Divx dvd's from Circuit City???

[tzoid]

A few years ago Circuit City introduced a pay-per-view dvd system called Divx (different from DivX). It failed miserably and they put all of their movies on sale for $0.25. I grabbed as many of them as I possibly could.

My question is if it is possible to rip these discs? The basic structure is the same, these discs do contain vob files, but I cannot get to them with my dvd-rom (won't read). Is there anyone out there who is familiar with these discs and know of a patch or crack or something that I can use to get to these files. I anyone knows how this can be done, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks.

[Feslmogh]

As far as I know, You are out of luck! \

These Divx discs used a special dvd players (UGH!) that cost a hundred bucks more and used a modem to unlock the disks to view them. The first 48 hrs are free but every time you want to watch after the 48 hrs the disc the player has to call the Divx place to unlock the disc and charge you every time you use that disc. Divx is out of business (yay!)

No one yet has cracked the encryption code yet on the discs.

Don't be confused Divx with Divx. Those are two entirly different formats.

[adam]

Wait a sec, how long ago did you buy these? Is Circuit City still selling them cause if so that is downright mean. The divx franchise officially went defunct several months ago. That means that the service which allowed you to watch those disks went offline for good. You can't even watch them anymore, they are totally useless. Even for $0.25 you got ripped off.

To answer your question, no its impossible for several reasons.

#1: Divx are hard to crack in the first place and as far as I can tell divx is the only format to have never been cracked in any way.

#2: The code used to decrypt the files on the disk are downloaded from the server, they are not on the disk.

#3: Since that server is offline there is no way to get the code to unlock the files. You cant even watch the movies at all.

#4: Since there is literally almost no interest in divx anymore it is unlikely anyone will ever find a way to break the encryption, especially since they no longer have anything to work with.

<edit> Oh I forgot that you get to watch it the first couple of times for free, so if you got a divx player you can watch them. But you'll never be able to rip them.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: adam on 2001-08-23 09:47:51 ]</font>

[AntnyMD]

The VOB files containing the actual film are buried in a subdirectory of the video_ts folder, I think. Anyway, the vob files that are directly in the video_ts folder point to the specific location. Its pretty convoluted.

You can browse to the location of the vob files containing the movie using Explorer, but sometimes doing so will cause your computer to lock up. Copy/pasting the files will also cause some sort of mild system halt.

If SmartRipper etc could effectively browse a DVD, you could try to rip them, but SmartRipper et al. will only go as far as the video_ts folder, no further. Any openDVD could pull the same trick without additional encryption and render ripper programs useless overnight.

If the memory inside your Circuit City Divx-enabled DVD player is empty (or just not full), you can still play the discs for their 48hr viewing period. However, the free playback is disallowed if you don't download your viewing habits to Divx every 2 months or so. Once you pass that window, you cant view any Divx disc anymore. Furthermore, since they are now defunct, you cant dump the memory and start again. Once you've passed the window or filled up your memory, you're done.

It will still work as a DVD player, though. However, since Divx came along at the early days of DVD, almost all of those Divx-enabled machines dont support VCD, CDR and barely support CDRW, so theyre now pretty useless for anything except DVD in the basement or whatever.

Twenty-five cents for a disc you could possibly view once is a deal. Many of the Divx discs werent protected by Macrovision, so you could capture them into your computer or record onto (S)VHS.

[Feslmogh]

I forgot to mention that they also watermarked the heck of those disks and the quality is problaby not that good. Also, thoses Divx moves are pan & scan.

[tzoid]

Thanks for the replies. To answer one question I bought those discs right about the time Circuit City announced that they were through with the promotion. I haven't even seen these discs anywhere for the past year and a half. However, I have seen these discs being sold on Ebay for around $5.00 a disc, which led me to believe that something could be done with them. I do not own a Divx dvd player, but a friend of mine does. He told me that around the beginning of July NO DIVX MOVIES could be played, whether they had be viewed or not. Open DVD's still work fine. I suppose that they sent a signal via modem that completely fried the Divx component.

Also, I read a report that stated at the time Divx went under, it had reportedly obtained about 12% of the dvd market, which is a rather large number. The reason they went under was not because of a lack of consumers, but rather because of some kind of contract dispute between several of the large film distributors.

