No more DECRYPTER.....

[geeky]

According to cdfreaks.com there will be no more DECRYPTER updates. :mad: check out the link.

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/11914

[bourtzovlakas]

According to cdfreaks.com there will be no more DECRYPTER updates. :mad: check out the link.

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/11914

Really bad news.... :( :( :( :(
Thanks LUK for your wonderful program...

:thanks:

[Mug Funky]

*vader suit mode*

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

[berndy2001]

Bad News!
Is there a way to release the Source?

[Leak]

Bad News!
Is there a way to release the Source?
I guess now is a bit late, as that'd probably be held against Lightning UK!...

Of course, if it had been open source all along it wouldn't be like that now, but there's no point in arguing over that point anymore...

np: Wagon Christ - It Is Always Now, All Of It Is Now (Musipal)

[geoffman]

Damn, that's bad news.

That being said, I wonder how long it will be before a phoenix rises from the ashes?

Even if you aren't allowed to repond any more, all the best Lightning UK, and thanks for the time you put into Decrypter over the years.

[Wildfire]

Damn! And it was such an excellent program!

I'm sure that within a while, a new program will be released by someone as successor to DVD Decrypter. Hopefully by someone in a country where those f***ing companies can't get to him/her...

I wonder -- by any chance, is there already a program like DVD Decrypter?

[SeeMoreDigital]

Looks like his web site (http://www.dvddecrypter.com) has been taken down also... and most probably his forum.

I guess we'll get some kind of confirmation on Doom9's main site very soon


How very sad :(

[Lazza]

Sad day indeed. :(

Thanks LIGHTNING UK! for all your hard work on one of the most useful pieces of software ever made.

I'm sure that a phoenix will rise from the ashes and that it will be open source too. ;)

[cofferscuffs]

I'm sure that a phoenix will rise from the ashes and that it will be open source too. ;)

it would be nice, but unlikely considering the circumstances :(

[Lazza]

it would be nice, but unlikely considering the circumstances :(
I'm not so sure myself about that because we need to consider the following:-

Overnight with the demise of DVD Decrypter a lot of software that depended upon it has in effect just been made useless in the long term. Just think about how many tools depend upon it in reality. DVD ReMake, DVD-RB etc, etc, etc, etc .....

Sure Decrypter will still be good for a time yet in the short term with current DVD protection etc and will be good so long as XP SP2 is the current O/S we all use but that won't be such a long time really before all these other softwares require to use a new ripper.

[Lazza]

Also see setarip's post in this thread, he makes some valid points about the whole situation:- http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=51609

I'm sure the Admin here know the answers as to this, maybe they will post on it when ready to.

[LoloMc]

VIVA the DMCA !!!! VIVA the EUCD !!!! Thanks God to make our lives better everyday.

I hope that Lightning Uk! will not have troubles with the justice.

The only thing I know is that I will never buy anymore anything from "SOme CompaNY"*. And I hope everyone on this forum will do the same.


"SOme CompaNY"* comes from here : http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=139073

Sorry. Usually my English is bad... But I answer here with a lot of emotions... For my fair use rights, and for Lightning Uk!....

[stephanV]

Sources will definitely not be released.

If you read the explanation of Lightning UK on CDfreaks you'll see that if he helps people with DVDdecrypter in any kind of form it will get him in serious trouble. Holding that in regard, its unlikely he'll be releaing the source code.

Thats too bad for programs that rely so much on it.

[cypher_soundz]

R.I.P the best damn RIPPER out there ! LONG LIVE LIGHTNING UK! :) Your work will go down in history!
Regards
cyph

[Sirber]

Sucks.....

A everyday use software :(

[buzzqw]

nooooo

toooooo baaaddddddddd :scared: :scared:

BHH

[tfh]

Now please leak the source code online somewhere on an irc chan anything, so that someone ca pick it up an open source it to allow this great piece of software to live no. (Hopefully you are able to or someone else has the source code somewhere and be willing to do it).


How can they force you to abandon that part of you life LUK ?
It's a wonderful world after all .

[absinthe]

Somewhere out there, at this very moment, there is someone very knowledgeable about DVD encryption and programming who is very pissed off. It's only a matter of time before he releases his own open source decryption program.

I mean, hey, it ain't me ... but trust me, he's out there.

-abs

[Mug Funky]

the thing that pisses me off is that this program has legitimate uses!

where do you think most of the world's subtitles come from? DVDs! also, a lot of the time audio tracks are simply ripped from a DVD and synced with the video rather than encoded (like when we receive tapes that only have english audio on them, when we paid for english and japanese for example).

DVDdecrypter is one of those programs that made everyone's lives easier. it didn't hurt anybody, and had so many real and legitimate uses (that were actually making money for the stupid goddamn company that shut it down) that it's absolutely goddamn stupid to prevent people from using it.

some company should be boycotted. simple as that. i will never buy a product from these bastards again, and will go out of my way to make sure i don't buy anything so much as affiliated with them.

of course, that doesn't mean much seeing as i routinely have to use their overexpensive, under-capable equipment.

the real irony? we're all going to keep using DVDdecrypter, and nothing can stop that. it's just too useful. all this means is there wont be any updates.

[blutach]

Do heed his advice and disable the check for update in tools - settings. Your IP addy will undoubtedly be logged. You may even want to set your firewall to kill all calls to *.dvddecrypter.com

ATB LUK! And thanks.

@Mug Funky - mate, they can't do anything about non-ARccOS disks, but folks are gunna have to get cluey about how to make their own PSL files and edit their own IFOs. Luckily we have an active IFO/VOB editor forum here at d9! :)

Regards

[blutach]

@tfh - it is highly unlikely the source will be released, I would expect. If he had so beforehand, then yes, no-one could stop the proliferation. However, to do that now would make things worse. We can only imagine the size of the threat made by the company, but I bet it's in the 7 figures.

Regards

[unskinnyboy]

Sad news indeed :(

Any chance the program can be reverse engineered? I am sure deep inside his heart, even LUK! won't mind if someone does that.

Thanks for giving us a tool we cannot live without, LUK!

[GitsLM]

I only hope that now all other decrypting tools start releasing their source

@LUK Thanks a lot for all the hard work and good luck in the future. Plz keep us updated.

[niamh]

Ouch! this hurts...a LOT

Hope you don't get into too much trouble Lightning UK,and best of luck :)
/me runs to get a copy of the exe on a mirror before it's too late :D

[absinthe]

What is it that sets DVD Decrypter apart? I mean, don't other ripping tools do the actual ripping just as well? DVD Decrypter's greatness was in the 'decrypting' (i.e. DeCSS, De-Arcoss, whatever). It seems to me that updating other tools to do the job that Decrypter did shouldn't be too Herculean a task.

Or am I wrong?

I sure will miss the functionality, tho.

-abs

BTW, I'm sure I'm ignorant about something here, but how is it that Slysoft can sell AnyDVD for $, but LUK can't give Decrypter away for free?

[McoreD]

Bad News!
Is there a way to release the Source?

That's the first thing came to my mind too. If it was open source nobody could have stopped LIGHTNING UK!

Really sad news. :(

[SeeMoreDigital]

BTW, I'm sure I'm ignorant about something here, but how is it that Slysoft can sell AnyDVD for $, but LUK can't give Decrypter away for free?Different countries have very different views and laws concerning the legality of media "back-up" software!

In the UK it always been is 100% illegal to "back-up" even your audio CD's :eek: So one wonders how and why portable media device's are allowed to be sold here!

That aside, I suspect the "a certain company" LIGHTNING UK has been taken to task by is probably the UK/European arm of Sony... but I'm sure we'll get confirmation of this very soon.


Cheers

[Doobie]

By changing the structure on recorded DVDs, a decrypting program that will not be updated any more can quickly be made obsolete.

I notice that SmartRipper hasn't been updated since 2001.

[dirio49]

is this really true?
this was a great program?

[dirio49]

it is a sad day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :( :( : :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :mad: :mad:

[mrslacker]

mate, they can't do anything about non-ARccOS disks, but folks are gunna have to get cluey about how to make their own PSL files and edit their own IFOs. Luckily we have an active IFO/VOB editor forum here at d9! :)
And what of this kind of decrypting support? Could L-UK be right when he said this could be the end of en era? This legal business is nerve racking.

Now, I'd like to see support for maually tackling "structure protection", but I'm afraid for Doom9.

[The Belgain]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the source code got leaked to be honest. Pretty much impossible to trace back to him as the source, all he has to do is claim that someone else at some point had the source as they were helping him to develop the tool, and they've now released it.

I guess this does show why open-source does have some pretty major advantes... even just having published source (but not open) would have meant that development could now continue on it. Of course that's not to in any way say that he shouldn't have kept it closed-source; it's his program after all.

Thanks for putting all your time into this by the way. Hard break and I hope you don't get into too much trouble for all this...

[Morbo]

Now how can Anydvd survive?,,,,,,,,,, :rolleyes:

[anecd0te]

long before DVD Decrypter, vStrip and SmartRipper were my fav decrypting solutions. With the source code for Smart Ripper readily available, I don't see why it can't be brought "up to date" to continue DVD Decrypter's legacy.

fallen to the dark side, young "LUK" has-
strike back, the empire will! :D

[tigerman8u]

a sad day when a select few are running most of the countries government.

[stax76]

In the DVB scene decrypting algo's are put in seperate dll's that implement unified interfaces all DVB applications understand. This interfaces are not only be used for decrypting plugins but also for EPG and OSD and other plugins. Maybe this dll concept would also work for DVD ripping applications. Just an idea...

The value EVENTS_CheckForProgramUpdate at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\DVD Decrypter should be 0 to prevent auto update, 0 means false so it's disabled, do not start the application in order to disable it because then you are already sending your IP address. ;)

[castellanos]

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
That aside, I suspect the "a certain company" LIGHTNING UK has been taken to task by is probably the UK/European arm of Sony... but I'm sure we'll get confirmation of this very soon.
I agree totally SeeMoreDigital... it's really stupid to try to stop LUK when you have tools like "AnyDVD" or "DVD Region + CSS Free" that actually can handle without problems that kind of protections, whatever they are, free or not...
This company is not going to stop the DVD backup process, stopping only LUK, and as well as I understand, I don't think that is their aim, may be it is something going on in the background... I hope not... or yes? :rolleyes:
Anyway it's very sad. Beautyfull tool... I hope the developement goes on, in this or another ripper.
Thanks LIGHTNING UK!

