DVD Decrypter
| File:DVD decrypter screenshot.png Screenshot | |
| Developer(s) | Lightning UK! |
|---|---|
| Stable release | |
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows |
| Type | DVD ripper |
| License | Freeware |
| Website | Took down |
DVD Decrypter is a software application that can create backup disc images of the DVD-Video structure of DVDs. It can be used to image any DVD, but is especially useful for decrypting copy-protected movies. The program can also record images to disc. CSS decrypting software (such as DVD Decrypter, AnyDVD, Smartripper and DVD Shrink) allows a region-specific DVD to be copied as an all-region DVD. It also removes Macrovision, Content Scrambling System (CSS), region codes, and user operation prohibition.
The program was once distributed as freeware, but is no longer legally available for distribution in certain jurisdictions.[1]
The burning engine is being used in a new program called ImgBurn. The disc images can be:
- Viewed on the PC using software such as PowerDVD and WinDVD (WinDVD, however, can only view complete DVD-Video structures.)
- Encoded to a smaller size and stripped of unwanted extras like film trailers with re-authoring tools like DVD Shrink and Nero Recode.
- Burned onto optical media (DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD+R DL and DVD-RAM) to produce discs playable in hardware DVD players.
- Exported to VCD, SVCD or DivX format and possibly recorded onto CD-R or CD-RW media.
Legal action
As DVD Decrypter facilitates the removal of copy restrictions, certain uses may be illegal under the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Not all countries have similar laws, so DVD Decrypter should be perfectly legal there, if not otherwise restricted.
On June 6, 2005, the developer (known as "Lightning UK!") announced[2] via the CD Freaks website that he received a cease and desist letter from an unnamed company. He later stated it was within his best interests to comply with the letter, and stopped development of the program. By June 7 a mirror site was up [1], which allowed people to download the final version (3.5.4.0). On 27 November 2005, Afterdawn.com, a Finnish website, announced that it complied with a letter received from Macrovision demanding that DVD Decrypter be taken down from its site. Since only the owner of an application can demand that it be removed from a third-party site's download section, there can be no doubt that Macrovision was the company that took legal action under a 2003 British law banning the circumvention of copying prevention measures. Shortly after that, a site with no connection to Lightning UK! appeared and claimed to be the "new" DVD Decrypter Site. This site has since closed down.
Many American legal experts believe that under United States' Federal law making a backup copy of a DVD-Video or an audio CD by a consumer is legal. Some feel this provision of United States law conflicts with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act prohibition of so-called "circumvention measures" of copy protections.
In 2006, the United States Library of Congress created an exemption that explicitly allows circumventing access control for certain educational purposes. [2]
In the noted "321" case, Federal District Judge Susan Illston, of the Northern District of California (see: http://dvdxcopy.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/72527), ruled that the backup copies made with software such as DVD Decrypter are in fact legal but that distribution of the software used to make them is illegal. As of the date of this revision, neither the US Supreme Court nor the US Congress has taken definitive action on the matter.
On October 4 2005, Lightning UK! continued the development of the burning engine used by DVD Decrypter in his new tool, ImgBurn. [3]