SlySoft's latest AnyDVD beta cracks BD+
by Darren Murph 
posted Nov 7th 2007 at 9:28PM
Regardless of what those oh-so-knowledgeable analysts had to say, we all knew this day was coming. Yep, that highly-touted, totally "impenetrable" copy protection technology known as BD+ has officially been brought to its knees, and it's not at all surprising to hear that we have SlySoft to thank. The AnyDVD 6.1.9.6 beta has quite a comical change log too, and aside from noting that users now have the ability to backup their BD+ movies and watch titles sans the need for HDCP-compliant equipment, it also includes a candid note to Twentieth Century Fox informing the studio that its prior assumptions about BD+'s effectiveness were apparently incorrect. You know the drill, hit the read link below to try 'er out.[Thanks, Aaron]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Region Free HD @ Nov 7th 2007 9:37PM
And their mascot is a fox. How's that for irony?
david @ Nov 7th 2007 9:45PM
If you can write a lock you can write a key for it.
It was just a matter of time.
wysiwyg @ Nov 7th 2007 10:00PM
As they say, laws are made to be broken, and keys are written to be cracked. LOL.
jmbear101 @ Nov 7th 2007 10:04PM
To all you movie studio execs and bigwigs reading this... WHEN will you learn that consumers HATE DRM... and will always support software from guys like James at Slysoft... not because of piracy like you think, but so we can use legal media we purchase the way we want, without DRM laden rootkits restricitions and HARDWARE REQUIRMENTS...(HDCP/GRRRRRR!!!!) ....
To the folks at SLYSOFT .... Thank You... I can now enjoy a throng of titles on my HTPC with non-HDCP compliant hardware. :)
Jyncus @ Nov 7th 2007 10:23PM
Well said jmbear101.
You'd think the industry would've learned by now - they've had more than enough time to develop and implement a "fair use" system consumers have been asking for for years now. And instead the industry, like most..run by greed, has this ridiculous notion that they can explicitly dictate how we use our own legal media we buy from them.
Keep up the good work, SlySoft.
Scott @ Nov 7th 2007 10:42PM
So much for 10 years until it is cracked...
HD4ME @ Nov 7th 2007 10:45PM
More good news for blu ray, it's certainly on a roll at the moment :0)
Region Free HD @ Nov 7th 2007 11:13PM
Yeah, maybe it's a good thing the BRD and HD DVD forums at AVS are closed to new posts at the moment. ;)
elvisizer @ Nov 8th 2007 12:31PM
it's not like HD-DVD is any better- AACS has long been cracked, and the crack is in the wild. In this case, you have to buy slysoft's software to crack blu ray discs. If I was a stupid exec who thought DRM was a good thing, I'd still give the advantage to blu ray as far as protecting content.
Yeesh, even just writing hypothetically, that last sentence made me feel dirty. Saying anything good about DRM just feels WRONG!
Ryan P @ Nov 8th 2007 12:12AM
Now I might actually get a blu-ray drive (if they drop in price)
Mike @ Nov 8th 2007 2:11AM
So does this mean I can buy Spiderman3 on blue ray...take it to a friend with a blue ray drive and a hd dvd burner...record to HD DVD then bring it home and watch Spiderman 3 on my $99 HD DVD player?
Mike @ Nov 8th 2007 4:09AM
Might possibly require a bit of re-encoding or some hd-dvd authoring software but yes. That's pretty much the geist of it. Or if you had a blue-ray burner, he could do a direct-copy much like copying one dvd to a blank dvdr.
Bob P. @ Nov 8th 2007 5:44AM
If you can find someone with an HD-DVD Burner. I've never seen one. I think you can get one if you buy a whole system though, but I don't think they sell them seperate. Also you'd still have to compress it to 15 GB since I've never seen blank dual-layer HD-DVD's for sale.
Mike @ Nov 8th 2007 5:15AM
True but the point is I have the $99 HD DVD player..not even a HD DVD burner. But if i had a rich friend that supported both and had both types of drives...i could buy a blu ray movie and be able to watch it on my $99 HD DVD player once he backs it up on an HD DVD disc.
ryan @ Nov 8th 2007 7:47AM
I don't advocate piracy at all but I say kudos to slysoft.
Now, what is the BDA going to do? Can they change the coding on the new discs for a new version of BD+ or does it not work that way?
TrentD @ Nov 8th 2007 8:39AM
The encryption key on each BD+ encoded disc is different, if I understand correctly, but they all follow the same general scheme so hardware released before the software can be properly unlocked. My guess is once cracked, it's always cracked (unless they want to brick pre-existing players).
ryan @ Nov 8th 2007 8:57AM
Thank you TrentD!
