This Company and their software

[funreviews]

This is definitely weird that they'd add new features before fixing broken functionality. Maybe they do what they can because the new DRM is tough to get working again so they release *something* new to at least give new features if they can't fix a particular functionality? However, like Peacock, it logs me out after every two episodes of a TV series is downloaded- but the DRM is working, just keeps logging me out- why can't that be fixed before a new feature is added? I work IT for a living and if we have an application (whether internal or customer-facing), FIXING the functionality ALWAYS takes priority over new features.

[Kattanders]

I also gave up on StreamFab and went and purchased AnyStream+, it works great for all my primary download sites. The only thing I come back periodically (rarely) and use StreamFab for is something only available freely on Pluto! or Roku. I even stopped using DVDFab in favor of MakeMKV. I'm just not interested in supporting this company anymore.

Me too :-)

[hizbf]

Does AnyStream+ support Discovery+ and ESPN+?

I used to love Streamfab, but I'm considering giving up on it. It's broken, and owners are more concerned about fast money-grab somewhere else than fixing the issues on the already existing Modules.

Not supported, this is a list of websites it supports downloading:

• Amazon Prime Video
• Disney+
• Netflix
• YouTube
• CWTV (USA)
• HBO Max
• Hulu (USA)
• itvX (UK)
• Joyn (Germany/Austria)
• Max
• Paramount+
• Peacock
• Rakuten TV
• WowTV (Europe)

It does not support credit card payments, only virtual currency payments are supported

[artsunlimited]

This is definitely weird that they'd add new features before fixing broken functionality. Maybe they do what they can because the new DRM is tough to get working again so they release *something* new to at least give new features if they can't fix a particular functionality? However, like Peacock, it logs me out after every two episodes of a TV series is downloaded- but the DRM is working, just keeps logging me out- why can't that be fixed before a new feature is added? I work IT for a living and if we have an application (whether internal or customer-facing), FIXING the functionality ALWAYS takes priority over new features.

It's not because "the new DRM is tough." C'mon, it beggars belief that AS can be direct downloading within something like 10 days after the January CDM revocation and 5 months later SF is unable to crack even one DRM. You can't fix what you're not attempting to find a solution for.

Back in 2014, Feng Tao, DVDFab, Feng Tao Software et al were sued by the Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator (AACSLA) for "trafficking in products designed to circumvent [AACSLA’s] encryption technology." Feng Tao moved to dismiss the suit, not on the grounds that the US District Court of the Southern District of NY didn't have jurisdiction, but for insufficient process, claiming that he should have been served through The Hague Convention, rather than serving them in an email in English - the strategy being if he/they couldn't be served. the any legal proceeding was dead in the water. AACSLA claimed they'd been unable to uncover his/their physical addresses, hence the email service, while Feng Tao claimed their physical location was easy to find.

Various and sundry motions on both sides dragged the proceedings out for years, with AACSLA moving for default judgment as Feng Tao et al failed to appear, and Feng Tao opposing that motion, until in 2018 that Feng Tao's insufficient service motion was dismissed (based partially on his demonstration that he understood that he'd been sued).

Fast forward to August 21, 2023* when a permanent injunction against Feng Tao et al was granted on AACSLA's behalf, with damages of $14,927,000. That injunction covers "all circumventing activity," not just DVD encryption, which was the focus of the original 2014 suit, and calls for disabling all the DVDFab websites. I have no further info regarding whether SF plans to comply, or if there any other legal filings on behalf of either party.

However, since news that of the upcoming DRM change was known in October, just two months later, and DVDFab did nothing to get out ahead of it, the timing of that lack of action and avoiding any accountability with mods jpp72 and Cats4U, essentially jerking them around and using them to buy time, can't be that much of a coincidence. If there are still devs on staff who can crack a DRM, then they'd had to have been in a collective coma for the past 5 months - so Occam's Razor dictates that they are no longer there, and that DRM decryption isn't something that SF is going to be providing. There has been zero effort made to crack a single DRM, and SF have deliberately turned a direct downloader into a screen recorder/re-encoder.

