Bluray Discussion

[Hifihedgehog]

UHD Blu-ray AACS 2.0 encryption may now have been truly circumvented. MakeMKV, the tool supporting this dependable method, supports over 400 titles and counting. In addition, I have communicated with a past RedFox/SlySoft forum admin and they appear to also be adding support momentarily using a similar method with less drawbacks.

Suffice it to say, I am thrilled to finally be able to purchase and archive my first UHD Blu-ray movies. Planet Earth 2 and The Bridge on the River Kwai—and The Last Jedi—are just a few I am looking forward to adding to my new 4K collection.

The only catch for small form factor users is you will need to find a slim BD-XL drive, which uses the AACS 1.0 protocol. The latest circumvention method does not work with official UHD Blu-ray drives, which use AACS 2.0. Fortunately, slim BD-XL drives do, in fact, exist so it is only a matter of Googling for the appropriate model and purchasing from your favorite e-tailer.

 

[Aichon]

It's worth pointing out that AACS 2.0 isn't actually broken yet (at least not publicly), which means there are two important caveats to where things are currently:

1. MakeMKV is not capable of decrypting any given disc. MakeMKV doesn't have a crack for AACS 2.0, so it instead relies on you manually supplying it with a list of leaked keys that bypass AACS 2.0. The list of leaked keys is quickly growing, but it doesn't include all of them.
2. "Official" UHD drives (i.e. AACS 2.0-compliant BDXL drives) cannot (yet) be used to rip UHD discs. MakeMKV has an AACS 1.0 certificate, but it doesn't have a 2.0 certificate, meaning that 2.0 drives refuse to talk to it. The only drives that work are so-called "UHD-friendly" drives (i.e. BDXL drives with AACS 1.0).

As for what that means to those of us around here, none of these "UHD-friendly" drives seem to be SFF-friendly as well. From what I can tell, they all look to be tray-loading, full-size drives.

 

[Phuncz]

Just a friendly reminder that while the discussion of the current state of copy protection is not against our rules, helping people circumvent them is against the rules.

Please note paragraph two of our terms and conditions: https://smallformfactor.net/forum/help/terms

 

[Kwirek]

It is getting closer, but yes I'm under the impression that an unnamed company as of a few days ago can decrypt discs at will - although they do need you to send in a file-dump of previously non-encrypted discs so they can supply you with the keys. Unfortunately I've also read that the manufacturing quality of the UHD-Bluray discs varies, making it harder to back them up properly.
Hopefully the whole encryption will fold like a house of cards now though.

The SFF part would be to buy an external drive and transfer your films onto a NAS or similar.

 

[Hifihedgehog]

Confirmed: LG BU30N is "UHD friendly." I cannot link to the site that confirms this since it offers circumventing tools. However, that drive will work for archiving UHD Blu-rays and, most importantly for us, it is slim/laptop form factor, 9.5mm thickness. Disclosure: Officially speaking, I do not condone this archiving process for any other purpose except for use with personally authored content on non-commercial UHD Blu-ray discs.

 

[Kwirek]

Another one of the popular programs for Blu-ray are now adding UHD support, and it will be at no additional cost to current or future customers since they can't promise that it will work for ever (who knows what countermeasures may be on new discs). Quite decent of them.

...

Time to invest in more hard-drives for my ISO-backups.

 

[SeñorDonut]

All this DRM is some of the dumbest stuff I've seen Earthlings do. Does it not seem like more anti-piracy measures is only encouraging more piracy?

 

[Kwirek]

Well, to a point. The DRM has been quite effective up till now - piracy thus contained. :-)

Thing is, I think one of the biggest anti piracy weapons they have is the size of the content. Larger content -> a pain to download (not mentioning seeding).
And if you’re downloading a compressed rip, why not just stream it instead? (Another weapon, convenience)

But yeah, DRM tend to make the customers jump through hoops while the pirates get the same experience without the bullshit. Except when they sue you for downloading/seeding.

 

[Soul_Est]

For all participating in this thread, I recommend reading Cory Doctorow's Information Doesn't Want To Be Free. Can be downloaded for free in the shop.

 

[Hifihedgehog]

All this DRM is some of the dumbest stuff I've seen Earthlings do. Does it not seem like more anti-piracy measures is only encouraging more piracy?

Yes. Case in point: Denuvo. I haven’t seen another DRM system more purposely cracked in history than this one, even by those who own the products that are affected by it. Why? Performance impact, among other things.

 

[Soul_Est]

Yes. Case in point: Denuvo. I haven’t seen another DRM system more purposely cracked in history than this one, even by those who own the products that are affected by it. Why? Performance impact, among other things.

Couldn't agree more. Thrashing the CPU is a no-no.

 

[Phuncz]

At one point, I bought a music CD, which had a troublesome copy protection. It didn't work in my car CD player, it did work in my PC's CD-RW drive, made MP3 files and never bought a CD again. #digyourowngrave

 

[Kwirek]

The first digital music files I bought had DRM and the company folded soon after. Scared me of all digital music for years.

 

[GuilleAcoustic]

I'd rather buy Vinyls, most of them comes with DRM free Flac version of all tracks.

 

[Soul_Est]

This I why I prefer going to the artist's own store or on Bandcamp. DRM-Free usually. For those into electronic music, look at Ektoplazm. Getting off topic though.

Blurays getting the protection broken is great for making backups in case of scratching the original disc or having that disc degrade over time.

 

[Hifihedgehog]

This I why I prefer going to the artist's own store or on Bandcamp. DRM-Free usually. For those into electronic music, look at Ektoplazm. Getting off topic though.

Blurays getting the protection broken is great for making backups in case of scratching the original disc or having that disc degrade over time.

Relevant to this, beginning with version 18, Kodi supports UHD Blu-ray playback. However, unlike standard Blu-ray in Kodi 18 where BD-J is now working, Java menu support is not yet working for UHD discs.

Sources:
https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=316378&pid=2678211#pid2678211
https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=316378&pid=2678240#pid2678240

 

[Kwirek]

Ah yes, remember that the current way of circumventing the protection relies on having access to something from a possible finite source. I assume that it wont take a lawsuit to make the manufacturers fix the problem, it will be rolled out as soon as it is cost-effective to do so.
If you're interested in back-up's it might be time to do some research on the issue.

 

[Hifihedgehog]

I assume that it wont take a lawsuit to make the manufacturers fix the problem, it will be rolled out as soon as it is cost-effective to do so.

They already did this. However, there are guides for rolling back the firmware at Myce and the-software-that-shall-not-be-named’s forum. I did it myself just this weekend and it was easy peasy.