.

My intention with this thread is not to animate people to use a cracked version of DivX5 - either I do not know which crack (using a keygen or a patch) causes "severe problems resulting in completely screwed up video"?
It is more an information: If you have problems with DivX5 encoding, maybe it has something to do with the way you got rid of the GAIN adware. ;)

Greets.

[Mac Sidewinder]

If you remove the gain software (via adaware or such) then divx5 won't work, but if you simply restrict gain from accessing the internet with a firewall program then everything will work fine. That's the way I do it.

Mac

[theReal]

If you remove the gain software (via adaware or such) then divx5 won't work

...not if you exclude one single registry key from deletion - it's that simple...

[Mac Sidewinder]

@thereal - I've seen that way of doing also. But I usually advise people who are running firewalls to restrict it instead. Most people shouldn't be editing their registry. But if you are comfortable doing it then I think its a better way since you get rid of all the software also.

Mac

[theReal]

You can let ad-aware do the registry editing. The worst that can happen this way is when you delete all gator-keys then Divx 5 pro won't work anymore.

[Nocturnus]

With reference to Doom9's sentention about completely screwed up video with cracked codec version, it's completely untrue.
DivX Pro 5.02 Corporate Edition produces very nice quality without tinniest artifacts and compression errors, codec was hacked in proper way.

[snooty]

I strongly recommend that people buy DivX Pro. Not just to support DivX, but because that Gain stuff is a pain in the backside. Even if you disable it in the way that Doom9 recommends, it will cause dropped frames if you're capturing video. I used a dodgy version only to test whether it'd work better without Gain - when I found that to be the case, I shelled out the money for the official version. Worth every penny.

[OvERaCiD23]

If you delete all but one registry key (the one with the letters & numbers), DivX works fine (that's right, DivX5.02 Pro downloaded from DivX.com). I've had it this way since it came out. Use Ad-Aware, it will find all the DivX-related keys. on the one with the letter/numbers, have Ad-Aware ignore it and delete the others, along with the gaintrickler.exe from the divx directory). No more GAIN, you don't have to worry about deleting it accidentially in the future, and you saved $30 (although registering it is recommended, we have to be honest sometimes).

[snowbeach]

It is never good/better to use a hacked/cracked whatever version than the official one! But $30 are too much!

It is a really huge community that uses DivX! And if the DivX guys want to make some money, much more people will buy the DivX Pro version without adware that costs $5 - $10!

A simple economic situation! DivX has a kind of monopole, what about other codecs? Have a look at this forum! Most of the common people (no professionals ;)) use DivX! M$ = Div$ in the future?! If DivX is going to be successful in the Hollywood Cinema World and they sell DivX, because it is a really good codec, do you think the codec will be free in future - even with adware? Think about it.

My conclusion is, the DivX price has to be reduced, so much more people will buy the codec without adware! And there would not be any discussions about cracked versions!

BTW. If you buy the DivX Pro without adware for $30 you are going to get free updates for the 5-series! If DivX releases a new 6-series you have to buy it again! Hopefully we can expect then versions like 5.9.1.234.5689... :D

[snooty]

You seem to be forgetting the fact that the Divx playback codec is free without adware.

Paul

[snowbeach]

You seem to be forgetting the fact that we are discussing the DivX Pro codec with adware. :D

[JonRead]

Life is rather ironic, like Sherman (Kazaa Media Desktop) complaning about the free KazaaLite and Divx complaing about the cracked version of their software. Both companies create software where 99 percent of their revenue comes from users of pirated material, without the pirates their companies would be nothing, and without their software pirating would be a lot less user friendly. Guess there isn't a honor amongst thiefs after all :)

[Stabmaster-Arson]

Video compression yechnology has nothing to do with video piracy. Pirates need it, but tthem's the breaks.

Murderers need knives and guns.

Pedophiles need candy to lure children.

This doesnt make these "Murders or child molesters" tools

The internet itself is the biggest "Piracy tool" by this logic.


Kazaa is much more a piracy tool than divx is by a long shot.

[BarryMurphy]

In my opinion, I do not categorize removing GAIN from my computer a crack or a hack.

