Redfox (AnyDVD et all) appears to be gone

[Katie Boundary]

Originally Posted by Yarc

I sent a message to XReveal and they replied very quickly indeed. It seems AnyDVD's options to remove annoying clips from DVD menus, removing intro and outro clips from DVD menus, removing annoying adverts and trailers from Blu-rays and removing titles shorter than a specified time are planned but they need to work out how AnyDVD managed this!

Someone should just run AnyDVD through a decompiler and post the results to Github. It's not like Redfox will complain or file a DMCA takedown.

[Yarc]

Originally Posted by jpsdr

@Yarc
Maybe you shoud test DGDemux (for the removing part) combined with XReveal (for the decryption part).

Thanks for the tip, I will have a look.

[UPDATE]
I've had a look but it's not helping in my particular case, unless I'm missing something which is possible because not used demuxing/muxing tools. The annoying messages are part of the playlist and if removed the BD menu does not work properly. I suspect Java code is detecting the removal. For troublesome discs it's best to just rip the titles I want and bypass the Java menus and this can be done easily with MakeMKV, CloneBD etc.

[Yarc]

Originally Posted by Katie Boundary

Someone should just run AnyDVD through a decompiler and post the results to Github. It's not like Redfox will complain or file a DMCA takedown.

I don't know but maybe they will be/are doing that. I'm not knowledgeable on this process but do know that it can be difficult if the code to be decompiled is obfuscated.

[infoxtreme]

Originally Posted by Katie Boundary

Someone should just run AnyDVD through a decompiler and post the results to Github. It's not like Redfox will complain or file a DMCA takedown.

exactly, if redfox doesn't plan on coming back that would be the best thing

[Yarc]

Originally Posted by infoxtreme

exactly, if redfox doesn't plan on coming back that would be the best thing

I suspect that unfortunately it's probably very unlikely for Redfox to come back. But even if they did I think many people would be very wary of buying again in case of them being forcibly shut down a third time. In that case it may not be viable for them even if they wanted to. So in that respect it's probably safe for someone to reverse engineer the code.

It's also possible that the developers of XReveal are clever enough to work out for themselves how to implement the AnyDVD methods.

[Prospere]

Originally Posted by Katie Boundary

Someone should just run AnyDVD through a decompiler and post the results to Github. It's not like Redfox will complain or file a DMCA takedown.

Heh, good luck with that

[Yarc]

Originally Posted by Prospere

Heh, good luck with that

Yes, not a five minute job. The output from disassemblers although readable is not like looking at the original source code, so there are no comments in the code and often no meaningful names of functions apart from any operating system functions being used, thus making it a hard job to tackle even for a good programmer, but not impossible.

I would think anyone keen enough to tackle this job will already be working on it by now, but that's not me!

[SamuriHL]

The code is obfuscated. They had to protect it from people trying to crack the license. "Not a 5 minute job" is quite an understatement.

Sent from my SM-S928U1 using Tapatalk

[Yarc]

Originally Posted by SamuriHL

The code is obfuscated. They had to protect it from people trying to crack the license. "Not a 5 minute job" is quite an understatement.

Sent from my SM-S928U1 using Tapatalk

Yes, I was trying to stress that it would take a very long time to do!

Also, I suspected the code would be obfuscated so making the task even less practicable. I think XReveal developers will have to work out how AnyDVD did some of it's additional magic for themselves. This may prove much quicker!

[kurkosdr]

Let's be realistic here, if there was interest in reverse-engineering AnyDVD HD, there would already be interest in producing a FOSS tool similar to Xreveal or MakeMKV (which is a simpler task), and such a FOSS tool would already exist. Such a FOSS tool doesn't exist (despite the existence of libraries such as libdvdcss, libaacs, and libbdplus). My guess is that the fact you have to be residing/headquartered in certain countries to not be sued for violation of "anti-circumvention" provisions (that exist in the local laws of some countries) reduces the potential contributor pool.

[Yarc]

Originally Posted by kurkosdr

Let's be realistic here, if there was interest in reverse-engineering AnyDVD HD, there would already be interest in producing a FOSS tool similar to Xreveal or MakeMKV (which is a simpler task), and such a FOSS tool would already exist. Such a FOSS tool doesn't exist (despite the existence of libraries such as libdvdcss, libaacs, and libbdplus). My guess is that the fact you have to be residing/headquartered in certain countries to not be sued for violation of "anti-circumvention" provisions (that exist in the local laws of some countries) reduces the potential contributor pool.

Indeed, and any programmers in one of the possibly safe countries able to develop such software are in a niche position and can benefit from developing the tools. In the case of XReveal, I don't know where they reside but although charging for the program, I think it's a very reasonable price for a lifetime license (however long that is).

There is also MakeMKV which is free whilst in beta and that has been for quite some time now, although we have the option to buy it.

[SamuriHL]

The thing that makes Xreveal unique and not in the same category as MakeMKV, DVDFab, AnyDVD, etc is that it doesn't provide any keys. It's really no different then VLC in this regard. The end user has to supply the keydb.cfg for it to actually decrypt anything.

[Yarc]

Originally Posted by SamuriHL

The thing that makes Xreveal unique and not in the same category as MakeMKV, DVDFab, AnyDVD, etc is that it doesn't provide any keys. It's really no different then VLC in this regard. The end user has to supply the keydb.cfg for it to actually decrypt anything.

Yes except for the option allowing it can search online for a key but that still means it doesn't provide keys itself, so maybe this makes it less prone to being hounded by organizations?

[Lessee]

Hello everybody. I'm new here and it's also a bit nostalgia that I've registered as a member of this forum. I've been using AnyDVD for many years and have always been very satisfied with the results. I intend to use it occasionally in the future and here is my question: which restrictions will I encounter as Any has no longer a connection to its server? I've installed the Database 1.0a published by the Redfox Team in March 2020. Thank you in advance and have a nice Sunday.

[SamuriHL]

You didn't specify what type of discs you're planning on using and that very much informs the answer.

For UHD, as long as you provide it an up to date keydb it should continue to work, AACS 2.1 not withstanding. This is course presumes using a libredrive compatible drive.

For Blu-ray it's a little more complicated since anydvd doesn't use keydb for Blu-ray. It should continue to work for mkb v81 and lower, for now. Once a new mkb is released that revokes the host cert and device key that it's using, it's game over for Blu-ray support in anydvd. Once your drive updates to the new mkb, you'll no longer be able to decrypt new discs, and old Blu-rays that are bus encrypted will also fail to open... Meaning you'll lose access to some older discs, as well. This is because they stopped using libredrive for Blu-ray. The workaround for older discs will be to make a protected ISO after enabling libredrive and decrypting the mounted ISO. Alternatively you can enable libredrive yourself before enabling anydvd and it should detect the lack of bus encryption. This will not help with new discs if the device key they use is revoked.

The short version is for Blu-ray it has a shelf life. For UHD as long as you have a libredrive and an updated keydb it should continue to work.

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[Lessee]

Many thanks for your reply. I decrypt primarily blu rays and based on your explanation I hope that Any will continue to support this medium for a while.

[SamuriHL]

It'll work until a new mkb.

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[coopervid]

New beta of XReveal available.

[Kju]

Added read errors info in rip window
Added content hash verifier while ripping to protected ISO files or folders

I haven't tested the new version yet, but it sounds like you no longer have to manually check your protected isos. You still have to do two rips (protected and after that unprotected from protected iso), but hopefully this will be tackled next.

[SamuriHL]

Yea I'm testing out the new beta myself and it looks nice. The author did a very nice job with the improvements!