SlySoft's latest AnyDVD beta cracks BD+
By Darren Murph 
posted November 7th 2007 9:28PM
posted November 7th 2007 9:28PM
Regardless of what those oh-so-knowledgeable analysts had to say, we all knew this day was coming. Yep, that highly-touted, totally "impenetrable" copy protection technology known as BD+ has officially been brought to its knees, and it's not at all surprising to hear that we have SlySoft to thank. The AnyDVD 6.1.9.6 beta has quite a comical change log too, and aside from noting that users now have the ability to backup their BD+ movies and watch titles sans the need for HDCP-compliant equipment, it also includes a candid note to Twentieth Century Fox informing the studio that its prior assumptions about BD+'s effectiveness were apparently incorrect. You know the drill, hit the read link below to try 'er out.[Thanks, Aaron]
My wallet speaks for me. Show me a $299 BR player. You can't unless it's used. $199 is still a great price with all the included movies you get. Until BR comes down, my wallet is telling me to buy HD DVD. Price of movies may be $1-2 cheaper on BR, but the $300 I saved by buying a $99 HD DVD player will more than make up for the prices of the movies. You said it yourself, the encoding is the same now, so why should I pay $300 more to play the same quality movies with less features. You may not care about BR Profile 1.1, but people who already spent $500+ to buy the 1st gen players and will have to spend $350+ on another player do care. BR isn't finalized yet, they are already talking about profile 2.0.
I agree with a lot of your points. However 1.1 is finalized, so BR is a complete format.
BR 2.0 brings network access. Not only don't I care about network access, I DO NOT WANT IT. As soon as my player starts to check in with the internet before playing a movie, we're all doomed. You'll have discs that expire or such. Hollywood loves to sell you the same content over and over, and net access is a means for them to pull more crap like that.
Very few non-PS3 BD players have been sold. And the PS3 is expected to be patchable to 1.1. And again, I don't care if they can. Did you see the latest discs? Ratatoullie has sections of interactive content that are so complex they take 2-3 minutes to start up on some players. I'm not interested in any of that stuff. I just want to watch movies, and BD is working great for that, a little better than HD-DVD (which is more than fine) even.
You say I should just sit back and buy an HD-DVD player. I'm not interested. Toshiba has worked to actively screw customers of HD disc players. I am not going to be a party to that. I support companies that work to improve user experience fo their customers, not to make things worse for others.
This could be a major point for HD-DVD. for studios. One of the major selling points has been the multiple levels of security. If both platform's security are equally crap....
god some of the teats on this thread really make my head hurt.
i don't own either format, so ive no stupidly expensive outlay to justify....
I personally have nothing but contempt for the entire movie industry for blanket assuming all people are pirates. In a world where the realisation that DRM is a complete wast of time, the movie companies roll out the most irritating versions yet.
anyway, is it cracked as such, or is it just the ability to copy the entire disk and back it up, you still cant convert to another format?
either way, as much as i like HD, there is really no need to pay out a fortune and support god awful DRM formats, ill stick with DVD and just enjoy watching the films :P
"I personally have nothing but contempt for the entire movie industry for blanket assuming all people are pirates. In a world where the realisation that DRM is a complete wast of time, the movie companies roll out the most irritating versions yet."
You have now hit upon the point of copy protection. It's to be extremely annoying so all but the most dedicated users don't bother. The fact that it's taken them 6 weeks to crack the first implementation of BD+ means it was very effective, as about 50% of a disc's overall sales happen in that first month.
They'll just roll out a different implementation of BD+ and patch for this one. You can write a new version of it every day of the week if you want to, unlike AACS it's completely software based.
this is all so totally pointless, anyway: 3.9 TERABYTE holographic HVDs are right around the corner. like we should pick a side now, and then buy all our movies for a 3rd time in like 2-3 years? i think i'll just skip this round, thank you.
