Help me mainline Showtime

August 15, 2007 9:21 PM

Is there some way to get DRM-protected .wmv files to play on a Mac? Flip4Mac says they aren't supported--is there some 3rd party application that would do the trick?

For the record, I'm trying to watch an episode of a television show that Showtime has put online (Californication, specifically). I'm a new mac user, so I don't really even know what direction I should be looking in. Failing all of this, is it possible to download the file and convert it to some other format?

posted by hototogisu to computers & internet (9 comments total)

Have you tried playing it in Microsoft's (admittedly very crappy) Windows Media Player for Mac?

Source here, scroll down below the Flip4Mac stuff. I think whether it will work depends on the DRM version. It won't do the newer versions of the scheme, I think.

There are tools floating around that purport to remove the DRM from Windows Media files, but I think they're aimed mostly at protected audio files. Not sure if it would work with video ones. The Wikipedia article on Windows Media DRM might be a good place to start.

Due to the DMCA, people are pretty hesitant to even discuss DRM-removal in U.S.-based forums; thus you may have to look for anything much more specific than that.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:19 PM on August 15, 2007

What you mustn't do, of course, is install an excellent BitTorrent client and search for that show on a well-known torrent tracker.
posted by nicwolff at 11:00 PM on August 15, 2007

And you most definitely shouldn't use Google to find an application which lets you exercise your fair use rights and remove the DRM from pretty much any Windows Media (wma/wmv) encrypted file. =D
posted by dcbarker at 11:46 PM on August 15, 2007

Thanks dcbarker, but those look like they only run on Windows boxes.
posted by hototogisu at 2:32 AM on August 16, 2007

You might try VLC, but I don't think it does DRMed files either. I don't there's anything on the Mac that will do DRMed Windows Media files...audio or video.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:13 AM on August 16, 2007

I'm afraid you're out of luck trying to do this the legal way. There's been a whole lot of reactions to how these shows are being put out there by networks in a proprietary, windows-centric and drm-crippled format. At this point, there's nothing you can do except open those files on Windows Media Player on *gasp* Windows.

But here's what I did - don't tell a soul (just kidding). I got it off of bittorrent (use this client), with a much higher resolution, and in a format that both VLC (on the mac) and Quicktime (also on the mac) play it just fine - xvid. I know it's the wrong advice to give (you know, piracy and all), but they're screwing you by force-feeding you crippled files anyway. You just want to watch a god damn show (and a pretty good one at that ;-))
posted by fredoliveira at 5:07 AM on August 16, 2007

If you have access to a windows box and you have a valid license for the files, then download FairUse4WM.exe

It will allows you to strip the DRM from files that you have a license for.
posted by jaded at 5:28 AM on August 16, 2007

Maybe you can watch it here?
posted by iviken at 5:49 AM on August 16, 2007

Thanks a bunch everyone!
posted by hototogisu at 11:39 AM on August 16, 2007