1 (edited by Heihachi_73 2018-05-26 02:22:37)

Which format is the barcode around the ring? It looks like a Code 39 variant, in that there are only narrow (1 pixel) and wide (3 pixel) lines and spaces, except that they make no sense when put together (e.g. it's not A-Z/0-9 characters, merely binary data). Additionally, each wide bar is preceded by a narrow space; each narrow bar is preceded by a wide space. PS2 CD-ROMs also have a second barcode in the ringcode area which isn't present on PS2 DVDs.

Or are the spaces ignored entirely with narrow bars being 0 and wide being 1? With no spaces, CDs are 104 bits long, DVDs are 108 bits long. The second barcode (PS2 CDs only) is 28 bits long.

I can't find anything on Redump about the PSX BCA mark or whatever it is called. The same barcodes are also on PS2/PS3 and even audio CDs and DVD videos, anything on Sony-pressed discs.

--------------------

There are ringcodes on regular black-backed PlayStation CDs! To be able to read the ringcodes of non-Platinum discs (e.g. the majority of PlayStation games out there), you will need any device capable of "red" light output (or orange, yellow etc). For example, incandescent bulbs (lamps, flashlights etc.), infra-red light (e.g. remote controls) or even sunlight. Digital image capture devices can see infra-red light, thus pointing even a TV remote's infra-red LED at the disc should show up on your camera. It may take a while to find the data, but it should show up as black numbers on a solid red background - the inverse is true about the barcode.

Alternatively, if you have a powerful enough light source and a scanner, you can simply shine the light straight through the picture side of the disc while scanning, however the mould SID code may not show up in the scan due to the amount of light. It is advised to shine the flashlight from an angle, so the light doesn't overpower the scanner and whitewash everything (sitting the flashlight right on top of the disc made my scanner show a glitched area over parts of the ringcode, making the image useless).

Light which uses the blue spectrum (e.g. "white" LEDs and flourescent lights including CFLs) will not work.

--------------------

PAL version discs have the same style of ringcodes as per PS2 and later games, but with one of three varying logos. Games made up to 1998 (including Tekken 3) have a DADC AUSTRIA logo, games from 1998-1999 have DADC without the Austria part, and games from 2000 onwards have Sony DADC, the same as PS2 games.

Note that the Sony DADC number is not PlayStation-specific and is used for all discs made at that factory (at least on the machines which use this numbering format), including audio CDs, DVDs, UMDs and Blu-Ray discs, and also cannot be used to determine the age or release era of a disc, for example movie DVDs from the early 2000s seemingly start at zero yet PSX launch titles from way back in 1995 start at roughly 170000 (e.g. Tekken 1 is A0000173745-0101). The same pressings will always use the same DADC serial number, although the SID code and the two trailing digits (e.g. IFPI L555 and the "15") can change on rare occasions. An updated/bug-fixed release of the same game will always have a different DADC number even if the SCES/SLES number is exactly the same on the label.

The standard Sony DADC format used on PS1 games is decoded as such:
A01xxxxxxxx-yyzz. X is the unique disc pressing number, Y is the disc number in the series and Z is how many discs are in the series. Games which span multiple discs use the same serial number, for example the two discs of Resident Evil 2 (the standard English language version) are numbered A0100241992-0102 and A0100241992-0202 respectively (and the ringcodes are not listed in the database at all, sigh).

The earliest discs (note the above Tekken 1 example) start with A00 instead of A01, I do not know what the 0 or 1 means (some DVDs also start with A00; the DVD5 top layer blank used for making single-layer discs on dual-layer equipment starts with A09 and is invariably A0900555555-B511, while the UMD blank layer is A0600666666-B511).

Speaking of DVDs, the four-digit suffix format is different due to taking into account dual-layer discs. A511 means A-side (layer 0/media side), DVD5 (single-layer), disc 1 of 1. B923 on the other hand means B-side (layer 1/label side), DVD9 (dual-layer), disc 2 of 3. This format, including the 5/9 for the single/dual layer disc types is also used on UMD and Blu-Ray discs, even though they are not called 'DVD5' or 'DVD9' in their own formats (e.g. Blu-Ray is BD25 or BD50).

Note: Some PAL version discs (usually the generic demo disc releases with PBPX serials) are manufactured in Japan and have a Japanese style ringcode where the ringcode reflects the serial number, and will invariably have a SID code of IFPI L27x (instead of L55x) and a mould SID code of IFPI 45xx in place of 94xx (Europe) or 65xx (Australia).

NTSC U/C discs have no manufacturer logo, but use a serial number similar to PSRM-nnnnn followed by a two-digit number. Unlike PAL discs, the last digit of this number does not correspond to the SID code's last digit. The same serial number is also in the small print on the CD itself. Not all games may use the letters PSRM. Most NTSC discs have a series of symbols after the ringcode such as ☼ ☼☼ ☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼. It is unknown what these represent.

Japanese discs are similar to NTSC U/C except that they simply use the SLPS number (or similar letter code) in place of the PSRM number (note that this number may not always correspond to the disc ID e.g. PlayStation The Best re-releases are in the 90000 range yet the ringcode will still be a standard low number such as SLPS-00040 if it's the same old pressing as the original); the hyphen after SLPS etc. is always in the ringcode even if it is not on the disc label.

Updated 2018-05-26.