Blah blah blah. Who cares? Really? BR is a better "technical standard" no one is saying that isn't true. But what does being the technical standard really gain us? Nothing, thats what. In a few years, sure, maybe that extra bandwidth and data compression will help all of us who have moved on to whatever is after 1080p. But the currently both standards fill the role they were designed to fill, perfectly. Until there is a "killer app" that requires the extra heavy lifting blue-ray can do, it is worthless. And don't even bring up "backing up data only requires one disc instead of two!". You know what the industry standard is for backing up data? Tape drives. Everyone needs to calm down, and get a little perspective. We are, at the minimum, 2-3 years off from the Blue-Ray/HDDVD debate actually mattering. And a sad but true fact, by the time both of these two formats are ready to be retired to make way for the next big format, most of the world will still be using old analog set-top boxes. Lets add in digital distribution. I haven't watched/played/bought anything on disc format in over a year. A few mouse clicks and then piping the results of my 15 seconds of labor to my TV is so much easier than dealing with stupid packaging. The winner of the "Format War", isn't going to be whoever builds a shiny new disc. The winner of the format war is going to be whoever can figure out licensing on how to hookup things like Steam and Itunes directly to your TV/Console/Whatever of choice hassle free, and then bundle it so you can start the download of it while you are at work from a web-browser, then port it to a laptop/portable player and back again.
Why can't you all just solve this like men (which i presume most of you are) and put all the stats side-by-side, unbiased. This is sounding like (forgive the expression) a cat fight, each person taking offense where none is implied.
IM(O)pinion: Blu-ray= expensive, makes perfectionists happy
HD-DVD= less expensive, similar quality, more development potential
Thank you slysoft for expanding our options.
Mainly @LS7, but also to anyone that is attempting to trump one format over the other: do you own stock in that company, specific, BD stock or HDDVD? Just curious, cause you sound like the salesman at circuit city in Sept when I brought my 42in Vizio(yes Vizio and I love it). See, the city had a promotion on the Toshiba a2 by it for 199.00 and get a 100.00 gift card. It also had the 5 HD movies deal. So, when I said I want both, the manager's special was 100.00 of any tv accessory when you buy a 42in or higher. 199.00-100.00 gift card-100.00 off any access. = -1cent. Figure the rest out, including what I did for purchase.
Some will say that, "Toshiba has to do these things... blah blah blah." Businesses do stuff all the time to get your business. Rebates, anyone. Seem to remember Sony offering 5 free HD movies if you purchase that overprice hog or that equally expensive game monster they call ps3(which to give it due is a great machine). It is all about how one views it.
So now I am an early adopter that got his hd player for free, + one penny!!!!! Does that mean I am going to bow down and kiss Toshiba's ass and proclaim that HDDVD is God? Uh, no. I am happy that I have a good machine that takes maybe 30 seconds to boot an HD movie, that I got to see 300 and transformers in HD, and I am looking forward to watching more movies as Europe distributors do not have to abide by this silly war and place BD exlusives here in the states on HDDVD and vice versa. Amazon UK FTW
Did anyone consider this? BD for its storage should be marketed for the computer business. They now have 50gigs, 100gigs soon(or maybe already here). Leave HDDVD as a movie platform. Everyone wins, including us, the consumer, because it is a fact that making HDDVD movies are less expensive because the factory specs are similar to DVD. What makes them equal or more in price is this stupid war. They are losing their collective asses in selling 99.00 players in addition to the marketing.
Just leave BD to the geeks like us that salivate and ejaculate over mass storage on a disc. HDDVD for movies. I mean, Transformers was awesome in HD. Now what someone give me the Michael Bay crap about DolbyHD. Can't ever win.
Sorry for the long post.
I am not paid by anyone to support a format. I support customer choice. Toshiba does not support customer choice, they are spending money to hurt customers. They need to just compete instead.
I cannot understand your comments simultaneously calling the PS3 a good machine and a piece of crap.
The 5 discs you get mail in with a BD player are almost valueless. They're crap. Just like the 5 you get with an HD-DVD player. In both cases they're old discs they have lying around that didn't sell because they're crap. Discs you get bundled, by the makers or by retailers (like Spider-Man 3, or 300, etc.) are often much better, but you're not getting 5 of those.
I am not paid by anyone to support a format. I support customer choice. Toshiba does not support customer choice, they are spending money to hurt customers. They need to just compete instead.
**That was sarcasm as I am sure you are not paid to support a format. But I would like for you to explain how/why Toshiba does not support customer choice.**
I cannot understand your comments simultaneously calling the PS3 a good machine and a piece of crap.
