VideoReDo owner passed away, product ceased, seeking alternatives ?

[Bridgy]

Personally, i will be doing my own investigations and trying a few ideas out as soon as i get my new Dell AIO desktop computer, so that i don't need to potentially lose my Pro activation on the laptop while cloning to a new computer.

I have been sussing out one possible method of retaining my Pro activation/license even by doing a clean install of my VRD Pro onto a brand new computer without cloning, as i really don't want to continue using the windows 10 pro system that i have had on my laptop for almost 4.5 years, if i have to finally move to Windows 11 then i want to build my own stripped down version, and then re-install only the Apps and software that i really need from fresh.

I found this interesting link for anyone to read, it basically has every single post made by Dan Haddix since the passing of Dan Rosen, and he is very clear about his position and his intentions going forward since 2022.

https://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/video-capture/12978-videoredo-activation-servers.html#post86819

This is not a life threatening situation for me, and nor should it be for others, for me, i will just use LosslessCut to do my smart cuts (even if only accurate on keyframes) and i use various other free tools to recode my files if i need to, however, i will more than likely just buy TMPGEnc Video Mastering Works 7 to do the other stuff if and when i need to.

I guess that i am lucky that i am in a position to be able to afford to pay for tools like that, i just wish TMPGEnc had the Smart Cut and Render feature built into the slightly over priced Video Mastering Works 7, for the cost of that software, it should have it included.

EDIT: Read a few comments from Dan Haddix in this link too, seems like the Domain is the main concern for Pro users and not the actual server itself.

https://www.reddit.com/r/videoredo/comments/19epmww/activation_for_videoredo_6_pro/

[Marayong]

Good luck getting the pro version to work on a new computer. If you are successful (or not), please do post the details and method here. One thing it may be worth checking, which you can do now, is to see if VRD Pro starts up and works normally on your laptop with the internet *disabled*. Reading the above links there is uncertainty as to just when the pro version "calls home" and which of those calls are necessary for continued function (as distinct from say automatic update checks). If VRD Pro works fine on a pc with the internet disabled then an install will survive the server going into a black hole. In that case you'll only need to worry about reactivation for a fresh install. If it won't work without an active internet connection (and some software is like that), it'll be time to look elsewhere.

For the record, the non-pro version works happily on a computer without internet. As long as you disable "check for updates", the only time it calls home is on a fresh install when you try to register it or a major version upgrade (and there are no more of those). They will fail and you need to do a manual registration using Dan H's fall-back website.

As someone who runs several websites, some of the comments on the two links about the domain are incorrect. If the registration lapses, the website becomes unreachable and the domain name goes into a holding limbo for a few months (how long depends on the registrar in question). At the end of that limbo time the domain name is released and ANYONE can then register it. So if someone has a copy of the relevant code etc on the registration server, they just need to wait a few months after the domain expires before they can purchase the domain name and set the pro registration server back up. Actually, the domain itself isn't really needed .. you just need to edit your pc's DNS 'hosts' file (for windows) so any internet request that is going to say vrd.com/register instead goes to someotherwebsite.com/register. It may even be possible for someone quite computer cluey to set the server up on their own pc and locally direct the DNS host for any registration query to go to that. The same approach would work with the non-pro version. The hosts file allows you to remap the DNS for a website to a local file (I've done so on my pc to block installed software from constantly calling home when it doesn't need to) or to a different website.

[Marayong]

Given what I've said above about domains, the main issue keeping VRD registrations alive is not technical (aka servers etc) but legal, given the registration software that is on the server is likely patented and/or copyrighted by Dan R's heirs and putting your own copy online would be in breach of those rights. If I was doing it I'd dark web it, which is not as nasty as it sounds .. putting something on the dark web just means the webpage(s) contains code that tells search engines not to index the webpage or website .. useful for paywalled websites, online banking websites, web-based email etc.

[Bridgy]

In my previous post i was not talking about creating a "cracked" copy of VRD Pro or non Pro, and putting that out there for others to find, i don't believe in cracked software because to me it is akin to theft.

I have been talking to a friend of mine who is very very intelligent when it comes to computing and software, and he told me that there might be a way for the current users to continue using the VRD software, even if everything connected to the licensing and activations disappears.

This work around would only be for those who own a legit activated licensed copy of VRD, not for those scumbags who use the software illegally.

Obviously there are legal issues when it comes to this, but if my friend was to create a method of overcoming the activation and licensing then i would only be using it for myself, but one would have to seek legal advice all the same.

