321 Studio DVDXCopy Platinum released

[DVDRFreak]

Found this info on the CDFreaks website:

DVDxCopy Platinum Features:

Create perfect quality movie backups
Make episodic movie backups
Vary the compression rate of individual chapters
Create TDF files you can share with others
Use TDF files created by others


Checked for a demo but it is not available yet. Features sound promising.

[Doom9]

on the other hand, would you want to use a product that its maker advertises as "Our software has a four-stage safeguard in place to prevent piracy, including an unalterable, digital stamp, which creates a 'fingerprint' that is traceable back to the point of purchase.". Personally I don't find that confidence inspiring. The whole fingerprinting idea sounds a bit big brotherish..

[DVDRFreak]

Originally posted by Doom9
on the other hand, would you want to use a product that its maker advertises as . Personally I don't find that confidence inspiring. The whole fingerprinting idea sounds a bit big brotherish..


Mmmm, you are right. No way I will pay 119 dollars for a product tht invades my privacy. Thanks for the warning.

[Richk50]

"Create TDF files you can share with others
Use TDF files created by others"

Please excuse my ignorance, what is a tdf file?

[sh03z]

I think it's sort of like a PDF

[int 21h]

Originally posted by Doom9
on the other hand, would you want to use a product that its maker advertises as . Personally I don't find that confidence inspiring. The whole fingerprinting idea sounds a bit big brotherish..

If I had the time, and the money to get their software, I'd be interested in discovering the exact details of this fingerprinting, if they can put it there, chances are someone else can remove it ;)

[papillon]

@Richk50
What is a TDF File?
TDF stands for “Title Definition Format”. TDF files contain setup instructions that tell DVD X Copy XPRESS how back up a DVD movie. TDF files for DVD X Copy XPRESS are intended to be used only to fix incorrect titleset selections made by DVD X Copy XPRESS and DVD authoring problems inherent in some DVD movies.

How do I know if I need a TDF file?
A TDF file will not fix a backup that fails to complete. TDF files do not correct driver problems or bugs that may exist in the application. However, if you successfully create a backup but the backup has the incorrect titleset, audio language, video format, or subtitle on it, it is likely that a TDF file will fix the problem.

How do I get TDF files?
If you think you need a TDF file, you can search for it in the “XPRESS TDF Files” thread. If you can not locate a TDF file you think you need, you can make a request for one in this thread. If you make a request to have a TDF file created, please be sure to specify the exact movie title and the problem you are experiencing. A new thread should be created inside this thread for each movie for which a TDF File was requested.

Seems to me it's just a poor way to fix title set problems, that should have been fixed from within the authoring program to begin with.
Most if not all of their problem movies are a breeze for all of the other one-clicker's.

"Gladiator" being a tough one for xcopy to backup..... yea right.

[DSPguru]

Originally posted by int 21h
If I had the time, and the money to get their software, I'd be interested in discovering the exact details of this fingerprinting, if they can put it there, chances are someone else can remove it ;) i really don't know anything about their software, but i have some background in steganography, and i can tell you that there are effective ways to put watermarks in multimedia streams in a way it's :
- HARD to find
- impossible to destroy watermark without destroying the whole perceptual media
- resilient to signal processing (eg, transcoding, resampling/resizing, cropping).

if you're interested in this, i would encourage you to read Ingemar J. Cox publications.

[int 21h]

What are the chances that they used a process like this though?

I guess I'd be interested in doing a backup with it with no compression, then comparing the original to the copy and seeing what all was changed...

If they are using steganography, where do they have to insert that into the encoding process so that it does not impact compression.. during the transform or perhaps after quantization?

[DSPguru]

Originally posted by int 21h
What are the chances that they used a process like this though?have no idea.
my background in steganography is purely mathemathical, i never read articles about popularity of this-or-that method. sorry..
what i do know is that those spread spectrum watermarking schemes had been suggested already 8 years ago, so i would be really surprised (+disappointed) if those schemes are not in use.
i've heard that some companies are using 'watermarking' of "smart" hash functions. how ridiculous!

I guess I'd be interested in doing a backup with it with no compression, then comparing the original to the copy and seeing what all was changed...i doubt you'll perceptually notice a change.
let's see you, a-priory, tracking a CDMA transmission placed inside a noisy channel..