**Where is that coming from? I never said that PS3 was a piece of crap. I said it was expensive(and it is) and a gaming monster; and it is a gaming monster. It has a processor that has yet to be tapped to its full potential.**
The 5 discs you get mail in with a BD player are almost valueless. They're crap. Just like the 5 you get with an HD-DVD player. In both cases they're old discs they have lying around that didn't sell because they're crap. Discs you get bundled, by the makers or by retailers (like Spider-Man 3, or 300, etc.) are often much better, but you're not getting 5 of those.
**The five I got(especially U-571, Constantine) worked just fine. In what way are they crap? Are you referring to the choice of movies? How do you know they are crap? Have you or anyone you know received these movies or are you just making a blanket statement.**
Sense some hostility. I am not on either side in this war. I do believe that HDDVD would be best for movies and BD for computers and video games. If you have a legitimate argument against Toshiba in particular, lets hear it and be specific.
Wow, I don't see why some of you low rank comments made by the user "why not the LS2/LS7?"
He seems to be the most knowledgable person here... I think its just fanboys that don't like to hear the truth, face the truth some of you wow
I don't think it is so much bad mouthing for fanboyism(that a word, it is now). I believe there are individuals that do not like his double standard. "I don't support Universal..."(paraphrase). He does support BD which in turn supports Sony. My opinion, and we all have one thank you, of Sony is quite similar to how I feel about Walmart and other companies that jerk their customer base around. I am sure Toshiba and Universal have done their share of "jerking". However, unless you are a geek, you never hear about it unless it is truly spectacular. Sony is in the news an awful bit. Rarely is it anything good.
LS7 does seem knowledgeable. He is dead on his specs. Do I think that it makes a difference as far as movies are concerned? No, both play movies, both have the same codec now, both have interactive features. 30g vs. 50g. Where is the love and compromise man???? 30g for movies.... 50g for computing.
As I corrected above, I meant to say Paramount when I said Universal. Universal went single format, and I don't like it. But they did so on their own, without being bought off by Toshiba. Not true for Paramount.
I don't buy into this hating BD because of Sony. You say Sony has been in the news lately and none of it good? Well, HD-DVD has a primary software backer too, Microsoft. I could say MS is in the news lately and none of it good. But this is just as pointless as the comments towards Sony.
I made my decision based upon what the formats do for me and based upon the level of support for the two formats. HD-DVD is an orphan, by a company going it alone. I think the HD disc market is best served if there is a single format (it worked for SD disc), and I did feel that it would be easier to freeze the go it alone format out of the market and thus make it possible for people to buy a HD disc format without having to worry about making the wrong choice.
Over 85% of the HD disc players in the market do not play HD-DVDs. So HD-DVD cannot win in the short term. Since I want to see a short-term winner, I back BluRay. If we don't see a short-term winner, we may never see any winner at all, and (inferior quality) net downloads of HD content may become the norm.
BTW, off topic. Is Dolby HD better? Keep in mind I am 36 years old and those 15in subs in my trunk when I was 17, consistant fire arms qualifications over the past 7 have made my ears a tad tender. I also think that music coming from my ipod is awesome and could not sound any better to me. Audiophile I is not. But, I digress, did the Honorable Michael Bay have a point in this no Dolby HD spat he had with universal.
(For those that don't know... Bay was pissed because Transformers went to HDDVD format and he could not get dolby HD on to the oh so miniscule HDDVD disk. Really, does he want to shake the studs out of my walls?)
An interesting quote from this article:
http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/1110/transformers.html
"Indeed, I had the opportunity to attend a special 'Transformers' media event with Paramount late last week, and the question was asked almost immediately -- why no Dolby TrueHD or uncompressed PCM? The studio's answer was that due to space limitations on the disc, the decision was made to limit the audio to Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1 Surround only (here at 1.5mbps). Unfortunately, this confirms the long-held theory that the 30Gb capacity of an HD-30 dual-layer HD DVD disc has forced studios to choose between offering a robust supplements package (as they've done here) and the very best in audio quality."
...even though the review gave it 5/5 stars for audio.
Kind of dishartening to hear space already being a limiting factor this early in a medium's life.
