AnyDVD HD lifetime license gone duff - what are my options?

Pawnless Endgame · 10 Nov 2018 at 23:47

I'm not interested in copying blu-rays, so please no discussion about copying discs, decrypting or ripping to a device.

I use AnyDVD HD so that I can play my blu-rays in Media Player Classic. I don't like Power DVD, Win DVD, Windows Media Player etc... too bloated. I like the simplicity of MPC. It's the same reason why I hated Real Player and Quick Time too.

I purchased a 'lifetime' licence years ago for around £85 from the Slysoft web site. Recently however, I noticed that my newer blu-rays aren't working. After a bit of searching, it turned out that Slysoft have changed their name to Redfox and are forcing the lifetime holders to buy a new licence which is currently €109 (about £100). People have moaned about this on the Redfox forums and basically been told that they're screwed.

I don't particularly want to fork out another £100 for a lifetime licence that could go dead in 4 years time if the company was to change names again. So what are my other options? Playing blu-rays in Media Player Classic is all I'm asking for. I repeat - I'm not interested in copying, ripping etc.

bledd · 11 Nov 2018 at 01:58

Yup, very poor move on their part. I was stung by the same issue.

Now I just use my PS4 as a blu ray player.

medievaltw · 11 Nov 2018 at 15:09

Hi,

I have used MPC-HC in the past and have switched to VLC; you can add Bluray support to VLC by adding 2 files (You need two files: keys database and AACS dynamic library.) from

https://vlc-bluray.whoknowsmy.name

hope this helps

Pawnless Endgame · 11 Nov 2018 at 18:54

Thanks for the links to the files! I have the portable version of VLC (3.0.4), so what directories will I need to put them in?

I tried \%appdata%\Roaming\aacs for KEYDB.cfg then \VLC\App\vlc for libaacs.dll but the disc doesn't open.

Also, how do I tell if portable VLC is 32-bit or 64-bit? If I go to Help > About, it just says 3.0.4 Vetinari. I'm on 64-bit Windows 8.1 btw.

If the worst comes to the worst, I'll just install VLC instead but I much prefer to stay as portable as possible because they stay on the D drive and the programs will work on another machine and will survive a reformat etc.

Pawnless Endgame · 11 Nov 2018 at 19:31

P.S. further to my above post, I managed to get VLC player to play some of my blu-rays but not all of them.

I figured out that portable VLC is only 32-bit because I tried the 32-bit DLL file and that got it going with blu-rays.

For portable, the paths were:

\%appdata%\Roaming\aacs and place KEYDB.cfg in there
\VLC\App\vlc for the libaacs.dll DLL file (the full path was D:\Programs\Video\VLC\App\vlc)

A blu-ray that works ok is Sleeping Beauty. The film that I was trying to watch last night though was Moana and that didn't work. It was also rejected by the VLC fix.

medievaltw · 11 Nov 2018 at 20:24

hi, i use the x64 full install; for that install the keydb goes in C:\ProgramData\aacs\ (programdata is a hidden folder so you'll need to unhide hidden folders and create the \aacs folder) and the libaacs goes in the vlc directory

Blackjack Davy · 12 Nov 2018 at 02:32

Yeah I got hit too. Do not shell out for another licence they'll just do it again in a couple of years time. I'll never purchase anything from them again thats for sure.

Pawnless Endgame · 30 Dec 2018 at 00:38

Okies, the problem in my last post was: Sleeping Beauty = yay, Moana = nay.

Slight necro-post on this thread then, but just to update you guys on what I did.

DVDFab Passkey for Blu-ray seems to be the answer.

This was the nearest replacement that I could find. Remember, all I wanted to do was to watch blu-rays in Media Player Classic (or VLC as a last resort) as I don't like the more bloated programs. So no ripping, no converting, just to view them. Basically AnyDVD was a driver that allowed me to watch blu-rays in my favourite program. DVDFab Passkey seems to do the same thing but it allowed me to watch Moana as well. I'm running it in a 30-day trial which expires on 29th January. To buy it costs around $55.

Have any of you tried this program?

Hades · 30 Dec 2018 at 01:50

Sorry I can't help with DVDFab and Passkey. But in theory Linux can play blu ray's if you install libdvdread4. I say "in theory" because I don't own a blu ray player to try it. But you could try running a Linux distro as a virtual machine under Virtualbox and then install VLC and libdvdread4. It's worth a try.

marc2003 · 30 Dec 2018 at 06:50

I'd just "acquire" the software released by the original company that screwed you over. Technically naughty but morally, I think it's fine.

Grimley · 30 Dec 2018 at 07:43

According to what I've read, Slysoft was forced to close down their operations in the Caribbean due to the AACS AA office pursuit of them legally. The usual way for these companies to continue operations, is to move to a country where its more difficult to be prosecuted or sued & start again with a new company name. Well thats their story anyway. I've not bothered to buy the new licence as I don't buy many discs these days. MakeMKV is my friend now.

ivrytwr3 · 30 Dec 2018 at 11:30

marc2003 said:
I'd just "acquire" the software released by the original company that screwed you over. Technically naughty but morally, I think it's fine.

I'm with you on this! I've just done a quick search and the RedFox version is out in the usual places.

Damn shady considering you paid for the lifetime licence!

AWPC · 31 Dec 2018 at 14:56

I got stung by them as well and when I explained I had bought 4 licences from them I got the same reply you have to buy a new one! This is just to decode existing BD's (I only used it to watch all region discs to stop hitting the 5 changes limit within Windows OS).

So I worked out it was cheaper to just buy a standalone player & set my PC to Region A instead of pay slysoft more wasted money when they have such a poor customer service attitude to genuine customers!