[jsoto]

Sad day...
I want to say a big thanks to LUK!
jsoto

[[storm-shadow]]

All this talk about no more updates, does it really matter? I love DVD Decrypter, I just got into doing rips with H.264 and ReCode. But, the vast amount of DVD Players out there, can they introduce a new copy protection scheme? Wouldn't that make all those hardware players worthless?

On the other hand, Blu-RAY and HD-DVD are not that far off, I doubt DVD Decrypter would have worked for them.

Regardless, I just burned off the latest on CD-R anyway... let see them take that away from us.

[Nick]

I too would like to echo the sentiments of many and mourn the end of this great piece of software.

I would also like to add my thanks to LUK for his years of efforts.

However, I feel I should add that I consider all this talk of leaking sources onto IRC or talk of reverse engineering his software as terribly inappropriate. I (and I'm sure I speak for you-know-who also) would not want this site/forum to become the focus of undue attention as a result of today's frenzy.

As such, I implore people to heed the following advice:

1) Turn off the "search for updates" feature in DVD Decrypter
2) Configure your firewall to block connections to the web from DVD Decrypter
3) WHEN POSTING HERE, COUNT TO TEN BEFORE HITTING THE "SUBMIT" BUTTON IN ANGER!

Chill out and let the dust settle, folks. We'll all reflect more constructively on the day's events when the red mist passes.

Cheers
Nick

[f@chance]

Wish you the best LUK. Since we deal here with companies that will not adapt and want to protect an obscene profit margine the release of the software can be easily arranged, just copy it on a portable device and arrange for a break in and have it stolen. Call the cops and file a report for breaking and entry. Job done.

[int 21h]

']All this talk about no more updates, does it really matter? I love DVD Decrypter, I just got into doing rips with H.264 and ReCode. But, the vast amount of DVD Players out there, can they introduce a new copy protection scheme? Wouldn't that make all those hardware players worthless?

On the other hand, Blu-RAY and HD-DVD are not that far off, I doubt DVD Decrypter would have worked for them.

Regardless, I just burned off the latest on CD-R anyway... let see them take that away from us.

Its not necessarily a new encryption scheme, its a method of organizing the contents of disc to confuse copying efforts while still having a valid disk. For instance, putting a load of bad sectors in the middle of the disc, and then just not ever referencing them anywhere. Players will still play the discs fine.

[mrslacker]

']All this talk about no more updates, does it really matter? I love DVD Decrypter, I just got into doing rips with H.264 and ReCode. But, the vast amount of DVD Players out there, can they introduce a new copy protection scheme? Wouldn't that make all those hardware players worthless?
Yes. Yes. No.
The updates are important.... Unless you want to spend time manually working through the tricks of the game.

[mrbass]

edit: nevermind...I was wrong

[mrbass]

Its not necessarily a new encryption scheme, its a method of organizing the contents of disc to confuse copying efforts while still having a valid disk. For instance, putting a load of bad sectors in the middle of the disc, and then just not ever referencing them anywhere. Players will still play the discs fine.

Spanglish R1 will not play in my RCA DVD player. The only way I can get it to work is not hit Play but rather choose RANDOM play so it skips to some random section and then hit the MENU button.

[cypher_soundz]

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\DVD Decrypter]
"EVENTS_CheckForProgramUpdate"=dword:00000000

Save code as "anyname.reg" and double click. this will stop auto update.

I was thinking how they found out where to send the letter etc and i realised it must of been the website address. Maybe a lesson to be learned? cjb.net anyone ? ;)
Regards
cyph

[hhanh00]

"They" offered to not procecute LK if he was showing good faith that he was doing as much as possible to stop DVD Decrypter. Pretending to lose the code somewhere and have it surfaced on the net is not a good way to do so. They already have enough ground to sue him :(. Actually, I hope it won't be leaked for his sake.

--h

[dragongodz]

a sad day. best wishes go to LUK of course.

this doesnt mean they have really won of course. with things such as anydvd, dvd region free and dvd43 being updated frequently newer protections will be beat anyway. still it would be nice to see someone do some updating to smartripper to bring it up to date aswell, who knows maybe someone will eventually.

[Ryo94]

:( really sad news, infinite thanks for make the best ripper of all times LIGHTNING UK!,

Best wishes.

[MaXiMuS]

RiP

thx 4 best decrypter

[UsualNoise]

I'm confused. Why should I care that any company finds out I use DVD Decrypter? I'm not using it for any illegal purposes? I don't mind who finds out I'm using this program; unless someone shows me why I should mind, I won't go out of my way to hide from anyone.

[Trystian]

Apparently, if you decide to produce a tool that is useful to the public, and a large corporation decides that it's against their "best interests", then you are up the creek without a paddle, all the while their lawyers are shooting at you with flaming arrows and pouring gasoline into the water (not caring if they kill the "environment" -> Progress). BBQ anyone?

Of course if you live in a place that doesn't abide by ANY global copyright protection laws (ie: Signatory countries of the Berne Convention, SAT, UCC Geneva/Paris, WCT, WPPT or WTO), or has very weak copyright laws, you might be able to get away with making something like what Lightning UK developed, without being bludgeoned by corporate attorneys.

Places such as....

Afghanistan
Bhutan
Comoros(?)
Ethiopia
Iran
Iraq
Kiribati(?)
Nauru(?)
North Korea(?)
Palau(?)
San Marino
São Tomé and Principe(?)
Seychelles(?)
Somalia(?)
Syria(?)
Tuvalu(?)
Vanuatu(?)
Yemen(?)

(?) = unsure


You thought communism was bad? Welcome to the New CORPORATE World Order. Get used to it, it's only going to get worse. Capitalism is wonderful, isn't it? I suppose it beats communism and dictatorships in certain aspects. Too bad I don't have enough money to hire on a team of attorneys and put a couple high ranking politicians in my back pocket in case this happens to me as well.

Anyhow, Lightning UK, thanks for such an awesome tool. I hope those corporate bloodhounds have left you alone now.

Oh BTW LUK, that backup copy of the source code that you asked me to hold for you a few weeks ago was accidentally released on the internet when my system got infected by a worm. Unfortunately, my only backup was destroyed when it happened, so I'm not sure who has it now. Don't be mad at me. I should have protected my system better. Wasn't intentional. Not my fault, and surely not your fault. :p

[LoloMc]

"They" offered to not procecute LK if he was showing good faith that he was doing as much as possible to stop DVD Decrypter.

Are we really sure that LUK! will not be procecute ? He didn't say anything about that on his announce.
Ok, stopping the proliferation of DVDDecrypter is one thing. This is very sad for our fair use rights.... But that's not the main! It would be disgusting that he goes to the court!!!
Please Lightning Uk!, just confirm that you'll not have troubles. (Phonecall to who you want that we can trust. He'll confirm this to us)

And sorry for all the people who was thinking about a leakage a your source code before thinking of you

[daddy_fizz]

Posted by Lightning UK at the slashdot news article disscusion about the lawsuit:


" Hello world,

I"ve got some good news and some bad news.Let's start with the good.... (tumble weed passes by)Ok, and now onto the badVD Decrypter 3.5.4.0 is the last version you"ll ever see.We hoped this day would never come, but it has, and I can promise you, nobody is more gutted about it than I am.

What started as a bit of fun, putting a GUI around some existing code, turned into something that I can only describe as 'part of me' - yes, I know that's sad ;-) As I"ve recently been made aware (by a letter, hand delivered to my door, last Tuesday), due to some law that was changed back in October 2003, circumventing copy protection isn"t allowed.

Ok so it has taken a while (almost 2 years), but eventually "a certain company" has decided they don"t like what I"m doing (circumventing their protection) and have come at me like a pack of wolves. I"ve no choice but to cease everything to do with DVD Decrypter.I realise this is going to be one of those "that sucks - fight them!" kinda things, but at the end of the day, it"s my life and I"m not about to throw it all away (before it has even really started) attempting to fight a battle I can"t possibly win.

If 321 Studios can"t do it with millions, what chance do I have with £50?! As I"m sure most of you have already noticed, the site has been down for a few days. That surprised me as much as the next person (slight breakdown in communication), or I would have issued this statement on it directly.

So anyway, from this point forward, I"m no longer permitted to provide any sort of assistance with anything that helps people infringe the rights of "a certain company".That means, no more emails, no more forum posts, no PM"s, no nothing! END OF STORY.The domain name will be transferred over to the company by the end of the week (9th June, according to the undertakings I have to sign) so don"t email it thinking "Oh, I"ll just ask LIGHTNING UK! for support on this". You"ll not be getting the intended recipient and could be landing yourself in sh1t!

With 3.5.4.0 being the last version, it makes sense for everyone to disable the "check for new versions" feature, as obviously there won"t be any. Of course what I really mean is that you should all stop using the program out of respect for the company's rights.

Anyone hosting DVD Decrypter is advised to cease doing so immediately. I"ve the feeling they won"t stop with just me. I"m having to contact anyone I know of that is (at the very least, the "mirror" sites), and tell them to stop. Copies of those emails must also be sent to the solicitors so they can check I"m doing everything I"m supposed to. If I don't, I die.

It is of course down to the owners of those sites to react how they want to. It"s not my job to force you to do anything you don"t want to, I"m just giving you some friendly advice. Maybe it"s just me, but I see this as a bit of an "end of an era". I realise there are other tools, but there"s no telling how much longer they"ll last, and not only that, mine was the oldest! I"ve met loads of great people over the years and I want to take this opportunity to wish them every success for the future - yes DDBT peeps, that includes you lot! : "(I hope you"ve all enjoyed my contribution to the DVD scene and maybe I"ll see ya around sometime.

LIGHTNING UK!
(Author of the once "Ultimate DVD Ripper", DVD Decrypter)"

[sweetness]

:eek:
thanks, LIGHTNING UK! wish you the best.

where there's a will there's a way.

[Leak]

Posted by Lightning UK at the slashdot news article disscusion about the lawsuit:
Wot? That's just a 1:1 copy'n'paste job of the cdfreaks article linked to in the very first post of this thread, and it wasn't posted by Lightning UK!, but some other poster...

[hhanh00]

Are we really sure that LUK! will not be procecute ? He didn't say anything about that on his announce.

Copies of those emails must also be sent to the solicitors so they can check I"m doing everything I"m supposed to. If I don't, I die.

