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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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AnyDVD: The Tasty Secret Sauce
Product Category: Software
Manufacturer: Slysoft
Where to Buy: AnyDVD site [Affiliate]
Price: $39 USD
System Requirements: IBM-compatible PC with a minimum 500 MHz Pentium-class microprocessor and 64 MB RAM. Windows 95/98/98SE/ME/2000/XP, 2 MB hard-disk space.
Pros:- Highly effective;
- Frequent updates to address new DVD encryption schemes;
- Lifetime updates.
Cons:- Poor software update mechanism.
Summary:
AnyDVD is a real-time DVD decryption tool that works so well, you'd swear it was magic. The developers created a fast, lightweight, highly effective way of allowing you to work with video on commercial DVDs very easily. And beyond decryption, it has a few other tricks.
Read on for the full review!
AnyDVD is one of those programs that is simple on the surface, but its simplicity belies how powerful this program is at what it does. Ripping a DVD and encoding it for other purposes � whether it be backing it up so your kids don't ruin the original, or making a version of the DVD for playback on your portable video player, always involves several steps.
The first is often the most difficult for people new at the process: cracking the encryption. See, those Hollywood movie companies don't want you to be able to use that DVD for any more than watching it in a DVD player on your TV. They want you to have to buy another copy for watching on your portable video player, they just haven't quite figured out how yet (Vongo is a step in that direction). And replacing a DVD when your kid scratches the original? They want you to go buy a new one of course. To force you into that, they encrypt the video files on the DVD so that a standard computer can play them back, but can't copy them off the disc or do anything with them. Try putting a DVD in your computer, browsing the disc, and try to copy one of the VOB files off it. Your computer will give you an error and the copy will fail. The concept behind AnyDVD is a simple one: it cracks that encryption, allowing you to do what you want with the DVD that you bought.
Figure 1: The interface you can access when a DVD is inserted.
When I first installed AnyDVD (there's a 21 day free trial), I didn't realize that it wasn't really a "program" in the strict sense of the word. When it loads it sits in your system tray � there's no user interface that pops up. It's lightweight and uses up very little memory. I don't even notice when it's running � system impact is negligible. The magic happens when you put in a DVD. As the DVD is loaded by the PC, AnyDVD intercepts the DVD data stream and removes the encryption. It's like pixie dust!
It Just Works
That copy that failed before? It will now work � you can put in a commercial DVD, drag a VOB file off the DVD, and play it on your PC (if you have a program that plays VOB files). Want to edit it? Change the extension from VOB to MPG and you can open the file in your favourite video editor (assuming it supports MPEG2) and you can slice, dice, and export it back out again. You can feed that MPEG2 file to the Windows Media Encoder and get any size and bit rate file you want (the Encoder is a bit glitchy using this method though). In short, AnyDVD is the secret sauce that allows you to do more with DVDs than you could before. There's a big trend with video editing software now to include tools to work directly with DVDs, but because of the DCMA, software companies based in the USA can't include any method of breaking the DVD encryption. Slysoft is based in the Antigua, so they have no such limitations. AnyDVD unleashes the power of your software.
One of the things I found particularly powerful is that when you have AnyDVD running, those encrypted commercial DVDs are as easy to manipulate as the homemade ones you burned last year. Roxio has a Media Import tool as part of their Easy Media Creator 8 suite that allows you to select any part of the DVD, chapter by chapter, and it will rip an MPEG2 file, encode a WMV file (without interlacing, sadly), or a DivX file. Adobe's Premiere Elements 2 can open files directly off the DVD and you can edit them like any other file - it's a thing of beauty. And the new breed of one-step video transcoding tools for taking DVDs and spitting out portable-media friendly files suddenly work much better. The combination of AnyDVD and CloneDVD Mobile (review coming soon!), made by the same company, is particularly powerful. They offer discounts when you purchase multiple programs at the same time.
Beyond Decryption
AnyDVD has some other interesting features beyond decryption, the most notable of which is that if it's running and you put in a DVD to watch, it can skip past all those inane FBI warnings and commercials/previews, plunking you down right at the root menu for the DVD. I loved being able to just right into the movie without the 2-4 minutes most DVDs force you to wait through. Other features include stripping DVD regions, so if you want to watch that DVD you bought in Japan on your North American laptop, you can. Another welcome feature is that AnyDVD will disable the "PC Friendly" features that kick off when you put the DVD in your PC, such as that vile InterActual player that always wants to install itself.
Figure 2: Some of the options available.
The creators of AnyDVD, Slysoft, update it with ferocity � there's a new version every few weeks. They seem to systematically hunt down DVDs that use new encryption techniques, crack them, then incorporate the fixes into a new version of AnyDVD. If there's one thing I don't like about AnyDVD though is that there's no smooth update mechanism. The program checks for a new version when you load it up, and it you select update, all it does it load the AnyDVD download page in your browser. You have to download the entire program and install it again to get the new fixes. The combination of this poor upgrade mechanism and the frequency of updates has made me always run a few versions behind. I'd much rather see an integrated download mechanism that would grab whatever files have been updated and restart the program. The developers should look at how Picasa works for the way this should work.
It's the One to Beat
All in all, AnyDVD is a fantastic program that's definitely worth the money they charge for it ($39 USD). If you want to work with video off commercial DVDs, for whatever reason, the first step is always cracking the encryption and nothing does it better than AnyDVD. Although there are freeware programs that can get the same end result, I find that as I get older my time and sanity are worth a great deal to me, so there's no contest between AnyDVD and freeware alternatives. The fact that it comes with free lifetime upgrades is also a comforting thought, because I know the entertainment industry never stops coming up with ways to stop me from using the DVD I bought the way I want to use it. If it seems like I'm a fan of this program, it's because I value software that works well, doesn't get in my way, and provides huge value for the dollar. That's AnyDVD.
Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys mobile devices, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Alberta, Canada.
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