Floppyhead – Digital Media and Streaming

The goal of any media center user should be to store as much content as possible digitally. The release of the next generation of DVDs, known as HD-DVD or Blu-ray, was supposed to allow a “legal” way to copy your movies to a hard drive (referred as Managed Copy). Managed Copy is not expected to be included in Vista Media Center until the next release of the media center software, most likely in the fall of 2008. That is a long way away.Without Managed Copy, how is someone supposed to store the movies they own on a hard drive? Here are two legally questionable products that can rip a HD-DVD or Blu-ray and remove the content protection.

1. AnyDVD HD– This software appears to be the most popular right now. It costs $79 to buy and requires the use of CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra . The 21-day free trial will let you test it out.

2. DVDFab HD Decrypter– This free software works almost the same as AnyDVD HD. Since it is free, it might be worth trying it out first. This software also requires CyberLink PowerDVD Ultra .