Take a peek into your SACDs on Linux

[sapperlott]

Hey - thought I'd share this little information nugget.

It's well known that you can dump images of your Blu-Ray discs using dd on Linux. Well - this basically works for SACDs, too (if you own a PS3 that can read SACDs, of course).

But don't expect too much - SACDs contain a tough protection scheme so you won't be able to create usable backups with this method.

But I found it quite interesting to take a peek into my SACDs with a hex editor and recognize the data structures described in the SACD patents available online.

So basically, you have to do the following:

dd if=/dev/cdrom of=mysacdimage.img bs=1M

Transfer the image to your PC via SCP and hack away

[PS3 News]

I gave you a +Rep for sharing sapperlott, and here is some info in case others aren't familiar with SACD's (as I wasn't until now either ):

SACD = Super Audio CD, and according to Google you can only play the high resolution (DSD) layer in a SACD (or SACD/DVD) player.

Apparently most consumer PC drives can't read the high resolution layer, let alone decode it, but one of the guys on IRC said he has an old Sony and a Panasonic one that was able to read it (though he didn't bother trying to decode it).

Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Audio_CD) says they can hold up to 7.95 GB but have not been accepted by the mainstream market despite being introduced back in 1999.

[sapperlott]

Yeah - thanks for the clarification

On the physical layer it's basically a DVD but with some heavy encryption slapped on top of it that requires special drives to derive the decryption key. That's why SACD playback was cut from the later models - to cut costs regarding the BD drive.

Until the PS3 came along there were no computer drives available - only standalone players that didn't allow you to tinker with the disc's contents.

Could you send me (or post) some more details on the older PC drives that allegedly were able to read SACDs - haven't heard about that.

[PS3 News]

Originally Posted by sapperlott Could you send me (or post) some more details on the older PC drives that allegedly were able to read SACDs - haven't heard about that.

Sure.. I will ask the Dev on IRC tonight if he can pass along any details/model info on them, or if he has time he may reply here himself.

[sapperlott]

For those interested, here are two of the patents covering the data structures visible when looking at a SACD image in a hex editor:

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/EP0956557.html
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6643228.html

[PS3 News]

I asked him... it's been years though he said so he doesn't recall model info but they are still in his possession, in storage. That being said, if he ever has time to dig them up one of us will report back here!