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In Response To Restraining Order, Real Networks Pulls RealDVD

Posted by timothy on from the corporate-masochism dept.

eldavojohn writes "RealNetworks' product that allows one to copy a DVD containing a movie has been pulled. You may recall us discussing RealDVD and its legal implications." According to the linked BBC report, "RealNetworks — the firm behind the software — has responded to restraining order issued by a US court stopped selling the RealDVD software [sic]. Six major movie studios jointly sued the company on 30 September — the day the software was launched."

23 of 193 comments (clear)

  1. I'm clueless on this, but by JeanBaptiste · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Isn't there other software that allows you to copy/rip DVDs ?

    If there isn't, can I write one and get sued ? At least I'd get my name in the papers...

    1. Re:I'm clueless on this, but by Holmwood · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There is other software -- DVD Decrypter was one popular piece of software. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_Decrypter ) In the US, it may or may not be illegal under the DMCA to use such programs to back up your own DVDs. The only controlling legal authority I'm aware of said that doing so was legal, provided it was for personal use, but that distributing software to make this possible was illegal.

      Go figure.

    2. Re:I'm clueless on this, but by eldavojohn · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Isn't there other software that allows you to copy/rip DVDs ?

      Not commercial. There are open source tools that you can accomplish this with and there are certainly shady products you can find online that aren't supported and probably aren't owned and operated inside the United States. The important thing is that they are not sold at Best Buy nor are they easy to use. I know ways of doing it with Ubuntu but your average person is still mystified that typing something on a command line causes my DVD player to do something.

      DVD X Copy comes to mind although I've never used it, that's the most commercial looking stuff I've ever seen. And this is what its site says:

      Authentic DVDXCopy software is no longer being sold anywhere.

      In response to:

      If there isn't, can I write one and get sued ? At least I'd get my name in the papers...

      Sir, you need look no further than the RIAA/MPAA to be sued. Why bother writing software when you can simply create a single backup copy of a CD or DVD for your personal use and notify them that you have done so. Your name won't make the papers but you will be sued. I'm certain they will be able to show that since you had it on your computer and your computer was connected to the internet, you were distributing it to several thousand other people who had no legal right in owning it. You won't be sued for the additional price of that media, you will be sued $75,000 because that's how much money you thieved from them! And thus you can be part of the ridiculous system that is digital music today!

      --
      My work here is dung.
    3. Re:I'm clueless on this, but by Zymergy · · Score: 4, Informative

      AnyDVD and CloneDVD2 are my personal favorites for a ripper/burner.
      (The AnyDVD ripper will also rip BlueRay and HD DVD's nicely (if you buy the HD Key for HD) and it can also rip directly to a non-DRM'd DVD or HDDVD/BlueRay image file) :)
      http://www.slysoft.com/en/download.html
      http://www.elby.ch/products/clone_dvd/index.html

    4. Re:I'm clueless on this, but by homes32 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Isn't there other software that allows you to copy/rip DVDs ?

      Not commercial. There are open source tools that you can accomplish this with and there are certainly shady products you can find online that aren't supported and probably aren't owned and operated inside the United States. The important thing is that they are not sold at Best Buy nor are they easy to use. I know ways of doing it with Ubuntu but your average person is still mystified that typing something on a command line causes my DVD player to do something.

      I disagree. AnyDVD and DVDFAB Decrypter are straight forward and extremely easy to use, (1-2 button click) and have a pretty decent support base. Although you can't find them at Best Buy...

  2. Working together by iamwhoiamtoday · · Score: 5, Informative

    See? The big companies CAN work together when they want to. I'm honestly surprised that 6 major movie companies could work together without backstabbing each other. On a related note: When it comes to DVD ripping... just use "Handbrake" (google it. open-source ripping software)

    1. Re:Working together by Dr.+Manhattan · · Score: 3, Informative
      When it comes to DVD ripping... just use "Handbrake"

      Or, if you want something that'll play in a standard DVD player, k9copy. I have young kids, and for some weird reasons I haven't bought them and video iPods. Backing up their DVDs is kind of a must.

      --
      PHEM - party like it's 1997-2003!
    2. Re:Working together by Dog-Cow · · Score: 5, Funny

      If I had a choice between buying kids and video iPods, I'd pick the iPods any day.

  3. maybe there were other motives... by ChienAndalu · · Score: 5, Funny

    I mean, have you ever *used* a Real(TM) product? Maybe the film studios only want to protect us...

  4. Why this one? by sTERNKERN · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I can count several other program doing exactly the same job and there are some which are not freeware but can be bought. Probably only because they got too much attention?

