This Company and their software

[dpittro]

App is not working...says unable to connect to the internet.even with a VPN

[fanatic]

Well if AS is really done then we're all screwed, cause we all know SF won't ever figure the DRM our or even care too at this point. Sounds like we all wasted money.

[NewMelle]

It won't start unless it can authenticate your license and this is accomplished the same way SF does, by the use of an authenticating service running on their domain. In the case of AS this domain is gone therefore it cannot authenticate you license and exits.

[phelings]

Didn't this happen once before? The service went down and when it started again everyone had to pay again. Not sure anyone will be stupid enough to do that a second time

[artsunlimited]

They will likely have to move their hosting away from Cypress to a country where the US has no business shaking its fist as I suspect their site was decommissioned. This is what I would do anyway.

This would mean a change in IP but fortunately the software uses the hostname to connect to the licensing server rather than a hard-coded IP so it may be restored in the near future.

I actually had a brief hiccup of not being able to open AS because of no internet connection the day before yesterday, I think - I thought my network was down, and by the time I'd checked, realized I was still online, and tried again, it was able to open. So that could be an indication it could be a server issue.

LOL, I remember when the SF servers crashed at something like 8pm Beijing time, and weren't restored until about late afternoon the following day because for most of that time no one had any idea they were down! This forum was up, but no updates from SF during that time.

[artsunlimited]

Didn't this happen once before? The service went down and when it started again everyone had to pay again. Not sure anyone will be stupid enough to do that a second time

Not exactly - SlySoft just abruptly shut up shop in February 2016 and left a lot of their devs unpaid, but the forum was still up and running throughout that - as of yesterday those " No fox, no job, no future?" convos were still there. RF1 and the guys that were running the show up until yesterday regrouped after that as RF - they'd created the SlySoft software in the first place, but had to repackage and sell it under their name. They're in it for the product, not an easy cash grab.

[NewMelle]

I actually had a brief hiccup of not being able to open AS because of no internet connection the day before yesterday, I think - I thought my network was down, and by the time I'd checked, realized I was still online, and tried again, it was able to open. So that could be an indication it could be a server issue.

LOL, I remember when the SF servers crashed at something like 8pm Beijing time, and weren't restored until about late afternoon the following day because for most of that time no one had any idea they were down! This forum was up, but no updates from SF during that time.

The domain redfox.bz is gone. Try pinging it. DNS cannot resolve the host name.

[phelings]

Not exactly - SlySoft just abruptly shut up shop in February 2016 and left a lot of their devs unpaid, but the forum was still up and running throughout that - as of yesterday those " No fox, no job, no future?" convos were still there. RF1 and the guys that were running the show up until yesterday regrouped after that as RF - they'd created the SlySoft software in the first place, but had to repackage and sell it under their name. They're in it for the product, not an easy cash grab.

So does that mean they'll be back and will honour our payments? Downloading Dallas using SF. Taken 12 hours to do 6 episodes. Ridiculous

[artsunlimited]

So does that mean they'll be back and will honour our payments? Downloading Dallas using SF. Taken 12 hours to do 6 episodes. Ridiculous

No crystal ball here, regrettably, but I don't think they've scarpered. They're structured so they can't be hit with the same sort of lawsuit Feng Tao et al got served with in 2014, and given that SF is no longer a direct downloader going into Month Five, they stood to reap an even larger share of the market as a direct downloader, so to pull the plug right now would be extremely silly if a cash grab was what they were after. I dunno why the domain is gone since NewMelle is far more knowledgeable in that area than I am, but I'd hang on and wait a bit and see.

Two hours/episode is beyond ridiculous! I've resurrected my 10-year-old Hauppage HD PVR2 and am currently ripping content from Apple+ using my Firestick since their best download is only in 360p SD - hell, using my Smartphone to film episodes of Ted Lasso off the teevee would probably give me better quality than that.

For anyone who's in the US, Best Buy has a 3 month free trial to Apple+, no purchase necessary - no idea when it expires, though.

[KidJoe]

Not exactly - SlySoft just abruptly shut up shop in February 2016 and left a lot of their devs unpaid, but the forum was still up and running throughout that - as of yesterday those " No fox, no job, no future?" convos were still there. RF1 and the guys that were running the show up until yesterday regrouped after that as RF - they'd created the SlySoft software in the first place, but had to repackage and sell it under their name. They're in it for the product, not an easy cash grab.

Yeah my Anydvd HD license was invalidated by that, and it pushed me to DVDFab and their Passkey product. I was always hesitant to go back to RedFox because of it. Eventually did in early Jun 2022, it took Fab taking an extra long time fixing HBOMax, where Anystream was fixed fast.

So yeah, I'm hoping RedFox comes back, obviously because I don't want to see another license invalidated, but more so because AnyStream works with Amazon and Peacock, where as FAB can't seem to properly fix Amazon, Netflix or Peacock without using the re-encode process, and the other bugs.

[KidJoe]

...I've resurrected my 10-year-old Hauppage HD PVR2 and am currently ripping content from Apple+ using my Firestick ...

Any chance you can share what settings you use? I usually end up with files that are way bigger then they need to be or too low of a bit rate that the picture quality suffers.

[slottedpig]

artsunlimited I think we should ask the mods over there when they come back if they can get onto discord or some other area we we can still communicate so we aren’t guessing what happened. I’m guessing server issues but also it would be nice to not be worried.

[artsunlimited]

Yeah my Anydvd HD license was invalidated by that, and it pushed me to DVDFab and their Passkey product. I was always hesitant to go back to RedFox because of it. Eventually did in early Jun 2022, it took Fab taking an extra long time fixing HBOMax, where Anystream was fixed fast.

So yeah, I'm hoping RedFox comes back, obviously because I don't want to see another license invalidated, but more so because AnyStream works with Amazon and Peacock, where as FAB can't seem to properly fix Amazon, Netflix or Peacock without using the re-encode process, and the other bugs.

Same here - I bought AnyDVD HD in 2010, and then bought it again, along with CloneDVD I think, after SlySoft folded. My experience is actually the reverse of yours - I didn't know about SF (aka "the blue monkey") when I bought AnyStream soon after that and then upgraded to Plus in 2021. Due to a DRM shakeup in December 2021, it was SF that resolved HBO first in January when Anystream was still having issues (probably the only time that's happened.)

And naturally, four months later in April they could no longer download HBO in 1080p, while AS could, so that's it for me making smart decisions.

[Cats4U]

Their domain was just updated today, although it was locked from being updated or transferred. Either they made a change to it or a government agency took it over. The domain doesn't expire until next year, and so there was no reason for them to make a change. Keep an eye on https://torrentfreak.com/ as they cover such things as government takeovers.

[slottedpig]

They could be switching hosts as well which is why they updated their domain. It’s in their best financial interest to continue on regardless of what’s going on.