SlySoft, creators of the highly popular AnyDVD software, have just released AnyDVD HD, which lets you remove the AACS encryption from an HD-DVD to allow playback of HD-DVDs on non-HDCP hardware.

Knowing it was just a matter of time before the word was out, SlySoft quietly released AnyDVD HD over the weekend, and it only took a day to catch on. AnyDVD HD lets you watch movies over a digital display without the required HDCP compliant graphics card by removing the AACS encryption.

AnyDVD HD also features magic file replacement, which lets you remaster any commercial movie using XML scripts. The scripts then replace certain files on the disc so you can customize your DVDs without making a copy to your HD.

Per van Heuen, a SlySoft lead developer said,“We could only begin our development some weeks ago and we are immensely proud to get this product out to the users so quickly,” but noted that the release of AnyDVD HD was independent from the open source community who discovered the AACS processing key.

“The way AnyDVD HD addresses and solves the problem doesn’t have much in common with the discoveries of individual members of the Open Source community in reading AACS keys from the USB bus,” said Heuen. “As one can expect from SlySoft, our solution works fully automatic with all known titles while the so-called hacker tools require laborious reading out of memory or the USB bus. This is not to say that their efforts are completely fruitless; it’s just that ours need to be user-friendly. It’s just that simple.”

AnyDVD HD’s list price is set at $79 for a stand alone version or $30 for the upgrade from AnyDVD; alternatively, you could download a free, 21 day trial from SlySoft.

For you Blu-ray fans out there, SlySoft noted that support for copying Blu-ray disks will be seen this quarter. 

“When we considered Blu-Ray, our strategy was simply to initially support HD-DVD and await further developments in the marketplace. Already during the beta phase we got many inquiries about Blu-ray so we decided to go ahead and also provide support for this as soon as possible,” said SlySoft’s Marketing Director, Tom Xiang, “Blu-ray employs the same AACS process as HD-DVD. An implementation was really just a matter of form. A beta version is planned for availability this quarter.”

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Entry was posted on Monday, February 19th, 2007 at 8:54 pm under Software.

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