Old PS3 FW suddenly has AACS key problem for OLD movies?!

[CZroe]

When Sony first pulled OtherOS support on the PS3 with system software 3.21, my brother stayed on an older firmware revision (3.15?) stopped playing games on the PS3 and dedicated it to Linux and BD playback. Sony promised that you would not lose existing functionality because you weren't forced to upgrade, but this has proven false as new movies require updated AACS keys. Years ago we updated it to some custom "Rogero" firmware so that we could play some newer movies/games but never updated it again. Eventually, a few newer movies would refuse to play again, but we usually worked around that by playing them on something else. About a month ago it stopped playing even old movies with the exact same message! Movies we've watched recently now give the AACS error.

Sony's page on the issue still says that existing BDs with old AACS keys can be played as usual, which is clearly a lie.

Existing BDs with old AACS keys can be played as usual with newer AACS encryption keys, However, the newest released movie titles will only play with the most up to date encryption keys that are included in the PS3 system software.

It has been 100% offline for years and has not been used for playing games. I set the date back and it still refuses to play the old movies. I still think it was a built-in time bomb and Sony should have known when they made the announcement. It probably set a flag and so even setting the date back doesn't work.

Has anyone else heard about PS3 consoles suddenly being unable to play even old BDs?

The exact error message is:

To play this BD, you must renew the encryption key.
Perform a system software update to renew the encryption key.

 

[mmntech]

Whoever designed Blu-ray's DRM really needs to be dragged out into the street and shot. It's a classic example of DRM that harasses paying users while doing nothing to put a dent in piracy. You should never need to update your player to playback media you bought. What if it was somewhere not connected to the internet, like an RV or cottage?

What movies are giving you trouble? If you can't play them, might as well seek out *ahem* alternative sources. It's not illegal to make personal backups of media you own.

 

[CZroe]

Whoever designed Blu-ray's DRM really needs to be dragged out into the street and shot. It's a classic example of DRM that harasses paying users while doing nothing to put a dent in piracy. You should never need to update your player to playback media you bought. What if it was somewhere not connected to the internet, like an RV or cottage?

What movies are giving you trouble? If you can't play them, might as well seek out *ahem* alternative sources. It's not illegal to make personal backups of media you own.

All of them. It used to be only movies made with newer AACS keys since the older PS3 AACS keys were revoked, but now even the old movies that worked a couple months ago no longer work. When Sony was sued for removing OtherOS functionality in newer firmware a they argued that users would not lose existing functionality of they did not update and their page for the AACS error explicitly says that older movies made with the older keys would continue working. This is not true. There was either some kind of timebomb that blocked all movie playback or one of the newer movies I tried set some kind of flag that makes it refuse to play. I think it might have been when I tried a rented copy of Guardians of the Galaxy in it.

I spent a good bit of time yesterday researching hacked CFW to update the PS3 like I was some kind of pirate. It's running REBUG firmware now and all my movies work.

I have been resorting to Handbrake + AnyDVD HD when I encounter a movie that doesn't work but the majority of my movies worked until a month ago. After I lost access to my existing purchased library, I had to go ahead and update the PS3 (something they said I'd never have to do and based their argument against lawsuits on).

I still can't find anyone else who has experienced a PS3 that suddenly can't even play movies it has played before. I must have been the last holdout from updating. Still, considering Sony's legal position, I think it may be newsworthy.

 

[mmntech]

Have you tried contacting Sony about the problem?

Since you have AnyDVD HD, might as well just pick up a big external hard drive or NAS and rip your entire collection. Solves the DRM problem right there.

 

[CZroe]

Have you tried contacting Sony about the problem?

Since you have AnyDVD HD, might as well just pick up a big external hard drive or NAS and rip your entire collection. Solves the DRM problem right there.

No need to contact them because I know what they are going to tell me to do (update to latest official firmware), which will fix the problem at the expense of losing other features. Besides, I already fixed it by updating to the latest custom firmware last night.

Even with the whole SlySoft suite, rips still have Cinavia protection. Even circumventing that, it's still a pain in the rear when we rent a movie and everyone is waiting for it to rip, especially when we find it didn't rip correctly (forced subs are missing or something). After the latest CFW, I can just throw the disc in and play it.

 

[Ichinisan]

I sometimes want to watch the extras. Commentary, featurettes, etc...so straight rips are usually not desirable. I buy most of the movies I like and I want to browse the extra content with the BD menu.

Anyway, I tried ripping True Romance with Handbrake before CZroe fixed the PS3 with custom firmware. After 4 full rips, I gave up trying to make it rip subtitles that aren't burned-in.

There's some kind of glitch and every time I add the subtitle track, even though the "Burn In" option is not checked, the output file has subtitled burned-in. Does the MP4 format not support subtitles?

 

[mmntech]

This is probably why DVDs are still around. They're cheap and they just work.

MP4 should support subtitles but sometimes the encoders are a bit salty about it. Make sure you have the settings configured correctly. My problem right now with encoders is none of my GPGPU ones seem to work with BD audio tracks. Both A's and Media Espresso spit them out with no sound. Handbreak just takes too long on my ageing Phenom II.

 

[Ichinisan]

Brother, I wish you had tried a game disc before updating the custom firmware to fix the BD playback issue. It would have been interesting to know if old PS3 games still worked (or PS1/2 for that matter). If they did work, it would be interesting to know if BD movies worked if you had tried again after booting a game.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

I still own an original PS3 with a 60GB drive. It has sat on my kitchen floor for years ever since the HDMI output failed some 15 months into ownership. I refused to pay Sony $149 to fix it, and when they removed the OtherOS feature that was the end of my business relationship with Sony. Since I do not play games on PSx, I replaced the failed unit with a refurb Insignia unit with rolled back firmware that allows me to play DVD/BD sourced from any region.

 

[mmntech]

I understand why people were upset when OtherOS was removed. When GeoHot hacked it to play homebrew, it didn't even have access to the GSX, so it's not like you could pirate retail games. Sony jumped the gun by removing an advertised feature. I was pretty upset too. It does feel like Sony has been moving a bit backwards technologically over the years. PS4 isn't as good as the PS3 was IMO.

That said, Linux ran like a dog on PS3. Ubuntu anyway. The things just didn't have enough RAM to make them useful for consumer applications. Especially at the time when 1GB was becoming the defacto standard to run a modern OS. I suspect the cluster applications the navy was using probably had command line only versions.