What now ?

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nlkelly

Member
Just logged in (it's been a couple of months) and read the news. So very Sorry about DanR. He was alwasy very helpfull and generous with his time. i know Dan203 has moved on and i realize this is a very difficult time for everyone involved but since if own VRD TS 4,5,and 6 and also own pro version 5 and 6. i'm very concerned about being able to move the software between various PC's that i own (danr had to give me quite a lot of help when i ugraded from pro 5 to pro 6 on a different PC due to the activation process). i figured i'd start a thread so we can keep up to date and share any news. basically though i have a couple of questions going forward.

1) if this forum / website goes down, is there a reddit site or fan forum setup somewhere were we can share information?
2) which versions of the software require online activation vs just a key ? i know pro and VRD TS version 6 needed activation but i can't remember about VRD TS version 4 and 5.
3) is it possible to get an "official" patch to circumvent the online activation (or is it being discussed) and just be able to use the code keys we received when we bought the software?

again i hate to be the one to ask these questions because of all that the family and company are going through but i have a large investment in Pro and would hate for it to just stop working at some point.

Thanks
 
Dan203

Dan203

Ex-Senior Developer
Pro is basically dead. DanR managed the keys for that manually and never showed me how it worked. From what I can tell the keys he was issuing for that were one year licenses so as soon as they expire they're done.

Consumer will continue to function as long as the servers stay online, If they go down then you'll no longer be able to activate on a new PC and it *might* even disable existing software after a certain amount of time. There is a hard coded server check set to fire once a year, even if you have updates disabled. I'm not 100z sure how that will react if the server is completely offline. It could possibly lock the software that's already installed. The code for the whole key/activation system is intentionally complex because Dan tried to put measures in place to prevent hackers from unlocking the software. But even with the source code it makes it really hard for me to read as well. This possibility apparently never crossed his mind.

If this does happen, and his wife has decided to completely abandon the product, then I *might* be able to release a little app that would allow you to fake the activation. But I'm not sure where she's at as far as selling the business. If she sells then I can’t do anything. It'll be 100% up to the new owner what they want to do.
 
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nlkelly

Member
i totally understand. i have used this sware from years and have found it to be the best for my home use. No one could have forseen this. but please try to keep us in the loop. i think we need to start a reddit up if someone knows how so we can monitor the situation if the site goes down.

i bought the pro version for the audio normalization function it offered and i had been have a lot of trouble with it (i updated to version 6 of pro to see if that would help) . i managed to find a ffmpeg script that does normalization awhile back (and was planning to talk to Danr about the differences in the audio levels it generated) and it seems to work so i have a way of working audion without pro if necessary. as to VRDTS i primary use it to scrub videos that I've recorded (used to use SageTv now using NextPVR) to look for issues with the recording and simple cut editing. I still have V4 and V5 available. does V4, V5 require the activation server?

thanks again for your help.
 
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singjai

Member
Thank you, Dan. I totally understand.

At this point, I'm trying to find a new video editor, but I would like to have a copy of the last stable build of the installer (6.63.7.835) in the meantime. (HVEC 10-bit support just went pfft in the middle of my last editing session).
 
Dan203

Dan203

Ex-Senior Developer
I had some hope when it first happened that maybe someone would buy it or that maybe I could figure out a way to take over, but as the weeks go by I just see that as less and less of a possibility.

At this point I'm just hoping we can keep the version we have working.
 
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tobyW

Member
nlkelly said:
i bought the pro version for the audio normalization function it offered and i had been have a lot of trouble with it (i updated to version 6 of pro to see if that would help) . i managed to find a ffmpeg script that does normalization awhile back (and was planning to talk to Danr about the differences in the audio levels it generated) and it seems to work so i have a way of working audion without pro if necessary.
Click to expand...
In case any readers are interested, I too had audio normalization problems but with VRD6 consumer version. Discussed with DanR and Dan203 to no avail, but some exploration led me to the following workaround.

Using the Output Profile editor:-

1. Under "Dynamic leveling", set "Average Level" to -6.0 instead of the default -12.0.
The Compression.Gain parameter will thus be -6.0 which minimizes the envelope distortion / overshoot;

2. Accept that the Compression.PeakLevel parameter will default to 0dB on closing the dialog.
This produces full output, almost clipping but usable. Can only be adjusted by manually editing the profile's XML file.

FWIW, I've been trialling this for a while now because it's more convenient than compressing the audio separately. So far it's not perfect but it works well enough for me.
 
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axemanozh

Member
Dan203 said:
I had some hope when it first happened that maybe someone would buy it or that maybe I could figure out a way to take over, but as the weeks go by I just see that as less and less of a possibility.

At this point I'm just hoping we can keep the version we have working.
Click to expand...
Are there any recommendations for other applications that also provide frame accurate h.264 editing, preferably with the ability to save to MKV format and insert chapter markers? My hope was to continue using VideoReDo indefinitely, but it's beginning to sound like that isn't going to be a viable long term possibility.
 
