VideoRedo activation servers offline?

[jwillis84]

This is an odd post.

Moderators, please curate or dispense with as necessary.

Its come to my attention that the author of TV VideoRedo has passed away.

The activations server for the software have been down, and recently returned to operation for the moment.

TV Video Redo has been a go to piece of software for working with MPEG2 editing for quite sometime with video captured as MPEG2 or later converted to MPEG2 and then needing a quick edit without re-encoding the entire stream.

It will be sorely missed.

For now any licenses that have been purchased can still be activated but new purchases I don't think are being taken.

The person bringing the activation servers temporarily back online was a former employee and does not have the rights to assume the business and doesn't know what the situation will be going forward.

While the activation servers were down, people holding a valid license attempting to rebuild a replacement workstation, or reinstalling their copy could not finish activation.. so please factor this into your plans for the future.

The author was 71 yrs old.

You may want to return to the TV Video Redo Support forum for additional updates or details as the situation evolves.

https://www.videoredo.net/

I will not provide a direct link to the thread announcing the situation.. so people will have time to think before rushing to post.

Its probably best to think of the family at this time.

[Hushpower]

Oh my goodness, that is very sad news. VRD is my goto program for smart rendering of MPGs and MP4s (inc HEVC), and full rendering of virtually anything you would throw at it.

RIP Dan.

[latreche34]

I was an early adopter of their very first version, Then later other software came out such as TS cutter that do more stuff than what VRD does such as supporting DTS and HD Digital audio tracks, RIP.

[lordsmurf]

jwillis84, since you've been in contact with that former employee, if you can get the forum database, we'll rescue it, prevent it from disappearing. If he wants, it can remain in a locked state. Because it had good info for users. We've done this with several smaller video related forums over the years.

[jwillis84]

lordsmurf, i am not in direct contact with the employee. i am a customer, i am mostly a passive observer.

The notice is here;

https://www.videoredo.net/msgBoard/i...ed-away.38024/

The response over on avs forums was going poorly in the discussions, people didn't know what was going on... and starting to say some unkind things.

so i looked into it and discovered the Support site was back online and found dan203's post about Dan Rosen's passing.

unfortunately i think dan203 was looking for work and it alarmed some people.. so i tried to update everyone at avs, and then thought to post this note here. It looks like they are shell shocked and are still dealing with events.. i think they need time. I would urge people.. not to contact them or push for definitive answers at this time.. the family needs time.

dan203 took it upon himself to bring the activation servers back online, but he has mentioned several times he can't take on the business, and can't afford to pay to keep the licenses to release new versions.. he was just an employee, dan203 seems upset, he not only lost a job, he lost a friend

i think dan203 is trying to help customers.. but i wouldn't know what to say to him... mostly he says its up to the family how to proceed.

-- merged --

this isn't much of an update.. sorry.. i have no direct contacts with the company or knowledge of whats taking place.

for people who currently have a Video Redo license;

1. dan203 has posted in a different thread while he was working to bring activation back online, and while trying to help a user re-activate a new install to fresh hardware - said that Video Redo version 5 was based on a different code base he no longer has access too, he seems to have a version and if people have problems he might be able to help them but he is almost as helpless as us with regards to version 5.

Version 6 (the current or most recent version) they moved to github, and he still has access to that, so that is what enabled him to fix the problem for now.

dan203 is not being paid and is no longer an employee, he is actively interviewing for a new job and has to tread very lightly.. he doesn't want to incur liabilities for assisting anyone

2. i have observed the Domain TLS certificates for the main site and the support site expire on November 23, 2022

assuming the activation servers are expiring around that time, if you have a current license it might be good to make sure you are where you need to be.. as that may be when the activation servers go down and dan203 may have difficulty or not be able to renew them after that; first because hopefully he will find a job by that time, and second because we don't know what happens after that

a thought.. is maybe you want to finish that hardware upgrade you've been planning to your PC.. or make a complete backup of your primary workstation you can restore if needed later

another thought, is you might want to reinstall to a virtual machine you can use for editing later, or use as a backup in case your primary or the vm becomes corrupt

it feels wrong to be focusing on personal issues with the software at this time.. but time is running out

dan203 may not be around, or allowed to help current license holders much longer

the future, at this point is uncertain

[nicholasserra]

If someone with the software wants to do some packet capturing and see what url and response it expects from the server, we can buy the domain at some point to get it back online. Or if not, a DNS host entry could do the same.

Anyway, I pulled a wget backup of the whole forums. Took two days. Just need to clean it up a bit and i'll post.

[jwillis84]

I hope your able to clean it up.

The Forum is run on a type of software called Xenform which has a complicated set of links.

First I'd urge no one else to do that since that is what caused Avery Lee to shutdown the Support Forum and archives for VirtualDub when he abandoned that project.

It incurred stress on the servers and drove his bandwidth bill up.

So out of respect for the family its probably best that only someone with the skill and experience to archive the site do that.