I think we've all figured out by now that the "working for a solution" droppings from various SF functionaries here translates to "fixing the screen recorder/re-encoder we're selling now" and not "bringing back the direct downloader you paid for."


*https://cases.justia.com/federal/dis...?ts=1692695511

[Chameleon]

Wow, just wow, now everything is beginning to make sense. You must have some special abilities artsunlimited, fantastic detective work. I looked up the AACS-LA and they are made up of the most powerful companies in the world. I guess it's only a matter of time until this company disappears.

https://aacsla.com/who-are-the-founders/

[artsunlimited]

Wow, just wow, now everything is beginning to make sense. You must have some special abilities artsunlimited, fantastic detective work. I looked up the AACS-LA and they are made up of the most powerful companies in the world. I guess it's only a matter of time until this company disappears.

https://aacsla.com/who-are-the-founders/

Well shucks, thank you. Research is my wheelhouse, but as much as I'd like to claim the mantle of super-sleuth, I was on JustiaUS for something else entirely and got to thinking, "Could SF be sued in the US for false advertising?" and "Why would they have that weird Colorado address?" so I ran a search and BINGO.

What's weird is that Feng Tao's IP attorneys, McGeary Cukor LLC, aren't located in NY but in Morristown, NJ, so what's up with them being able to represent him in the Southern District of NY?

Since Feng Tao's motion for insufficient service was denied in 2018* (appeals dragged that one out, too), I'm thinking the timing of his "leaving" or selling his software company in 2019(?) that you told us about earlier is a little too much of a coinky-dink, as well.

*https://law.justia.com/cases/federal...12/423515/164/

[Tazzy1]

I really think their days are numbered so the concentration is on the financial side at all cost now. Looks like Google's developers are winning this DRM war. Amazon still has commercial free movies (full audio). It is easier to convert/upscale video than it is to upmix the audio from 2.0 aac to 5.1. Their audio upmix module did not work for me either.

[jpp72]

Great detective work artsunlimited!

Only clarification is that they have been trying but they can't get there. For Amazon, they were able to do it but their CDM gets blacklisted after 24 hours. It has happened many, many times.

For Netflix, they have claimed to be close several times but Netflix is gearing up for a huge "Live TV" push and the coding changes almost every day. This was confirmed by 2 very reliable sources, including an insider over at RF. So they get close, Netflix changes the code, then they are back at square one.

Finally, my theory is that they rely almost exclusively on stuff on Github and Discord but people got wise as to who they are and are no longer sharing knowledge with them. On top of that, streaming providers can probably easily figure out the Android CDM they are using is not really on an Android platform and they blacklist it that way...

To everyone, please read carefully: I am not defending them or making excuses. I am simply stating that i don't think they don't want to crack the DRM. They just don't have the expertise to do it.

[artsunlimited]

I really think their days are numbered so the concentration is on the financial side at all cost now. Looks like Google's developers are winning this DRM war. Amazon still has commercial free movies (full audio). It is easier to convert/upscale video than it is to upmix the audio from 2.0 aac to 5.1. Their audio upmix module did not work for me either.

Since The Competition was enabling direct downloading 10 days after the January CDM revocation and is getting EAC3 5.1 audio from Amazon, how do you figure that? Again, SF isn't decrypting DRM's because after four solid months they were proved to be uncrackable (since clearly they can be decrypted), but because in four solid months they either 1) haven't hired a dev who could decrypt even one or 2) put their in-house devs who are capable of decrypting onto anything but that - even though people are screaming for them to restore direct-downloading functionality to the software.

Sure, it's "easier" to rip off CleverGet and substitute a screen recorder/re-encoder than pay developers to decrypt DRMs, but if you want to keep selling a high-price direct downloader, you need to maintain its performance - otherwise you have an overpriced poorly-functioning screen recorder that people could buy elsewhere for a lot less.

