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Hack Attack : How to Create aXXo Quality DVD Rips

Karthik Kastury — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:12:17 +0000

DVD movies are the best way to pass time while you are at home and have nothing else to do. There are times though when the DVD you rented at the local DVD store has to be returned within 24 hours and you want to watch the movie again and again. In such situations ripping the DVD’s is the best way to go.

If you have been a P2P torrents user for any length of time, I’m sure you’ve heard of aXXo. A lot of people are in love with him and his releases on the internet (including me as well). The quality of his rips are always spot on, and many people have asked me to how he creates such wonderful rips at 700mb which is insanely small.

Sometime in the past aXXo had stopped releasing new movies, and many users were angry. Well you can’t blame him, because he had his own reasons. The purpose of this Hack Attack though is to reduce your dependency on guys like aXXo.

Its as simple as going to a DVD rental store or site, getting the DVD and creating a perfect 700mb DVD rip for the rest of us to enjoy. You don’t need to depend on guys like aXXo anymore.

Without further delay, lets get started with the process, of creating your super small high quality DVD Rip. Here are the tools you will require to get started…

DVD Decrypter
Auto GK
K-lite Codec Pack (if you already have a codec pack installed you can leave this one out)

Install the above softwares, just like you would install any other software, and then grab yourself a cup of caffeine before you proceed. I am going to split this guide into two parts. Lets get started with the first part.

PART 1 : Ripping the DVD to your Hard Disk

Step 1

Fire up DVD Decrypter. It should like the screenshot above. Insert your DVD in your DVD drive and select the appropriate drive as Source, and a folder on your hard disk as the destination with atleast 3-4GB of free space.

Step 2

As you can see in my screenshot, my DVD doesn’t have any region protection, copy protection and RCE protection. It might not be the same with your DVD, and you need to get rid of the protection schemes.

To get rid of the protection schemes, click tools from the menu bar and select settings. The settings dialog should now appear. Now tick the “Remove Macrovision Protection” check box, this will remove the Macrovision flag of the VOB files on the disc. RCE
Protection Region should be set to the region your drive (or standalone DVD player) has.

You can find the regions below :

Region 1 – 1: U.S., Canada, U.S. Territories
Region 2 – Japan, Europe, South Africa, and Middle East (including Egypt)
Region 3 – Southeast Asia and East Asia (including Hong Kong)
Region 4 – Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central America, Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean
Region 5 – Eastern Europe (Former Soviet Union), Indian subcontinent, Africa, North Korea, and Mongolia
Region 6 – Peoples Republic of China
Region 7 – Reserved
Region 8 – Special international venues (airplanes, cruise ships, etc.)

See the following screenshot for a clearer picture of what you are supposed to do.

Step 3

Now that you are done with everything, you are ready to rip the DVD to your disk. Make sure the drive containing your destination folder has enough free space on it. Select all the files on the right column if they aren’t already selected and hit the Start button as highlighted in the screenshot below.

It should complete ripping after a while and you should see something like this…

Yup that is it, you are done with the first part. Now that you have the ripped files on your disk, you can test them on your media player and when you are satisfied you can eject the DVD. Now lets proceed with part 2 of this guide…

Part 2 : Compressing the DVD to AVI format

Open up Auto GK. It should like the one shown above. Basically this is where all the action happens. I’ll guide you through the process of choosing the best settings through to the last step where you can watch your 700MB rip.

Lets continue then…

Step 4

(Click on the screenshots to enlarge)

Locate the input file from the folder you used to store the rips in DVD Decrypter… Here’s how you select the file. In the Open dialog box, select the details view. The input file that we are going to select is an *.IFO file.

As you can see from my screenshot VTS_00_0.IFO has three .VOB files under it with the maximum size, which means this is the movie we’re looking for. Select the IFO to proceed.

Now give the output file, whatever name you need to give by clicking the Output file field.

Step 5

As you can see from the screenshot above, the program lists the available subtitles and Audio tracks. On my DVD there are no subtitles, and there is only one Audio track, so I will select that.

On most DVD’s you have 2 Channel Sound (2ch), Surround Sound (6ch). I’d prefer Surround sound over normal 2 channel if available simply because they sound much better.

Now select the Target (Output) Size. I have selected 700MB here. Generally speaking, higher the size you select, the more clearer the picture is on the DVD will be.