He didn't say he won't be prosecuted if he stopped. But it's clear he WILL be prosecuted if he does not show clearly he repents. Kinda like the Spanish Inquisition if you ask me :rolleyes:

[Leak]

He didn't say he won't be prosecuted if he stopped. But it's clear he WILL be prosecuted if he does not show clearly he repents. Kinda like the Spanish Inquisition if you ask me :rolleyes:

Do we even know if that was really from Lightning UK!? I mean, whatever terms were mentioned in this posting, there's nothing that would stop him from posting this info himself on the sites he moderates so we'd know it's really from him...

np: The Go Find - Over The Edge (Miami)

[dani82]

if the softwares gone, how will this affected his status within the forum?

[daddy_fizz]

Wot? That's just a 1:1 copy'n'paste job of the cdfreaks article linked to in the very first post of this thread, and it wasn't posted by Lightning UK!, but some other poster...


well it was posted on slashdot and it said it was from the author of dvd decryptor...

sorry if it wasn't!

i'm just the messenger :)

~Fizz

[Leak]

well it was posted on slashdot and it said it was from the author of dvd decryptor...

Uhhh... thinking "I read it on Slashdot, it must be true" probably isn't a good idea - that's what I've learned in the last few years having a Slashdot user id in the 20000's... ;)

np: Christian Kleine - carez (beyond repair)

[Doom9]

I can confirm it is true.. you'll notice that LightningUK is no longer a moderator here (for obvious reasons). Unfortunately, I don't have the sources either so I cannot help out (wish I could.. I'd be more than happy to host the sources).

[Scarpad]

With the Explosion of Personal Media Devices and the Sony PSP, what are the makers of those going to do, Keep on Pushing that you can Put "Home Movies: on it, they know their Buisness is being able to have people rip their DVD's to those Devices, And packaging a Disk Ripper is opening a can of Worms.

[linx05]

I can confirm it is true.. you'll notice that LightningUK is no longer a moderator here (for obvious reasons). Unfortunately, I don't have the sources either so I cannot help out (wish I could.. I'd be more than happy to host the sources).
If that could happen, couldn't you get in trouble aswell?

Too bad they shutdown one of (if not the best imo) the greatest programs on the DVD scene.

Thanks LU for all your efforts, troubles and time to bring us DVD Decrypter.

[FlimsyFeet]

Are there any concerns about keeping the last version of DVD Decrypter in the Doom9 software download section?

[iNFO-DVD]

We're all in different contries, DIFFERENT LAWS!, You have to remember Lightning UK! is in the UK, his situation is relevent to him and his location!!!! What Doom9 does is relevent to his location and his laws.

[obieobieobie]

This is very sad. Good luck to LUK in all his future endevours.

[fraorlando]

yikes! sorry to hear that. well, thx for the efforts, lightninguk, good job, thats a big loss....guess that shows, that all sites and persons somehow critical to corporate interests will have to move to freenet or some kind of anonymous net to avoid beeing threadened by them, on the long run

[onesoul]

The big corporations must understand they are chasing their clients most of the time, that's my opinion.

[Amir]

Sources will definitely not be released.

If you read the explanation of Lightning UK on CDfreaks you'll see that if he helps people with DVDdecrypter in any kind of form it will get him in serious trouble. Holding that in regard, its unlikely he'll be releaing the source code.

Thats too bad for programs that rely so much on it.

unless he has already released them. maybe he didnt mention it because it slipped his mind, thats not a crime in any country AFAIK :-)

Or maybe his site was hacked ages ago and every version he's been working on has been "stolen", heck if it can happen to Microsoft, I'm sure it can happen to LUK.

Of course I hope for "the companies" sake that didnt happen, imagine if the source code was released by someone/team.

[stephanV]

For LUK's sake i hope the above things won't happen, since it is he who will get in trouble with it. Things "slipping" your mind is certainly not a good excuse, and won't hold for long in a normal court room... ;-)

[Shandra]

.. Things "slipping" your mind is certainly not a good excuse, and won't hold for long in a normal court room... ;-)

Unless you are a politician... Grmpf (Danke Herr Kohl (zB))...
Sad to hear about DDs fate, i am really curious what's next. And hope LUK will not get into any further trouble.
And my paranoid mind would not go into the direction that ip-hits gained through automatic-update or such will be used against that ips, but as potential prove of the usage of DD and be alike to a loaded gun put to his head (see, each hit is $$ we did not earned - you are responsible!).... (at least that was what appeared in my mind as I was thinking about a "mass-attack" of check for updates calls - my Cyberpunk-RPG-gamemaster trained paranoid mind envisioned the: "some blind fanatic may see that as a good response" situation). Damned, it has happened, is happening and is going to happen again. Can someone even think how much money was spend for such stupid moves and others that could have done much good if spend wisely?

[brashquido]

The big corporations must understand they are chasing their clients most of the time, that's my opinion.

This is SO true. They are wanting to protect their investment by shuting down programs such as DVD Decrypter, just we are trying to protect our investment by making backups of the expensive DVD's we buy.

[grumpy]

What happens if they go into seize and desist mode here? What happens then? Is there any kind of plan?

[m1ckran]

I hope LUK is ok. It must have been a harrowing experience for him. I've been wondering how I would have coped and I simply don't know. What else has been said or done to him, that he can't reveal due to threats from the mysterious company? I suppose we'll never know.

If the company in question is only acting within its rights, why does it want to remain anonymous?

Could it be the company that owns film, television and record companies? The same company that sells cassette recorders, CD recorders, minidisk recorders, vhs recorders, mp3 systems? The company that sells DVD recorders with built-in television tuners?

I doubt whether true pirates (the ones who make a tidy profit from selling poor-quality copies in pubs and clubs) use DVD Decrypter. They have their own methods and will be delighted that ordinary blokes like LUK are being victimised. This is typical of what is happening in the UK these days. True criminals are very difficult and expensive to catch, so ordinary law-abiding citizens are criminalised to boost detection rates, increase revenue from fines, and justify more repressive laws to combat an artificially created crime wave.

Once again, thank you LUK. Hope you and yours are well.

Incidentally, is LUK's paypal account frozen? Might be a nice gesture of support if he were to receive a final donation from everyone - even those who have not yet donated!

[erdoke]

The big corporations must understand they are chasing their clients most of the time, that's my opinion.

"There's always a smarter guy".
And it's not so hard to be smarter than them, misinterpreting their roles in our society.
Vote for deeply customer friendly companies instead. The smarter guy will come.

San Marino seems to be a nice place BTW... ;)

[absinthe]

I'm hearing now it was Macrovision that shut down DVD Decrypter.

Macrovision shutdown DVD Decrypter.

Harry Potter sold around 30 million DVDs but didn't want to pay the Macrovision tax of about $0.05/DVD. 30 million x $0.05 = $1.5 million dollars. So this meant one could copy Harry Potter DVD to VHS and make a clean copy. Not anyone at all anymore does a DVD --> VHS anymore. Harry Potter (AOL Time Warner) proves how useless macrovision is with DVD --> DVD-R backups nowadays. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-938046.html

Sony didn't shut DVD Decrypter down because they admit ARcoSS is to prevent the clueless person attempting to make a legitimate backup copy and overall they suceed in that regard. Macrovision shutdown DVD Decrypter because they have a new DVD copy protection termed "Rip Guard" coming out and they don't want their protection cracked in a few hours by DVD Decrypter.
http://dvdxcopy.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/160761

Macrovision gets around 55% of their revenue from licensing their DVD copy protection which is more than likely not being used by major studios anymore as people aren't into making analog copies. Their future is based on "Rip Guard" being effective so they used United Kingdom laws to shutdown Lightning UK!.

--anonymous
-abs

[brashquido]

Source of this statement?

[sweetness]

Source of this statement?
i agree. if you don't have the ONIONS to put your name to something you said then you shouldn't say it.
that goes for newspapers, radio and tv.

nothing against you absinthe. i know, don't shoot the messager. ;)

BTW, from Lightning UK!'s letter about "end of an era" where do you think this will take us?

[linx05]

BTW, from Lightning UK!'s letter about "end of an era" where do you think this will take us?
When Napster died, everyone thought it was the end. Look what's on offer now. Though, I'd like to see if anyone can top DVD Decrypter.

[castellanos]

Well, I am also very sad, DVD Decrypter is gone and whatever it is the "dangerous situation" for LIGHTNING UK (I hope he gets rid of it as soon as possible) the decrypting backup process did not die.
We still have the last version of DVD Decrypter that is going to work well for a good time and we have also DVD43, AnyDVD and DVD Region + CSS Free.
Although the last two are not freeware, they are not that expensive and with regular updates... so, finally I don't understand the politic of the company/ies who wanted to stop DVD Decrypter... if those other tools are still going around... :confused:
It is a pitty of course, but to say: "The end of an era"... hm, may be a little bit exaggerated, don't you agree? (generally).

[dinesh]

DVDDecrypter was the only ONE software to my rescue when every other ripper failed !! I have seen the software growing with improvements over the last few years. It is sad that we have to do without it, and I also respect LIGHTNINGUKs decision.
THANKS LIGHTNINGUK !!

[absinthe]

If it is the end of an era, then it's the dawning of a new one. As many have said, whatever can be encrypted can be decrypted. As long as there is the Internet, IRC, discussion forums, e-mail, etc., we will quickly figure out how to defeat various encryption schemes. To try to put a halt to such conversation, or to try to shut down forums where such conversation takes place, would be a dangerous road to go down, and I don't think any electronics company is going to do it.

There's still plenty of good, free ripping software. In fact, whaddaya know, there's still DVD Decrypter! It's going to work just fine on most every DVD for a long time to come. Even with the advent of Blu-Ray on the horizon, I think with DVD we've reached a sort of "plateau for the common man." The quality and the price point have met at such a place that I don't forsee Joe Sixpack reaching into his wallet for $25 or $30 to pay for 'Home Alone' for the third or fourth time to watch it at 1920x1080 (or whatever).

I thank LUK for his contribution and his dedication. I look forward to DVD Decrypter's successor, but I also look forward to continuing to use DVD Decrypter for some time to come.

I'm also going to keep a stopwatch handy, ready to use the first time we come across a new DVD that supposedly can't be ripped.

-abs

[Malphas]

I remember when RipGuard was announced, everyone on the forums (forums in general not just this one) just scoffed at it and I lot of comments like "LUK will have this beaten two seconds after it comes out" etc. were flying around. Surely the guys at Macrovision and Sony must read the same forums as we do. Might this have contributed to their (whoever it was) decision to go after DVD Decrypter?

[johner23]

There's still plenty of good, free ripping software. In fact, whaddaya know, there's still DVD Decrypter! It's going to work just fine on most every DVD for a long time to come ---> and when appears new kinds of protections, like RipGuard and other ones?

