[ted_b]

I'm hoping someone here may be able to confirm if a PS3 I have sourced would fit the bill in it's current state to be made to rip SACDs.

I am told it is a working 3.55 PS3 CECHA01 backwards compatible with KMEAW firmware and multiman installed.

Any help is appreciated.

TV

That's the coirrect model but not sure about it already being hacked, sorry.

[strat95]

Thanks for confirming the model Ted.  Might anyone else know if you can install the firmware for ripping SACD on a PS3 that already has been hacked?

TV

[Levinson1959]

Yes you can downgrade every hacked PS3 (correct HW versie of course) to the correct firmware. I have downgraded successfull f.i. a Rogero 4.55 CFW to OpenOS 3.55 and installed SACD-Ripper. see http://stevenbreuls.com/2014/02/downgrade-any-cfw-ps3-to-3-55-or-any-other-cfw/  (use "Recovery mode" and not Settings > System update !!)

[nielss]

I appreciate all the help I've found in the posts on this forum. It has saved me a lot of aggravation. I have now purchased the appropriate PS3. Is there a guide or a package of files that would simplify the ripping process? I think I can manage the firmware change, but after that I'm kind of hazy.

Thanks all (and Ted, your posts have been a godsend).

--nielss

[nielss]

This site has been very helpful in educating me about the steps needed to back up SACDs from their original disk media. I've put together a kit that includes the things identified as necessary in Ted's (excellent) primer, version 4. Unfortunately I am baffled by a problem that doesn't seem to be discussed anywhere I've looked. So I'm bringing it here in the hope that someone can help.

I'm stuck at the early step of installing new firmware. The existing FW on my PS3 is ver. 3.55, so I need to go through the recovery menu to install the firmware I need. Got through the initial steps, and up to where the PS3 says "Connect the controller using a USB cable, and then press the PS button."

I do that (and the light on my controller under that button turns red), but the PS3 does not respond. Has anyone encountered this? Is there a way around this?

I've tried pushing other buttons, unplugging and replugging the controller (into a different USB port), rebooting and trying again (many times), but no joy.

The controller isn't dead; I can use it when I'm not in recovery mode. But it's as if the PS3 doesn't recognize it when I'm in safe mode (or trying to get there).

Help? Please? [sound of head hitting wall--again]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[roggae]

i am stuck at the point where i have the .iso files ripped but need to decode them to play them through my squeezebox touch.  any thoughts?

thanks

[dmacpher]

I recently had an occasion to want to run the sacd_extract utility on a directory full of previously ripped ISO files, but I only wanted to extract the multichannel area of the ISO files. I had already ripped all my ISO's for their 2-channel tracks (they are stored in a 2-channel only directory on my Synology NAS) but now I wanted separate multichannel versions of the same tracks stored in a multichannel-only directory on my Synology NAS.The problem I was running into though was that if the ISO file was a stereo-only SACD ISO, it went ahead and extracted the .DSF files anyway, leaving me a directory of stereo tracks. This just wastes time as I didn't want the 2-channel extraction (since I already have it) and I didn't want to have to manually figure out which ones shouldn't be there and manually delete them. I have a large collection of ISO's and this would have taken me a long time!

So I wrote a quick Python script to act as a Unix grep-like filter that takes in a list of ISO files and outputs the ISO file name only if it contains a multichannel area within the ISO. This way I could iterate over just the names of the multichannel ISO's and run the sacd_extract utility against only these multichannel ISO's. I'm posting the script here in case anyone might be interested in using it for themselves.

A couple of points:

• Firstly, I am assuming that you are comfortable around a unix-like command line and are familiar with running scripts in your computer environment. I am posting this for those of you that may find this useful, and I will not assume any responsibility if you mangle anything on your system 
• The script is written in Python3 and is intended to run on a Mac command line. If you need it to run on Windows you'll have to use it on Cygwin or port it over to the equivalent WINx scripting scripting language yourself
• The script does not affect your ISO file at all. It simply opens it up for reading and reads 4 bytes at a very specific location within the ISO file and then it's closed. On my Mac it runs quite fast
• I've tested this on a large directory of ISO files and it has so far worked 100% successfully on identifying only those ISO rips that are multichannel. I can't say that it is 100% guaranteed to work on all ISO files because I haven't been able to verify that my assumptions on how to identify multichannel ISO's is 100% correct, but so far, so good

Here is the script. Place the code in a file (I called mine 'grepMch') and make sure the file is marked as executable and placed somewhere in your PATH:



============================================================
#!/usr/local/bin/python3

import sys, struct

SCARLETBOOK_BLKSIZE    = 2048
MASTER_TOC_START_BLOCK = 510
MCH_AREA_START_OFFSET  = (SCARLETBOOK_BLKSIZE * MASTER_TOC_START_BLOCK) + 72

isoFiles = sys.stdin.readlines()

for isoFile in isoFiles:
    with open(isoFile.strip(), "rb") as iso:
        iso.seek(MCH_AREA_START_OFFSET)
        mCH_Area_Start = struct.unpack("I", iso.read(4))[0]
        if mCH_Area_Start != 0:
            sys.stdout.write(isoFile)
============================================================



As an example of how I used this script to extract multichannel DSF tracks, this is what I ran on my command line (you can also place this in a separate script if you wish):



============================================================
IFSBU=$IFS
IFS=$(echo -en "\n\b")
for f in `ls *.iso | grepMch`; do
   sacd_extract -m -s -c -i"$f"
done
IFS=$IFSBU
============================================================


Note that because ISO filenames can contain spaces, I need to set the "internal field separator" variable of the shell to something other than spaces so that it doesn't interpret each space-separated word in a filename as the filename itself. I first save the current IFS value in a backup variable and then restore it after I'm done processing my ISO files.

