Two Week Warning

[Cats4U]

It's time for a word of warning and some common sense advice. In just a day over two weeks from now, on December 6th, 2022, the current version of Widevine DRM will be replaced by a newer version. Widevine is the DRM produced by Google and it is used by major streamers around the world such as Google Play, YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Hulu, Peacock, Discovery+, Paramount+ and many more. That means that all those streamers will no longer work with StreamFab unless the Developer is able to figure out how to defeat the new encryption. According to Mona, the Developer is hard at work on the problem at this moment. She also added, "It certainly will have an effect on StreamFab for a period, but we have our backup solution to reduce the effect. I believe our developer will figure it out as we used to." One thing going for us this time is that we learned early that the DRM is going to change. The Developer had access to the new DRM module on September 29th via Chrome's Canary channel and the stable release was in Chrome version 107 on November 15th. Still, that's not much time to work out something so complicated. That is probably why there have been so few fixes and additions in the last two updates. I hope everyone here realizes that "picking the lock" of this new DRM, needs to be, and is, the top priority right now. All other complaints about little inconveniences can wait until after the new DRM is solved. And don't even think for a microsecond that StreamFab is to blame if the only thing available for a time are videos in SD or something equally annoying. As it is often said, it is a cat and mouse game. The streamers try to prevent us from downloading and the downloaders try to figure out a way around that. This will continue on until the streamers come to their senses and give the people what they want, the ability to download the videos we want and the ability to store videos locally in a standard format for as long as we want.
So, you have two weeks. Make a concerted effort to grab all that you want now. There is no telling how long it might take to get normal 720p and 1080p downloads back again.

And again, no bitching. You knew, or you should have known, that you bought or subscribe to a program that could be described as having a, shall we say, shady purpose. One that the streamers would love to shut down or at the very least, to hassle. Well, the main hassle is about to appear. Better days are ahead after that. Just go with the flow and no complaining.

[Chameleon]

This has been going on every 6 months to a year for ages, why is this new to everyone? This is old news. It's just the semi-annual or annual CDM update. I am a developer, I write code, this is not big news, they will fix it.

[Cats4U]

Chameleon,
This is old news to you but not to some of the newbies around here. Just look at the posts on any given day that does not involve a DRM change. People freak out over the most insignificant thing and demand that it is fixed immediately. What would happen if they suddenly totally lost the use of most of their modules and no one told them it was going to happen even though some knew? There would be a lot of hell to pay for StreamFab.
I never said that they would not fix it. In fact I thought I gave a rather positive but cautious spin on what I wrote. I think it is better to be forewarned that there is a possibility that there may be a loss of services for awhile, and this is the reason why, rather than everyone be surprised on Dec. 6th.

I have to ask because you seem so overly defensive about the subject - Are you the Developer of StreamFab?

[Chameleon]

I will complain if I want to complain, this has been happening for ages, people who own these programs should do background searches on how this is done, its old news its been happing for the life of all these products. You post a big warning for people to be afraid and who are you to tell people not to complain, do you work here? Americans think they own internet. No, I do not develop anything for this company, I develop other software for a completely different purpose.

[Cats4U]

Chameleon,
I'm sorry, buddy, but I think you are, once again, totally misunderstanding what I wrote. At this point I don't even want to write to you anymore because you are mischaracterizing me so badly. I'm afraid that I might write another word or phrase that you don't understand and you'll twist my meaning around even worst than you already have. Peace...out.

[artsunlimited]

It's time for a word of warning and some common sense advice. In just a day over two weeks from now, on December 6th, 2022, the current version of Widevine DRM will be replaced by a newer version.

For some reason I got it into my head that it was the 9th, not the 6th, so thanks for this - I have 3 days less than I thought I did! I appreciate your keeping everyone here apprised of these developments - if I didn't pay attention to what you write on this forum, I would have been caught flatfooted.

BTW, love the avatar! >^..^<

[jimc115]

This has been going on every 6 months to a year for ages, why is this new to everyone? This is old news. It's just the semi-annual or annual CDM update. I am a developer, I write code, this is not big news, they will fix it.

Except in the normal update, Google doesn't invalidate all old CDM's. Providers are not required to update every time Google does because old CDM's continue to work. This time, ALL PROVIDERS are required to update and ALL prior CDM's stop working.

[potenial_user]

This is not the standard cat and mouse of a few sites moving the bar. This is Google removing all support for previous versions from chrome (or is it all the way back upstream to chromium, which would break edge as well very possibly). Does the HVEC replacement even contain support for all the existing h264 content?

[artsunlimited]

This is not the standard cat and mouse of a few sites moving the bar. This is Google removing all support for previous versions from chrome (or is it all the way back upstream to chromium, which would break edge as well very possibly). Does the HVEC replacement even contain support for all the existing h264 content?

Speaking of Edge on the 6th - I got this new warning through SF when I started a Stan (Australian streaming service) trial account just now. What I don't get is why I'm seeing this + an error code - Edge is up to date on my laptop and I can stream using my Chrome browser. Isn't SF the browser here?

[Chameleon]

Except in the normal update, Google doesn't invalidate all old CDM's. Providers are not required to update every time Google does because old CDM's continue to work. This time, ALL PROVIDERS are required to update and ALL prior CDM's stop working.

Wrong, Google completely invalidates all old CDMs when new ones are listed. I worked for Google while in schools last year and we went over this in depth. Do your homework. It will however work for a short time when the new one is rolled out then it's
restricted. The CDM is the secure closed-box environment that handles digital rights management (DRM) restrictions and decryption of the content. Before denying access to the current CDM, Google will start rolling out the new version of it, with Google’s Chrome browser leading the way.

