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Filed under: Security, Utilities, Video

Slysoft promises AnyDVD will crack future HD-DVD/Blu-Ray discs

AnyDVDThere's a cat and mouse game that goes on between those who produce professional videos and those who want to watch those videos on their own terms. Every time the folks behind DVDs, Blu-Ray discs, or HD-DVDs serve up a new DRM scheme, hackers go to work trying to figure out how to circumvent that encryption.

You can look at this as a noble or malicious act: either the hackers want to make sure you can watch the movie on any machine you choose, or they want to make sure you can upload the videos to file sharing sites. The reality is probably somewhere in the middle.

Earlier this year SlySoft released a commercial application for ripping HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs. The only problem is that disc manufacturers could keep offering up new encryption keys that would make the software obsolete.

Now SlySoft has released an updated version of AnyDVD that it says it "future-proof," because it includes an artificial intelligence agent that figures out how to strip DRM from movies even if those movies are encrypted using a previously unknown key.

Update: It looks like the "AI Scanner" only works with DVDs, not HD-DVDs and Blu-Ray discs. Considering it's been pretty easy to rip DVDs for some time now, that makes this "future-proof" guarantee a bit less exciting.

[via Extreme Tech]

Filed under: Utilities, Video

Surprise! MPAA not too happy about BackupHDDVD

HD DVDWell, who would have seen that coming? Apparently the Motion Picture Association isn't particularly happy about BackupHDDVD, a tool developed by the hackers over at the doom9 forum that decrypts AACS encryption on HD DVDs.

The MPAA sent a notice to SourceForge, asking them to take down all the files related to the program, and SourceForge complied. That's not to say that you can't find the files if you know how to look for them. But as the folks at doom9 point out, Antigua-based SlySoft has also released software that allows users to decrypt HD-DVD discs without any repercussions, so perhaps BackupHDDVD will eventually wind up with an off-shore home.

While there's some question about whether BackupHDDVD actually infringes on any copyrights or simply utilizes AACS, the truth of the matters is it's unlikely the developers have the resources to fight a legal battle.

[via Slashdot]

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