This leads me to believe that there are alot of people out there with these discs, and it is very possible that there may be a crack to rip as well.

I have not tried using Smartripper yet but I will give that a try once my computer is free. I will continue to search and see if I can find anything. I will keep everyone posted. Thanks again for all the input.

[Macros746]

If you haven't yet watched them you should borrow your friends player and get yourself a capture card (see the many guides on this site) and SVCD or VCD your whole collection. That way you get all of the movies and don't throw your money away.


macros746

p.s. I tried a few internet searches for possible divx hacks and wasn't able to find anything...I'll keep trying

[Feslmogh]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-08-23 10:45:02, tzoid wrote:

Also, I read a report that stated at the time Divx went under, it had reportedly obtained about 12% of the dvd market, which is a rather large number. The reason they went under was not because of a lack of consumers, but rather because of some kind of contract dispute between several of the large film distributors.

</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

That may be so but the real reason Divx failed that people put anti-divx web sites and gave LOTS of reasons why not to buy Divx encoded discs.

[next]

I've got about 150 of these disks. Forget about ripping them. The encryption is too strong. I too picked up a hundred or so of them when they were essentially giving them away about a year and a half ago. I thought the concept was great. Spend 4 bucks on a disk. Play it whenever you wanted. With Blockbuster you have to view it immediately and get it back before late fees start happening. I was able to create an inventory of movies for about 40 bucks and watch them whenever I wanted. Once you viewed the disk you had 48 hours. If I wanted to watch the same movie 6 months later it cost 3 bucks for another 48 hours. The quality was DVD quality. You never really 'owned' the movie but it eliminated alot of trips to the rental counter.

The ani Divx folks were a joke. This whole privacy issue was a joke as well. Blockbuster keeps a running tab on everything you rent. Just ask Judge Bork. I'm suprised the ati Divx folks aren't up in arms with Pay per View. That's even a worse concept. One viewing for 4 bucks and it's over. And only when it happens to be playing. The confusion was that Divx was simply an advanced rental concept - nothing more. It was cheap and easy. There was nothing better than to have an inventory of 150 movies available in the middle of a blizzard.

Imagine a concept that allowed you to go to Blockbuster and rent a movie. Also have an agreement with Blockbuster that you didn't have to return it - ever. And if you felt like watching it again 6 months later Blockbuster would bill you 3 bucks. That was Divx. Plain and simple.

The Divx players ran about $100 dollars more than a typical DVD player at the time. When Circuit City announced that they were shutting down the program they sent a check for $100 to all registered Divx owners. I got my check and thought it was a great gesture.

The reason it failed was that not all of the major studios were on board. It was viewed as almost too good for the consumer. Plus Viacom had alot of pull. There were serious dollars invested in the Blockbuster franchise. This concept essentially makes the "hop in the car and go to Blockbuster concept" obsolete.

[Feslmogh]

I have to disagree with Next. Here's some links about Divx...

http://www.hoboes.com/html/FireBlade/Editorials/Mimsy/divx.shtml


http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Boulevard/7423/divxprobs.htm


http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/3111/divx/whatisdivx.html

http://www.unik.no/~robert/hifi/dvd/divx.html

[next]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-08-23 13:38:57, Feslmogh wrote:
I have to disagree with Next. Here's some links about Divx...


</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

I checked all of your links and they contain old tired arguments. If you follow the logic of the anti divx toothless hillbillies then we should shut down every Blockbuster immediately.

Divx was a rental program, nothing more. Using poor arguments of comparing ownership to rental was a shell game. It wouldn't pass Logic 101. Should we shut down Hertz and Avis too? And ban renting bowling shoes at bowling allies because you can buy a pair for 20 bucks??

I would have to say that when I rent a movie from Blockbuster I don't ever plan on going back and renting it 7 more times. And if I thought I might then I'll purchase it. I just prefer to have the option.

If you have ever walked into Blockbuster and ever rented a movie then the entire arguement goes down the drain. What a waste of money!! You could have bought it for $37.50.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: next on 2001-08-23 14:04:32 ]</font>

[VideoGuy]

Theres your solution bro, auction them off at Ebay and go rent the DVDs to rip with the money you made! HAHA!

Hey, thank GOD Divx died, what a gimmic!

Good luck bro..