Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   I spent a little bit of time checking out the installation etc. of today's GOTD. I was curious as this uses some stuff [e.g. registry keys/entries] from DVDFab 9. Unlike Fengtao, located in Beijing, from the main executable's certificate: O = TDMore Technology Limited, STREET = Room 05-15, 13A/F., South Tower, World Finance Centre, Harbour City, 17 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, L = Kowloon S = Hong Kong PostalCode = 999077 C = HK . It could be that they licensed the code, or it could be that Fengtao is trying to setup a sister company, one that isn't in conflict with the courts in the US. They could of course have stolen the code, but I wouldn't think that that would be in keeping with their acknowledging open source contributions etc.

   What's to know about TDMore DVD Copy...

   I ran the installed TDMore DVD Copy like I would any other app... The installed desktop icon starts the launcher rather than the TDMore.exe file in the program's folder -- starting that instead saved a step & a bit of time. If I had it to do over I'd try running the software as admin -- some files & registry entries were in the VirtualStore sections indicating compatibility issues.

   It asks for a Windows restart, but on the face of it doesn't require one to get a driver or service working, since it doesn't add either. I should be able to tell you exactly what it did on restart, but both TDMore DVD Copy & the latest DVDFab 9159 [international version] caused my win7 32 VM to crash on shut down.

   Maybe tied into that, Fengtao [DVDFab] dives a bit deep when it comes to DRM. I don't fault him for using it, nor for the fact that his DRM [in older versions] seems untraceable -- install a trial, delete everything [to the point of restoring a registry backup], & then reinstall a trial, & rather than starting fresh, it knows about the 1st trial. [I found that out with my regular monitoring procedure, because I always want to know where an app writes data, & how, in case it's something Windows illegal, which might cause problems like my VM crashing on shutdown.]

   I mentioned older versions because with version 9 DVDFab started sending the PC's/laptop's MAC address to their server(s) where it was tracked. I can't say if TDMore DVD Copy does the same thing -- apologies because I never thought to test that aspect. Both TDMore DVD Copy & DVDFab 9 add protected folders to the system User Data folder [in win7 that's Users\ [UserName]\ AppData\ Roaming\] -- I did not try going through setting up a super admin acct., nor did I try tools like XCalcs, but using the standard permissions & ownership dialogs & settings in win7 they were untouchable.

   Folders I can't touch bother me, as does the thought of someone having a database of what I've watched tied directly to my PC. They wouldn't find anything out of the ordinary [I'm too old for a lot of stuff], but it's nobody's biz & I'd like to keep it that way.

   At any rate the untouchable folder & the crash were enough to turn me off of TDMore DVD Copy -- I already wouldn't consider DVDFab 9. Maybe it would help to note a bit about this sort of software anyway?...

   Posted 10 years ago #
2. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   DVD [or Blu-Ray] copy software does just that -- it lets you copy what's on the disc onto your hard drive or another disc... without software decrypting the disc you cannot read the files. To make that harder, DRM tries to make some stuff only work on the original disc -- mileage copying a disc will vary depending on how successful they are, e.g. Cinavia embeds a virtually undetectable audio signal in the audio track [think subliminal message type stuff], so if you use a player that looks for Cinavia there is little way around it [AnyDVD HD allegedly works with some software players].

   Some apps only copy a DVD or Blu-Ray as an ISO file, which to me is a bit of senseless bother. If you want to mount a disc on your hard drive in a virtual disc drive [sometimes needed for some players] DVDFab's free Virtual Drive seems to work fine, & can create a mini-ISO it can mount in seconds. In the mean time you have access to the files for conversion or whatever without having to mount an ISO & then often copy the files somewhere else.