DVDDecrypter was the only ONE software to my rescue when every other ripper failed !! I ---> I agree with that in 99% cases. :)

But it was said:

We still have the last version of DVD Decrypter that is going to work well for a good time and we have also DVD43, AnyDVD and DVD Region + CSS Free.

Do you know any other good rippers to use nowadays?

I have heard about Vstrip (still developed?) and CladDVD ( doesn't work in many cases for me). Are there any others?

If somebody knows about others good rippers, post here, ok?

Thanks.

johner

[laserfan]

...The quality and the price point have met at such a place that I don't forsee Joe Sixpack reaching into his wallet for $25 or $30 to pay for 'Home Alone' for the third or fourth time to watch it at 1920x1080 (or whatever)...I know you are referring to a future HD disc offering here, but it inspired me to post:

1. I was in a Wal-mart yesterday, and amazed to see the 2-Disc Special Edition of "A Beautiful Mind" for $7.50! There were enuf copies left that it will probably make the "2 for $11" bin shortly.

I have 1000+ laserdiscs that I paid an average of $16 for. These days, if you're willing to wait, DVDs (much better quality than my LDs) can be had for way less than $16/each. My point is, I don't think anyone should be backing-up discs! Why bother!!! Also, why rent-and-copy (illegal of course) with all the effort required when DVDs are so cheap. Of course, my real beef about the demise of DVDD is in re: using my DVDs in other ways e.g. compilations and especially media servers/players... Hopefully we will always be able to figure-out how to edit our store-bought DVDs, for our private use only of course!

2. I haven't read this whole thread, but it would be nice if someone who knows LUK can suggest if he is in any real trouble.

I for one would be willing to contribute, say, $10US toward any legal problems he may have to deal with!

[cypher_soundz]

My point is, I don't think anyone should be backing-up discs! Why bother!!!

why bother? because i my want next $16 to go to another film , not the same film because i didin't make a backup and scratched it ! maybe you have money to throw around , but i would rather spend some time backing up and have a watchable copy rather than 2 of the same dvd in my hands crying over 2 scratched originals ;) i hope you get my point :p
Regards
cyph

[absinthe]

I was in a Wal-mart yesterday, and amazed to see the 2-Disc Special Edition of "A Beautiful Mind" for $7.50! There were enuf copies left that it will probably make the "2 for $11" bin shortly.I know what you mean. I've been wanting to get a copy of the Val Kilmer movie "Wonderland" just for the cool and otherwise hard to find documentary "Wadd" (about John Holmes) that's on it. I was strolling the aisles at my local Target over the weekend and there it was on an endcap, for $7.50 - and that's a 2-disc set, too!

Of course, my real beef about the demise of DVDD is in re: using my DVDs in other ways e.g. compilations and especially media servers/players... Hopefully we will always be able to figure-out how to edit our store-bought DVDs, for our private use only of course!Same thing here! I frequently rip clips from DVDs for such purposes as making music videos or compilations (for my own personal enjoyment). Also, I back up a lot of DVDs, especially TV series, to XviD (hopefully one day to H264/AVC). I mean why should I juggle around 12 DVDs when I can get all the episodes in XviD on 2 or 3 DVDs?

The reason I posted the above anonymous quotation is that I find the explanation very plausible. That is, I will not be surprised at all if we don't eventually find out that it was Macrovision who f*c*ed LUK.

Sony is usually a pretty consumer-friendly company. I've always liked the way they announced long ago that there would be no PS3 until 2006, so that buyers of PS2 will know how long their investment will last before it becomes outdated.

-abs

[cypher_soundz]

acording to /. is was macrovison....who knows! ?
Regards
cyph

[Stacey Melissa]

Thanks so much for the great program, Lightning UK. It has proven invaluable for those of us who wish to make use of our fair use rights.

[brashquido]

I know you are referring to a future HD disc offering here, but it inspired me to post:

1. I was in a Wal-mart yesterday, and amazed to see the 2-Disc Special Edition of "A Beautiful Mind" for $7.50! There were enuf copies left that it will probably make the "2 for $11" bin shortly.

I have 1000+ laserdiscs that I paid an average of $16 for. These days, if you're willing to wait, DVDs (much better quality than my LDs) can be had for way less than $16/each. My point is, I don't think anyone should be backing-up discs! Why bother!!!

Cheaper prices like this, if global and right across the board would greatly reduce a persons need to make backups, but this is not the case. Here in Australia you *can* get some DVD titles from K-Mart and the like for $7, but the selection is pretty crap. Most new releases are around $25, and the blockbusters are still $30 or more. Then lets not forget the special editions, or boxed sets where you might well be paying in excess of $100.

When it comes down to it, I agree with what has been said previously. Even if all DVD's were $7, then in most cases I would still prefer to make a backup of it for the cost of a 50c DVD-R and spend my next $7 on a new DVD. Only exception would be if it was a particularly hard DVD to backup (Multiangle, Seamless Branching, etc). If I were to purchase something like a box set of a special edition Lord Of The Rings or something, I would definately be backing it up!

[DeathTheSheep]

Maybe this first part is slightly off-topic... lol
SmartRipper is dead? Wow, I must be out of it... that's just about the only ripping software I use. Whenever I encounter a DVD it can't rip (which is very rarely), I blamed the DVD (scratches, etc).

Wow, the things you can learn.

Well, I personally don't flame that nameless company (I mean, if my future depended on an encryption, and all I do is encounter people trying to destroy and circumvent my best efforts, making them for naught, what would I do? The same thing, probably). But I certainly don't want anything to happen to the creator of DVDDecrypter; things are bad enough for the poor guy as it is... and when they come out from behind like that with no warning and the threat of prosecution... Now that's something I do have qualms about.
But at the very least, this the beauty of programming, isn't it? The beauty of open-source. Let this be a message to those of us who are programmers who distribute free software... why not go open source?

You see, many lessons can be learned from this dismal situation.
1. Don't take things for granted.
2. The law can always come for you from behind.
3. If you want to program for free, do it "open source" style.
4. The best software is most often targeted, so be very careful.
5. Open source projects are very hard to destroy.
6. No matter what you do, you're pleasing some and angering others (dam*ed if you do, and dam*ed if you don't, really).

Anything else?

[hoozdapimp]

when is someone going to start a sourceforge project for the next "DVD Decrypter" program? Don't get me wrong, I'm not demanding, I'm just thinking it would be a great idea! I'm sure with the efforts of all the geniuses on this board (myself not included ;)), it could be made pretty quick.

[mrslacker]

5. Open source projects are very hard to destroy.
I wish that were so: https://sourceforge.net/projects/pxscan/
Thanks Plextor. :angry:

[feedback]

@laserfan

I don't think anyone should be backing-up discs! Why bother!!!
You obviously don't have children!
Kids can destroy a DVD in a heartbeat.
Not to mention all the advertising of all kinds of products directed at the children that they have to watch (a 4 year old has trouble negotiating the Menu) before getting to the main movie.

Also, why should parents have to pay for the direct marketing at kids about upcoming movies and games that the kids can nag their parents for.

All that should be on a childs movie is just the movie. Not crass, insipid, marketing. There ought to be a law against it. :angry:

P.S. Just blowing off steam, nothing personal laserfan.

[Nematocyst]

You obviously don't have children!
Kids can destroy a DVD in a heartbeat.
Not to mention all the advertising of all kinds of products directed at the children that they have to watch (a 4 year old has trouble negotiating the Menu) before getting to the main movie.


Exactly. Backups are worthwhile whenever the DVD costs a lot more than the blanks. And it isn't just about backups, but removing the advertising that they throw in. If I ever buy a DVD or future HD which I can't remove the advertising, backup, convert to XviD to save space, or do anything else I want with something I bought, back it goes.

[yidaki]

I agree, though I wouldn't go as far as giving it back.
An argument I use is that if I'm going to pay dear money to get a retail DVD, I won't have it break after 5 yrs without a backup.
All discs get destroyed sooner or later, and with more information on a smaller space it's more likely to be sooner.
CD's lasts longer then DVD's for instance.
So the need for backuping is more now then it was in the past.
Not to mention it's my legal right.

But I'm not really affected by this "court-order", I'm swedish and should still be able to download and use DVDdecrypter if I want to. :)

[laserfan]

@laserfan

You obviously don't have children! Kids can destroy a DVD in a heartbeatOK, y'all got me, big time! You're right, feedback, I don't have kids; when my sister-in-law threatened to visit w/her twin boys, I used that as an excuse to buy a media player. Kids can touch the remote control, nothing else!

And not only are there "box sets" that are expensive to replace, I too am maddened by (for one example) Universal's horrible practice of loading-up the front of a program w/trailers & ads & junk. For a nice, quiet movie like "Lost in Translation" I made a backup just to watch w/o all the leading garbage.

Hopefully some genius in a Fair Use country will pick-up the Cause and produce a backup tool to circumvent future copy-protection attempts by the producers.

"Show business kids makin' movies of themselves, ya know they don't give a <bleep> about anybody else." --Steely Dan

I love the art but many of the people in the industry just give me the creeps.

[absinthe]

"Show business kids makin' movies of themselves, ya know they don't give a <bleep> about anybody else." --Steely DanMan, I LOVE that song!
-abs

[freelock7]

Sad...
Only DVDdecrypter could rip The forgotten movie with its new arcOos protection!
For the future, rip guard is coming with the terrific digital code created by Macrovision .
Great challenge to replace DVDdecrypter but with the risk to be prosecuted.
Who will be able -and brave!-to do it?

[castellanos]

Originally posted by freelock7
Only DVDdecrypter could rip The forgotten movie with its new arcOos protection!
This is not true, AnyDVD or DVD Region+CSS Free can handle it too, and even DVD43 (not really sure).
I would say: DVD Decrypter was the only "free" tool able to do that.
Cheers! :D

[freelock7]

-Castellanos
Yes, but will these commercial softwares be able to work still a long time against the laws in a shelter place?
Another question:
Who will be able to rip its original DVD in these conditions?

[castellanos]

hm... good question freelock7... I ask my self the same.
However, the laws are different in every country, the fate of LINGHNTING UK! in England belongs at the moment only there, probably it could not happened in another country.
As long as the laws allow them, AnyDVD or DVD Region+CSS Free are going to be alive in their respective country (U.S.A?) and also, we are going to be able to use them.
Greetings! ;)

[jwo62]

Dvd95copy can also rip arccos discs. Its not free,but for about the same price as anydvd,it also processes/shrinks(with many options) and burns.