[Marayong]

I wasn't talking about cracked versions either. I was talking about alternatives for the registration website for those with legit copies. Dan H. has already put up an alternative copy of the registration site for the non-pro version. The same thing could be done for the pro versions if someone had access to the registration site code. Legal access to it. Even if they did not have the original domain name, an edit of the hosts file on users computers would overcome that.

[Bridgy]

Amongst the confusion i must have misunderstood your previous message.

My friends alternative has nothing to do any servers or domains, it involves creating a method for me to continue using my copy of VRD Pro, irrespective of the activation or the computer that i install it on, basically this is just a way for me, as a paid user, to continue using VRD.

If my VRD craps out on me, then so be it, at least i have other options already in place, but as of now because i record video in 4k/60p HEVC, i can only use VRD Pro to do my recoding and add titles etc if and whe i need to, if i want to do my edits without lag on the time line i could record in 4k/60p AVC instead.

Again, it is sad that Dan Rosen did not put something in place so VRD could continue into the future, and Dan Haddix would have been the ideal person to take over on behalf of Dan Rosens wife or family, and even though both Dan's lived in different parts of the country, the business was able to be run from a home office, just as i believe it was run by Dan Rosen.

[Bridgy]

One thing it may be worth checking, which you can do now, is to see if VRD Pro starts up and works normally on your laptop with the internet *disabled*. Reading the above links there is uncertainty as to just when the pro version "calls home" and which of those calls are necessary for continued function (as distinct from say automatic update checks). If VRD Pro works fine on a pc with the internet disabled then an install will survive the server going into a black hole. In that case you'll only need to worry about reactivation for a fresh install. If it won't work without an active internet connection (and some software is like that), it'll be time to look elsewhere.

BTW, my VRD Pro does work without internet, but i also don't know how often it dials back to validate the activation/license on my laptop.

I still use the last Beta version that Dan Rosen sent to me, which was 6.93.7.836a, from March 2022.

[Tom Saurus]

I am using VideoRdDo TS Suite Version 4.21.10.681 and I am really happy it works for .mp4 files I am getting from TubeDigger. This program is well worth the money I spent for it. I remember I sent a money order to the United States to buy it.

Not all that long before the owner passed away I had some email discussions about upgrading as I had gotten into doing .h265 encodes and I could see that perhaps at some point I might want to edit those. He was a nice man and I probably would have upgraded and this time probably use a Visa Prepaid Visa Card to pay for it. Money Order fees are really high so Visa Prepaid Gift Cards are the way to go.

[Marayong]

Tom,
Upgrading to a h265 version would mean a major upgrade above v.4 and major upgrades required a new licence, so you are alas out of luck. Upgraded versions are still (legally) available online, but without the relevant licence they won't do you much good.
As for paying, for future reference, you could pay with any internationally recognised credit card, no need to bother with a prepaid one. Or set up a paypal account. Or check with your bank - many Canadian banks have reciprocal arrangements with US banks or even branches in the US, so transferring money from a Canadian account to a US one is often no more difficult than to another Canadian account (I have friends in Canada who do that all the time). I used to pay for VRD uggrades using a paypal account.

[Bridgy]

Tom, i was a VRD Pro version 6 Beta tester for a long time before Dan Rosen passed away, and he had only really begun work on H265 (HEVC) so even up until he passed away, there were still some issues with HEVC files, it was easy enough to output other formats such as AVC to HEVC and VRD had a series of smart render profiles built into the Pro version (not sure about the non Pro) but the issue with HEVC, especially 4k files like mine, they were just too laggy in playback in the preview box, and while seeking to find cut points in the timeline.

I also tried some of my 1080/60p HEVC files and they are the same.

I doubt not many people who used VRD actually recorded videos on their camera in 4k/60p HEVC, most might record in 4k AVC or even 1080p, so this is when VRD is good for recoding to HEVC.

[Seeker47]

From someone who has not been following this discussion too closely: If you have a situation where you want to do some very brief trims of extraneous content (that only goes for a few frames) at the head and tail of a video file ? And on nothing as exotic as an HEVC or 4K file. What can you use that is not limited to cuts on keyframes ? Apparently not LosslessCut.

[Bridgy]

I can do cuts on any frame with LosslessCut, but it might be hit and miss with your output file, some of my testing showed seemingly no issues on playback at the cut points, in other files there might be a slight glitch.