@Beau, so going by your comment, are you trying to say we shouldn't strive for perfection, hell let's make everything aimed towards the lowest common denominator, I wonder if you say the same thing about cars.
Just because you and others choose to accept mediocrity, if near enough is good enough for you that's fine by me.
Doesn't mean I have to accept it.
All of this BS arguing and format cock-waving is pointless since the real question that needs to be asked is "Why the fvck are they still spending tons of money on DRM when it's blatantly obvious that they're fighting a losing battle against the crackerz?!"
That money and energy being spent on DRM is directly effecting consumers, yet the MPAA overlords still remain ignorant and refuse to embrace an open standard... IT'S FVCKING RIDONKULOUS!
palehorse @ Nov 8th 2007 10:13AM
All of this BS arguing and format cock-waving is pointless since the real question that needs to be asked is "Why the fvck are they still spending tons of money on DRM when it's blatantly obvious that they're fighting a losing battle against the crackerz?!"
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To collect royalties on virtually every graphics card made, every HiDef player, every disc for including such garbage (compromised or not).
Control the standards = reap the rewards.
"format cock-waving"
Thanks pale, needed that laugh.
...which would still only make sense if the DRM was itself effective. Given the pointless nature of every form of DRM, to date, why the hell do they even bother?!
To me, their research into DRM is a money sink, and I can't imagine why they haven't realized it yet...
The stubborn idiots need to realize what century it is!
To me, their research into DRM is a money sink, and I can't imagine why they haven't realized it yet...
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It's not a money sink at all. Joe pays the tolls for every device with DRM, compromised or not.
It's that simple, really. Companies scramble to get their format approved, to convince movie studios all is kosher, and now it's all about raking in the dollars (and working against the hackers).
All the while the patent owners collect their cut on every device with HDCP, HDMI, AACS, BD+ (again, compromised or not, it's part of the standard, most of these things are anyway).
Sure they can try to beef up their systems, and likely will...but it won't stop the fact that DRM is a nice money earner - provided Joe bites.
I love you SlySoft.
Most people on this topic only talk about movies and profiles and features and price and whatever.
To ME (and I suspect, a lot of people who do something ELSE with their MEDIA) is mainly about one thing:
STORAGE CAPACITY.
Thank you.
BR is not finalized at least when it comes to hardware. You buy a profile 1.1 player and when 2.0 comes out, you may have to buy another player because 1.1 doesn't mandate internet connection. How is this finalized when you have to keep upgrading hardware to play software? I'm missing something here. You keep saying I don't need this or that, but that's just an excuse to cover up the short comings of the BR players that are not finalized. I bet if BR didn't come with a "pause" feature on the player, you would say "I don't need it, who pauses a movie anyways". It's so obvious you overlook all the shortcomings and focus on being a BR fanboy vs looking at the real picture.
How has BR made the experience better, no PIP as of yet, no Ethernet to download firmware, no REGION FREE, and can't make a decision on what they want in terms of finalization with the BR players. Why not just make a profile 2.0 right now and have that as a standard vs making you buy a new player everytime they want to copy a feature HD DVD had from day 1. Oh I forgot, how else would they get you buy another $400 player from them. If anyone is milking you, it's BR. BR claims "Beyond Hi-Def", I got one for BR, "Beyond My Wallet".
I think this would be appropriate for this discussion:
http://www.rohitab.com/discuss/style_avatars/uploaded_arguing1.jpg
No I'm not trying to say that, What I'm saying is the consumer should be given the option the choose what they want at the level of price and technology they desire. Thats why you can buy a kia for 10,000 and a corvette for 60,000, and any thing between those. I know in some cases its good to force the newer better technology onto people like the DTV transition, but what your saying is like the government saying that everyone must purchase an HDTV and surround sound system for the DTV transition vs the simple requirement of upgrading to a digital tuner. I'm with you for having the best picture and sound possible but that desire has to give at some point due to cost. With HD-DVD you are given options; the entry level player is great for those who just want to move up the next level, the mid level for those who want 1080p, and then the higher end for those who the best of the best. Not everyone wants to have the best of the best. Also with the 3 layer HDDVD disk with a storage size of ~ 50gb, if there is a demand, they may do 5.1 PCM audio tracks.