MS DRM Cracked? - Page 2  

Apple seems to have survived the various DRMed-AAC hacks so far, but of course one of they ways they've done that is by breaking hacks with firmware upgrades. I suppose MS could do the same with WMP upgrades.

First of all, I think it only affects WMV. Second, no one's going to remove or hold back on content they have released or are in the process of release. Did iTMS go down after the Hymn project started? No, they just updated their software to break de-DRMed files. They'll keep on going back and forth on it too, mainly because trying to stomp out open-source software is both illegal if it has legal uses and nearly impossible to do.

What the hell... along with previous suggestions, how about not having to screw with the stupid disc?, being able to append all the files into one? Being able to play it on any player? Increased playback performance? Reduced file size? Playback on an offline computer? The whole format has just been one big mistake. The titles have been stuffed up with DRM crap since their inception, and there is already is a slowdown. Maybe if we all had waited another 12 years we might have bought T3 just to get screwed by DRM again.

gameboy, yeah, I assumed we were talking about WMV. Of course WMA is affected even worse. :)

It acheived something positive for me--I finally bought the T2:Extreme package today now that I can actually use the WMV-HD version without having to worry about Artisan's license servers going down or having them decide to no longer support it. As for new stuff in the format--HD-DVD and Blu-ray are around the corner for high-value content, and providers of other content will be happy with MS's next DRM iteration.

Net gain: 1 (more for people interested in other protected discs)
Net loss: 0

Winner: DRM crackers. Next format. ;)

The net loss is that WMV was already a marginal format, and it's probably been seriously damaged now. The studios don't give a crap about delivered content to the PC in HD, in any financial terms. Do you really think that they'll continue to put out super high quality content on a format that doesn't make them any money to begin with if it can be cracked? DVD is bad enough, but we are talking about much higher quality content stuff here. With HD discs on the horizon, I wouldn't be suprised if they just flipped you guys the bird and moved on and you can sit around and gloat about how you stuck it to the man, when you only stuck to yourselves.

JBlacklow,

First, you are wrong about WMRM hack affecting WMV only. This is WMRM hack and it affects any media encrypted by WMRM.

Second, unless you have spoken with the labels yourself, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss this problem.

Unlike the half-ass DRM that Apple uses (if you can even call it DRM), WMRM grants a lot more variety of rights to users which allows vendors like Napster to offer more diverse services. And if those special rights are compromised, labels will be pretty upset and would not surprise me if they acted unreasonably.

DVD is bad enough?!?!

http://www.telecoms.com/marlin/20001...sh=10023211bae

http://money.cnn.com/2005/01/14/tech...vd_sales.reut/

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/...r-movies_x.htm

What world do you live in when revenues like these are "bad enough"?

You're turing into a troll.

Ozy

And others will fill in the vacuum left by their "unreasonable" actions.

Why on earth do you think we have to cater to their whims? For all those who tought the power of a capatalist society, there is profit to be made whether DRM exists or not. If certain players want to be "unreasonable" and forego profit because it isn't on the terms that they demand, then others who are willling to settle for just the profit will step up to the table if they are allowed.

Ozy

Dean out of respect (and I'm sure to some degree, forum rules) I accept your posts as they provide the counterargument which is usually necessary in a discussion, however your post:

"Yeh, you guys will just love those documentaries about the love life of the mid-western wood tick. But you've screwed yourself out of getting the good stuff, and the honest people who actually just wanted to get some good content in this format." - Dean Roddey

Is a downright stab at the legitimacy of the users on this board, I'm sure I speak for many when I say that I'm tired of being labelled a criminal by the rules set up in your utopia. According to your world anyone who opposes the will of the content owners is dishonest, those that are clueless as to the implications of such extreme measures are somehow honest by nature of their ignorance. (I am not quoting you, but this is the general flavour of your posts).

As I see it, the reason why we have these issues and all is because of false advertisement. How many people bought these DRM'd discs being fully aware of what it entails? Some are half aware that there would be some phoning home, but to them it was acceptable, but then they get stung with re-registering every few days, those that accepted that then learn that they can't bring their media along with them on holidays as the phone home DRM does not accept their IP address as being a valid distribution zone and so are denied. If everyone knew that this was what they were paying for when they bought into the WMV DRM discs, I can assure you most people won't be buying them, problem is not everyone knows this. Not all the DRM'd discs have all these problem as it is dependent on the decisions made by the content owner. How does one know what discs are affected in what way? I am pretty sure the owners of this content don't have to put up with all this stupidity, they're likely to have their own DRM free versions so couldn't give a toss about what the hapless consumer has to deal with. All this before you've even realised that the granting of access by a remote server allows them to change their rules at will to suit their own agendas. If I decide I would like to live in London all of a sudden, if CSS and region defeats weren't around, I'd have to re-buy all 300 of my DVDs, so it shall be with DRM content that employs such draconian measures.

Your failure to note the problems inherent in such a scheme are disappointing to say the least.

Cheers...
Duy-Khang Hoang

Join the club!!!