Just give it a try with your own files, pretty easy if you are just snipping at the start and end.

[Seeker47]

I can do cuts on any frame with LosslessCut, but it might be hit and miss with your output file, some of my testing showed seemingly no issues on playback at the cut points, in other files there might be a slight glitch.

Just give it a try with your own files, pretty easy if you are just snipping at the start and end.

O.K., thanks. Will give that a try.

[Bridgy]

O.K., thanks. Will give that a try.

LosslessCut Smart Cut is apparently experimental, i'm not exactly sure what that means, only that i do know that it does seem to apply the Smart Cut mode only when your cuts are done on Keyframes, then it stitches the pieces back together without any glitches.

As i mentioned, if you are just cutting the start and end frames from a single file and not joining it to another file of the same format, then there should be no glitches at all, and i have tested this myself on my 4k/60p HEVC camera files, so it should be ok with lesser format files than mine.

[Seeker47]

O.K., thanks. Will give that a try.

LosslessCut Smart Cut is apparently experimental, i'm not exactly sure what that means, only that i do know that it does seem to apply the Smart Cut mode only when your cuts are done on Keyframes, then it stitches the pieces back together without any glitches.

As i mentioned, if you are just cutting the start and end frames from a single file and not joining it to another file of the same format, then there should be no glitches at all, and i have tested this myself on my 4k/60p HEVC camera files, so it should be ok with lesser format files than mine.

I've just tried this for the first time -- after a number of false starts, closing the program with NO saves, abandoning what I did before, and retracing my steps. So, that's an early and miniscule sample set. What emerged was just nearly short of what I'd call success: the first few seconds had audio but no video; the end point looked pretty clean and about where I wanted it. I'd have to say that for simplicity, intuitiveness, and lowest possible learning curve this program can't compare with Machete (my normal 'Go To' for very basic edits) but then nothing else does, and Machete is yet another "on keyframes only" editor. That said, still definitely more novice-accessible than any other timeline-based video editor I can recall trying. And I have a bunch of 'em, including Solveig MM Video Splitter -- an older version, but which claims to support a bunch of file types. Never really managed to get the hang of that one.

But this Lossless Cut program does look promising, very much worthy of further exploration. From what I'd seen of VideoRedo, I know it was very well spoken of, probably with good reason, but facility with its usage looked even more out-of-reach for me than Solveig was. Maybe I'm just not well suited to video editing that calls for anything more than the user interface of Machete does ?

Anyway, I could upload that sample clip, to see whether someone else could do better with it, particularly using Lossless Cut to better effect than I did.

[Bridgy]

@ Seeker47

I will be happy to try your file on my laptop using VRD Pro and LosslssCut, but i am assuming that your files are nothing like my own 4k/60p HEVC files recorded on my cameras, not that this matters, it's just that i use this recording format and i need editing/cutting tools that can handle this format smoothly in playback mode, as well as when seeking to my cut points, and LosslessCut is the only cutting tool so far that can do it, albeit really only accurately when cut on key frames, which in most cases is ok for me, my cuts do not need to be that frame accurate.

I just make sure that every cut that i make in a given file is on a Keyframe for best possible joining of segments without any glitches, the same applies to when i have a single file that does not need cutting and joining, i still cut the start and end off at the nearest Keyframe for guaranteed results.

As for Machete, i never heard of this before, so i had a look and found that the last build was in 2021, so i suspect that it does not support 4k files, and especially not my own 4k/60p HEVC files, but i will download it and see what it is like.

EDIT: Ouch, what on earth is this all about, i downloaded Machete from the VideoHelp link https://www.videohelp.com/software/Machete and got this result when i tried to install it.


[Attachment 83037 - Click to enlarge]

[Marayong]

That's a standard Win10+ message that pops up when you try to install virtually any piece of software that's not downloaded from the MS Store. The warning doesn't say the program you are trying to install is unsafe, merely that it is not in microsoft's list of "authorised safe programs". A much better guide to whether something is actually dangerous or not is to ignore the MS warning and see what your antivirus says - assuming you have something other than the free microsoft antivirus. You can actually stop these windows warning popups by going to your user account settings and reducing it to something rather less paranoid. As long as you know windows pretty well (and you do), you have decent antivirus/malware installed and you practice safe computing, you can dial down the UAC setting to the absolute minimum. Windows wont like it and MS Store won't work, but if you can live with the former and don't use the later .. go for it. That's one of the first settings i do when I get a new pc or upgrade windows.

