Definitive "New Copy Protection" Thread

[Zisguy1]

I played the file, thinking that DVDDecrypter would have removed the protection scheme and I'd be okay. Guess what???? Protection scheme is still there!!!! It screwed up my computer and I had to do another reformat.

People sure can be stubborn around here.

The possibility of an attempted rip or DVD playback (using known playback/ripping software) screwing up your Windows installation and requiring a reformat/reinstall is the following:

Zero.

Zilch.

0%.

Nil.

Nada.

Impossibility.

Hope this clears things up.

P.S. If I'm wrong, you now have a great opportunity for a humongous lawsuit against the DVD publisher -- any protection scheme which screws up a PC and destroys a Windows installation is patently illegal. Don't bother answering my post here, just call a lawyer and go collect your money.

[Gurm]

Yep. If this really happened to you, you will soon be rich beyond your wildest dreams.

Besides - I'm a programmer. I can't think of ANY way to do this. Nobody can. It's just not possible.

No code is executed when you rip/play a movie. None. Zero. Zilch. Nil.

The only thing VOB protection can do is frustrate you by making the VOBs you rip have errors. It can't format your hard drive, corrupt your system, or burn your toast.

PLEASE get a clue.

[nic2k4]

Yes, people can be stuborn, but when something keeps being repeated over and over, one as to take heed. All this vehement denial is probably causing the idiot who created the ripguard, to laugh his ass off. That said, I now confirm the new infamous "copy protection" will render your PC incapable of ripping (could possibly screw it up as well).

Hold it, hold it, keep the flames for after my little story. Here goes; I'm with buddy, we're trying to backup his brand new The Incredibles, before it gets chewed by the kids. Everything goes well, DVD Decrypter 3.5.3.0 rips disc 1, stick disc 2 in, a third of the way through... I/O error! Ok, what now? Try again, same spot, same thing. Try a different disc, no go; even one that had worked before. At this point, we try restoring XP SP1, to yesterday's restore point (was created when he ran spybot). That didn't fix it. Then, I remember Decrypter just got updated. We download that, try it, no change. Just for the heck, we run spybot (always click update, first). It finds what it had picked up the day before, plus a new item called VEXA. Now Decrypter works. So, you say there's no autorun or exe, scr, pif..., on the disc to do that, how'd they do that?

It seems our friends are becoming hackers. They install spyware on our PC's, using exploits. Can't say what the exact technic is, but here are a couple articles that describe similar attacks:

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1749993,00.asp

http://it.slashdot.org/it/05/02/11/1926227.shtml?tid=172&tid=218

Basically, all they need is a flawed graphic, designed to cause a buffer overflow in the software and allow embedded code to run in memory. That graphic would likely show up as a black screen.

Why would it not affect AnyDVD, probably has to do with the way the data is read off DVD's. Why would some people be affected and others not, distribution. It's to their advantage to keep everybody confused, and generate FUD. Why would some people's PC crap out; it's spyware, they don't extensively test it for all the possible interactions on a PC. The big question is, does it include a trojan or a call home feature?

I would say the only PC, safe from that, is an Athlon 64 with XP SP2 and the NX bit enabled. The Huns are at the gate, better protect yourself; run an antivirus and keep it updated, AVG is a good choice. Scan for spyware regularly with Adaware AND Spybot. And install a firewall (even if you're on dial up), Zone Alarm is well worth the money, never mind the XP one.

[Gurm]

VEXA doesn't come from the Incredibles disc. Period. END OF STORY.

Spyware is spyware. VOBS cannot and do not contain spyware.

[Noahtuck]

I sure would like to get ahold of one of these "Protected" disc's that so many seem to have and can't backup, i'd lay money i would 8) (Pssst... & without crashing any of my systems)

[nic2k4]

Did you read the links?

The fact of the matter is Decrypter was ripping before The Incredibles disc 2 and it wasn't after. There was no surfing during that time, the PC had been scanned for spyware the day before. Running Spybot, made Decrypter work again.

[HatchetMan]

Did you read the links?

The fact of the matter is Decrypter was ripping before The Incredibles disc 2 and it wasn't after. There was no surfing during that time, the PC had been scanned for spyware the day before. Running Spybot, made Decrypter work again.

In the links, I saw the problems you mention come from downloaded p2p video files (in the first link) and a hacked msn messenger (in the second link). I didn't see any DVD viruses/spyware in them.

