Original DIVX (Not DivX) (Circuit City)

[ct2193]

I recently obtained a collection of original DIVX discs which are very different from what we call DivX. These discs are DVD's with funky encoding. These are the Circuit City era discs that the codec (DivX) happily made fun of.

As it stands, I am in search of a way to play these movies. Presumably, that means decrypting them. As they are called DIVX discs, it has been difficult to research them efficiently and as such, has been slow and agonizing with no real results.

What I do know:

Title: Slums of Beverly Hills
Disc Label: DIVX148635663_1_1
Disc Capacity: 3.92 GB
Disc Format: Universal Disc Format
Root Folders: ECCTRANA, ECCTRANB, VIDEO_TS, ZOOM

The disc WILL play an error / tech screen if played in a regular DVD player, which only tells the user to call 1-800-456-DIVX (out of service). There is nothing more in the VIDEO_TS folder other than this warning.

The ECCTRANA and ECCTRANB folders have a few 360kb files that all but one or two are corrupt (presumed to be encrypted). A HEX Editor didn't tell me anything obvious, but I'm not a programmer.

The ZOOM folder contains the bulk of the data.

It contains a ton of JAR files, which are corrupt or otherwise encrypted as well as some BUP, IFO, and VOB files. Examples of these IFO/VOB:

BC_VMG00.IFO (with matching BUP)
BVTS00_0.IFO (with matching BUP)
BVTS00_1.VOB (through BVTS00_4)

The VOB files consume enough space to be where the AV data is contained, but again, they're protected. I presume the unlocking key is contained somewhere on the disc in one of the other files. Possibly in one of the non-protected files or in some file that the registered players (now decommissioned) possibly use a generic unlock code for.

The "official" players for these discs were decommissioned in about 2001 and no longer play these discs as the service where they call back to no longer exists.

Internet research suggests that these discs use 3DES encryption, but even good encryption is meaningless if the keys are stored unsecurely (which I am hoping).

At this point, I would be happy to decrypt these discs enough to play or even re-encode into a modern, commonly playable format. I am not concerned with duplicating the discs.

Hopefully someone out there knows more about these discs than I do or would be interested enough to take on the challenge enough to help form a solution.

Any and all help is appreciated.

Thanks!

[dialysis1]

DIVX was a rental format variation on the DVD player in which a customer would buy a DIVX disc (similar to a DVD) for approximately $4 US, which was watchable for up to 48 hours from its initial viewing. After this period, the disc could be viewed by paying a continuation fee, typically $3.25. DIVX discs could only be played on special DIVX/DVD combo players that needed to be connected to a phone line. DIVX player owners had to set up an account with DIVX to which additional viewing fees could be charged.
So you may be out of luck.

[rebkell]

DIVX was a rental format variation on the DVD player in which a customer would buy a DIVX disc (similar to a DVD) for approximately $4 US, which was watchable for up to 48 hours from its initial viewing. After this period, the disc could be viewed by paying a continuation fee, typically $3.25. DIVX discs could only be played on special DIVX/DVD combo players that needed to be connected to a phone line. DIVX player owners had to set up an account with DIVX to which additional viewing fees could be charged.
So you may be out of luck.

My first purchase was a combo DVD/Divx player, I was thinking that the player kept a record of what disks had been played and would only allow you to play it one time unless you called in(the divx player) and paid for another rental, or you could purchase th silver plan(or some such name) and watch it continuously. I know when I bought the player I got like 5 free DIVX titles with it, they were all Pan & Scan too, I never purchased a Divx ever, but the DVD player worked well for several years.

[EPiPH0NE]

LOL......I actually waited for DIVX to die before making the jump from VHS -> DVD just in case it actually caught on but figured it wouldn't and it didn't. Man, what the MPAA wouldn't give to have this kind of tech back in style. What would be the purpose of decrypting these discs now a days? Are there movies that where only released on DIVX and not DVD? Other then that, it would seem like a waste of brain power/time. Not that you don't have the choice to use your time as you wish, just curious.