Following the steps in the post on removing the GAIN software in the post will work in a correctly functioning 5.02 DivX package.

It is very easy to see if you mess this step up - just check a divX 5 .avi playback after you have removed the GAIN software. If you see a big mess where your video should be, go back to the post and pay better attention.

I use AdAware, and once the detection phase finished I found the key referenced in the post on removing GAIN, and click 'Ignore'. No problemo.

[john blox]

> Kazaa is much more a piracy tool than divx is by a long shot

And what do most people use kazaa for? downloading divx movies doh!

chicken vs egg - if there was no mp3,divx there would be no kazaa.

I always find it strange that everyone thinks that their 'own' dishonesty is somehow morally justified, yet others isn't. Divx is a piracy format so is mp3, pretending otherwise is hipocritical and not fooling anyone. Fairuse is a nice neat term people invented to pretend they weren't illegaly copying stuff. Making a copy of ANY copyright material is illegal, whether you give a **** or not about copyright is the issue here. The old 'oh I need a copy in case the kids east my dvd' makes me laugh - do you have a copy of your toaster and car in case they damage them. Insure them if your worried.

Anyone who has EVER made a copy of anything i.e everyone is guilty of piracy. Whatever pseudo intellectualising you do doesn't change that. Me I believe 'all copyright is theft'. What if someone copyrighted the wheel, where would we be today. So when I copy stuff I am breaking the law, I am a thief but I sleep easy at night, knowing the amount of far more serious crime going on in the world that isn't being tackled needs to be addressed before I'll start worrying about the good of society as a hole or copyright. (11% burglaries solved, 7% car thefts & getting worse)

Live your life by your OWN moral code, do what you want, just don't judge others.

As to the original question, I'd always suggest looking at whether you have more time or money. If time then save money getting the cracked one, if you have plenty money then it is always MORE economical to buy stuff and use the time you save on something more productive. A lot of time is wasted downloading pirated crap that doesnt work properly or is just rubbish or when a new version comes out you have to go crack hunting all over again. Same with DVD's if it takes more than 2 hours of your time mucking about copying it you may as well just pay the £15 for the dvd. As to the rights and wrongs of anything thats up to you. Murderers think killing is fine. Some people will hand in cash found on an empty street to the police who will then pocket it. Most of us sit between the 2, hopefully closer to the moneyfinder!

At some point big companies are going to have to accept if they want sales they have to give value in the product, piracy will never go away - it will just get worse, thay haven't a hope in hell of ever stopping it, unless they shut down the net, but we're too dependant on it for that to happen. Times change, yet the riaa etc cling to a lost past

[theReal]

And what do most people use kazaa for? downloading divx movies doh!
LOL - and after they d/l'ed "Zoolander" for the 21st time with a total speed of 5 KB/s, they finally realize it's more fun to encode movies themselves.

Divx on Kazaa - forget it!!!

[theReal]

Anyone who has EVER made a copy of anything i.e everyone is guilty of piracy.

Maybe in your country - but we still have a law in Germany that allows so called "fair use" of your own CDs and DVDs (means I am free to make a copy of any movie or Audio CD that I legally bought - I'm even free to give this copy to a friend as a gift!)

[john blox]

I read a dude from the RIAA commenting on that recently, He said fairuse was just something people invented as a get out and didn't exist in law at all. in U.S there is provision for teaching/research to duplicate copyrighted material without the authors consent but this doesn't extend to dvd's expect in peoples imaginations. Now obviously I cannot know for definate what happens in every different country and is unlikely to be tested in law anytime soon as there are far more pressing issues for them to deal with. BUT there is a whole load of disinformation continually circulating on the internet and in time myth becomes fact. Was there a test case in Germany or the EU? OR what law is it that allows this then or is it as I suspect (but could be wrong) its never really been tested and is a hazy concept people have adapted from its original purpose (in lneding libraries) to suit their own needs.

As we all know anyway the law is an ass. If you produced a film and someone copied it 'under fairuse' without your consent instead of buying another, as the copyright holder would you be pleased about it? No and theirin lies the true moral answer. I don't care much what people choose to do, but the truth is of interest

[Doom9]

As far as the US goes we have Universal against Sony which sets the legal precedent for fair use. I don't know if there's a similar court case in Germany, but I have taken classes in copyright law in my own country and there are clear provisions allowing you to make backup copies for your own use (giving them away automatically makes it illegal), regardless of any technical protection scheme.