MJD @ Nov 8th 2007 9:14AM
BD+ and it's quality of protection was a major feature mention by the studios signing on with Blu Ray as it launched. I guess they now don't have that as one of the positives now?
tranzparentl @ Nov 8th 2007 8:56AM
BD+ can keep changing the keys but each crack is going to come quicker and quicker as the programmers get more familiar with the methods.
ryan @ Nov 8th 2007 8:59AM
How do they continue to change the keys? Is it on a disc or are BD owners going to have to do a firmware upgrade every time?
tranzparentl @ Nov 8th 2007 9:15AM
Future discs should be able to have a different BD+ scheme to make them crack it all over again, but it should be easier for them every time. It's unclear yet how it will effect legitimate BD owners with older players.
Bob P. @ Nov 8th 2007 9:43AM
Ryan. I'm not exactly positive on this, but from what I've read on it. BD+ code is actually on the disc and not on the player. What's on the player is similar to a JVM and just interprets the BD+ code.
In other words if they've cracked the BD+ that is out there on the disks right now then they can just change the code being manufactured on the disks and then it's secured for all future disks.
You can think of it similar to an applet on the web. Except the server is the disk. All older disks with old code will be vulnerable still.
It is possible though that they've actually cracked something in the "JVM" part which will bypass the whole BD+ encryption and that would require a firmware update. The firmware update though could be distributed on the disks though.
semimaru @ Nov 8th 2007 9:09AM
Thank you guys for helping spread piracy and corruption all around the world.
Region Free HD @ Nov 8th 2007 10:51AM
Blame Disney! They are the ones glamorizing pirates! :p
JeffDM @ Nov 8th 2007 11:48AM
If both formats got off their asses and actually offered managed copy (rather than vaporware), then there would be no legit need for this.
jmbear101 @ Nov 8th 2007 9:54AM
Your Welcome!!!
(See 4th POSt)
AG23 @ Nov 8th 2007 11:02AM
Honestly, I don't really see how preventing piracy on Blu-Ray or HD-DVD matters. It certainly will not be as widely spread as it was on Standard DVD.
Piracy will be much less considering the fact that the size of the movies on Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are much greater than standard dvd's.
This will result in longer burning times and/or much longer time downloading over P2P networks.
And I don't see somebody sitting their making hundreds of copies of Blu-Ray or HD-DVD disks for mass distribution unless they have an insane amount of free time on their hands.
JeffDM @ Nov 8th 2007 11:53AM
Right now, the cost of players, media and larger file sizes are prohibitive. It will not always be that way. For example, copying DVDs was prohibitive when DVDs were cracked, but now it's so quick, cheap and easy that no one really thinks much of it.
ryan @ Nov 8th 2007 11:03AM
IMO it seems evident that editors here lean blu but that's okay as no one can be impartial.
Kevin Murphy @ Nov 8th 2007 11:56AM
BD+ allows CODE from a BD disc to be run on the player without notice or permission of the player's owner. The player only has enabling software. Now, the BDA has claimed that no permanent changes will be made by any such code, but this may test that.
There is going to be a temptation for the BDA to create a method of disabling broken-key discs on players and to insert that code permanently in an update to the player. I cannot see how an owner would prevent this, especially if the "update" was inserted by the BD+ on some future movie.
I bet they're regretting their lack of ethernet about now.
Segarsj @ Nov 8th 2007 2:08PM
"I bet they're regretting their lack of ethernet about now."
Yeah, you better believe that the 2.0 players are being fast tracked as we speak. I can't imagine them taking longer to get the 2.0 players out, than it is taking them to release the 1.1 players.
Raptor007 @ Nov 8th 2007 2:41PM
I'm sick of the cat-and-also-cat game between DRM and cracking. The industry should know by now that it's going to get cracked no matter what they do. If a player can decode it to play it, a PC can decode it to copy it.
Instead of fighting a losing battle against copying, they should worry about customers with older players who won't buy their BD+ titles because they can't play them.
DarkRogue @ Nov 8th 2007 3:47PM
jmbear101 You are so right! ++++++ I have the same situation until I upgrade to the new 5500GT (my monitor is compliant) and I need to strip it off mine as well to get my movies to play in the mean time. If it weren't for that, then why should I bother buying the drive and movies if I can't even play them? I should have to pay extra for the hardware to have encryption too, just video processing power which my current card does very well as is right now thank you.
DarkRogue @ Nov 8th 2007 3:49PM
excuse me that's a typo and should be 8500GT :P
ebay6667 @ Nov 9th 2007 11:36AM
uhm.. the fact its been cracked is news.. the fact the guy is a HD DVD fanboy is his opinion and like arseholes.. everyone has one... and hence... not news
ebay6667 @ Nov 9th 2007 11:40AM
uhm.. the fact its been cracked is news.. the fact the guy is a HD DVD fanboy is his opinion and like arseholes.. everyone has one... and hence... not news
binkytheclown @ Dec 28th 2007 4:53AM
I don't see BD+ in the latest version's feature set. Is this hack still working or was it a false positive?
BTC