Mind you, there's nothign wrong with the free MS AV ... but if you ignore the windows warning you got, because that's what gave you the popup, it may not give you another warnign if the program you are trying to install is actually malicious.

[Bridgy]

Thank you, this warning is something relatively new to me while using windows Defender, as i install and test a lot of software, and this is the first time i got this warning in years of using Windows 10, and i have never used any other external AV software since Windows 7 was released, and even now people are still being conned into buying and installing AV software when it really isn't needed, and i will never be swayed otherwise.

I did install Machete even after that warning because i know it was from a safe site, and i trusted it 100%.

Cheers

[Seeker47]

That's a standard Win10+ message that pops up when you try to install virtually any piece of software that's not downloaded from the MS Store. The warning doesn't say the program you are trying to install is unsafe, merely that it is not in microsoft's list of "authorised safe programs". . . ,
you can dial down the UAC setting to the absolute minimum. Windows wont like it and MS Store won't work, but if you can live with the former and don't use the later .. go for it. That's one of the first settings i do when I get a new pc or upgrade windows.

Yep, ditto, been doing that for years. And I find Win Defender (never ranked among the best AV solutions, which have historically been the likes of Bitdefender, ESET-Nod32, Kaspersky, and a very few others) to be an annoying pain in the rear as much as it can be a benefit. Your ultimate check in these circumstances is to run the install file or archive by VirusTotal, which lets it run a gauntlet of ~ 60 AV programs. (Before you would try to install it, of course.) This can return false positives, more often from what I'd call the "also-ran" or "pipsqueak" AV programs you never heard of, but just concentrate on the more respected ones. And look for patterns. Kaspersky is (or was ?) out of Russia, which did give me pause, but there is a good (independent) computer security and anti-hackers website that posts some interesting, informative videos on YouTube, which leans heavily on what Kaspersky reports -- and demonstrates WHY -- so I'm cutting them some slack.

[Seeker47]

@ Seeker47

I will be happy to try your file on my laptop using VRD Pro and LosslssCut, but i am assuming that your files are nothing like my own 4k/60p HEVC files recorded on my cameras, not that this matters, ]

Yes, they'd be near the opposite end of the "demanding format" scale.

As for Machete, i never heard of this before, so i had a look and found that the last build was in 2021, so i suspect that it does not support 4k files, and especially not my own 4k/60p HEVC files, but i will download it and see what it is like.

I've been using it for years. I have an unofficial 2024 edition ("Build 44" -- see my reviews of the program on VH), which came from I know not where, but it did cleanly pass VirusTotal, so I continue using it, unconcerned. I have a license for the program, but the developer stopped responding to my queries years ago. I just swap in a newer .Exe file if and when one surfaces. As I had indicated, this is as simple and basic as these editors ever get, though with commensurately limited capabilities. It claims not to re-encode the video, but I can't confirm that here, not sure just how you would go about doing that. It does not cover some video formats I care about, but the main thing is that it seems to cover pretty much every MKV file I've tried on it, so long as there is not something exotic inside the MKV container, and that has been the main thing I cared about. I'm guessing that it would not be applicable to what you do. But I use it regularly and frequently. I have rather simple, basic edits that I do, and it suits me just fine, most of the time. No learning curve to speak of.

[Baldrick]

https://www.machetesoft.com/downloads/MacheteInst.msi is version 5.1 build 44. I will update https://www.videohelp.com/software/Machete info.

It does not contain any virus.
MacheteInst.msi:
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/639eb6cf7a72bde08b7400d87faba24a57528dfa1895de3a85b3638585edea53
Machete.exe :
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/b212bfea209e29de4e16324e5df02f1ccb08e6e78a95de7fde2603cb33b1561f

[Marayong]

In other words the Machete developer never submitted the software to MS for evaluation and/or distribution via MS store, hence the windows/defender alert. I've run into that before .. one reason I have the UAC setting set to absolute minimum. As for not recoding and only dealing with MKVs, that just emphasises how amazing VRD was (and still is if you have a licence). Given how groundbreaking it was (and still is), short of high end commercial video editing software costing $10,000, I suspect there's nothing else that comes even vaguely close.

As an aside, if you drop the UAC down to the minimum windows will permit you will then need to go into the maintenance & security settings and tell windows not to constantly warn you that the UAC is set too low.