That said,I am now also looking closely at anydvd and DVD Region+CSS Free. I dont like having all my eggs in one basket.

[absinthe]

Personally, I'm anxious for someone to take a crack at RipGuard. I don't suppose it's on any major commercial DVD releases at present. I was just reading about RipGuard (http://www.macrovision.com/products/complete_dvd_protection.shtml) at Macrovision's site. They sure do sound confident in it. :rolleyes:

The more I think about the Macrovision scenario, the more I think they are the company to blame here.

-abs

[mrslacker]

Originally posted by freelock7
For the future, rip guard is coming with the terrific digital code created by Macrovision .
Great challenge to replace DVDdecrypter but with the risk to be prosecuted.
Who will be able -and brave!-to do it?
I think ripping and copy protection removal should be somewhat mutually exclusive. Let the rippers do their job on CSS and avoiding bad sectors. Once the files are off disc, appropriate IFO/VOB patching could be done in a separate step (with a separate program). The ripguard framework description (http://www.macrovision.com/products/ripguard/images/UniqueDigitalFramework_large.jpg) is pretty vague, but it seems to be nothing terribly unique, as they claim. Bring it on.

Princeton professor Edward Telten has an optimistic take (http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=768) on RipGuard. I agree with him... provided that ripping programs become more like DVD players. Imagine a ripping program that exhaustively navigates the disc, as a player would. Most pitfalls of blind ripping would be avoided. Other reauthoring problems would remain, but I see that as a place for less mainstream "protection management" / "standards compliance" / "compatibility assurance" tools.

Comprehensive disc analysis routines are already present in programs like VobBlanker and PgcEdit. Searching for unreferenced material and navigational impossibilities is not exactly a lingering challenge, thanks to the authors. The later program even has a habit of pointing out subtle discrepancies and authoring errors. Of course, these tools have nothing to do with copy protection, and I wouldn't want to imply any such functionality of those tools. This is just an example.

Point is: I believe that this is the "end of an era", as LIGHTNING UK! suggested. Fair use and progress will not stop, but the workflow definitely will.

[wild77]

LIGHTNING UK! Thanks for one of the best programs I have ever used, and will continue to use.We need more people that are as dedicated as you have been! It may have been a free program (well worth my donations) but I never had a problem and it never let me down. If only the major software companies could develope software that worked so well.I have been fooling with some of the other Rippers and none can compare to DVD Decrypter!

Best of luck to you!

S***W SONY :devil:
S***W MACROVISION :devil:
S***W Who ever is putting the SCREWS TO YOU! :devil:

[niamh]

I was just reading about RipGuard at Macrovision's site. They sure do sound confident in it.

Well if they're the ones threatening LightningUK, the only thing they seem confident about is that he would crack it in weeks :rolleyes: Otherwise, why bring him down now (or anytime for that matter, if the thing is going to be uncrackable)?
In a way, it's a great compliment done to you LUK, you are feared. Of course, if these people who threatened you had half the wits of a bluebottle fly, they would have offered you an extremely highly paid job, instead of trying to sue you for probably the amount of money a small country generates in a year (I guess)

Ayway, > 16000 views already, quite an impressive amount of support in general :)

Is there a place one can donate so as to provide a lawyer for LightningUk or something? I'd like to help

[dragongodz]

I think ripping and copy protection removal should be somewhat mutually exclusive. Let the rippers do their job on CSS and avoiding bad sectors. Once the files are off disc, appropriate IFO/VOB patching could be done in a separate step (with a separate program).
all in one go though would save extra steps and hassles. obviously having it optional would be the way to go though incase any dvds were to crop up that were not handled correctly. you may want to read what i say here anyway
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=63339&page=2

[calinb]

In a way, it's a great compliment done to you LUK, you are feared. Of course, if these people who threatened you had half the wits of a bluebottle fly, they would have offered you an extremely highly paid job, instead of trying to sue you for probably the amount of money a small country generates in a year (I guess)Perhaps they did! Or perhaps they purchased the rights to the program. We know nothing about this legal action! Consider the potential lure of a corporate offer vs. maybe 1/1000 users sending in $10 or $20 to support your development efforts! :devil:

This is a good argument for releasing open source; it insures software developers against any future pacts with the devil ;)

[SeeMoreDigital]

I would not write off DVD Decrypter's continued usefulness just yet. As Doom9 has reported today: - ....However, a while back, PS lists were introduced, and it just takes the proper PS file to beat future versions of "structure protection" (from an engineering point of view we're not dealing with protection but perversion of the specs). So all we need are some forum enthusiasts who know how to code the relevant "Protected Sector" file and we're back in business :D

Cheers

[mrslacker]

So all we need are some forum enthusiasts who know how to code the relevant "Protected Sector" file and we're back in business
blutach basically said that earlier in the thread, and i agree that approach will prolong DVD-D for quite some time.

But what about protection tricks introduced that are not based on bad sectors? The RipGuard "Unique Digital Framework" I linked to a few posts up seems to indicate they have plans to mess with the integrity of the disc on many levels. Maybe.

[mpucoder]

Well, we will just have to wait and see.
One of the mistakes made with DVD was not giving the command set enough power. When floppies were protected by the method Arccos uses (bad sectors) simply removing them, or correcting them, did not work because the protected program could check to see if a key sector was unreadable. That cannot be done in a DVD, the only way to access a sector is to attempt to play it. And the reaction to unreadable sectors is not standardized, but most players stop, some display a code. Nor can the command set check the size, which would indicate a shrunken/modified copy. Nor can it perform a checksum. In short, there is not much that can be done to make it both uncopyable and watchable.

oh, and Macrovision is usually full of hot air. I don't understand how they continue to exist. I mean, If I wanted something protected, I would also want a guarantee that the method was at least worth the cost. They don't offer that, and can't because Macrovision has never prevented any movie from being pirated.

[Malphas]

Looks like someone is hoping to cash in on the demise of Decrypter.

http://www.dvddecrypter.r8.org/

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.php?p=1017192&postcount=98

[mpucoder]

Who is he trying to fool? "I lost all my programmers" and "I'm looking for a wide range of people including reverse engineer" should be enough to convince anyone that this is not the original author.

But, then again, P. T. Barnum was probably right.

[geoffman]

ah-huh........

[mrslacker]

oh, and Macrovision is usually full of hot air. I don't understand how they continue to exist. I mean, If I wanted something protected, I would also want a guarantee that the method was at least worth the cost. They don't offer that, and can't because Macrovision has never prevented any movie from being pirated.
Yeah, they're a b.s. company. It's really quite amazing. Still, once a few years ago, my girlfriend and I wanted to watch her Bridget Jones DVD on my VCR. So we tried to make an analog copy for the night. Thank's to "ACP" that didn't work out. It didn't take long to trace the ætiology of the problem and correct it, but it still got in the way.

These companies target the masses - Dumb asses like me and my girlfriend. But that doesn't concern us much any more. Right?

I'm glad you are hopeful, mpucoder. You certainly have an intimate perspective, having written your own authoring program.

After all, maybe it's just Britain... and we have the EFF on our side. ;)

[Chetwood]

Well, I personally don't flame that nameless company (I mean, if my future depended on an encryption, and all I do is encounter people trying to destroy and circumvent my best efforts, making them for naught, what would I do?

So who says that you as a company have any more RIGHTS to demand a constant revenue from your product than anyone else? If you saddled the wrong horse tough luck for you!

The only reason I could accept was the law itself. And even that doesn't hold true anymore since the entertainment industry managed to buy them in their favor depriving us from our fair rights use.

[hhanh00]

I would not write off DVD Decrypter's continued usefulness just yet. As Doom9 has reported today: - So all we need are some forum enthusiasts who know how to code the relevant "Protected Sector" file and we're back in business :D

Cheers
It's not as easy as it seems. AFAIK, Arccos use a fairly rigid structure where the first 3 cells of the main movie are bad sectors. You can skip them and rebuild the IFO. If instead, you use a scheme where some random cells contain bad sectors but are yet referrenced by some unreachable program chain, it becomes difficult to figure out how to recognize them. The DVD instruction set contains registers and conditional jumps, so it's quite easy to make a innocent looking PGC be unreachable.

[Doom9]

The DVD instruction set contains registers and conditional jumps, so it's quite easy to make a innocent looking PGC be unreachable.Still.. what a player can parse, any other software can parse. So after authentication of the disc, a PSL writer could parse the disc's structure and commands and spit out the proper PSL file.

And if you've seen the news, the company is no longer unnamed. Here is their contact information: http://www.macrovision.com/company/directions/index.shtml. Keep it civil though, flames will not help.

[hhanh00]

Still.. what a player can parse, any other software can parse. So after authentication of the disc, a PSL writer could parse the disc's structure and commands and spit out the proper PSL file.

But if you parse the IFO, you will find that the sectors are in use. The problem is similar to automatic dead code removal, which is not solveable.

[dirio49]

what do you people think of this site?
http://www.dvddecrypter.r8.org/

[iNFO-DVD]

That site's a con.....

It's not 'Lightning UK'... He didn't have 'a bunch of programmers'

[dirio49]

But if you parse the IFO, you will find that the sectors are in use. The problem is similar to automatic dead code removal, which is not solveable.

what about if the software just look for bad sectors and whatever was bad would be used to create a psl file out of it
would that work?

[hhanh00]

what about if the software just look for bad sectors and whatever was bad would be used to create a psl file out of it
would that work?
Yes, I think this would work. It was mentioned in another thread actually. But finding a bad sector means reading it and getting an error from the drive. That takes a long time and I personnally wouldn't want to submit my drive to thousands of hard read errors. I don't think it's good for it. CloneCD has a 'fast bad sector skip' where it would only try to read every Nth sector after the first bad one in order to avoid too many hard read errors. In theory, they could also circumvent that method by scattering bad sectors all around the disk.
The good news is that as long as they are going for an out-of-the-box protection mechanism, it will be possible to recognize its 'signature'. And companies like protections like that. It's even marketed as a feature of Ripguard. In the game business, Safedisk, SecureROM, etc. are likewise, and they have been cracked. DVD protections are much more limited in what they can do as compared to the PC - so most likely, they will be cracked even faster.
I just don't see how an universal program can make the PSL.

[m1ckran]

Interesting news item on Doom9 today. It was Macrovision! Now they seem to be turning on Doom9. Is Doom9 safe?

From the news item, it looks as though Macrovision have no real claim against LUK. I suppose, though, they have the money to bulldoze justice their way.