And, as copyright holder myself I guess my input should matter somewhat here. My content isn't protected in any forms except by provisions laws in various countries provide. I don't have the resources to actually go after people stealing my guide but fortunately reminding people of the law usually helps. But, as long as you don't download the whole site to your hd (and that only bugs me because it's eating my bandwith) or rip off my content I think that everyone should be free to do with my pages as they see fit. Print, copy&paste together for their own use, save on your HD, email to a friend, or whatever else you can imagine. As long as you do it in private, that's what fair use is all about. Nobody gets hurt doing that. Things change when you start putting up my content on other public places.. then I will care. Yet, look at the movie and music industry, they see things differently. If I were the RIAA I'd put my site behind behind password protection, used a proprietary format that doesn't allow you to save to your harddisk, copy & paste, print, etc. (unless you pay for it.. how does 10cents per printed page sound and $1 per html page you can save to your harddisk - of course it will be tied to the computer you're making the transaction from and if you want to look at that page on another computer you'll have to pay again).
Imagine my site as described above for a second. Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? Then why would anyone in his right mind by all these crippled music formats the music industry is trying to sell us (or pay for these 48h limited movies you have to download or that are streamed to you in mediocre quality).

So, as copyright holder you have to permit legit customers to perform certain operations that make sense (like making a copy of the CD you bought to listen to in your car, etc). Personally I don't have any problems with people applying fair use provisions to my content.. even if I charged for it. Of course it's interesting to charge for each access... but be serious, who in his right mind whod pay for that? If you're not treating your legit customers reasonably then you cannot expect that they won't try to rip off the corset you've put them in.
The above of course only applies to fair use in the real sense.. if you start giving copies of stuff you've bought (or worse: rented) away then you're breaking the laws and copyright holders have every right to get upset and seek remedy.

[RealityIsAnOpinion]

Okay.. first off I'm going to admit straight out that I rip rented movies, and that I know very well that by doing so I am breaking the law.

Second.. by doing what I do, more money is being made off me then would be if I didn't make these pirate copies.

See, like many poeple here, I think, encoding movies has become quite a hobby for me. I do it because I enjoy it. And because of that, I rent a lot of movies. I rent way more movies than I would if I didn't do what I do. That's a lot of money. And when I rent, Blockbuster gets their piece, and Paramount, or MGM, or whoever gets their share. And I don't share my movies on Kaaza or any other P2P, mostly because I'm not willing to give up that much bandwidth. After all, I have no need in downloading movies, do I?

And anyone can tell me that I'm rationalizing the morality of the issue. Perhaps I am, but what I'm saying holds true. As I said, I wouldn't be renting all these flics, and thus spending the money that I spend, if it wasn't for the hobby that I enjoy, and I certainly wouldn't be buying them.

So am I a thief? I don't know..
(there's also the argument that copying isn't stealing anyway. They get back their movie. And I'm tired of the "giving the keys to my appartment" metaphor that everyone has heard. If someone wants to make a copy of my stereo, they can have it, so long as they leave the original.)
..What's more I don't particularly care.

[Ookami]

Originally posted by john blox
I don't care much what people choose to do, but the truth is of interest

If the truth is really of interest, maybe facts would help you to point you to it? :D

Really... Not to mention that you quote the RIAA about fair use laws?! I mean, that's just funny. How about quoting a freelance lawyer?

Fact is:

a) There are countries where copying and giving the copies away for free is LEGAL (there is for sure a law in Germany providing that, but don't worry the EU is working on that too :rolleyes: )
b) That the disclaimer etc. on the start up of the DVDs have no legal bindings whatsoever (in all the countries I know of, but, again, no generalisation is possible; not to mention that I'm no lawyer and do not care about it anyway)
c) That everyone wants to have more power; the RIAA wants to restrict "fair use", the users want to have more rights

and so on...

There have been some very long threads about "morality", "pirating" etc. on General disc. . Make a search and you'll find plenty of them.