Second its probably easiest to get a complete backup by asking for the database from the people who host the forum, that would be Dan Rosens family, or perhaps dan203.

I haven't tried contacting Dans family or dan203.

in a way i'm processing events in my own way.

But since you've already done it please do try to protect and clean it up for the benefit of all.

I am not judging.. just urging others to not reduce the possibilities for others.

It sounds like Lordsmurf has the means and experience to work with something like a forum backup.

So at the very least.. i would suggest you offer it as a gift to to him.

The forum does not look very active right now.

I think people around the world are just waking up to the situation.

Everywhere people were talking about VideoReo.. has suddenly gone silent.

-- merged --

Addressing the activation server situation in your message.

i don't think it would be that simple to by-pass

I have not looked into it, but activation software methods have become very advanced over the years.

dan203 addressed it in an "indirect" way in one of his replies to a current license holder, he said he could not release an activation-free patch or version as a final release without the full support of Dan's family since the product is their property. dan203 does not want to cross the line that might incur liabilities to himself.

that is perfectly understandable

the terms of the license for people who own it probably still stands

after that.. i don't know

i guess we could hope someone would be encouraged to start a new project that provides the same functionality

i know some of the code was based on the ffmpeg engine since that is mentioned in its documentation as being used

ffmpeg used libvencode or some project like that and has nothing to do with DirectX or Media Foundation

i think VidoeRedo was crossroads.. it used a little from lots of frameworks

i could hope.. perhaps Canadian Corel ? might acquire it from Dan's family and continue to sell it ,, but i don't know

its all speculation on my part

dan203 seems to have no idea if Dan's family will do anything with it at all.. or just let it go away of its own accord

dan203 had to start looking for work immediately, so in spite of his generous efforts.. i get a sense he is in a bad way

i wish i could talk to him and offer condolences, and offer him a job.. he must have some fantastic stories to tell.. but i can't offer anything more than moral support

something will probalby have to happen after Nov 23 one way or another.. and we'll know more then

[lordsmurf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicholasserra

If someone with the software wants to do some packet capturing and see what url and response it expects from the server,

I'm not sure what that would accomplish.

Quote:

we can buy the domain at some point to get it back online.

I don't think that's best moving forward.

Quote:

Anyway, I pulled a wget backup of the whole forums. Took two days. Just need to clean it up a bit and i'll post.

Hold off for now. You have it. That's what we need. There's no rush. At most, pass it to me (zipped), so I also have a copy, aka best backups are held duplicate.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwillis84

i think they need time.
I would urge people.. not to contact them or push for definitive answers at this time.. the family needs time.
mostly he says its up to the family how to proceed.

Unfortunately, when it involves paid tech (SaaS, hosting, etc), time is not available. The internet is not forever, but the edges of a black hole. If you make a single mistake, like letting domain/hosting/etc lapse, then it disappears into the black hole. It's gone. No undo, no 2nd chance. Just gone, the end.

It would be sad to let the man's legacy of software and online help to just vanish, as if he never existed.

Most families have a single tech person, and the rest are non-techs and luddites. So that probably won't end well. We'll just lose another video tool and online the KB/helpdesk.

Quote:

2. i have observed the Domain TLS certificates for the main site and the support site expire on November 23, 2022

This doesn't mean much. The cert/SSL is often not tied to anything. The domain and hosting could expire tomorrow, even if the (probably free LetsEncrypt/AutoSSL) expires in a couple months.

Quote:

assuming the activation servers are expiring

I'm really not as concern about activation servers. The software is probably done for now, and users will have to resort to cracks now (which do exist), as has happened with other defunct video tools. It is, after all, good software we paid good money for.

We concerns me is the online forum (the KB, the Q&A).

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwillis84

The Forum is run on a type of software called Xenform which has a complicated set of links.

XenForo, and that's actually what we'll be migrating to in coming months. It not impossibly complicated software, but it does have a learning curve if you're not just using the baseline install. And from what I saw, it's just the baseline, and with a stock 3rd party theme.

Quote:

It sounds like Lordsmurf has the means and experience to work with something like a forum backup.
So at the very least.. i would suggest you offer it as a gift to to him.

Quote:

dan203 seems to have no idea if Dan's family will do anything with it at all.. or just let it go away of its own accord

This is sadly the most likely outcome.

[nicholasserra]

As far as packet sniffing and activation: Basically if you control the domain and you know how the application authenticates with the sever, you can just put up a page to allow any reg key to work. Just something to think about long term. I current run a service for another piece of hardware that does the same thing, just to keep it online.

But I have no skin in the game here. I've never used this software. My site scrape is done. I'll hold onto it for now. At some point it could be put online for reference. I also host several sites for that reason, just static backup for online reference and google.

[lordsmurf]

I'm now in contact with dan203.

[wedgee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

I'm now in contact with dan203.

Beaut !

Do you have any new news ?