I've always regarded Macrovision protection as being remarkably ineffective. Perhaps they continue in business by using the law to generate income by way of damages.

I wonder if Macrovision would explain why, if they are acting ethically, they try to remain anonymous.

Glad it's not Sony as previously suggested.

Does anyone have any news of LUK? Doesn't have to be DVDD-related. Just to know he's ok.

[dirio49]

I just don't see how an universal program can make the PSL.

i think all the program will have to do is write a text file of where it found the bad sector. that is what a psl is, isn't it?
but phasing the ifo is probable faster.

how would be able to recognize its "signature"?
if that was true we would not need to update any program.

[wild77]

MACROVISION the company who shut down LIGHTNING UK!
http://www.doom9.org/

Macrovision Corporation, a Delaware corporation founded in 1983

Based in Delaware because of the Tax Laws?, No offices or employees listed there!

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE & ETHICS

Macrovision Corporation is committed to not only developing superior technology for our customers but also building a world-class company. With this commitment to excellence comes significant responsibility to conduct ourselves in a fair, ethical and legal manner at every level of our organization and at every location where we do business. Sound principles of corporate governance are critical to achieving our goal of corporate excellence. Macrovision promotes good corporate governance and ethics through a number of policies, procedures and practices, including:

Now that’s what I call BULLS**T

Macrovision Locations
http://www.macrovision.com/company/directions/index.shtml

Board of Directors
http://www.macrovision.com/company/board/index.shtml

I WILL BE SENDING SEVERAL LETTERS TO THEM!!!

I will keep it civil, but I will exercise my Right to Free Speech before the F**ked up Politicians in Washington try to take that away.

RIPGAURD WILL BE BROKEN

[dragongodz]

CloneCD has a 'fast bad sector skip' where it would only try to read every Nth sector after the first bad one in order to avoid too many hard read errors. In theory, they could also circumvent that method by scattering bad sectors all around the disk.
if however the whole VTS or CELL or whatever was used as unreferenced or referenced but not reachable by menu etc then it would not matter if it contained good sectors aswell since they wouldnt be ever seen anyway. they couldnt just have a CELL that plays with errors in the middle of it as those error sectors would need to be skipped for players aswell. so a fast error skip would actually work if it was made sure a new read was done at the start of a new CELL etc.

i mentioned this in the cladxp thread but since we are talking about these things i may aswell mention it here aswell.
if someone wanted they could take something like smartripper(why start from scratch ?) and add in Vobblankers remove unreferenced material function. this should defeat most(?) current arccos dvds. then add a fast error skip with bad sectors or cells etc being replaced with dummy info or blank material(referenced material will say what the section is meant to contain). that would be good for not only badly authored(such as on purpose) dvds but also for partial recovery and backup of damaged dvds aswell. ;)

just because DvdDecrypters source was never released doesnt mean that its the end. other sources were and who knows maybe one day they will be used to "fix" future dodgy dvds. :D

[hhanh00]

if however the whole VTS or CELL or whatever was used as unreferenced or referenced but not reachable by menu etc then it would not matter if it contained good sectors aswell since they wouldnt be ever seen anyway. they couldnt just have a CELL that plays with errors in the middle of it as those error sectors would need to be skipped for players aswell. so a fast error skip would actually work if it was made sure a new read was done at the start of a new CELL etc.

This fast error skip would not detect a bad cell where the bad sectors are in the middle of it.

[dragongodz]

This fast error skip would not detect a bad cell where the bad sectors are in the middle of it.
yes it would. the cell would be read as normal, since you are ripping it, until it hit the errors. THEN fast error skipping would kick in, possibly after a set number of consecutive errors, for the rest of the cell. the good parts before the errors could be kept as-is since they are ok and only the errored section needs replacing. again thats good for partial recovery of damaged dvds aswell.

[hhanh00]

yes it would. the cell would be read as normal, since you are ripping it, until it hit the errors. THEN fast error skipping would kick in, possibly after a set number of consecutive errors, for the rest of the cell. the good parts before the errors could be kept as-is since they are ok and only the errored section needs replacing. again thats good for partial recovery of damaged dvds aswell.
That's cool, but you still will get one hard read error per bad cell and you can have hundreds/thousands of them.

[mrslacker]

I completely agree with dragongodz and Doom9 on the matter of unreferenced material and PSLs. As we have pointed out, generating a PSL amounts to finding unreferenced material. I believe (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=666810#post666810) that the solution lies in abandoning the blind copy approach in favor of a selective rip based on a full disc parse. Even so, if there are any unreadable sectors in a cell, the entire cell might as well be marked bad, as dragongodz pointed out (I think). A cell is the smallest unit of playback.

BTW, IsoBuster is an excellent tool for finding unreadable sectors on physical media.

[dragongodz]

That's cool, but you still will get one hard read error per bad cell and you can have hundreds/thousands of them.
do you mean cells ? ok if they decided to make a large number of cells all with errors then yes it would take a long time and a lot of errors would be read etc, but hows that any worse than reading every single sector ? atleast with skipping every Nth sector after X consecutive errors while still in the same cell you would be speeding up ripping compared to just doing every sector irrelevant of previous errors. fast error skipping would never be slower than trying every sector and in most cases probably quite faster.

[Malphas]

what do you people think of this site?
http://www.dvddecrypter.r8.org/
Check the previous page (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=95485&page=6&pp=20).

[hhanh00]

do you mean cells ? ok if they decided to make a large number of cells all with errors then yes it would take a long time and a lot of errors would be read etc, but hows that any worse than reading every single sector ? atleast with skipping every Nth sector after X consecutive errors while still in the same cell you would be speeding up ripping compared to just doing every sector irrelevant of previous errors. fast error skipping would never be slower than trying every sector and in most cases probably quite faster.
I agree - It's a good idea and very worth doing. Why do you want to keep on reading on the same cell? If it has one bad sector, you can blank the whole cell.
I was saying it was not infaillible as a very evil DVD can still take too long to rip.

[dragongodz]

Even so, if there are any unreadable sectors in a cell, the entire cell might as well be marked bad, as dragongodz pointed out (I think). A cell is the smallest unit of playback.
yes you could consider the whole cell as bad and just fill it with replacement data(since the length of the cell is known from the ifo then adding blank frames ,for example, of the same length with any ifo adjustment etc as needed). however if the error didnt happen until part way through you would just add the replacement data from that point and keep the partial material you ripped succesfully. that would be better for trying to rip and recover damaged dvds IMHO.

[dragongodz]

Why do you want to keep on reading on the same cell? If it has one bad sector, you can blank the whole cell.
yes as i said thats 1 option. depends if you are trying to recover a normally damaged dvd or a purposfully damaged dvd.
for a purposfully damaged one then just replacing the whole cell is of course fine. however for a dvd the kids dropped and scratched you may want to try and recover more if possible. in that case skipping forward and reading again within a cell may show more of the cell is readable and recoverable.
so under fast skipping you could have 2 options, 1. replace cell from damaged section on, 2. fast skip through cell.

[PatchWorKs]

what about join an open source backup tool (FairUse (www.fairusewizard.com)) ?

[dragongodz]

what about join an open source backup tool (FairUse) ?
i notice you have said this in 2 threads now, why ? is fairuse a ripper ? that is does it simply rip all files from a dvd to hd so you can process(burn, convert, whatever) with another program or is it infact a dvd to avi/ogm/mkv tool ?
of course i know the answer already, the questions should have given that away. :)

to answer you question though, of course if UMP wanted to add these types of handleing of dvds to fairuse that would be up to him. however that would NOT suddenly make it a dvd ripper like dvddecrypter. the reason i mentioned smartripper is because it IS a dvd ripper similar to dvddecrypter and IS open source. it has not been updated for years but with the types of changes we are talking about it could be made in to a more relevant program with the bonus that the source would be out there for anyone to change in the future.

none of this is anywhere near urgent of course since dvddecrypter does a fine job for now. its just some general musings by me about what could be done in the future if anyone wished to. :D

[LoloMc]

Does anyone have any news of LUK? Doesn't have to be DVDD-related. Just to know he's ok.

Anyone can confirm everything is OK for him ? Doom9 ? Please ;)

[Malphas]

He posted on CD Freaks with regard to the imposter, so I guess he's still around somewhere.

[castellanos]

It is getting messy!
New site pretending to be a re-born LIGHNTING UK! and also, some people offering a new version of DVD Decrypter 3.5.5.0... all fake!! :angry:
It would be nice to clarify officialy (Something in the news) that all those links are fakes. To keep people out of confusion and for LUK! sake too.
Greetings!

[PatchWorKs]

i notice you have said this in 2 threads now, why ?

Sorry for the doubled post, but i had not seen this 3ad before... :p

is fairuse a ripper ?
No, but this is the core problem.

A so called 'DECRYPTER' can be stopped/sued for DMCA infrightment (protections circumvention), a backup tool not (here in EU, backup copies are legal).

FairUse have the great characteristic that needs the 'original' DVD to work (or an ISO file...) so is more hard to say it is an illegal tool.

We need to circumvent the laws, not (only) the protections :D

[rkr1958]

http://www.dvddecrypter.r8.org/ Is this for real? DVDDecrypter is back?

[Wildfire]

http://www.dvddecrypter.r8.org/ Is this for real? DVDDecrypter is back?

Nope. I don't believe it all. First of all, if it was real LUK would surely be sued after all. Further more, the "Dvd Decrypter is BACK!!" newsitem is written in quite another style than the original newsitems from LUK himself. And wasn't DVD Decrypter developed by LUK himself? This site claims DVD Decrypter had a development team...

So, all in all: I suggest you don't believe it. I will only believe that DVD Decrypter is back when we see a) a newsitem on Doom9 and b) a really functioning new version of DVD Decrypter.

[goober22]

http://www.dvddecrypter.r8.org/ Is this for real? DVDDecrypter is back?

No, a fake.

LIGHTNING UK! even posted a reply to a thread over at CDfreaks about it, so at least he is still around but no connection to that guy.

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.php?p=1018907&postcount=115

[Malphas]

http://www.dvddecrypter.r8.org/ Is this for real? DVDDecrypter is back?
Try reading the whole thread. You're the third person to have mentioned this.

[rkr1958]

Try reading the whole thread. You're the third person to have mentioned this.Sorry if I am ... but how so?

[Malphas]

It doesn't really matter, there's just no need for the thread to repeat itself over and over or start going off-topic (which I guess is what I'm doing now, sorry).

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=667330#post667330

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=671422#post671422

[mrslacker]

I've alerted xthost.info (the web hosting for the fake site), and they have removed it. Actually, I'm surprised they did so. If it makes LUK!'s life easier, I'm happy they deleted it.

