Sony won’t have much time to celebrate winning the format war against HD DVD: Notorious Antigua-based software maker Slysoft says it’s cracked Blu-Ray’s copy protection. Slysoft’s AnyDVD HD application is now offering unencrypted access to Blu-Ray content, making it possible to back up Blu-Ray discs onto your own hard drive, copy or transcode HD movies and watch them without DRM-compliant hardware, according to a company press release.

HD-DVD’s copy protection got cracked a good year ago; Blu-Ray promised Hollywood stronger protection with it’s own BD+ protection scheme. This promise was at least one factor in the industry’s backing of Blu-Ray and thus a nail in HD’s coffin. “Film studios that have switched to Blu-Ray may have crowed a little too early,” comments Slysoft in its press release announcing AnyDVD HD. Companies in the online HD space, on the other hand, couldn’t be happier. Continue reading at Newteevee.com.