[jpp72]

Since The Competition was enabling direct downloading 10 days after the January CDM revocation and is getting EAC3 5.1 audio from Amazon, how do you figure that? Again, SF isn't decrypting DRM's because after four solid months they were proved to be uncrackable (since clearly they can be decrypted),

Rumor has it that they are actually decrypting PlayReady and not Widevine. No idea if that is the case but it would explain why SF's CDM gets blacklisted and not theirs

[artsunlimited]

Only clarification is that they have been trying but they can't get there. For Amazon, they were able to do it but their CDM gets blacklisted after 24 hours. It has happened many, many times.

Finally, my theory is that they rely almost exclusively on stuff on Github and Discord but people got wise as to who they are and are no longer sharing knowledge with them. On top of that, streaming providers can probably easily figure out the Android CDM they are using is not really on an Android platform and they blacklist it that way...

This makes perfect sense, since it's clear that without the keys being handed to them as has been done before, they can't pick a lock all on their own.

Which then leaves us with the $64,000 question, namely: how many times does "it has happened many, many times" have to occur before they wise up, realize that they can't do with whoever they have on staff, and hire developers who are capable of decryption? Because going into Month Five of "they can't get there" - and paying the same people to keep failing because they simply don't have the skill set - is the worst sort of financial incompetence.

[Chameleon]

to be honest this is all very interesting but I really think it’s a simple as any stream has the better developers and they actually work harder to give their customers a better product. I think it’s just simple as that. But what do I know lol

[artsunlimited]

to be honest this is all very interesting but I really think it’s a simple as any stream has the better developers and they actually work harder to give their customers a better product. I think it’s just simple as that. But what do I know lol

LOL, a heckuva lot, since it is just that simple. They don't advertise, they don't sell ersatz versions of their software under other names, they don't add a streaming platform at the expense of maintaining what they already have, and their forum is the ne plus ultra of consumer/tech help communications. Even so, I liked SF an awful lot for its little differences, as well as for the platforms that AS didn't provide, so it's sad that it's devolved into the hot mess that it is right now - especially when they have a successful example of what to do right, right in front of them.

[hizbf]

LOL, a heckuva lot, since it is just that simple. They don't advertise, they don't sell ersatz versions of their software under other names, they don't add a streaming platform at the expense of maintaining what they already have, and their forum is the ne plus ultra of consumer/tech help communications. Even so, I liked SF an awful lot for its little differences, as well as for the platforms that AS didn't provide, so it's sad that it's devolved into the hot mess that it is right now - especially when they have a successful example of what to do right, right in front of them.

StreamFab and AnyStream Plus are the two giants of Windows downloaders, AnyStream Plus supports fewer websites, but repairs quickly; StreamFab supports many websites, but repairs are slow, StreamFab has DRM M3U8 Downloader and DRM MPD Downloader, which other Windows downloaders do not have, If StreamFab goes bankrupt one day, I can only buy a Mac computer and download videos using Downie, but Mac computers are much more expensive than Windows computers!

[Cats4U]

To everyone, please read carefully: I am not defending them or making excuses. I am simply stating that i don't think they don't want to crack the DRM. They just don't have the expertise to do it.

I have to go along with Jack on this. There really wasn't a large amount of conversation released to us in private in our capacity as moderators and "influencers". But what we did get was always of the "we think we have it fixed" or "watch for the next release" type, soon followed by a message saying that it was going to take a bit longer. I never got the feeling that they were trying to pull one over on us, and that they never had any interest in cracking the DRM. I, personally, told Wilson several times to fire the Developer and hire either post-graduate Computer Science majors or cryptographically knowledgeable forum users from VideoHelp.com. So, it was my thought that they simply had a Developer that wasn't experienced or knowledgeable enough to do the job that he needed to do. I never totally bought into Jack's GitHub/Discord theory of solving the cracking, but that was just my personal opinion and who's to say what was right. We were always left in the dark as to what was actually going on programmingwise.