[German]Brief information, although I don't know exactly how relevant the topic is for the readership of this blog. The provider of programs such as AnyStream, CloneDVD etc., redfox.bz, has been unavailable online for a few days now. Something happened sometime this week – the website is dead – and the question arises as to whether the plug was pulled for legal reasons? If so, the provider would have suffered the same fate as SlySoft.
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A short reader note
A few hours ago, an anonymous reader asked in the blog's discussion area what was going on with redfox.bz: "Has anyone noticed anything about RedFox bz (AnyStream, CloneDVD etc. pp) – they have simply been unavailable for a few days without any warning. Was there any major action to take them out of service?" And indeed, their website *ttps://www.redfox.bz is no longer accessible.
redfox.bz not reachable
This could of course be for technical reasons, but the operators may have shut down the site for legal reasons.
Background: redfox.bz
I hadn't been aware of it myself, but redfox.bz emerged from SlySoft. And that brings us to products such as AnyDVD, AnyStream, CloneDVD etc. AnyDVD is a software for Windows that removes the copy protection mechanisms from video DVDs. This software was developed by a company called SlySoft, which was based in Antigua and Barbuda, as Wikipedia reveals.
Wikipedia reveals that Slysoft discontinued the development and distribution of the program on 24 February 2016 for legal reasons. The company had been in a legal dispute with the license administrator AACS LA for many years. In February 2016, the license administrator submitted a request to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to place Antigua and Barbuda, where Slysoft is headquartered, on the Copyright Priority Watch List. However, Slysoft did not provide precise reasons for the suspension of activities.
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In the spirit of pulling a new rabbit out of the hat, ex-Slysoft employees founded the Belize-based company RedFox to distribute and further develop the software. However, the distribution of AnyDVD by RedFox was discontinued. However, the provider had products such as AnyDVD HD and CloneDVD on offer (see the following screenshot from the search index).
There you can also find out that RedFox is an association of former SlySoft employees who were more or less unemployed after the company was dissolved. With AnyStream, they had an application in their portfolio that could be used to download series, documentaries and films from Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ for offline viewing. Something that is likely to call the legal advisors of the aforementioned providers into action.
RedFox offline since days
Now a blog reader has pointed out that the RedFox.bz website is offline. While doing some research, I found this reddit.com thread where someone asked three days ago if their servers were offline. "It seems that the Redfox servers have disappeared. No website, no forum, no DNS anymore. Nothing," the poster wrote. Other posters wrote that something "unexpected" must have happened, as the forums were still active last month and he was providing support for questions there.
Technical problems don't seem to be the reason why they disappeared from the web. There is this post on reddit.com that addresses the issue of where the name servers are registered. The site redfox.bz is listed at tucowsdomains.com and is said to be registered at njal.la with an expiration date of February 2025. The name servers listed at reddit.com (Whois also lists them) refer to the provider NJALLA, where the domain can allegedly be transferred for 30 euros.
So it looks as if business has ceased there. I have not found any indication of a seizure in a brief search. On tarnkappe.info you can find some background information on RedFox, which expands on the history outlined above. A reason why RedFox is offline is not mentioned there either.
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Ich auch möchte wissen, was geschehen ist, ich habe alle Produkte von Redfox gekauft! Vielleicht wäre DVDFab u. StreamFab besser gewesen sein.
You could try the 2 "Fab" products that you list, but from personal experience I would say don't waste your money.
Wobei sich die Frage stellt, ob ein Screenrecorder wirklich ne Alternative darstellt, zu einem Direktdownloader.
Zudem wird bei beiden NETFLIX recodet, da auch hier nur 540p verfügbar ist.
please note, this is the English version of my blog. There is a German edition of this blog Post as well. thx
I suspected something was going on when I last updated my AnyStream and noticed that they had an offline DB available for AnyDVD SetupAnyDVDProtectionDatabase1.0a.exe 05-30-2024, which I quickly downloaded
@Jeorje: Could you kindly provide the file?
Huh, interesting. I'd be interested in that too – I hadn't gone to their site for a couple of months, so missed that.
@ Jeorje Yes, is it possible to, please, share the AnyDVD Protection Database?
I still have my lifetime license version installed, but the database would be invaluable.
Thanks.
Looking at the site via the Wayback Machine / Archive.org it would appear that the AnyDVD Protection Database that was offered was still the old one, indeed as per Jeorje's filename, its version 1.0a
The file can still be downloaded via Archive.org, and if you check the file details, it's dated 2019. So it doesn't appear to be up to date, unfortunately, not dated May 30 2024.
It's the same 70.4MB file I downloaded a couple of years ago.
Anyone else, try visiting the wayback machine (or google it) and visit Redbox.bz in there.
Go to the latest capture, view the download page and you'll see the protection database link there, which is as I type this, available for download
(It's an orange colour link, just under the download tab for AnyDVD HD)
I wish there was a fully up to date database available. For now AnyDVD continues to function on my PC, and I'm using it to back up some of my bluray TV Box sets for NAS streaming, I hope it continues to work!
Good luck and I hope we hear some news about what happened, soon.
Maybe I'll try to download the last beta version, too, in case it supports more disks that I may want in the future.
EDIT: Here, try this. Actually it looks as though the last update on archive.org for this page was May 19 2024, so potentially there WAS a newer release, but sadly it's not archived. Anyway, here's the archived download page, with the AnyDVD Offline Database v1.0a
https://web.archive.org/web/20240519195927/https://www.redfox.bz/download.html
EDIT2: Actually the file itself was archived on June 04, so it's as up to date as possible… but it's still the old 1.0a database…. But better than none!
@Ocked: Thanks a lot!
Just leaving this here: You may search for keysdb.cfg or FindVUK