Posted on 09/12/2008 4:15:08 PM PDT by Las Vegas Dave
RealNetworks is putting its considerable prestige behind a DVD-copying Windows application, moving into territory hitherto occupied by illegal freeware.
The $30 program called RealDVD will copy not only the main disc content but also the extras and art. In an interview with The New York Times, Real chief Robert Glaser calls it "a compelling and very responsible product" for making disc backups and transferring content to a laptop for viewing on the road.
Expect Hollywood to erupt over this like a volcano. The studios have long litigated against companies making DVD ripping software, which circumvents the DVD Copy Control Association's CCA digital rights management. They've even gone after companies like Kaleidescape, which legitimately licensed CCA for a media server product that stores movies on a home network.
But that last bit boomeranged when Kaleidescape won the right in court to go on marketing its product as a legitimate CCA licensee. Presumably that had an impact on Real's decision to move forward with RealDVD. It's also emboldened other companies to offer media servers. I saw two or three of them at CEDIA, including Sunfire's Theater Grand Media Server.
RealDVD is not without anti-piracy features. It will allow only one copy, and it will play only on the computer that made it. Transfer to up to five more computers is allowable at an extra cost of $20 each. The program works only with DVD, not Blu-ray. And it puts up "significant barriers" to file sharing.
A recent survey found that a third of consumers rip DVDs.
Doubtful. Anything from RealSpyNetworks does nothing but bog down the computer and tries to take it over.
I have everything from RealSpy banned from my computer, my firewall is in full alert mode for anything from RealSpy ......
/rant off
I thought you were legally allowed to make a copy of a DVD or CD you buy...?
Why give money to those jokers and bloat your PC when you can use DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink for free?
I couldn’t agree more. A useful program from Real? Color me skeptical.
That rocks. There’s an article in, hmm, MacLife, regarding backups, and why they’re a good idea (disks get damaged or mishandled or broken); also there’s a limit to region-switching (five times I think) built into firmware, and the rippers often offer the option of setting region to zero.
You are.
...but the tools to do it are illegal.
Really.
yup.
“Ripit4me” combines those 2 with a couple of other programs for those really tough dvd’s.
Thanks, I’ll have to try it out.
It's a shame too, because years ago I bought the hard-boxed version of Real Jukebox and really liked how it performed playing CD's ... straightforward, because I'm a simpleton and just want to play the damn CD, not be bothered with all this "favorites" and "skins" and all that crap ... then Real Jukebox started getting weird, making "suggestions" and such, and then began 'calling home' by linking with my browser which started getting pop-up windows directly related to Real Networks ... then it took over control of the CD/DVD player in my machine, which was the breaking point for me, EVERY media file it tried to become the 'default' program for.
So I laughed a bit and uninstalled it, then reinstalled it, this time by saying NO NO NO NO NO NO to every question during the install process ... that worked for about two weeks before it started taking control once again, this time without my consent ... and then began 'bickering' with Windows Media Player in a conflict which got so bad that the CD/DVD component would just lock up and not do anything but blink its yellow light rapidly. Uninstalled it again, but didn't reinstall again.
Shortly afterwards I got a new computer, a fresh slate as it were ... so figured that the earlier problems with Real Jukebox was related to old drivers and .dll's which might not have been fully cleared during the previous uninstall/reinstall's .... Nope, within two weeks on the new machine, Real Jukebox began doing the *exact* same thing! Taking over the computer, pop-ups, etc etc ...
Needless to say, anything from Real has become persona-non-grata on any of my machines. I don't need its aggravation, and I certainly won't pay for the privilege of its aggravation!
/k, rant off .... now can I say how I really feel about it? /laughs
I watched “The Princess Bride” on the plane to Dallas on my Creative Zen after using their CloneDVD Mobile and AnyDVD. And I no longer take my original DVDs out of the house, only backups I’ve made with CloneDVD.
Mark
Wish I could.
A spyware free alternative to the RealPlayer spyware delivery system is Media Player Classic, a free download from here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli
Seems to work OK, and never calls home.
Real Jukebox wasn’t even their software. It was something they bought from another company and re-branded. I forget the name of the original software, but I agree that it was nice.
I recommend it highly.
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