  5. How to rip DVDs for nothing by DrXym · · Score: 5, Informative
    DVDs are easy to rip. Commercial tools like AnyDVD and Nero Recode make a good job but you can do it for nothing quite easily.
    1. Install DVD Decrypter. Google for it
    2. Install Handbrake
    3. Rip DVD with Decrypter to a folder on the HDD
    4. Run Handbrake, choose DVD folder
    5. Select main movie feature or anything else
    6. Tweak bitrate and other settings and / or pick a target device (iPod, PS3, 360 etc.)
    7. Click Start
    8. Wait a bit, shiny digital copy pops out

    Handbrake is a front end over xvid and x264 encoders so you get either an MPEG-2 ASP (DiVX) or H264 AVC file from the process. Depending on your target device you might want to choose one or the other or fiddle with the other settings but the defaults are pretty sane if you don't know what you are doing.

    Sure the process might skip supplementals and there may be edge cases with alternate tracks or subtitles that require more effort but x264 is an excellent encoder and the quality is very good. I really don't see why anybody would want to use RealDVD when it DRMs the resulting movie in the process.

  6. Who am I supposed to hate more? by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is Sauron versus Palpatine. Is there a good guy? Don't think so.

  7. Re:What, No Balls?? by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Huh? You mean ignore a restraining order? That would be totally suicidal. Coming out with the product in the first place is pretty ballsy, and I think Real should be congratulated for that move.

  8. Nobody with a brain used that crap anyway by InspectorxGadget · · Score: 5, Informative

    1. (DVD) -> DVD Decrypter -> MeGUI, X264 -> Done.

    2. (BD) -> DVDFAB -> TsMuxeR -> MeGUI, X264 -> Done.

    3. (CD) -> Exact Audio Copy -> FLAC -8 -> Done.

    Next question.

    1. Re:Nobody with a brain used that crap anyway by xstonedogx · · Score: 3, Funny

      Next question.

      8-Track?

  9. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Informative

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  10. Because it's the AUDIO Home Recording Act. by dpbsmith · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm guessing it's because it's the audio home recording act and this is video.

    Having owned a home audio CD recorder for many years, I can tell you that the AHRA was an interesting compromise. Home audio CD recorders do not accept standard CD-R media, but require special "audio" or "music" CD-R media that contains some encoded information that tells the recorder that it's an "audio CD-R."

    The system also incorporated a technical mechanism that allowed for only first-generation bit-for-bit digital copying--you could make a bit-for-bit copy of a commercial original, but you couldn't copy the copy. (The machines, however, make a really excellent analog copy of a digital copy).

    It was, I thought, really acceptable. It made casual copying convenient, you paid a quite reasonable amount for doing it, you were paying for the copy and not "pirating."

    Manufacturers of audio CD-R media are required to pay a small amount of money to an agency that divvies it up between artists and music publishers.

    One of the things that pushed me over the edge into a raging anti-RIAA crank was that when they started fooling around with "copy-protected" CDs, they made them uncopiable in audio home CD recorders.

    In other words, here I was, an honest user, paying for every copy and keeping my end of the deal, and there they were, reneging on the deal.

    I'm now utterly opposed to DRM because I'm convinced that the publishers cannot be trusted to limit themselves to enforcing rights that they actually possess. When allowed to use technical means to enforce their rights, they always overreach. They do not possess a six-year-old's sense of basic fair play.

    --

    "How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!

  11. Re:Surprise? by Dog-Cow · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Who in the UK doesn't have a region-ignoring player? You need better educated friends, perhaps.

  12. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 3, Informative

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  13. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Informative

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  14. Re:The Controlling Legal Authority is the DMCA by Peter+Simpson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, every time you use a licensed player to play a DVD, you (legally) circumvent or bypass the encryption (otherwise, you could not view the DVD you paid for)

    It comes down to the term "circumvent", which is defined in the DMCA as:

    "...to `circumvent a technological measure' means to descramble a scrambled work, to decrypt an encrypted work, or otherwise to avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate, or impair a technological measure, without the authority of the copyright owner..."

    I call your attention to the phrase "descramble a scrambled work...without the authority of the copyright owner" in the above quote.

    Does viewing a DVD under Linux, for example, using a non-approved decrypter, constitute circumvention, or, have you, by virtue of your purchase of the DVD, received an implicit license from the copyright owner to view the content? Did you receive a license to view the content *only* on licensed playback devices? If so, where is that restriction listed on the media you purchased?

  15. Re:What, No Balls?? by BobMcD · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Going to a gun fight with a knife is pretty ballsy too, but I'm not sure "congratulations" are the first thought that would be offered to such an act.

    Inside or outside 21 feet?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tueller_Drill

  16. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion