DVD Decrypter -- gone forever

[dubstylee]

've got some good news and some bad news. Let's start with the good.... (tumble weed passes by)Ok, and now onto the bad: DVD 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 PMs, no nothing! END OF STORY.

Read the complete article

[tomars]

Harsh. It is not illegal to backup DVD's. Why is circumventing copy protection illegal? It should be my choice if I want to circumvent blaah blah my DVD's. Same as I should be allowed to skip past the fucking (soon to be) out of date advertisments that I am forced to watch on a DVD I HAVE BOUGHT AND I OWN.
Oh well, this version still works for most DVD's out there and most of them don't even need it. No massive loss.

[boogiedan]

i never used it, although heard rave reviews abou t it
sorry 4 yor loss

im sure something new will crop up
chin's up

[Jorge]

two words, open source

[Ogi]

Damn! I used it extensivly while I was on windows. Oh well, shame, as post above: Open source

[woodyear99]

Hey what is a decent alternative to dvd decrypter that's still under development?

[crestfallen]

Someone else will pick it up, or another tool will come along. Don't fret.

[MrCoggy]

Are you all suggesting that the author makes this program open source and thereby further incriminating himself, or that there are other alternatives for ripping copyrighted DVD's?

My guess is that DVD Shrink will be next. After all, that rips AND shrinks and makes a better job of it than any previous rubbish from 321 studios.

Sadly, the genie is out of the bottle so all these lawsuits will achieve is for "infringing" developers to pass the torch onto someone else.

[Lehk]

Afterdawn still has it, grab it while it's hot.

[The Hunter]

Already did.LOL

[xrobot]

Just continue. Host your site at some other country that is out of their "reach". No one should obstruct another's talent. You make a World Class software indeed. As least it is as important as VirualDub.

[tomars]

I don't think it matters where he hosts the files, as long as he is developing it and releasing it and helping others with it, he is helping them circumvent copy protection and is therefore breaking the law. And I doubt someone would move themselves to a remote country just to continue developing something they only started for fun.

[ABC123666]

Its a great enough program as it is and dvd's are an ageing technology. I doubt that its going to be hard to find a site that hosts the program, considering its popularity.

[Gamer8585]

SONOFA.....Hulk Angry...Hulk SMASH!!!!!!! >_<

....Ahem, now that thats out of my system: Even if servers stop hosting it we can always find it on a P2P network, everybody just has to download it and keep it in their shared folder. Plus other people will probably contiune woking on it, and even if they other people will develop other tools to rip evey kind of media. So this may be a set back, but we are still going to win the war.

[shawners]

THIs could be easily done up by releasing it on newsgroups and let others distribute it everywhere else in the file sharing realm. All that has to be done is put the release number on it and get rid of any info thats tied into it.