[RottenFoxBreath]

if people use media player to play dvds,then they need there power cord for the pc taken away from them,and really none of those 2 links in news,there old hat.
i repeat what gurn says about the incredibles,there is nothing on that disc,even disc 2,NO PROTECTION LIKE RIPGUARD,ARCOSS,NOTHING.
if it crashed,then something is wrong between the user and the mouse.
maybe lay off the p2p,msn,and pron sites. eh.!

by the way,i ripped the incredibles again,pc off,pc on,and now im ripping resident evil 2,coz i feel in a daring mood.
works fine.

[Gurm]

If you unplug the damn network from the machine, and/or kill off all the extraneous processes, you'll find out that there's no spyware on that disc.

Seriously, people - how stupid are you?

[holistic]

Seriously, people - how stupid are you?

I take it that is a rhetorical question there Gurm

[adam]

I have no idea about the Incredibles, but if you wanted to you could easily put virii or spyware on a DVD that would run just by putting the disc in the drive, via an autorun script. Before you call me crazy for mentioning this possibility...it actually happened on a commercial DVD.

The Powderpuff Girls Movie DVD contained the FunLove virus. The computer used for authoring had it and it infected the executable that the autorun script ran. They had to recall all the DVDs.

But needless to say this would never be used as a form of copy protection, at least not without serious legal reprecussions.

[nic2k4]

In the links, I saw the problems you mention come from downloaded p2p video files (in the first link) and a hacked msn messenger (in the second link). I didn't see any DVD viruses/spyware in them.

As I said earlier, the links refer to something similar, I'm not saying this is what's happening. What I'm saying is if this:

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/09/14/2226226&tid=172

is possible, anything is.

He's on dial-up, no network.

[HatchetMan]

But, this thread was about DVD protection schemes and what you mention does not exist on DVDs, especially not on The Incredibles where people where assuming it was taking over their PC. That was just nonsense.

[Noahtuck]

then something is wrong between the user and the mouse.

Actually, it's "the problem usually is between the keboard and chair"

[peter_pan]

CAUTION ! ! ! !
i actually got gonorrhea when i tried to decrypt VOB from a hooker...
i guess her system was all full of spyware and it infected me too
i tried to reboot but it didnt fix it... maybe ill do a reformat...
it doesnt look good
damn vob's

[adam]

HatchetMan I'm sure there is nothing wrong with the Incredibles either, but a DVD is just a storage medium. Outside of the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders you can literally put any kind of file you want and if its an executable you can make it autoplay, assuming of course the os is set to autoplay. I'm just saying it is possible, not that a studio would do it intentionally...at least not something malicious like that. But like I said, a virus was in fact released on a major DVD by accident.

[donchev]

I think you can add Bridget Jones to your list.

[ssbianchi]

I think everyone is missing something here....there are two things to consider:

1. While not everyone is having this problem, a sizeable number of people are.
2. Everyone who is having the problem, IS HAVING THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM. So, it cannot be as simple as a harware or software issue OR a user problem. There's something else going on here.

I am one of those unlucky few who is having the problem, and while I don't know what is going on just yet - I will need someone much smarter than me to narrow it down - I know I'm not an imbecile when it comes to this stuff. I also know that the protection that caused me problems was on one copy of The Incredibles, and when I rented another copy there wasn't any protection scheme on the disk.

So rather than play "you're wrong, I'm right" we should agree that there's something out there that's causing havoc that can't be explained just yet and try and find out what's causing it, rather than dismissing it.l

[Gurm]

ssbianchi:
No, we really shouldn't. Only ONCE in the entire history of people coming in and saying stuff JUST LIKE YOU ARE SAYING has it turned out to be some new protection scheme. The other 999,999 times it's been PEBKAC.

Adam:
While you're correct, and ANYTHING could happen in autorun... there's no autorun on "The Incredibles". In fact there's nothing on the disc AT ALL outside of the VIDEO_TS folder.

Everyone:
ANYONE who thinks that this has happened to them - I welcome you to PM me for my street address, and securely pack up and send me the disc in question. I'll pay the $3 for USPS priority. I will then run it through both of my machines. This will prove, once and for all, whether it has anything on it or not. If it DOES, I'll be happy to publicly eat my words. If it DOESN'T, you're on the hook for the return postage and the apology. How's that sound?

