[SOLVED] Why pay MakeMKV ?

[Kdmeizk]

Hello,

Can you explain me why you let a DVD part as free and we need to pay the BluRay part ? I don't need the answer like "it's for the work behind the software", I need really good argument(s). Plus, 50 € for may be a "technology which will disappear", for the moment I'm not happy to pay, even if you have the best price.

Thanks in advance.

[Tapioka]

[...]I don't need the answer like "it's for the work behind the software"[...]

... But that is the best answer. Getting paid for your work is necessary or else you can't continue working (although MakeMKV is probably not Mike's primary income ). So I guess the 50 € go into past work on the tool and making sure it stays updated in the future. And: It's still virtually free right now.

[Kdmeizk]

In my mind and after spoke about this subject with friends, our solution is the way to decrypt blurays is covered by copyright because a company would give this way and nobody nowadays has find another way to decrypt blurays.

It's strange as situation, all DVD decrypters are free (or almost) but bluray the price is often high, too high. Because in the past, the way to uncrypt DVD was broken and DVD Decrypter + DVD Shrink was come.

[Woodstock]

But BD is the "moving target" of today - version 1.9.4 of MakeMKV was released just a few weeks ago, and the latest releases of AACS include the new key that MakeMKV has been using... So, anyone who has dropped one of those disks into their system needs an update to decrypt ANY Bluray disks now.

DVD is relatively quiet on the change-the-encryption front. And, as you say, lots of people have written decryption software for DVD.

[Chetwood]

I don't need the answer like "it's for the work behind the software", I need really good argument(s).

Tough luck, cause that's THE argument for it. But I'm sure you like working for free, right?

[Kdmeizk]

@Chetwood : You haven't read my second answer for answered this.

You look, we have bluray drive paid with many €. So if you need to decrypt bluray discs on a computer, you need again money. So explain to me how a bluray drive in the living room can read NEWS blurays discs, if someone need to "decrypt" ? How ?

[Woodstock]

I have not seen anyone strong-arming you into buying MakeMKV. I certainly wouldn't.... it's up to you. Mike has said it's "free while in beta". My guess would be that all three of us who have answered your question are registered users. It's more convenient than having to look for a new key every couple of months.

And, if you have no use for BD decoding, more power to you. I used to say that, too... until stuff I wanted didn't get released on DVD anymore. THAT is a "technology which will disappear" sooner than BD will. In fact, they're "doubling down" on BD with higher definition.

If you decide you need BD in the future, there is a project called "libaacs" that you can add to some software to decode them... Provided, of course, you find a source of keys for it (Mike does that for MakeMKV).

[Kdmeizk]

I have nothing against MakeMKV, I search just why a price because for the "same price", we can play a bluray ? I need a decrypter only for backup blurays AND to play bluray disc on computer. It's annoying buy a bluray drive + pay the decrypt ONLY on a computer while a bluray drive on the living room can play without problems. Like this, for me it's not justified.

[Woodstock]

When you bought that BD player in the living room, you paid the manufacturer for a license to decrypt BDs. And that license can be revoked at any time by a disk publisher, by putting an AACS key on their disk that revokes the key in your player, taking away its ability to decrypt ANY BD.

Compared to other products on the market, it is priced lower. AnyDVD HD is 80 Euros for the first 2 years, plus an annual subscription after that.

If you buy the license for MakeMKV from a European country, you'll be charged 70 Euros by the payment processing company, and that's a permanent license (no annual renewals).

Are you only going to use MakeMKV on a single BD? If so, the price is a bit onerous. Just like the cost of the BD drive for your computer, if it is only for a single disk.

But I have ripped my entire collection of DVD and BD disks (which fill 25 "Bankers Box" storage containers so far), literally thousands of disks, for my registration fee. And I rarely pay the equivalent of the registration fee for a single disk. Can't say "never".... Kill La Kill was $40 per disk, 5 disks for the set... And Sword Art Only was $45/disk (5 disks).

The person who needs to be convinced of MakeMKV's worth isn't us... It's you. What is it worth TO YOU?

Zero? Then continue to take advantage of the "beta pricing" of zero, and live with the inconveniences of getting a new key periodically.

None of us can make your financial decisions for you. We're not the government, after all!

[Kdmeizk]

I think if these f***** revoke their licence, many people will leave this/these manufacturer(s) + irritation, and this way is just revolting...

I've a last question : Why explain the price "lower" than others software ?

But the fail in this encryption afraid me a little, because even if you warn people "only for personal use", many will give to .torrent or others. So this encryption could disappear against another type of encryption, and again buy this s***, etc... Do you think this case could produce itself ? For me, I'm nearly sure, unfortunately... That's why I'm really mistrustful.

[Woodstock]

You've hit on why the studios keep changing the game every few weeks, and why all the programs out there require periodic updates.

Frankly, there are people who use all of these products for piracy. But not as many as you would think - if I want to find an anime that isn't distributed in the US yet, what I'll find on the torrents is taken from over-the-air broadcasts in Tokyo, complete with the Tokyo Broadcasting System watermark. Or the same thing from what it was broadcast in China, or Malaysia, or ???. It's always interesting to read a "crawl" in Japanese, advertising the upcoming release of the Bluray!

And please do not think that DVD is immune from the mischief. Lionsgate is publishing DVDs with multiple, scrambled copies of movies on their DVDs. Divergent DVD has 5 different copies, only one of which is "right". A lot of DVD rippers get confused over that, and rip the wrong track. MakeMKV, at least, gave the choices.

While DVD doesn't have the "kiss of death" lock that BD has on the hardware, it does still need to be updated.

[Chetwood]

@Chetwood : You haven't read my second answer for answered this.

I have, I just don't care because you make a stupid argument. So you could buy another blu-ray for the price of MakeMKV, big deal.

I've a last question : Why explain the price "lower" than others software ?

To show that your whining about the oh so high price is even more unjustified?

Woodstock just explained to you that continuous development is necessary due to the studios' antics. So you think, Mike should work for you for free so you can buy one BD more? Really?

[Kdmeizk]

So, the work behind MakeMKV is to find AACS keys ? + another thing if I understood ? With a method like brute force or it's more difficult/more reflexive ?

[Woodstock]

In the case of the CSS keys needed for DVD decoding, brute force was a lot simpler. AACS keys are more complex, although I remember seeing an article about someone leaking one of the private keys used to generate them. Mike provides some links in his explanation:

http://www.makemkv.com/svq/

Quoting from Wikipedia's article on Advanced Access Content System:

Code: Select all

The approach of AACS provisions each individual player with a unique set of decryption keys which are used in a broadcast encryption scheme. This approach allows licensors to "revoke" individual players, or more specifically, the decryption keys associated with the player. Thus, if a given player's keys are compromised and published, the AACS LA can simply revoke those keys in future content, making the keys/player useless for decrypting new titles.

AACS also incorporates traitor tracing techniques. The standard allows for multiple versions of short sections of a movie to be encrypted with different keys, while a given player will only be able to decrypt one version of each section. The manufacturer embeds varying digital watermarks in these sections, and upon subsequent analysis of the pirated release the compromised keys can be identified and revoked (this feature is called Sequence keys in the AACS specifications)

They include in the licensing scheme for BD drives that any revoked keys are loaded into firmware on the drive as the disk is loaded (before the computer talks to the drive about it), and can no longer be used to decode ANY BD content, which is why software has to adapt to new versions of AACS as they come out. That is something DVD does NOT have.

[Kdmeizk]

Their "revocation" is possible only with Internet, right ?