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Took Eight Days to Crack HD DVD!

Techtree News Staff, Dec 28, 2006 1632 hrs IST

Latest reports indicate that the much touted Gen-Next HD DVD format is not invincible after all...

The story doing the rounds is that a hacker who goes under the name, "Muslix64" was upset at not being able to view his HD movies on his computer set-up, and as such, set himself a seemingly impossible goal - that of cracking the AACS specification in four weeks. He ended up doing so - in just eight days.

Apparently, the dude went about the ordained task quite meticulously. He first bought himself a HD-DVD drive to plug onto his PC, plus a HD movie.

Somewhere down the line, the realization dawned upon him that he could not play the HD flick simply because his video card was not HDCP compliant, and he had a HD monitor plugged with a DVI interface.

What "Muslix64" did next was to complain to the doom9 forum about the AACS specification, saying it was not at all fair for someone to own an HD monitor and then not be able to watch an HD movie that had been paid for.

The result: in six days' time, the title key of the flick appeared in Muslix64's memory, which meant that he had managed to decrypt the movie in all but one afternoon. Not counting the one day that he spent fixing problems such as frame skipping, etc, it took "Muslix64" but eight days to crack code.

"Muslix64" even put together a small program titled "BackupHDDVD", a Java-based command line utility to decrypt HD movies.

The chap went right ahead and made a small video called "AACS is Unbreakeable" wherein one can see the output of 'BackupHDDVD' while decrypting. One can also see the playback of a decrypted movie, and upload it to YouTube.

So where does this leave the emerging HD DVD format? Possibly, at the same place as before...

Yes, there could be a small consumer swing towards HD DVD players, egged on by the availability of 'cheap backups' of original high definition content. There could also be a temporary bias in favour of Blu-ray amongst the mighty Hollywood Studios.

But, as industry observers observe, all of this, even if it should happen, will only be temporary...

Which again brings us back to where we began: the mighty format war between HD DVD and Blu ray...

USER COMMENTS

firstly: there will always be a crack for any hardware or software encryption because it has to be decrypted to be viewed or heard. Secondly: who cares? Since when is distribution on disk going to last? The move is already towards IPTV and more specifically the delivery of user defined , time specific and content specific programming. Think "youtube" with a capital "U". The crisis isn't in format and encryption it's in capturing the disappearing advertising revenue needed to pay for further programming/movies/content. Maybe AACS means "Another Attempt Cracked Simply". p.s. in my opinion Sony doesn't have the best of records (pun intended) for setting broad based standards only consumers have that priviledge. Think MP3 and now DivX as examples. Geek On!

by peter, toronto, on Jan 19, 2007 07:51 PM, Report abuse Reply

It has not been cracked,he just found a workaround.be accurate when posting such news..

by !!!, !, on Jan 04, 2007 10:52 AM, Report abuse Reply

wish him a great success

by pranab, kolkata, on Jan 03, 2007 05:48 PM, Report abuse Reply

It's only plagiarism if one copies a story; it isn't plagiarism, for example, for one to see a story on FOXNews, do additional research and write an article of their own. The latter seems to be the case here.

by Russell Kirk, Houston, on Dec 30, 2006 01:02 PM, Report abuse Reply

It is known that when 2 fight 3rd one gets advantage. Maybe DVD will survive after all.

by Rockman, Rockville, on Dec 29, 2006 10:12 AM, Report abuse Reply

I dont think so... We get 8-in-1 DVDs already, but viewing it in fullscreen or in a TV is one step above impossibility. Probably a new format will be developed which will take over these two..!

by Chandra, Chennai, on Dec 30, 2006 10:20 AM, Report abuse

This is all copied from dailytech. Does techtree have no conscience left , atleast give credit to the main source of the news rather than mentioning "Techtree News Staff". Really sick :((

by dutch guy, amsterdam, on Dec 28, 2006 05:30 PM, Report abuse Reply

really sick to find guys like you on Techtree. The news was not originally done by Dailytech or Anandtech or watever it is. We found the story through Digg, which directed us directly to the forum, which is offering the software to download. And ohh!! Btw Dailytech still hasnt covered this news yet.

by Punit, Techtree, on Dec 28, 2006 09:04 PM, Report abuse

I do not think Techtree is not good. Techtree is the best, even if they source some news from elsewhere at least they present it all in a highly enjoyable readable online content and it is all free. I simply love Techtree. Techtree rocks !!! Thank you for all efforts and hard work you guys are doing !!!

by Rockman, Rockville, on Dec 29, 2006 10:15 AM, Report abuse

To Techtree: How does it matter who covered it? What matters is that you copied the story without acknowledging the source. And in plain english that is known as plagiarism. I hope this is only a slip and not a habit at TechTree

by Gurdas, Vadodara, on Dec 29, 2006 06:50 PM, Report abuse

As with the war against HD-DVD and Blu-ray... Sure Blu-ray can hold more but when it comes to movies it seems to me that a lot of the space is just wasted. Could it become the next MiniDisc or Betamax?

by luckieblackkat, Florida, on Dec 29, 2006 08:47 AM, Report abuse Reply

Blu-ray uses AACS too so it's the same technique and doesn't make Blu-ray any less susceptible to any cracks.

by xzi, Albany, NY, on Dec 29, 2006 07:18 AM, Report abuse Reply

Wrong information. Visit http://msmvps.com/blogs/chrisl/archive/2006/12/27/454492.aspx for an update.

by Ghosh, Cal, on Dec 29, 2006 01:48 AM, Report abuse Reply

does he take private tuition on hacking ?

by ayan, Kolkata, on Dec 28, 2006 07:25 PM, Report abuse Reply

Just a note, HD is dead in Australia. Because the distributor is not ordering any, at this point anyway.

by Chris Burgess, Melbourne, on Dec 28, 2006 05:11 PM, Report abuse Reply