[MrGrackle]

We saw what happened with HBO max. Older stuff still worked, newer stuff was broken. Will this be what happens on the arbitrary date of December 6th?
And as far as top priority... if someone is an expert with Windows programming, you are saying their top priority now is the new DRM, even if they know absolutely nothing about DRM?

[Cats4U]

We saw what happened with HBO max. Older stuff still worked, newer stuff was broken. Will this be what happens on the arbitrary date of December 6th?
And as far as top priority... if someone is an expert with Windows programming, you are saying their top priority now is the new DRM, even if they know absolutely nothing about DRM?

You talking to me? As far as I can see, I'm the only one that used the word 'priority' in this conversation.
Let's start at the beginning - The first report of the Widevine deprecation came from this article on the Bitmovin blog https://bitmovin.com/google-deprecat...evine-drm-cdm/ . Bitmovin is a major video software provider. As an example, they make the video players for Fubo, BBC, NY Times and many more. If you tour their website you'll see that they are deep in the heart of Internet video. They have the direct sources for a news story like this. According to their article:

December 6th, 2022
– Older CDM versions will be revoked and deactivated and cannot be used any longer

I tend to believe that that is what is going to happen. We'll just have to wait and see if that is true.

As for priority, I was referring to the Developer of StreamFab and the users of SF. With time ticking away until Dec. 6th, I wrote that this CDM DRM update should be the priority that the Developer should be working on, not the everyday complaints that we get on this forum or that StreamFab gets in their feedback. If this deprecation does happen and the Developer has spent their time cutting 5 seconds off the Analysis time of some video streamers you never heard of (or something else equally minor) rather than work on the DRM change, all hell would break loose here. Ask yourself whether you'd rather them work on something minor that might affect 1% of StreamFab users or come Dec. 6th the potential that all the VIP streamers become undownloadable along with quite a few non-VIP ones for everybody. I know what I'd vote for. That's where priority comes in. It has nothing to do with a Windows programmer that has nothing to do with streaming video.

[Mike_M]

Been getting everything I can for now.

The Competitor evidently got 1080p going for HBOMax this month & re-got (this should be a werd!) House of Dragon, Avenue 5, The White Lotus, Halfworlds, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2022 and a lot of other stuff/movies since the set their cap to 500 downloads a day for November to stress-test their servers.

Also updated Dexter New Blood to 1080p via Paramount/ST & grabbed a lot of Amazon stuff.

I've got a ton of stuff backlogged to watch.

Always got Screen capture in background mode for this main P.C. and on alternate P.C. to fall back on - tedious but doable for interim for stuff I just *have* to grab temporarily & update down the road.

Put 720p in my excel spreadsheet and the streamer source for movies in order to better keep tabs of possible future updates of files to 1080p - was fairly easy after listing dimensions of files (Frame Width) in directory/ detail of files and sorting by it.

Plus the update to 1080p/enhancement via Topaz AI is chugging along for 720p/lower stuff for some of my older and favorite stuff.

Not sitting idle now and if *stuff* happens 12/6 and is messed up for a bit.

Also, since I updated my main system with new MB Z690 MSI/3080ti, I grabbed a M.2 1Tb Samsung 980 Pro for Black Friday/Cyber Monday from Best Buy and used some of my rewards points. The difference between that and the older full SSD drives is *very* noticeable. Only took 12 minutes to clone over 500gb on main C: drive (M.2 to Samsung 870/860) via Acronis USB/Dos WinPe mode instead of over 30 minutes - also loading of apps is greased lightning.

Interesting to see how StreamFab's "QCEF" is addressed compared to competitor's method and timeframe since they seem to be more focused on core/DRM stuff and mentioned that they were looking at DRM and 12/6 and were well aware of it.


Mike

US - CST, No Vpn, Win10/64 Pro, Win11/64/Pro, StreamFab (current version)

[jpp72]

Although it is fully possible that all hell breaks loose on December 6th, i feel this may not be the case.

I am talking right outta my ass right now but because this is something that affects Windows Desktop Browsers, it is entirely in the realm of possibilities that the Android version of StreamFab would still work after the 6th.

If you think about it, StreamFab's business model is to milk us of every cent they can. How else do you explain buying a Lifetime license and yet you need to keep paying when shit gets added?

My point is, why release a new and improved Android version if you are not anticipating a rush on it when clearly this is not something that people are clamoring for?

I'll tell you why: Google said this will only affect Windows Desktop Browsers. All of us will want to keep downloading shit so once we see Android is still working, we may decide forking over our hard earned cheddar is worth it.

I personally don't understand people who do everything on their phones as it is not very efficient in my opinion but if i can only download on Android, then i would totally install StreamFab for Android on my BlueStacks 5 install.

If that is the case, we may want to put our foot down and demand that StreamFab emulate an Android browser with the PC version of StreamFab. They will probably tell us it's not possible and bla bla bla but it doesn't hurt to try. At least the mobile license is only $30 if we are forced to get it...

Anyway, Mike_M & artsunlimited , if you have an android device that doesn't have their Chrome updated to 107 yet, would you mind trying to access the pages that gave you those warnings and seeing if you do get that warning? My phone is at 107.0.5304.105 and my tablet is at 107.0.5304.141 so i cannot test that. I doubt yours isn't updated since 107 was released in October but who knows... I may try and see if i can get this version installed and test...

[Mike_M]

Anyway, Mike_M & artsunlimited , if you have an android device that doesn't have their Chrome updated to 107 yet, would you mind trying to access the pages that gave you those warnings and seeing if you do get that warning? My phone is at 107.0.5304.105 and my tablet is at 107.0.5304.141 so i cannot test that. I doubt yours isn't updated since 107 was released in October but who knows... I may try and see if i can get this version installed and test...

Hiya Jpp72,

Don't have an Android device/phone to test that on.

Mike