   Some companies do offer free DVD [or more rarely sometimes Blu-Ray] copiers -- they need to develop the code & tech to handle the DRM for any related products [like rippers] anyway. Be a bit careful of the list Giovanni posted on the download page -- a couple were rippers, a few said nothing about DRM [e.g. Shrink Will Not handle it], the free version of DVDFab will not do the latest discs, while any DVDFab versions you download from a US ip address may be limited as well. Personally I tend to be skeptical of free decrypting software given away by an individual -- if they don't make money somehow, perhaps with an upgraded product offering, I can't see them spending the cash for all the new releases every week to test with their software.

   Copying a DVD/Blu-Ray disc is as you'd imagine, lossless -- it's a one to one copy. The software you use can add to the overhead, as can the DRM in use, but the actual speed writing a disc's contents to your drive depends on how fast your hardware is. IOW the only way brand X is faster than brand Y, is if brand Y is screwed up. If the software runs properly, there can really be no difference, so claims to the contrary are BS. That said, many DVD drives have speed governors that are activated when the drive detects a video DVD -- check out MediaCodeSpeedEdit for that.

   Posted 10 years ago #
3. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   #1: "This being a new contributor to the GOTD Project, and having nothing to base the “1 year” statement on leaves me wondering…Does this mean that it will stop working after a year…or do you get upgrades for a year and it will continue to operate at the most recent version at the end of the year? Thanks."

   #9: "So basically then, the license really serves no function except for those people who choose to be exceptionally moral and honest?"

   #26: "For a new brand, the features are basic, the price is a little expensive, the interface is cool. Thanks for the giveaway campaign. But NOT WORTH for an upgrade."

   DRM improves & evolves -- otherwise the 1st DVD copy software almost a decade ago would still be all that we ever needed. When you buy copy software like this you're buying the continued services of the company, so that backing up the DVD you buy a year from now will work just as well as the DVD you bought yesterday. After the license term expires you will likely not be able to backup the newest discs with the newest DRM, though it would be helpful if TDMore spelled out their policies in depth to give prospective customers more confidence.

   * * *

   #23: "When my grandchildren were smaller and less careful I regularly made backup copies of my DVD collection keeping the originals away from them. I do not need to do that now "

   Stuff happens. I know I'm not immune to accidentally screwing stuff up, & I'm too poor to throw away $20 bills. :)

   "In the past I always used DVDFab which is excellent. This, however, is on a par with Fab "

   Hard to say... DVDFab has a lot more paid options, it's been around a long time, & it has a very good track record of handling every disc. OTOH it's impossible to say [without inside knowledge] how badly the recent court action against them will wind up hurting the company.

   * * *

   #25: "Have a feeling this software category will go the way of the Polaroid film camera and music cassette tapes. It sounds so….outdated. For past few years, I have not needed to copy any movie from one DVD to another DVD. Do people still do that? Nowadays people watch movies online Netflix, cable TV and on their hand phones or tablets."

   No offense even hinted at, I'm always amused when I hear something along these lines. The selection of movies available for streaming may seem vast, but it is limited -- cable & satellite much more so. Cable, satellite, & on-line access all cost money, & all are subject to outages. While it's getting better, streaming has been reluctant to say the least, when it comes to captioning or subs. Streaming isn't available everywhere, & particularly until there are better pipes giving everyone better access & bandwidth, streaming quality is very often questionable. That's not to say that cable & satellite quality is anything to brag about -- the lower the bit rate the less it costs them for bandwidth, so you wind up even with HD using a lower bit rate than most DVDs, & it shows.

   If you like & are satisfied with streaming, cool, but please leave those that aren't alone. ;)

   * * *

   #26: "This License will be governed by the laws of the state of South Carolina as they are applied to the agreements between South Carolina residents entered into and to be performed entirely within South Carolina. So one should presume that this company is located somewhere in South Carolina."

   Very often the license will be copied from somewhere else, especially when it's a company located outside the US or EU. AFAIK no company has dared make DVD or Blu-Ray copy/backup software in the US or EU -- if you remember how big a company Real Audio used to be, they tried & couldn't get away with it, taking just a day or so before their software was ordered off the market by the courts.

   Posted 10 years ago #

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