I especially point everyone to the excellent postings of "Bugs Bunny"...

Cheers,

Mijo.

[PeterTheMaster]

there is for sure a law in Germany providing that

name it!

[theReal]

name it!

Read this article:
http://www.heise.de/tp/deutsch/inhalt/te/4857/1.html

and this:
http://www.mp3-world.net/d/news/copyprotect/zypries_bestaetigt.shtml

Where one German lawyer and an official of the German justice department definitely say that private copying is still legal. The lawyer Till Kreutzer argues on the basis of different German laws (that he names exactly) that even P2P filesharing is not touched by the German copyright law and therefore not illegal.

Sorry, didn't find anything in English.

[Ookami]

Originally posted by PeterTheMaster
there is for sure a law in Germany providing that

name it!

-First, I apologize for this off topic posting... I will not post anymore off topic in this thread, I promise :) .-

This was written offline, before theReal's posting... :)

Why should I? I don't have the time to search through hundreds of magazines... Even if I use my c't ROMs and PC Pro CD-ROMs I would have to search for a long time. Note, the law with "giving away free copies" is "only" for audio CDs, and it is limited to your close friends (IIRC, the max number is about 6 people...)!

When I "look" at your demanding tone I come to the conclusion that you think otherwise, that's fine by me. If you know/understand german it should be no problem to find sources about the exact law (and quotes). If you don't know german, then you should believe the RIAA :D .

If you're (or anyone else) is interested... Here are the sources where I read about fair use laws, copying CDs and DVDs, selling R1 DVDs in Germany etc. etc. and all this other legal stuff:

- c't Magazin fuer Computer Technik (buy every issue)
- PC Professionell Das Testmagazin (until a few months ago I was prepaid to this mag)
- several TV/Radio shows
- other magazines which I would not believe everything they write so I will not include them in this list here

One very important thing in magazines for me are the reader letters/comments; if they allow/print very different opinions I tend to believe them more than those magazine who like to print "you're great" letters. Very good examples for this are the mentioned c't and not mentioned GEO. Sometimes the article is very wrong, but usually such get correcting replies from readers...

Especially the PC Professionell had many quotes from laws and very good articles about it, every issue had some long article about legal issues from different themes (with mentioning of test cases etc.).

Of course, you can believe the RIAA, when they say that it's invented, but I rather believe several different freelance lawyers who say otherwise. But, it's not important as the EU is working on more restricting laws (for the user)...

Just one thing to add, like some smart reader of the c't wrote, I am FOR good/working copy protection if these things are for sure: if the media is damaged I get a new copy for free (no 2 weeks waiting, please), if the package promises something that the included media doesn't hold I get my money instantly back etc. How long I have to pay for not working copy protections and then even be accused that I'm to blame when they don't work properly (from Macrovision -> CSS)?!

I will not mention the state in Croatia as there were so absurd situations that you wouldn't believe it. The best I ever read and heard was the fact that, until a few years ago (until the party of the MS boss here, came to power and, what a coincidence, they bought MS only software ;) ), the whole state apparat was using mainly pirate software. So there were cases where professionell (I would like to differentiate between John Doe using his leet CCE and P2P software and John Do who makes his living from pirating) software pirates where accused with texts written on pirated software :rolleyes: .

But, I don't care, I'm one of those very few people who give my real identity and even adress away, so this alone shows that I don't pirate software (or it shows that I'm a very dumb pirate who loves the risk of being caught :D ).

Jeez, again, a loong and boring posting by myself. Sigh.

Cheers,

Ookie.

[theReal]

Just an addition: The law isn't always black and white, yes and no. If it was, we wouldn't need lawyers. So, it's clear that you usually cannot name one law that tells us in one clear sentence that private copies are legal or illegal. You always need a good lawyer to interpret tons of laws and in the end you need a judge who decides which lawyer's interpretation is true.

I personally find all this law stuff very boring, so I won't look for any more texts - I will just believe I am still allowed to copy an audio CD for my car :D

[jggimi]

This topic has long since moved from technical issues with GAIN to discussions of fair use and legal issues of fair use, and, in some cases, willful violation of international copyrights. While interesting, it is innapropriate to this forum.

Thread closed.