Now click Advanced Settings button to show the Advanced Options window as shown.

Configure the settings as shown in the Screenshot. Choose XviD over DivX because it gives you higher compression for same quality compared to DivX.

Step 6

Now that you have finished configuring everything, just click the Add Job button and the Start button to start the conversion/compression process.

Just grab yourself some coffee, if you have finished the one you took before getting started. The compression process will take quite a while, so you could even have a nice nap meanwhile.

Note : You won’t much activity in Auto GK itself. A lot of programs will load including a couple of command prompt windows, do their jobs and exit. This is completely normal so don’t bother messing around with anything.

That’s it guys! You have made your first aXXo like DVD Rip!

Please share with is in the comments how the process went. I’ll be gald to hear your opinions out.

P.S : I am trying out a variety of settings, so I will write a follow up post sometime in the future detailing them as well.

If you have any ideas or suggestions please share with us in the comments …

Hack Attack : Jailbreak/Unlock Your iPhone On Windows

Karthik Kastury — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:57:31 +0000

While the Dev Team has released Pwnage tool for Mac OSX, it’ll be some time before we see Pwnage tool for Windows. All those Windows users who can’t wait to jailbreak/unlock their iPhones here’s a guide for you to jailbreak/unlock your iPhone.

While at the moment there is no Installer.app on firmware 2.0, and there aren’t many apps running but that will change with time, and more and more apps for the jailbroken iPhone will appear. Follow this quick 15 min guide to Jailbreak/unlock your iPhone on Windows..

I’m going to divide the guide into two clear and concise sections, one for the iPhone 2G and one for the iPhone 3G.. Pick the section that you have and proceed.. Make sure you have iTunes 7.7 installed and backup your iPhone before continuing..

Disclaimer : I’m not responsible if these hacks end up bricking your iPhone, while the methods have been tested widely but please proceed at your own risk.

For iPhone 2G

iPhone 2G can both be unlocked and jailbroken unlike the iPhone 3G which can only be jaibroken at the moment.. Download the following files before you get started..

WinPwn 1.0
Custom Firmware Restore Image (Torrent Link)

Lets get started then..

Backup your iPhone before you proceed.
Install WinPwn and Pwn your iPhone 2G running firmware 1.1.4 using it. Please note that it is very important that you have the iPhone Pwned at 1.1.4 before proceeding..
Install Bootneuter (You should be able to find it in Installer.app)
Run Bootneuter and have it neuter your iPhone.
Put your iPhone into DFU Mode.. This can be a bit tricky.Here’s how to get into the DFU Mode, hold the home button on the bottom and the power button until the screen turns off and then count to 2 and let go of the power button on the top of the iPhone , but keep pressing home button until iTunes asks you if you want to restore your iPhone.
In iTunes Shift+Click the Restore button and find your custom IPSW Firmware file that you downloaded earlier.
Wait for it to complete, and enjoy you have a completely Jailbroken, Unlocked iPhone running firmware 2.0.

For iPhone 3G

iPhone 3G can only be Jailbroken at the moment, because no unlock has been found yet. Again download the following files before you get started..

x12220000_4_Recovery.ipsw
iPhone1,2_2.0_5A347_Custom_Restore.ipsw

You can download both these files from this torrent.

Now that you have the files downloaded, lets get started then…

Backup your iPhone before you proceed.
Click Start and Run, and type in %appdata%Apple ComputeriTunes.
In the folder that opens, create a Directory called Device Support if it doesn’t exist already and if it is present delete it.
In the Device Support folder copy x12220000_4_Recovery.ipsw that you had downloaded earlier.
Open up iTunes and now you need to get your iPhone into DFU Mode..Here’s how to get into the DFU Mode, hold the home button on the bottom and the power button until the screen turns off and then count to 2 and let go of the power button on the top of the iPhone , but keep pressing home button until iTunes asks you if you want to restore your iPhone.
In iTunes Shift+Click the Restore button and find your custom IPSW Firmware file that you downloaded earlier (iPhone1,2_2.0_5A347_Custom_Restore.ipsw).
When the restoring has completed, the iPhone will ask you to connect to iTunes and redo the activation (download carrier settings).
Restore your backup. This should be automatically done after the carrier settings have been downloaded, but you can also do it by right clicking iPhone on the left and selecting Restore iPhone
Wait for it to complete, and enjoy you have a completely Jailbroken iPhone 3G.