Maybe the topic will stop coming up.

[dragongodz]

A so called 'DECRYPTER' can be stopped/sued for DMCA infrightment (protections circumvention), a backup tool not (here in EU, backup copies are legal).
maybe in some countries of the EU but is that so in the U.K where Lightning UK lives ? it would appear not from this
http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=df36a0n3k7c6m?tname=copyright-law-of-the-united-kingdom&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc04b

go down to the "Fair Dealing and other exceptions" part. it sounds a similar situation as it is here in Australia. no fair use, though atleast our government have said they are thinking of introducing it.
also from what i read of some of Germanys DMCA before they ban even mentioning any tools that break protections from websites. so to say the whole EU says you can make backups is not correct.

as for saying Dvddecrypter is not a backup tool anyway which is why it could be stopped, thats false. the fact is you can read a dvd to an iso image and then burn said iso, though with dvd9's you would need a DL burner of course. so it can easily be called a backup tool.

the real issue i think is the breaking of so called copy protections such as macrovision and css. i should say effective protections but since they are not i wont. :D
so macrovision are scared LUK would break their ripguard as easily as he did arccos and took steps to stop it.

[LIGHTNING UK!]

I've alerted xthost.info (the web hosting for the fake site), and they have removed it. Actually, I'm surprised they did so. If it makes LUK!'s life easier, I'm happy they deleted it.

Maybe the topic will stop coming up.

Actually, I don't think that was down to you!

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.php?p=1021247&postcount=122

It's amazing they can react so quickly to these things now and yet it took them almost 2 years to ask me to stop.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Nice to see you on the forum again :)

Is there anything we can do to help you in your current plight?


Cheers

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Unless you can change laws, I doubt it!

Thanks for asking though :)

[SeeMoreDigital]

Are you able to tell us whether MacroVision will be seeking damages/court action?


Cheers

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Not at the moment I can't no.

Maybe more will become clear when the whole things has been done and dusted.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Thanks again for keeping us apprised with your situation.

Hopefully, talking to us will not place you in any further difficulties :(


Cheers

[Chetwood]

also from what i read of some of Germanys DMCA before they ban even mentioning any tools that break protections from websites.

More info in english on The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/11/heise_not_allowed_to_mention_slysoft/).

I don't think they have a law as extensive as the 'DMCA' in Germany. The problem is that although your right to fair use still remains you are prevented from actually using it since you are not to allowed to circumvent any copy protection. You have the right to do a copy of a CD you OWN UNLESS it is copy protected.

The other problem is that anyone who sents an lawyer after you to issue an injunction does not have to pay their fee but you, the target of the injunction does. And since this fee derives from the amount in dispute (correct term?) which is also set by said lawyer you are quickly facing extensive figures. Curiously enough you have to pay this fee even if you decide to sign the injunction and cease and desist what you were doing. The only way around having to pay this is to go to court with all the risks and costs involved...

So the only solution to this problem is to develop upcoming tools with DVDD's functionality (maybe someone picks up where Smartripper stopped) as Open Source and/or distribute them from countries with more userfriendly laws like France. Once it's somewhere out there there's no stopping it.

[SeeMoreDigital]

And just to underline the current situation. Earlier today Doom9 reported on his news page, the following... Last but not least a word of warning: they may look pretty official, may even have the word official in the title, but the official DVD Decrypter homepage is down and will stay down until further notice (you'll hear it here, don't trust any report unless it comes from a reputable news site). And there will be no new version of DVD Decrypter.

Perhaps the software will be able to exist in another form once the legal dust has settled, but for now the version you can find on this site is the latest. If you try anything else, you run the risk of getting infected by viruses, trojans, or whatnot.

So stay away from a site that a friend of a friend heard about...

Cheers

[mrslacker]

Actually, I don't think that was down to you!

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.php?p=1021247&postcount=122

It's amazing they can react so quickly to these things now and yet it took them almost 2 years to ask me to stop.
Not surprisingly, that guy is full of s**t. He was using r8.org to redirect to xthost.info, a free hosting service. In the xthost forum, I told them the fake site was an annoyance. Three hours later, the admin deleted the site. See the thread. (http://dhost.info/forums/index.php?showtopic=6274)

Maybe this wasn't my place to say anything, but the admin at xthost.info definitely took the site down in response to my post there. Just trying to help you out LIGHTNING UK!.

[mrslacker]

It appears he has moved it to geocities now. Here's the new fake location: http://www.geocities.com/freedvddecrypter/index.html . It is also directed to from www.dvddecrypter.r8.org. He's not done yet apparently.

EDIT: Whatever, it's just a mirror.

[Malphas]

I'm not a legal expert or anything but I think LUK would have had a good chance in court, these types of companies like to send out strongly worded emails/letters with the hope that it should be enough to discourage people when they may not even be that confident of their case - just look at how many CoDs The Pirate bay has recieved and what legal action has come about as a result (although of course what The Pirate Bay does is completely different to just creating a tool for people to make personal back-ups).

Of course I probably would have done the same thing in Lightning's shoes, it's perfectly understandable that you don't want to risk large fines or other penalties over the situation.

[m1ckran]

Glad you're still around LUK. :thanks:

And thanks to the people who responded to my post about LUK's welfare. I didn't think of cdfreaks; Doom9 is much nicer. I was almost beginning to feel that some people were more interested in their own ripping problems than in the man himself. People matter more.

I still don't understand how a company can produce a product "not fit for the purpose for which it was intended" (legal term) then sue everyone who exposes it for what it is.

I'm angry with the whole media industry in general and, although I'm not being bolshie, I find that I'm losing interest in the whole music/movie business. It's not as if the artistical quality is there anymore (with only a few exceptions, Smeagol), but I'm beginning to feel insulted whenever I buy a DVD. I think I'll be buying fewer DVD's in future. If you kick a dog often enough, you can't complain if it doesn't come to you anymore.

[SeeMoreDigital]

There is certainly a need for an application such as DVD Decrypter, even if it did not do any actual "decrypting" :eek:

I regularly receive non encrypted DVD's from people within the media industry and find DVD Decrypter offers a perfect level of flexibility ie: de-muxing by chapter, stream processing, saving to ISO, burning etc. So I don't (always) use it to "decrypt"

That said, if such an new style DVD application just happened to function in-conjunction with an third party decrypting tool... then I guess I'll just have to put up with it ;)

I wonder what we could call such a tool? DVD Investigator, DVD Info4U... What do you guys think?


Cheers

[MSlv]

Or just DVD Decrypter, in memory of "the good old days"
:D

[absinthe]

I've been thinking that if I could write such a program, I'd call it ....

Ripster

-abs

[m1ckran]

... Or DVD Lightning!

[SeeMoreDigital]

... Or DVD Lightning!I like that name... It would be the ultimate homage to an DVD hero :D


Cheers

[feedback]

I like that name... It would be the ultimate homage to an DVD hero


I believe homage has been paid, somewhat.

The New Free Program (http://www.dvdidle.com/download/DVDFabDecrypter29.exe) has changed it's name to DVDFAB Decrypter.

Regards,:)

[SeeMoreDigital]

I believe homage has been paid, somewhat.

The New Free Program (http://www.dvdidle.com/download/DVDFabDecrypter29.exe) has changed it's name to DVDFAB Decrypter.

Regards,:)Don't get me wrong, it's good to have free DVD decrypting tools... but DVDFabDecrypyer is sadly hardly in the same league as DVD Decrypter :(


Cheers

[feedback]

hardly in the same league as DVD Decrypter

Not to many app's are in the same league. Still, it's the thought that counts.

Regards,:)

[wild77]

It seems LIGHTNING UK! is in a leauge of his own to bring us such a great program for free.Better than 99% of the commercial software out there.He was the man and always will be as far as I am concerned.

As for the name how about?

DVD LIGHTNING!!
The Ultimate Burner!!! :devil:

Best of Luck to LIGHTNING UK!

[Jack'n'xbox]

There is certainly a need for an application such as DVD Decrypter, even if it did not do any actual "decrypting" :eek:

I regularly receive non encrypted DVD's from people within the media industry and find DVD Decrypter offers a perfect level of flexibility ie: de-muxing by chapter, stream processing, saving to ISO, burning etc. So I don't (always) use it to "decrypt"

Cheers
You said friend DVDD is and all around tool. It dose so much and its stability with other software is remarkable.

[cypher_soundz]

well i will throw another random name out there :D
LIGHTNING DVD BURNER! or LIGHTNING'S DVD BURNER!
would there be a problem if L.UK released the souce code with out any decrypting algo's in the code? they can't do/say anything to him then and with a little bit of know how i dont think it would be to hard to implement a working version again ;) (with a little help from Frank A. Stevenson and Ethan Hawke etc etc) sneeky sneeky lol
Regards
cyph

[dirio49]

how about LIGHTNING BURNER!
The One And Only!

[duffyy]

Firstly, is there any need to remove analogue protection from a DVD, Macrovision, if there is no intention to copy the DVD to a VHS tape?

Secondly, who still copies DVDs to VHS tape these days, with the price of blank DVDs well below the cost of blank VHS tapes? ( In SA the price of blank DVDs are 1/4 of the price of a blank VHS tape.)

Bearing the above in mind, and if the answer to point 1 is no, could "LIGHTNING" not release the software excluding the analogue protection removal scheme? ( Macrovision have no control over any protection scheme that is not theirs ), unless of couse if the digital copy protect is also theirs.

Why would Macrovision still hang on to an almost obsolete copy protection scheme? It appears that a number of studios no longer make use of their scheme and that Macrovision are therefore trying to capitilise on other methods of earning a living (ie lawsuits).

I may be wrong in my thinking, as I am not heavily involved in the technical terms of copy protections, and if I am wrong, I apologise.

LIGHTNING UK, we are behind you. thanks you for your great work.

[Doom9]

Firstly, is there any need to remove analogue protection from a DVD, Macrovision, if there is no intention to copy the DVD to a VHS tape?No

Secondly, who still copies DVDs to VHS tape these days, with the price of blank DVDs well below the cost of blank VHS tapes? ( In SA the price of blank DVDs are 1/4 of the price of a blank VHS tape.)I'm afraid most people are incapable of copying a DVD on their PC so they need a standalone recorder, and those are definitely not available in most households.. plus they'd use analogue connectors again.. and here comes Macrovision..