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nlkelly

Member
in case anybody is looking for a non videoredo pro solution for loudness normalization, i found this https://github.com/slhck/ffmpeg-normalize (it's free uses ffmpeg dual pass loud-norm filter) and have been expiermenting with it and it seems to work quite well. it's difficult to install (several steps) but it does work in batch mode so you can normalize an entire directory if you want to. i'm using orban free loudness meter https://www.orban.com/meter to do before and after checks as well as https://youlean.co/youlean-loudness-meter/ ( i bought the pro version). both meters seem to agree on the result. now if i can find a way to automatically append SRT (subtitle files), i'll be all set.
 
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hydra3333

Member
axemanozh said:
Are there any recommendations for other applications that also provide frame accurate h.264 editing, preferably with the ability to save to MKV format and insert chapter markers? My hope was to continue using VideoReDo indefinitely, but it's beginning to sound like that isn't going to be a viable long term possibility.
Click to expand...
Well, https://forum.videohelp.com/threads...oduct-ceased-seeking-alternatives#post2668747 recommends TS-Doctor (paid app) for QSF type functionality.
I haven't yet tried it although I plan to when VRD bites the dust since I run QSF via cli in scheduled tasks (batch) rather than interactive with fingies on keyboard.

If you do try TS-Doctor, or find an answer to your question would you please be able to post information here ?
 
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jirim100

Member
Dan203 said:
There is a hard coded server check set to fire once a year, even if you have updates disabled. I'm not 100z sure how that will react if the server is completely offline.
Click to expand...
Wow! This is very hard. Is it legal? I want to use this sw as long as it will be possible - many years. I have created my own sw which use COM object of VRD - it's VERY usefull for my.
 
Dan203

Dan203

Ex-Senior Developer
I don’t know. the license part of the software was written and maintained by Dan, not me. I didn’t even realize the check was there until I started looking through the code back when we had that issue in August.

I'm not 100% sure what it will do if the server doesn’t respond. It might continue to work just fine. But after that glitch in August, where many people had their copy shut down when the server went down, I can't guarantee it.

I wish there was more that I could do, but my hands are legally tied. I don’t own the source and I couldn’t afford the licenses even if I did.
 
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cp2

Member
You need to define “alive”.
I would say that VRD is no longer a running company. The website has been “fixed” to prevent further sales but otherwise it still describes the company as something that it no longer accurate. It’s just as well that sales have been stopped as any buyer would probably be miffed that it misrepresents the viability of the purchase. Is there anybody left to answer support queries, let alone investigate and resolve any bugs?
As Dan203 has stated for the company to be a runner it has to be able to fund licences, and finance support services. Development for new releases is a different matter. Any prospective purchaser would have to consider the restart costs and the ongoing costs and question whether they can achieve a sustainable revenue stream. This is not a hobby or sideline and Dan203 has done the risk vs reward calculations and understandably isn’t likely to take it on.
Progress will only be made once the owners decide what to do.
At this stage I would suggest that the best we can hope for is a means of revalidating our existing purchase for a limited period.
 
Dan203

Dan203

Ex-Senior Developer
calande said:
What about an online pool to collect money so that Dan203 can take over and keep VRD alive?
Click to expand...
I appreciate the sentiment, but at this point I've already taken another job with a decent pay increase. I just can't see taking over VideoReDo as being a viable option for me financially. Even if I could gather the money to pay the licenses I know nothing about running a business. DanR was the businessman, I just write code.

I've thought about this a lot over the last two months and I just don't think taking over VideoReDo is something I'd be capable of doing. Not just financially, but the burden of being a small business owner, and all that it entails, is just not something I've ever wanted.

If someone else buys VideoReDo and they need my help getting it back up and running I would be willing to offer my services there, as I do want the product continue, but me taking it over alone is just not a possibility. Sorry.
 
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scott_video1

New member
It's not as simple as VideoRedo, but I've been playing around with ShotCut, https://www.shotcut.org . Based on ffmpeg so it's very flexible in terms of format support; looks like just two main contributors but at least it's open source so likely to be supported if main contributors drop out over time.
 
Dan203

Dan203

Ex-Senior Developer
There are a million other video editing apps out there with that Premiere style multi-track UI, or the Movie Maker style storyboard UI, but they’re designed for a different purpose.

VideoReDo was unique in that it was designed from the beginning to remove commercials from TV shows. That's it. People have used it for other purposes over the years, but it's primary functionality was, and still is, to remove commercials from TV recordings. We added new formats over the years, and new output functionality to increase the number of devices/platforms those TV shows could be consumed on, but the core tenet of the program was always to remove commercials from TV shows.

Even on the Pro side our main customers were broadcasters and syndicators that used the program to chop out some commercials to replace them with other commercials.

It is amazing at doing that one thing and I'm not aware of any other program that exists which specifically mimics that niche functionality.
 
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