Blu-Ray Conversion heads up

[Ryan Gallagher]

It's probably a bit uncouth of a topic here. But plenty of people have mentioned their modus operandi with blu-ray screenings (private events etc) is to rip them and convert to DCP for reliability reasons.

Just a heads up that the developer of MakeMKV appears to be MIA right now, and the current "beta" key expired July 31st. Tons of people panic-purchased a perpetual license, but their payment system quickly ran out of keys to issue and started doing refunds.

Over in that forum there is a lot of speculation and hoping the dev is okay and will reappear. We only "just" got a capable optical drive via our IT department for our booth... and then this.

If you bought a key previously, you are one of the lucky ones right now.

[Dustin Grush]

Good info to know ahead of time, especially this time of year for us. I'm going to have to try this 'date change workaround' and see if it holds water.


From the forum...
Yes, you can temporarily change the date of your PC before launching MakeMKV to anywhere in July then immediately return it to current after launching MakeMKV.

Regarding Mike being MIA, it is common for it to be 2 or 3 days after a beta key expires before Mike updates it, but we are now at more than 1 week since it expired so this is an unusual situation.
Hopefully Mike returns soon and fixes things so people can buy licenses, not to mention fix the beta key so people who want to use the free version can, but at this point I am hoping he is alive & well.

[Ed Gordon]

This happens occasionally. It has been "in Beta" as long as I can remember. When it comes back buy a permanent key.

In the meantime, you can disconnect your PC from the network, change the system date to any day in July of 2025. It will run then. There may be issues when Makemkv contacts the server. I confirmed this will get rid of the July license failure because it is August.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Cheers, yeah I should have mentioned the “for now” date workaround, but felt this topic was already somewhat inappropriate here. ;-)

[Frank Cox]

Does anyone else appreciate the irony of professional cinemas having to crack the encryption on a disk so they can show it and give money to the movie companies....

[Ryan Gallagher]

Does anyone else appreciate the irony of professional cinemas having to crack the encryption on a disk so they can show it and give money to the movie companies....

For sure. We have a functioning 1080p and also a 4K player... but even I've had to rip a film that was only available for another region to get a viable 35mm backup option. There are "region free" players out there... but we don't have one.

[Steve Guttag]

I, personally, years ago, just bought the license. I've also, personally, donated to DOM...if for no other reason, these guys deserve compensation for the work they do. I only ever use them something like 1-2 times a year...if that. This stuff just isn't all that expensive and, in the case of Make MKV...the license is perpetual (just like in the olden days):

image.png

So...are you wanting to "rent" computer time on my registered version

[Ryan Gallagher]

I, personally, years ago, just bought the license. I've also, personally, donated to DOM...if for no other reason, these guys deserve compensation for the work they do. I only ever use them something like 1-2 times a year...if that. This stuff just isn't all that expensive and, in the case of Make MKV...the license is perpetual (just like in the olden days):

image.png

So...are you wanting to "rent" computer time on my registered version

Because of the nebulous legal territory... no one with purchasing power here was eager to pay for such a thing right away. But they were willing to look the other way if it was installed and in use. lol.

The same IT guy has a perpetual license at home... and made the same offer you did Steve, LOL. Except his payment would be "built in", he's long drooled over our blu-ray shelves in the booth.

[Randy Stankey]

The same IT guy has a perpetual license at home... and made the same offer you did Steve, LOL. Except his payment would be "built in", he's long drooled over our blu-ray shelves in the booth.

Well... You could pay him for letting you use his license key by letting him raid your Blu-Ray collection and he could pay you back by ripping any of the movies he borrows and making them into DCPs so that you can keep them in your archives, ready to play when needed.

Tit for tat! Everybody wins!

[Ryan Gallagher]

Well... You could pay him for letting you use his license key by letting him raid your Blu-Ray collection and he could pay you back by ripping any of the movies he borrows and making them into DCPs so that you can keep them in your archives, ready to play when needed.

Tit for tat! Everybody wins!

Appropriate, cause he's the guy that would have to furnish the massive local file server to house them all.... of which we have none. Maybe we can spin this into getting everything I want. lol

[Carsten Kurz]

You can not simply set back the time for MakeMKV to work again - you need to follow certain rules, because it not only checks absolute times, but also when it was last run. So you need to keep track of the date and your usage, as otherwise it will still report a expired key or demands a new installation. Get a perpetual license and peace.

[Steve Guttag]

To be clear, the use of MakeMKV does not imply any form of copyright infringement...however your description of use of the program in exchange for copies of copyrighted works is. If I wanted to convert my disc collection to MKV for use on my computer while I'm working...it would be like any other form of making a backup copy. Only one paid for copy is in use at a time. It matters no if I watch it on a TV with a Blu-ray player on my computer via the MKV file...I'm watching the content I paid for.

So, as to not contributing to MakeMKV or DOM is not a valid excuse, with reference to being something shady. Playing copyrighted content that is not licensed for public use is a violation of copyright...be it DCP, MKV or Blu-ray. It isn't the medium, its the content itself.

So, if they don't want to pay for it...that is the real reason.

[Martin McCaffery]

At least one of the big distributors specifically prohibits exhibitors from making DCPs of BluRay/DVs. How they would know if you did is left as an exercise for the reader.

[Ryan Gallagher]

See, I knew this was a sticky topic in some ways. Both in that Randy and my joking about trade solutions could be taken too literally, those two posts were thick with sarcasm but does not always work the same online.

And Martin’s point about distributor prohibitions of that conversion method specifically.

To be clear, I know there are places that will skirt the rules with exhibiting Blu-ray content, even as far as not getting exhibition rights to the film. But that not our case. Our entire Blu-ray (and DVD before that) was aquired for backup media to 35mm/70mm, or as the primary media when neither prints or DCPs are an option, but still paired with an exhibition payment to the relevant parties.

Our specific need for MakeMKV has only been when the only Blu-ray source gettable is for another region. Which I had to do at home until recently. But having the capacity at work has made the DCP conversion method more tempting, optical professional blu-ray players may not be a thing one can buy in the not too distant future.

[Ioannis Syrogiannis]

[...]optical professional blu-ray players may not be a thing one can buy in the not too distant future.

Or drives for a personal computer. And talking about missing DCP options, have you tried to find a copy of "The Wall"...?

In the sad event of "mike admin"'s peril, I am afraid that the forum will be the next thing that will vanish, along with the updates and the chance to purchase or beta use.
It remains to be seen.