"it is a mix between BCD and a special non repeating >9 hex encoding"
"b0 = a, b1 = b, b2 = c, b3 = d, b4 = e, b5 = f, b6 = g, b7 = h, b8 = i, b9 = j, c0 = k, c1 = l, c2 = m, c3 = n, c4 = o, c5 = p, c6 = q, c7 = r, c8 = s, c9 = t, d0 = u, d1 = v, d2 = w, d3 = x, d4 = y, d5 = z, d6 = -"

the final solution was:
"<V> but other than that, it's clear that it's just a machine readable version of the ringcode"

Heihachi_73 wrote:

Or are the spaces ignored entirely with narrow bars being 0 and wide being 1?

Yes. E.g. Final Fantasy VII (Europe) (Disc 1):

http://i.imgur.com/ZHEn1ke.jpg

    1010 [start marker?]
10110000 A
    0000 0
    0001 1
    0000 0
    0000 0
    0010 2
    0010 2
    1001 9
    0110 6
    0000 0
    0001 1
11010110 -
    0000 0
    0001 1
    0000 0
    0011 3
11100100 [?]
    1001 9
    0111 7
    1000 8
    1001 9
    1111 [end marker?]

Which corresponds to:
http://i.imgur.com/ImJ8w6Q.jpg

Though I don't know what 9789 is (maybe a checksum?), and there's nothing corresponding to "15" in the barcode. The second shorter barcode corresponds to the toolstamp.

Ah, so it's read backwards... the 1111 is on the end, not the start. I've got some decoding to do now. smile

1110xxxx (0xE?) seems to be common, although I still don't know what it's for. The last 9 in your 9789 example is possibly a check digit, the small barcode is in the same format as shown below:

Resident Evil 2 (Disc 1)
ID: SLES-00972
Mastering SID Code: IFPI L555
Manufacturer: DADC AUSTRIA
Ringcode: A0100241992-0102   25
Toolstamp: A4
Mould SID Code: IFPI 944P

Barcodes:
10101011000000000001000000000010010000011001100100101101011000000001000000101110100010000011100101001111

1110001010110000010001111111

1010        0A    [start]
10110000    B0    A
0000        00    0
0001        01    1
0000        00    0
0000        00    0
0010        02    2
0100        04    4
0001        01    1
1001        09    9
1001        09    9
0010        02    2
11010110    D6    -
0000        00    0
0001        01    1
0000        00    0
0010        02    2
11101000    E8
1000        08    8
0011        03    3
1001        09    9
0100        04    4 [check digit]
1111        0F    [end]

11100010    E2
10110000    B0    A
0100        04    4
0111        07    7 [check digit]
1111        0F    [end]

Also, NTSC discs have the same barcodes, it isn't just limited to PAL region discs.

6 (edited by TassLehoff 2015-09-05 17:03:01)

This is how i get the code, if that can help someone, really easy setup wink

http://s9.postimg.org/uk3mn6ftn/Scan_1.png

http://s9.postimg.org/b0z1dth23/Scan_2.png

And the result with Final Fantasy VIII PAL French CD1

http://s11.postimg.org/8boc3wprj/FF8_CD1.jpg

7 (edited by Heihachi_73 2018-06-04 02:07:12)

Speaking of barcodes...

If a PAL version game is not for retail release and contains "not for sale" or similar text in place of a barcode, a 7-digit number in the form of a product ID may still exist on the spine under the serial number, or on the disc itself (especially with demo/promo discs). This corresponds with the last seven digits of the barcode itself, even if the barcode itself wasn't printed. Not all games have these IDs however, and I have only seen these numbers used on PAL version games, not NTSC.

A barcode number may also exist (without the barcode itself) on the back of the manual, and in the case of PS1 games, on the front cover, however these sometimes remain unchanged from the retail releases thus may not match the 7-digit ID on the spine. In these cases, it is usually safe to add both barcodes.

To make the first half of the barcode, the first six digits need to be taken from the retail release, or the manual if one exists. An exception occurs with games using UPC barcodes rather than EAN/GTIN, such as the standard Sony 7 11719 xxxxx x barcode. With these games, only use the first five digits e.g. 71171 as the UPC format hides a leading zero from the barcode (when a UPC is scanned, the leading zero always shows up e.g. 0711719xxxxxx).

The back of the instruction manual will also contain a barcode number (without the barcode itself), however in most cases this number will be for the original retail version as the manuals are usually unchanged. The manual can help with finding the correct leading digits, or simply looking up a retail version of the game since 99% of the time they will have been issued by the same manufacturer thus contain the same half of the barcode.

Note: Don't always assume that the leading digit of the 7-digit number can only correspond to one manufacturer, they can overlap.

Examples:
Time Crisis (PS1, NOT TO BE SOLD SEPARATELY, 9608004) = 711719608004 = 7 11719 60800 4 (in this case, the front cover and manual also the barcode number in full, which matches the 9608004 on the spine)

Final Fantasy X (PS2, Australia, NOT TO BE SOLD SEPARATELY, 9365723) = 711719365723 = 7 11719 36572 3 (manual is for the retail release and doesn't match)

WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It (PS2, demo, 9036481) = 4005209036481 = 4 005209 036481 (note that THQ releases also use a 9 in the same place as Sony/first-party releases, but using a Sony 71171 here in place of THQ's 400520 would generate a completely wrong number, so make sure you know the right manufacturer!)

Spartan: Total Warrior (PS2, Australia, demo, 4766437) = 5060004766437 = 5 060004 766437

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (PS2, demo, 0410152) = 307210410152 = 3 307210 410152

The latest game I have found a non-matching 7-digit number is on an Australian Steelbook release of WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006, which already had a retail barcode on the back, 4005209071178, but also had a different number on the spine (4005209068369) which was made of plastic. The 7-digit number did not match the Australian retail release either (which was 4005209071802).