realDVD, anybody using it yet ?

despite all the suing going around with real and the studios, this software looks pretty cool. to be able to burn your movies onto your hdd and view them in a library just like itunes.

it says on the web site that it doesn't compress the movies, so you have full quality during playback. it also says it plans to integrate with wmc in the future....that's truely cool.

so what's your take ?

 

Well, my take------->

Slyfox AnyDVD...I don't care what they say. I bought the movie, I want to have a copy of it on my laptop so I don't have to carry around the DVD. They say I can't burn it, oh well, looks like I can.

It's like buying a television set and Sony telling you that only three people can watch the screen, if you want more than three people to watch it, then well, you have to go out and buy another set.

I want a copy of MY DVD on MY laptop. I don't see the harm in that. As far as realDVD is concerned, still too many limitations in my book. It's MY DVD, I will do with it what I please. Besides, using AnyDVD feels good man. You feel like you just punched those DRM fools in the gut every time you use it.

I might give it a try if there is a demo out there, more like just to see the player/software scheme presentation.. you know what I am saying? If it's better than AnyDVD+Nero, I might give it a shot just to see what it's like.

 

yeah, i have anydvd and clonecd. pretty good stuff. but clonedvd mobile is not quite up to parr with the wmv format, which is what i'd like to use. i would much rather shrink my dvd's down to maybe 2-3 GB per, so that i don't run out of hdd space sooner than i'd like.

maybe i'll mess with another format in clonedvd mobile, see if it yields better results and is playable by wmp or wmc....

 

I highly doubt things can get better/simpler than a combo of AnyDVD + your favorite DVD ripping tool...once the DVD is ripped you have a neat tidy file that you can organize any way you want. No need for fancy software to manage a bunch of movie files.

 

HA!
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=13098

 

I guess I'm a huge freaking thief then.

 

the only thing anydvd does is remove the encryption.

realdvd is pretty neat, but it doesn't compress, which makes hdd real estate disappear quick if you pile up a collection.

i'm trying it out right now, and the only thing i don't like is that you have to play the movie inside the player (the player doesn't disappear). would be nicer if they come around to that wmc integration they are keen on.

for now i am searching for software that will encode to wmv at high quality and res, so that i can import the movies into wmp.

 

I did take advantage of the trial version of Magic DVD Ripper, but found that it wasn't actually all that useful to have DVD's on my laptop - I watched maybe two off the hard drive. Othertimes I played them on a TV or 17-inch laptop because of the larger screen. If I had a humungous hard drive I might get Magic DVD Ripper to upload movies, but as it is I don't find it that useful, and I would like to see more reviews of RealDVD at any rate. That it supposedly doesn't remove all DRM protection leaves me suspicious of it, and when there are alternative commercial tools that do remove all DRM (and apparently are small enough the MPAA hasn't filed 13,000 lawsuits against them) then I'll go with those first.

'Course half the point of having copies of your DVD discs on your hard drive is just to have them there despite what the MPAA says - like nu_D said, you feel like you just punched those DRM fools in the gut every time you use it. Rebellious, yet in a legal way. I still wonder how those MPAA and RIAA folks make any friends, and I don't even pirate.

Which reminds me how much of the cost of digital music downloads the music studios take and how little the artists get, and makes me wonder even more what the point of the MPAA and RIAA is. But that's another topic.

 

using it so far, from the perspective of an all-around video storage software, it's good, except that it has 2 drawbacks, (1) you must pay additional money to authorize another computer to play a dvd you ripped on a previous machine and (2) it doesn't use compression. quality-wise, this is great, except for those that like to use lossless compression to reduce hdd footprints, but for those that go the way of lossy compression to maintain a respectable library, realdvd won't be much use.

it looks as tho real is trying to pinpoint the video side of media before apple pioneers it. i wouldn't mind forking the 30 bucks if it was more advanced and had more features. but the promise that it will allow you to play your movies in media center is pretty sweet.


regarding the whole overblown bs coming from the MPAA, there is are several problems with their argument, most importantly: why does the MPAA have a hard-on for real, but not for Kaleidescape ? regardless of the format of a legal warning (whether it's written on something or in digital form) the penalties for those audio CDs are the same as those for dvd movies. but ppl have been ripping their cd's to their hdds for years now.

 

so it's no longer available on real's site. what a shame....

 

Yes terrible shame. What is it with the "entertainment" industry as a whole?

The way I see it is if a pirate wants to pirate stuff they will do it. Allowing people to copy films to their HDD isn't going to add to piracy.

It seems to me that if the "entertainment" industry see they aren't making money out of something they immediately cry foul, blame piracy, and chuck lawsuits around.

It's about time the "entertainment" industry woke up, realised we're in the 21st century and stopped all this money grabbing BS that masqeurades as DRM and other such crap.

Disclaimer: Just my $0.02.