I cannot give any details about what was mentioned in the charges, right now we only have Macrovision, but it has already been voiced that since Arccos was broken rather quickly, Macrovisio might be worried about their Ripguard metting the same fate and thus this was a preventive strike.

[iNFO-DVD]

Firstly, is there any need to remove analogue protection from a DVD, Macrovision, if there is no intention to copy the DVD to a VHS tape?Actually yes, when I was doing my ripper lots of people would ask for macrovision removal because they used to display their movies via a projector which, I was told, plays up just like a VCR when Macrovision is present.

[Mug Funky]

a friend of mine needed to buy a de-macrovision box so his grandmother could watch DVDs on her RF only TV. the DVD player obviously didn't have RF-out, so it had to be run into the VCR and passed through that into the TV. in this case macrovision doesn't even allow you to watch your own DVDs. of course the solution to buying a de-macrovision box is to copy the disc without macrovision.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Why did your friend not buy his grand-mother an "scart/composite video to RF converter"? :D


Cheers

[Chetwood]

Firstly, is there any need to remove analogue protection from a DVD, Macrovision, if there is no intention to copy the DVD to a VHS tape?


I'm also surprised to see some ppl still work with tapes, I was so happy to dump all that crap and move to CD-R/DVD-R when it finally was achieveable. Of course if you have your valued holiday movies or something but even then you should consider digitizing them.


Bearing the above in mind, and if the answer to point 1 is no, could "LIGHTNING" not release the software excluding the analogue protection removal scheme? ( Macrovision have no control over any protection scheme that is not theirs ), unless of couse if the digital copy protect is also theirs.


From the bits I've gathered I think it's safe to say that LUK! won't release anything barely resembling DVDD for the time being due to the gagging order forced upon him.

Like Doom9 already suggested it's most likely due to their upcoming copy protection "RipGuard" that they took LUK! out of the race. Which in itself would totally discourage me as a Hollywood studio from paying $$$ for said protection cause it WILL be circumvented in no time by someone else anyway.

[geffroman]

It seems LIGHTNING UK! is in a leauge of his own to bring us such a great program for free.

LUK is in a league all his own... But his software was ONLY FREE for the cheap bastards that never donated!

Think about that for those of you that took.... took.... and still take... Give something to some of these guys every once in a while... You never know when it's too late...

[SeeMoreDigital]

Think about that for those of you that took.... took.... and still take... Give something to some of these guys every once in a while... You never know when it's too late... There could be a more dangerous side to this point... For all those people who have forwarded contributions to Lightning UK... I would hate to think that MacroVision has a list of their names :eek:


Cheers

[fraorlando]

Yes money can be easely traced. No one who engages in activity critical to corporate interests should take money through a credit card system, especially not paypal, since it is well known for freezing accounts and so on.
And i wouldnt send money either per paypal or credit card for such uses, sorry.
And LUK had a paypal account. I think they have found him that way.

What about anonymous postboxes and recieving money per snail mai for such uses?

[Chetwood]

Yes money can be easely traced. No one who engages in activity critical to corporate interests should take money through a credit card system, especially not paypal, since it is well known for freezing accounts and so on.

Don't get paranoid, guys. Do you really think Macrovision would come after each one of you who donated to DVDD? Besides, there are countries where you can use those tools legally and/or you could have been using it for legal purposes like DVD burning. I'm using DVDD to burn my DVD-Rs cause I don't like bloatware like Nero especially if I do have to download 30+ MB to get support for my new writer.

@geffroman

That's just they way it is. I've got about 5000 downloads of MultiShrink and about 7 ppl of them donated.

[fraorlando]

@ chetwood : Personally, i've no problem with the legality of tools for private backups :) And yes, i think they wont go after people who donated - they wouldnt had anything in hand to proof any form of illegality.
Also i think LUK would have succeeded in court - like DVD John did because the legal grounds are quite shaky on matters of private copying.
Anyway, i think without a paypal account, macrivision would never found out about his whereabouts. sic!

[Chetwood]

Anyway, i think without a paypal account, macrivision would never found out about his whereabouts. sic!

I assume it was either his domain or forum registered to his real name or something.

[wild77]

LUK is in a league all his own... But his software was ONLY FREE for the cheap bastards that never donated!

Think about that for those of you that took.... took.... and still take... Give something to some of these guys every once in a while... You never know when it's too late...

After getting burned by 321 studios Xcopy crap! I was lucky enough to find Afterdawn, Doom9 and the Shrink site. Decrypter was the only ripper that never let me down. The Decrypter~Shrink combo is hard to beat at any price! I donated to LIGHTNING UK! without a problem and would do the same again for any Legal issues he might need help with. If Macrovision worked as hard as LIGHTNING on there products they would not need to sue everyone,they would have a product that works!

Best of luck to the one and only LIGHTNING UK!

Screw Macrovision!

[jwo62]

I dont even see why macrovision inc would even give a crap if dvdd removed macrovison from a dvd. its not like someone who can copy a whole dvd on thier pc is then going to try and copy it to vhs.

[goober22]

I dont even see why macrovision inc would even give a crap if dvdd removed macrovison from a dvd. its not like someone who can copy a whole dvd on thier pc is then going to try and copy it to vhs.

It is speculated that it was a "preemptive strike" to try and protect their RIPGUARD technology coming out soon.

[mrbass]

Smartripper hasn't been developed for 3 years or so and it isn't dead. People still use it. So why do I get emails from people saying dvddecrypter is dead. I imagine people will continue using it for years to come.

[ROUGHVIPER]

it may not be dead but there won't be anymore updates from luk so as new encryptions are added it will become more and more "useless"

[Mr. Monte]

I disagree.....you can just use anydvd in background, with a few small adjustments to DVDD

[Lazza]

I disagree.....you can just use anydvd in background, with a few small adjustments to DVDD
Exactly. ;)

Yes it's very sad that DVDD has ceased but please let's stop all the hype that it will no longer be of use etc,etc,etc. AnyDVD & DVD43 & the Fentago (based in China! :D ) reange continue to be developed and are all great tools in their own right as is/was DVDD so why all the hype and panic? Especially as mrbass, Mr. Monte and others have pointed out that it still works on just about everything ever made anyway without even needing outside help from AnyDVD or the like.

Let's just all calm down and have a nice cup of tea to reagain *TRUE* perspective. ;)

[iNFO-DVD]

I second that :)

[Mr. Monte]

Puff-Puff-Pass :)

[f@chance]

Lazza, with your user name I thought sipping a cup of Lavazza would be more appropiate. :D

[Lazza]

Lazza, with your user name I thought sipping a cup of Lavazza would be more appropiate. :D
Hey I'm easy, that'll do instead. Nice coffee especially the crema gusta :D

[f@chance]

Ran yesterday into my first difficulty backing up Bride & Prejudice. Ripped it with DVD Shrink and it worked. Shouldn't have happened but ... error was probaly between Keybord and chair.

Now for an excellent frappochino :D

[Lazza]

Ran yesterday into my first difficulty backing up Bride & Prejudice. Ripped it with DVD Shrink and it worked.
Funny you should say that I had exactly the same thing with the PAL version of that DVD about a month back and Shrink ripped fine.

[f@chance]

Thanks so error was not between keyboard and chair.

Well mine was the PAL version. I checked all the different settings clicked on restore defaults but no dice. Anyhow I think I will invest in a certain enterprise that is being developed in Antigua :)

[PALace]

Just joined forum, having been a secret browser for a while. Thought I'd add my tribute to the late, great dvddecrypter which is this

[mrslacker]

The guy running dvddecrypter.r8.org is really full of it. He claims Macrovision forced his geocities and lycos hosting down. Maybe he's going for sympathy donations??? Now he's back at xthost.info... briefly I would guess.

[shevegen]

This is the problem with claims, and credibility.
Even if its true, I would never believe it unless there is really good proof.

( The worst thing ever are "al-quaeda terrorists" showing proof that they are responsible for x y z on some web sites ... bla bla bla bla bla )

[CrisCr0ss]

with the above post what does this have to do with the topic....

anyways if the program he creates still does wut its predecessor did then hell with it im using it.

[Gurm]

The guy running dvddecrypter.r8.org is really full of it. He claims Macrovision forced his geocities and lycos hosting down. Maybe he's going for sympathy donations??? Now he's back at xthost.info... briefly I would guess.

This is my problem with the guy. People are supporting him, saying "oh he apologized for pretending to be LUK!, so now he's ok", but honestly he's just a lying asshat. His sites were pulled because Doom9 and Club CD Freaks and AfterDawn members bitched out the hosting companies for hosting this asshat's fake site, and they yanked him.

[Mr. Monte]

anyways if the program he creates still does wut its predecessor did then hell with it im using it.

Problem is he did not create it. He took LUK's proggy, unpacked it and calls it his

Not very morale to say the least. Anyway...the "ORIGINAL" DVDD still works great (only needs outside help with small amount of flicks)

[CrisCr0ss]

i believe the current dvd decrypter before it was shutdown should be released as a FINALE because it has nothing wrong with it no perks at least none i have come across as of this date.

[mastercontrol]

i believe the current dvd decrypter before it was shutdown should be released as a FINALE because it has nothing wrong with it
I highly doubt it. It would've had to be updated whenever a new form of protection is introduced (or a variant of an existing one). That's why you see some people here having problems ripping newer discs.

[max-holz]

Is there a new version of DVD Decrypter? Where? Searching with google I can find only many many fakes of bastard people.

[feedback]

Is there a new version of DVD Decrypter? Where? Searching with google I can find only many many fakes of bastard people.
Well all those bast... people suck eggs!

Here is a direct download (http://www.doom9.org/Soft21/Rippers/SetupDVDDecrypter_3.5.4.0.exe) of DVD Decrypter. It's not new, but it is the last.

Regards,:)

[feedback]

Read this Link (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=667229#post667229) it will tell you how to keep using DVDD.

Regards,:)

[LoloMc]

Hi,

Does anybody has any news about LUK! ??
I'd like to know if those fu**ing bas**rs had stop their lawsuits

Thanks in advance

[Zyphon]

Hi,

Does anybody has any news about LUK! ??
I'd like to know if those fu**ing bas**rs had stop their lawsuits

Thanks in advance

I very much doubt it. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for DVD Decrypter to be updated either we have to look for the alternative options unfortunately. :)

[LoloMc]

I very much doubt it. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for DVD Decrypter to be updated either we have to look for the alternative options unfortunately. :)

I'm not waiting for any update of DVDDecrypter*... I just want to be sure that the author, Lightning Uk!, does not have trouble anymore....


*As Doom9 told us that it's over