Seriously, it is pointless to argue with Dean. I stopped doing it about a year ago. Your life will be much more enjoyable, trust me.

Hey, that's not in the FAQ! :)

Ozy

Which as I said is irrelevent, since HD-DVD and Blu-ray are right around the corner for high-value high-demand content. Microsoft will update its DRM to be more secure which will be good enough for purveyors of non-high-value non-high-demand content. The people who bought DRM'd films can now backup their purchases in-the-clear and never have to worry about license servers locking them out. It's a win for everyone, except for the money it costs Microsoft in man-hours to update their DRM; considering the record profits they just posted, that's a drop in the pail.

But don't think anyone was stupid enough to think this wouldn't happen sooner or later. Everyone expected it eventually, including the content industry. Even HDCP has already been cracked on paper. The trick is just to delay it as long as possible, since everything is doomed to be broken eventually.

If I don't think I'm right, I wouldn't be arguing the point to begin with, therefore you will never find yourself arguing with me about something I'm not convinced I'm right about. And I find it hilarious to read these kinds of things when hardly a one one of you has ever backed an inch back from your own positions.

As to my implying that anyone who doesn't agree with he is an idiot or dishonest, that's purely in your own imagination. I believe that people who steal content are dishonest. If that's not you, then that's not you. If it is you, then I think you are dishonest, because you are dishonest, and breaking the law to boot.

Did someone say something? I guess not... hmm... I feel better already.

J/K :p

Cheers...
Duy-Khang Hoang

Lets be fair though Dean, DRM does impinge on fair use far more than simply content theft (I know your argument that content providers must do something to protect themselves but given the record profits provided by insecure systems I am not sure I buy that argument)..

Look at me as a prime example.. Lived in 5 homes in 3 countries in 2 seperate continents in 5 or 6 years.. Now how am I supposed to invest in media when you never know if that will still be useable..

I was a DRM supporter at first because I thought it might give us the keys to the content.. Then backfires like the downed servers, region checking of IP and finally the issues for Blight and Andrew (which really showed how much the little guy / enthusiast is welcome at this party) all soured me to the format.. Net result of this news was my immediate thought that I could now order 'Step into Liquid'.. One more title sold..

Doesn't matter -- you guys can tussel in the dirt all you want --- there is no content.

Is that similar to "there is no spoon"?

Ozy

http://translate.google.com/translat...l%3Den%26lr%3D

Pretty funny...

Has anyone gotten a hand on these files? and if so have you tried it out on the T2 disk?

It's worse than that:

"Panda Software warned earlier this week that hackers are using the player's DRM tool to fool people into downloading spyware and viruses."

The scary part:

"Microsoft has denied that an anti-piracy "feature" in its Windows Media Player that allows a Trojan horse to run on a user's PC is a vulnerability."

More at:
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/sec...9184120,00.htm

anyone want to help me get the crap (aka DRM) off my T2 WMVHDs

I refuse to even bother with the disc if I have to mess with the POS interactual player (aka spyware) again

i'm gonna try it on my T2 Extreme WMV-HD later.

guys the issue here is that once a file is unprotected or not DRM it will be easily shared in the P2P world.

HDTV downloads has been on going for the past months already. 10 to 20 GB .ts files or .s files transcoded to xvid or WMV9 in .avi is very common already. File size is not a PROBLEM !!!!

Once T2 WMV-HD is unprotected it would be easy to transcode it to another format, like in xvid file with AC3 audio that would fit into a 4.7GB DVD-R

Same case with lots and lots of MUSIC files and videos and PORNO videos that are online DRMed, this crack would change a lot. Until now the only way to crack DRMed video was to capture it in the from the overlay or the directshow filters, which usually degraded the quality.

trailergod:
Actually, of all things, online pornos/audio are the safest as their license is always online generated and their servers could easy swap the DRM system (once microsoft releases a patch). Some past content would be vulnerable, but new content would be ok.

The sad thing is, microsoft better release a tool to automate updating of DRM code... you see these sites re-DRMing a million songs... talk about grunt work.

LOL,

Go to the police, with a trojan "attack" ?

"Victim":
- Officer, I got a trojan on my computer due to a MS "feature".

"Officer":
- Really ?
- Well I'll just put that at the bottom of the got-nothing-else-to-do pile.
- Now, go out and play.

hmm does this mean some of the DRM HD trailers at MS site could not be de-DRMed ? would be great to have them again :-)

from the guy who cracked it, I think he some very good points...

And what, transcoding to half (or less) the original size DOESN'T degrade the quality?

I'm not saying that I'm for transcoding, but depending ou your display device, the quality difference could be quite minimal (i.e. going from the 1080p source to an equivalent 720p on transcode).

However, I'm sure Tralergod is aware of the kind of artifacting created by piling DCT errors on top of one another causes.

Any transcoding causes some lose in quality. But going from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4, can reduce the file size yet still maintain a very high level of picture quality. In some cases, the MPEG-4 HD clips I've seen stack up nicely against the original transport streams.