If they are using steganography, where do they have to insert that into the encoding process so that it does not impact compression.. during the transform or perhaps after quantization? before quantization, of course. the watermarking is done in the transformed domain.
eventhough, there's another method of altering the rle representation by tweaking the quantization values before the zigzag scan.
but, to my humble belief, ANY bit-fiddling-based watermarking method isn't as good as signal-processing-based watermarking methods.
reason : only signal-processing-based watermarking is resilient to signal processing ;)

[mrbass]

IIRC it's simple a text file with your product ID stored on the dvd. You need to register their product via the internet regardless if you bought it via download or in a retail store. They tie this Product ID with your registration info. So let's say your are as dumb as you look and decided to make a backup of a movie using 321 Studio product and uploaded it to a newsgroup. Bang your caught.

[int 21h]

Originally posted by DSPguru
...i doubt you'll perceptually notice a change.
let's see you, a-priory, tracking a CDMA transmission placed inside a noisy channel....


If a person inserts some sort of additional noise into the already noisy environment (i.e. video encoding) am I missing something if I think a direct comparison of the new steganograph-ed (is that a word? :rolleyes: ) result to the original source, would not reveal that noise (i.e. compare on a binary level, not visual, etc.).

I agree that using this as a technology to track copies (i.e. mp3s) is easily doable, but if you have the original of something, push it through a machine of some sort, and a copy comes out with only their 'unique' identification added, you should be able to surmise what it is, since you have the original.. and the result... x + b = y, and you have x and you have y, why can't you figure out b?

[spruceland]

They're destroying themeselves. First, they had the annoying "this is a backup" screen in the beginning of the movie and now this. I think I'll stick w/ dvd shrink.

[Deviant]

Why pay for something their overpriced software that are full of bugs anyway. Use other programs out there that are either free or have a decent sale price....

[DSPguru]

Originally posted by int 21h
if you have the original of something, push it through a machine of some sort, and a copy comes out with only their 'unique' identification added, you should be able to surmise what it is, since you have the original.. and the result... x + b = y, and you have x and you have y, why can't you figure out b? yes, you're 100% right.
if the ONLY thing that done by this tool is a bit-by-bit copy of your original cd + watermarking,
since you have the original media, you can xor it with the watermarked one.
but in this case, there is no point in trying to remove the watermark from the new media, since all you actually want is the original media.
if you could undo the watermark and burn the undoed media, why would you need this software from the first place ?
..hell, i know nothing about dvd authoring.. :(


Originally posted by spruceland
They're destroying themeselves.actually, they are trying to saVe themselves from the MPAA et al.

[grant_h]

I have only used the demo version of this DVD X copy Xpress, and it was nothing but problems when i finally got it to work the back up wouldn't play on my standalone. SO many programs interfere with X copy and make it unstable that you vertially need a fresh install of windows with no extra programs on it other than X copy, including any burning softwere that you might have (ie. nero or adaptec). For me DVDshrink is much beter havn't had any problems with shrink yet.

[int 21h]

Originally posted by DSPguru
yes, you're 100% right.
if the ONLY thing that done by this tool is a bit-by-bit copy of your original cd + watermarking,
since you have the original media, you can xor it with the watermarked one.
but in this case, there is no point in trying to remove the watermark from the new media, since all you actually want is the original media.
if you could undo the watermark and burn the undoed media, why would you need this software from the first place ?
..hell, i know nothing about dvd authoring.. :(


LOL, I don't know... just to say you figured out their copy protection ;) For the intellectual challenge and so forth...

To me they are just another company, along the lines of those people with 1 million popups for X10 cameras (or whatever they are), trying to make money the easy way. I admire their fight against the MPAA (more than likely fruitless though), but I have to say I really admire developers who go out on their own (like yourself), for the so called intellectual challenge of it all, and release tools to us for free.

[DSPguru]

10x man :).

i wonder if to your opinion, this project (http://www.reverberate.org/computers/thesis/) should be considered as a senior thesis.. :eek:

[int 21h]

That's a very interesting project, while I've heard of many projects to edit video in the compressed domain, I have to admit I've not even heard of any to edit audio in the compressed domain.

[DSPguru]

hmm... already with BeSplit you can split/amplify/attenuate mp2/mp3/aac loselessly..

[int 21h]

Ah, yes, I forgot about that one :)

Something else that would be interesting would be a transcoding program that would reduce bitrate of said compressed audio without completely uncompressing them. (Honestly, I have no idea on the feasibility of it) Its hard to think of real uses for such a program, I guess realtime streaming, etc. but its an interesting idea nonetheless.

[DSPguru]

yes, bitrate peeling is a very interesting subject, and in fact, a vorbis peeler should be introduced sooner or later.