Macrovision's anti-ripping technology RipGuard, which has been implemented by DreamWorks Animation on their recently released DVD of "Madagascar", effectively works against only some popular DVD rippers, but can be successfully over-ridden by some others according to a research firm.
The research firm Piper Jaffray said RipGuard effectively works against some popular DVD rippers, but added that certain software successfully overrides Macrovision's technology.
"We were able to circumvent the technology and rip a perfect copy of ['Madagascar'] using a free DVD ripper downloaded from the Internet," Piper analyst Gene Munster wrote in a recent report.
"The use of RipGuard on a major title is a sign of the confidence that this studio has in the ability of RipGuard protected DVDs to play on all DVD players without technical issues," Piper said.
The research firm noted that RipGuard was effective in stopping two popular DVD ripping products, DVD X Copy and 123 Copy DVD, that were tested on "Madagascar."
Piper said studios may be hesitant to use DVD protection that can be circumvented by the casual DVD pirate.
If studios deem that the average pirate will stop after one or two failed attempts, "studios may decide that RipGuard is sufficiently effective," Piper said.
Software that remains able to rip RipGuard protected media includes
AnyDVD,
DVDFab Decrypter and
FreeDVD and can be downloaded for free from our
download section.
