Bad experience with DVDFab

[NiQ]

I know that now that AnyDVD is gone, people are looking for alternatives, and probably the most well known competitor is DVDFab. Unfortunately I had really bad experience and I figured I'd share it with you, then you can decide if you're willing to buy or not.

The one thing that imho makes DVDFab useless as a long term investment is that it requires online activation. There's no alternative method, and even after you activate it once, you will still have to allow it to connect to their servers to verify the license every once in a while or it will stop working.
This is a huge issue considering that this is a product that the MPAA wants to see gone. In the case of AnyDVD, you can't buy new copies, and it might not be able to decrypt titles released after June 2024, but for older titles it'll keep working. In the case of DVDFab, if their servers go offline, the software stops working completely, and the only way to get it to run is to crack it.
And even if you do crack it, its use would be extremely limited because it completely relies on an online service for AACS decryption. There's no offline cache for download like AnyDVD had, which means that the AACS decryption feature would completely cease to work.
Now, I know that DVDFab, being a Chinese company, is more resilient to Holywood's takedown attempts, but it's not completely immune, so when you buy a "lifetime" license it's not really lifetime. It could last decades or it could be gone tomorrow, and there's no way for us to know in advance.

Now here's something that annoyed me even further - I admit I was stupid and did not notice the online activation thing before buying. The shop page had a huge "100% money back guarantee for 14 days" banner (which they appear to have removed now, probably because of me), so I figured I'd buy and use it for a while and if I run into something I'd just uninstall and get a refund.
Or so I thought - When I noticed the online activation requirement I immediately uninstalled it and asked for a refund, which they completely refused and sent me a link to a refund policy page, which lists several specific cases which are the only cases you'd be entitled for a refund, things like the software not working and technical support being unable to solve your issue, accidentally ordering two copies instead of one etc., basically cases that are usually covered by laws anyway. It should be noted that nothing on the shopping page, including that huge "guarantee" banner, did not link to, or even mentioned that policy. There's a link somewhere in the support page, but you'd really only go there if you know what you're looking for. To me, this is basically a fraud.
Anyway, when you buy this, you should assume you will not be able to cancel your order not after 14-days, not after one day and not even after half an hour.

The combination of the product not being able to survive takedowns and their outright false claims makes me believe it's not worth spending any money on, but obviously that's just my opinion. You have read about my experience and hopefully it'll help you reach your own decision.

If you've reached the same conclusion and would give DVDFab a pass, I would highly recommend XReveal. It looks and works similar to AnyDVD, the basic version is completely free, neither time nor use limited, and although some advanced features require payment, the free version is enough for basic needs. Neither the free nor the paid version require online activation, and the paid version is considerably cheaper tha DVDFab.
AACS decryption can work offline using a completely standard KEYDB.CFG file, which means that even if it gets taken down it will still support new discs, assuming you can find updated key files.
And no, I'm not affiliated with XReveal in any way. I recommend it because after using it for a while I truly believe it's the recommended solution in the long run.

[kurkosdr]

Thanks for the information about the 14-day refund, I always intended to keep my (lifetime) DVDFab license so I never bothered to care about the refund policy, but others deserve to know that DVDFab's "100% money back guarantee for 14 days" promise is basically BS.

About the activation thing, it's been like that for a while. DVDFab wants to curb license sharing/serial-key sharing (I mean, what enforcement could they have on jurisdictions like the US where selling the software is illegal?) and they apparently don't want to invest in creating a binary license file like RedFox does.

BTW what I like about DVDFab is that it's an "all batteries included" solution that can unambiguously create a DRM-free ISO (or file copy) of a disc. That is, no manual fussing around with keydb.cfg databases and no issues with BD+, Structure Protection, Screen Pass BD-J countermeasures etc, just keep in mind that any money you give them is a final transaction, I guess.

[chris198810]

If you had a bad experience with DVDFab, there are several alternatives you can consider:

MakeMKV: Great for ripping DVDs and Blu-rays into MKV format with minimal hassle. It’s free during the beta phase.

HandBrake: Excellent for converting video formats, including from MKV to MP4, with plenty of customizable settings.

DumboFab: This tool is designed for similar purposes as DVDFab, focusing on ripping and converting media. It’s worth trying if you're looking for an alternative.

[kurkosdr]

Originally Posted by chris198810

If you had a bad experience with DVDFab, there are several alternatives you can consider:

MakeMKV: Great for ripping DVDs and Blu-rays into MKV format with minimal hassle. It’s free during the beta phase.

HandBrake: Excellent for converting video formats, including from MKV to MP4, with plenty of customizable settings.

DumboFab: This tool is designed for similar purposes as DVDFab, focusing on ripping and converting media. It’s worth trying if you're looking for an alternative.

There are no true alternatives to DVDFab because none of the purported alternatives do ScreenPass removal from the BD-J menus. There are only substitutes for DVDFab. That's why I took the plunge and bought DVDFab lifetime despite the fact I know the software comes with online activation.

[stonesfan129]

I would recommend a combination of:
*MakeMKV
*BD Rebuilder
and/or
*Handbrake/Vidcoder

They are 100% free. They will do basically everything that DVDFab will do without all the hassle. They work well. They will likely produce better quality. I have noticed that an .mkv file I created through DVDFab and one I created through Handbrake or BD Rebuilder that DVDFab is always using the fastest set of encoding options to speed things up (even if you go into the settings and turn off GPU and accelerated encoding).

I've never had any issues backing up anything with the above solutions. I generally am doing original BD --> BD25 or BD9 however, or original BD --> .mkv/h264/ac3 at CRF20.

[kurkosdr]

Originally Posted by stonesfan129

I would recommend a combination of:
*MakeMKV
*BD Rebuilder
and/or
*Handbrake/Vidcoder

They are 100% free. They will do basically everything that DVDFab will do without all the hassle. They work well. They will likely produce better quality. I have noticed that an .mkv file I created through DVDFab and one I created through Handbrake or BD Rebuilder that DVDFab is always using the fastest set of encoding options to speed things up (even if you go into the settings and turn off GPU and accelerated encoding).

I've never had any issues backing up anything with the above solutions. I generally am doing original BD --> BD25 or BD9 however, or original BD --> .mkv/h264/ac3 at CRF20.

How do you do Screen Pass removal with those tools? Assuming you want to keep the menus of course (this is what keeps me to DVD Fab, it supports full disc copy while removing all the nasty BD-J bits such as Screen Pass).