I realize that this may be a bit too technical for the non-programmers among you out there (no doubt the majority of you), but I still think a few may find this helpful. If so, enjoy!

Dave

[ted_b]

Dave, Jeus's GUI does all this automatically.  Just pick the multichannel pulldown (rather than stereo).   I simply check my ISOs (In JRIver) for multichannel (if I don't already know).

[mikeeastman]

Thanks, your always such  a help.

[dmacpher]

Dave, Jeus's GUI does all this automatically.  Just pick the multichannel pulldown (rather than stereo).   I simply check my ISOs (In JRIver) for multichannel (if I don't already know).

Ted

I tried Jesus' GUI first, of course. I selected all the ISO files inside the GUI, selected Multichannel, and told it to extract. It didn't skip the stereo-only ISO's....it extracted all the ISO's. It seems the default behavior for multichannel extracts is to extract the 2-channel layer if no multichannel area exists, which is what I'm trying to avoid.  The native sacd_extract utility has exactly the same behavior. I was trying to avoid having to identify the multichannel SACD's before extracting the DSF files.

At least, this is the behavior when extracting any of my stereo-only ISO's. If you have any Holly Cole ISO's ("Temptation" or "Don't Smoke in Bed") give it a try to confirm this is true.

Dave

[ted_b]

Dave, sorry...yes that is correct.  I mentioned that I first check my ISOs in JRiver (simple view where "filetype is SACD", which is what JRiver calls SACD-ISOs, and then  "channels greater than or equal to 3").  Your script is great, thanks, but worried it will not be used by those that were clamoring for GUI and away from command prompts.  So my recommendation is to store ISOs in stereo and multichannel directories if its a big deal (and as I said, JRiver will identify them if you don't know your library well enough).

[dmacpher]

Dave, sorry...yes that is correct.  I mentioned that I first check my ISOs in JRiver (simple view where "filetype is SACD", which is what JRiver calls SACD-ISOs, and then  "channels greater than or equal to 3").  Your script is great, thanks, but worried it will not be used by those that were clamoring for GUI and away from command prompts.  So my recommendation is to store ISOs in stereo and multichannel directories if its a big deal (and as I said, JRiver will identify them if you don't know your library well enough).

Yes, I know. My problem is that I first only had a 2-channel DAC, so I extracted *all* of my ISO's as 2-channel. Now that I'm interested in multichannel, going into my saved directory of 1600+ ISO's and wanting only the multichannel ones for extraction proved a difficult proposition. The script was my solution to the problem. Going forward, as I acquire new SACD's, I am extracting both 2-channel and multichannel versions of it on a case-by-case basis, which isn't onerous at all. The script simply helped me with my *backlog* of all-ready extracted 2-channel ISO's

As I mentioned in the post, I wasn't sure if the script would help anyone else out in the same situation as I was, but I wanted to contribute it to the community just in case anyone else was in the same predicament as I was.

As an aside, I want to thank you personally, Ted, for all the great help/assistance you've been to the community in regards to hi-def digital playback/JRiver/SACD-ripping. You're awesome!

Kind regards,

Dave

[tonyhktan]

Thank you for the assistance and have downloaded a copy of the SACD-ripper primer 4.0.

New Member requesting for assistance.

I am new to this forum and currently stationed in Hong Kong. Recently I have purchased a fat PS3 (CHCHE12) with CFW 3.55 (also saw it came with Multiman in the game section) with the objective for ripping my close to 100 pcs of SACD collection into ISO as backup as well as into DSD file to play in my AK120. While still reading the longs treads on the PS3 SACD ripping, will appreciate if you can send me a copy of your latest guide as well download links to the compiled 3.55 OtherOS++ firmware, latest sacd-ripper.pkg and PS3 keys. It will be excellent if you have a Dropbox link that I can download all these files in one go. Thanks you and appreciate all the assistance that you can provide…..Tony21/7

[windhoek]

I just registered to say a BIG thanks to Ted and all the other clever people who made SACD ripping possible - thank you

I recently bought a suitable PS3 and have ripped about 35 SACDs with 70 or so remaining. I've been unable to rip the following SACDs however, and wonder whether anyone else has encountered the same.

Bottleneck John - All Around Man
Eagles - Hotel California
Donald Fagen - The Nightfly
The Pentangle - The Pentangle
10cc - The Original Soundtrack

[windhoek]

Mmm, no replies, perhaps I asked the wrong question. I'll try again; has anyone been able to rip the these SACDs?

Bottleneck John - All Around Man (Opus 3)
Eagles - Hotel California (Japan)
Donald Fagen - The Nightfly (Japan)
The Pentangle - The Pentangle (SHM)
10cc - The Original Soundtrack (SHM)

[ted_b]

I have 4 of those and all ripped fine. Define "won't rip".  What happens?

[Phil A]

The SHM SACDs don't do the countdown where there show you the percentage ripped in mine.  However, they rip fine.  I just let it go for 45 minutes (longer than usual) and then just eject the disc and shut down the unit.

[ted_b]

Yes we now refer to that pita bug as a "blind rip". Requires a hard reboot, etc.

[Tyson]

I use a USB stick that flashes when it's writing data.  When things freeze up on the screen, I can see if it's still going by looking at the USB flashing light.  When it stops, I know it's done and I eject the disc and reboot the PS3.

[ted_b]

Yes thanks Tyson. I now have those instructions in the latest guide, since it crops up so often