I hope everything went well for you and you are running iPhone with the latest firmware 2.0.. Big credit to the dev team for developing Pwnage tool and others for the custom firmware images.

Let us know in the comments on how it went for you..

Hack Attack : Downgrade iPhone 2G From 2.0 to 1.1.4 And Unlock it

Karthik Kastury — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:14:54 +0000

While a lot of people are awaiting the release of Pwnage tool from iPhone Dev Team, there are equally that many people who accidentally got upgraded to 2.0 leaving their precious iPhone locked and unusable.

If you are one of those, then follow this guide to restore your iPhone 2G from firmware 2.0 to 1.1.4 and completely unlock it. This is of course is the only way you can use your iPhone 2G until the Dev Team releases Pwnage tool 2.0.

Follow the instructions below carefully, and you should be able to achieve the stated goal pretty fast. Trust me, it ain’t that hard….

Warning : This tutorial/guide is for the iPhone 2G only which have been accidentally upgraded to 2.0 needing to restore back to 1.1.4 and unlock the phone. Do not use this guide on your iPhone 3G.

Also this guide is currently only for the Mac OS.. I will add a guide for Windows when it is available and ready.

Alright lets get started then…. Download the following items at the start, you will need them during the course of the tutorial.

Download all of them and keep them handy.. Lets get started then with the real deal.. Get ready to free your iPhone

Install iTunes 7.7 and then uninstall it using AppZapper. This is to make sure you have the correct drivers and files necessary for the iPhone with firmware 2.0.
Open Terminal and type the following command. Enter the administrator password when prompted for it.
sudo rm -R /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileDevice.framework
Now install iTunes 7.5 and reboot your Mac.
Rename iTunes folder in Music to iTunesOLD. Run iTunes and configure everything to your hearts liking and quit iTunes.
Plug in your iPhone using the dock connector. iTunes should now recognize the iPhone and prompt you telling that you need a newer version of iTunes. Just don’t bother and click OK.
Now the tricky part, you now need to put the iPhone in DFU Mode. Note that the iPhone is completely blank in the DFU Mode.
Here’s how to get into the DFU Mode, hold the home button on the bottom and the power button until the screen turns off and then count to 2 and let go of the power button on the top of the iPhone , but keep pressing home button until iTunes asks you if you want to restore your iPhone.
Now in iTunes option click Restore in the iPhone tab and choose the iPhone firmware file iphone1,1_1.1.4.4A102_Restore.ipsw you downloaded earlier.
iTunes will now restore 1.1.4 onto the iPhone. Once it is done you should get an error 1015 which is good sign.
Now put your iPhone in normal restore mode (not DFU). To go into normal Restore mode turn off iPhone, turn on with a tap on power while holding the home button and hold the home button until iTunes tells that you need to restore your iPhone. Now restore the firmware again just like in the previous step. Don’t bother about the error code.
Now quit iTunes and start Pwnage tool that you downloaded earlier and hit browse ipsw and select the firmware you downloaded earlier..
Hit iPwner, and after a while your iPhone will start showing text, loads of it. After a while it should restart and ask you to connect it to iTunes.
Hit Browse ipsw. Choose the file you downloaded earlier. Select ipsw builder and configure the options as shown below in the screenshot.
Hit Ok, and choose the two bootloader files from the rar archive you downloaded earlier. Choose a location to save your restore file.
Quit Pwnage tool, and fire up iTunes one last time.
Option click on restore in the iPhone tab (the alt key + mouse key) and choose the new custom restore file you created in Pwnage tool.
Once the restore is complete, your iPhone should be completely unlocked and jailbroken. You should be able to run any apps you wish and use any SIM.
Sync your iPhone, and enjoy your totally unlocked iPhone.

Well that is it, wasn’t that long isn’t it. Try it out and at the moment it is the best solution until Dev Team gets around to releasing Pwnage tool 2.0 that will unlock Firmware 2.0 on the iPhone 2G.

Meanwhile enjoy your hacked phone!! Special thanks to aRT in the forums for writing this guide.

Please let us know in the comments, as to how it goes for you. This wouldn’t be possible without the work of many hackers from around the world whose sole aim is to free up the iPhone.