Two Week Warning

[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?

[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.

[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?

[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?

[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.

[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! >^..^<

[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.

[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,
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]

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]

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.