How did Decrypter Start?

[roos50]

With the outpouring of grief after DVDD was shut down, people are asking LightningUK to release the source codes.
Which is NOT the point of this post

Im just wondering how he - and the programmers of other like minded software got the codes in the 1st place?

Did they get them from someone in the Video industry or did they crack the protection themselves?

Curious.

[mats.hogberg]

I think it all started with deCSS being released on the Internet...

/Mats

[redwudz]

If you want the history of DeCSS, just do a 'Google' search for 'DeCSS' and 'CSS'. There is quite a bit of info out there. They don't seem to agree on who did what and when, but programs such as DVDDecrypter are the result.

[jimmalenko]

AFAIK DVD Jon and his desire to watch DVDs on Linux was the first publicised instance of DVD Decryption being cracked, and then released for all and sundry to use. The theory was quite simple - programs such as PowerDVD decrypt the VOBs using the decryption key pressed into the disc at time of manufacture and send the output to your screen. DVD Jon found a way to redirect the unencrypted output to his hard drive instead of the screen.

[BJ_M]

actually he (jon) got got the keys directly from xing mpeg , where they left them in the program machine readable ..

DVDDecrypter started as a GUI only wrapper for a couple command line tools