[spiderman2k1]

I think alot of the problems might be coming from ANYDVD having a bug in it. I just had another DVD back lock up on me. It seems that when Sony came out with the new copy protection ANYDVD had a update to break it. Now i'm think it might not be the new copy protection, but may be it's a bug in ANYDVD when a newer release was update.

[Gurm]

ATTENTION EVERYONE!

I've worked out an agreement with someone who is having this problem. I should have their copy of "The Incredibles" within a day or two, at which point I will do the following:

1. Rip it several ways (AnyDVD, DVD Decrypter, DVD Shrink), on a clean machine with nothing but Windows and the ripping programs. I'll note if anything goes wrong.

2. Binary compare it to my clean copy of the movie, noting any differences. My copy has ONLY CSS on it, so if there's anything else it ought to show up.

3. Document the entire process.

4. Sweep for spyware/viruses before and after with Ad-Aware, Spybot, and Spy Sweeper (spyware), AVG 7 and McAfee 2005 (Viruses).

After this is over, if I have experienced ANY of the problems listed by these users in this thread, I will not only post the results and a detailed analysis, but I will VERY PUBLICLY apologize for being closed minded and mocking said individuals.

If, however, there is... NOTHING... on the disc then I will expect two things...

A. "You were right, sorry."
B. Y'all to hush about this.

Once this is done, I don't want the rest of you to go "well HIS might be ok but MINE isn't!" because this is one of the copies that supposedly installs spyware and disables ripping on the machine in question. Spiderman's outright crash we're going to chalk up to AnyDVD or a power supply.

On the other hand if there IS this sort of protection on a disc, exploiting the ripper to install spyware/malware... well then, I hear the sweet sound of criminal charges being brought against the studios and whoever they got to write the code.

[HatchetMan]

Don't forget to wear your radiation suit while testing

[Gurm]

And be looking at dirty porn in case it renders me impotent - I know.

[otpw1]

And be looking at dirty porn in case it renders me impotent - I know.

SO THAT'S HOW IT HAPPENED!

[Gurm]

Ok so the mental might of the guy who sent me the disc is now in question - since he sent me... WAIT FOR IT...


his bad DVD-R copy, the one that didn't work

ARGH. Ok so anyone ELSE want to try this? I need the ORIGINAL disc, one that is "bad" and has "copy protection" on it. So I can test it out... since mine, my brother-in-law's, my friend's, and the one I rented from Blockbuster all have NO copy protection of any kind on them.

[RottenFoxBreath]

pmsl,goddamn it,theres no protection on the incredibles.ffs,just open it in explorer,a modded xbox,anything that can read the folders,and theyll see theres nothing there.
as for anydvd,man,thats utter shit.even the guy who wrote dvddecrypter says not to use it as its problematic at best.and ya gotta see how many posts are there on decrypters forums about "i cant rip generic hollywood crap 3 with dvddecrypter and anydvd,so there must be a new protection".

and noahtuck,i actually meant that,and by saying it,i meant there wandering fingers.

[RMaddog]

his bad DVD-R copy, the one that didn't work

Gurm, kinda shows you the mindset of these people that are having the problems huh?

[jtoolman2000]

Hey Gurm, could you please check mine?

OK, it's actually a XEROX copy of the original that F***ed up my machine. My Xerox DVD reader doens't seem to be able to play it for some reason....

[spiderman2k1]

I think I found out what was making my system lock up it was ZoneAlarm software firewall. Every time my PC would crash I had ZoneAlarm in the back ground. Since I have unstalled it and am now using Sygate firewall my PC seems to be stable. I think the last to udates to ZoneAlarm might have a bug in it.

On my laptops there P3 1gig and the newest ZoneAlarms have not problem, however on my desk top I have AMD. Do not know if its a AMD problem.

On my P2 400 I have to use a old ZoneAlarm 3.5 any thing higher will have the system lock up. But on my AMD 1.8xp it will lock up and I have to install Windows every time.

If your having lock up it might be ZoneAlarm try Sygate it free and better.

[HotBlack]

@ RottenFoxBreath
"goddamn it,theres no protection on the incredibles.ffs,just open it in explorer,a modded xbox,anything that can read the folders,and theyll see theres nothing there."

I actually tried this on a swedish rented DVD, but there was not a file in in there.
What I mean is that the files were invisible in explorer, but was visible in DVD Decrypter...

The disc where also not playable in Nero ShowTime.

just my 2 c