ASPI & AnyDVD vs DVD Region Free

[joepic]

I know this sounds like a strange topic mixing two subjects in the same thread but this is what happened in the thread listed below.

I was surprised to see the "BIG GUN" authors talking about the pros/cons of different approaches to ASPI and a head to head shot out on which one is better AnyDVD or DVD RegionFree. So don't miss this great discussion by:

Olli
CloneCD & CloneDVD Author

fengtao
DVDidle Author & author of DVD Region-Free

LIGHTNING UK!
Author of DVD Decrypter

I don't want to spoil the thunder of the thread but I think you will find the following quote from OLLI very interesting:

"Did I mention that Adaptec ASPI sucks?

> I dont really understand how it all works at driver level but I do find it all very interesting! <

Adaptec ASPI actually opens SCSI: drivers directly (via a kernel mode driver aspi.sys, just to make it work in non-admin situations and to create an SRB and send it.

Unfortunately this opens a can of worms for them, Adaptec ASPI is actually broken by design:

1.) They won't see USB or Firewire Drives, as these devices don't enumerate as SCSIx: This is a k.o. criteria anyway, I love Firewire! Makes development of writing Software much easier:
Switch off Firewire case, change burner, switch on. No "open computer case, reboot, etc."

2.) They bypass any lower- & upper filter class drivers, maybe even the bus filter drivers. Drivers like "Hide CDR Media" (CloneCD) or "AnyDVD" or Bus Monitors are bypassed.

3.) They open the controller device object and cache the pointer. As ASPI has no real "Open" or "Close" device/controller Adaptec ASPI likes to crash with a BSOD after adding / removing controllers (remember: VirtualCloneDrive, DAEMON Tools, etc. are SCSI controllers as well!)
The controller can even come and go due to plug & play operations, system configuration changes, etc.
Roxio has very good reason *NOT* to use Adaptec ASPI in *ANY OF THEIR OWN PRODUCTS*!


http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?s=c0c5695fdfb1e4ed6d9d863ff3280bd1&threadid=77037

[arcorob]

I HATE threads like that. They are based on PERSONAL experience (favoritism) rather than fact and strength of real-time observation across mutiple platforms.

MISSING ASPI or CORRUPTED ASPI is the single largest problem in the whole CD / DVD rom world. Microsofts and Roxios vain attempts to work without it are laughable. Those products and products which have followed the MS/ROXIO path are prone to error and incompatablity.

A properly built aspi layer (4.60) makes for seemless burning across all platforms. Now there is a bug with ADAPTEC's supposed level for XP (4.7 ? ) that would cause folks to grumble.

Tell you what, go ahead and get rid of ASPI and good luck 3 months from now. I'll be back on the Dell website helping 20 million NUBEs fix their erratic cd, dvd and burn problems.