-- merged --

https://videoredo.net/msgBoard/index...ood-bye.38029/

Dan Haddix:

Quote:

On Monday I start a new job. At that point I'm going to cease all involvement with VideoReDo.

There is still a chance that Dan's wife could sell the company and that VideoReDo could be revived in some form, but if that happens it will likely be without my involvement.

I have worked on VideoReDo for the past 16 years. It has been a fantastic chapter in my life. But I have to move on.

Thank you all for being loyal users and supporting this product that we put so much hard work into. I wish you all the best.

[Hushpower]

Thanks Wedgee, sad news, but nothing's for ever.

[lordsmurf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wedgee

Beaut !
Do you have any new news ?

He has a backup of the forum. That's really all I cared about. If it vanishes offline, he has my email, so we can restore it to our the archives here, but I don't have his email. So who knows. Of all that I've been told, and read, this is the most hopeful. But it's not really that hopeful.

Quote:

There is still a chance that Dan's wife could sell the company and that VideoReDo could be revived in some form

This won't happen. It never does. The family is almost never technical minded, nor business savvy, and the product falls into a black hole. Profit or no profit. Family usually thinks it's worth $ZILLION or $0, there is no 3rd bear "just right" conditions (to them) to sell it. So they never do. We've seen that so many times over the decades in tech (hardware/software).

Between hosting, SSL, and domains, something will eventually give, and offline it goes.

As a VH member said, the software can be somewhat easily located keygen'd/patched/cracked (from dubious places, so beware), but my concern was always the forum, the documentation.

Probably a sad end to a kind man and a good product. It will disappear offline, like he never existed.

[wedgee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

Probably a sad end to a kind man and a good product. It will disappear offline, like he never existed.

Unfortunately, it seems so.
Nothing lasts.
Apart from the documented famous, who remembers their forbears from 4 generations back as actual people with lives and loves and achievements ?

-- merged --

Can't get any clearer than this new post:
https://videoredo.net/msgBoard/index...2/#post-136302

Quote:

At this point the servers could go offline at any moment. The only reason they're still going is because they're set to auto renew and the owner's wife hasn't canceled the card yet. If she does then the activation server will go offline and it'll no longer even be possible to install VideoReDo. If you bought one now it could go offline tomorrow and there wouldn't be anything I could do about it.

Until/Unless she sells the company VideoReDo is dead

[gdavisloop]

UPDATE: Fortunately, the second Google link I clicked had the answer: go to www.videoredo.online
I was successfully able to re-activate versions 5 and 6, and 4 seems to have reactivated automatically.

THANK YOU to whoever put this site up, and as others have said, if you offered a PayPal address I would gladly make a donation!
--Gary

-- merged --

Hello all,
I have purchased copies of VideoReDo 4,5, and 6, but I swapped out my C: SSD this morning, and none of them recognize the registration. Of course, the server went down at the end of the year so can't go there. (For some reason, my TiVo media access key was also gone).

I tried various keys and IDs I had saved to text files, but none of them worked.

Does anyone know how to fix this? Or why "cloning" the SSD didn't bring over these keys? (Perhaps they are "locked" to the computer configuration?)

If I knew where to look for the stored key on the old SSD perhaps I could copy it manually, but if that's tied to the computer configuration, that still wouldn't work.

Alternative, what software are people using to replace VideoReDo?

thanks!
--Gary

[wedgee]

Just an fyi,

this thread, in particular the last page or 2, has related info.

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/...rnatives/page3

[Marayong]

It's been a while ... is there any news on resurrecting the old VRD forum, here or elsewhere?

As for gdavisloop's attempt to transfer a VRD install by cloning. I imaged the boot drive on my previous pc and had a new rig built incorporating that clone along with an os upgrade from Win7 to Win10 and VRD worked fine with no need to reactivate or anything. I do however have the non-pro version. The pro version requires reactivation after cloning/imaging.

[lordsmurf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marayong

It's been a while ... is there any news on resurrecting the old VRD forum, here or elsewhere?

Unfortunately not.

On my last communication, I was informed that the widow was wanting big bucks for the IP (software, forum, etc). To my understanding, all she saw was dollar signs. And yet, she knew nothing of the software, who used it, why we used it, etc. There were no takers, obviously. I was getting vibes that the former employee was getting disgusted by it all, between dealing with her, and trying to help the VideoReDo community (and the video community at large).

So it's just gone.

I did my best to rescue the forum, but it appears attempted greed got in the way.

It's always struck me as so immature when somebody takes the stance of "either I get what I want, or I'll destroy it so nobody can have it!"

[Marayong]

That's a shame .. and fits with the picture elsewhere. But surely there's a case to be made that other people created the content of the forum, so she has no legal right to forbid the forum contents being duplicated elsewhere. At least most of the forum posts are still accessible via archive.org .. all bar the last few months. I picked a date in Sept 2021 and was able to access a random selection of forum posts from that copy of the VRD website. Not 100% complete no doubt, but better than nothing.

[wedgee]

thanks for that info.
I assume no new news