Bluray Ripping Software

[Taddeusz]

There's a newish program called MakeMKV that looks promising that is able to rip DVD's, BD's and HD-DVD's losslessly to an MKV container.

[SWKerr]

I like MakeMKV but it still requires you to have ANYDVD to access the Disk. It will just read the structure and allow you to select components to convert to an MKV.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

I like MakeMKV but it still requires you to have ANYDVD to access the Disk. It will just read the structure and allow you to select components to convert to an MKV.

I think it actually supports decrypting AACS by itself but it appears to need a key file to use. AnyDVD HD on top of this makes a more elegant solution though.

Although, I did have an issue with a single DVD I have with the MakeMKV+AnyDVD combination. MakeMKV threw up an error saying that it was an invalid DVD. I exited out of AnyDVD and the error went away.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by HelenWeathers

If I need AC3 audio and the disc doesn't have it, I use eac3to to convert the DTS-HD or DTS track to AC3.

I'm curious. Since I think the HD200's cannot do DTS-HD (is that correct?), I need to convert the DTS-HD track to AC3.

How do you do that using eac3to? Anyone know of a how-to on doing that?

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by Brent

I'm curious. Since I think the HD200's cannot do DTS-HD (is that correct?), I need to convert the DTS-HD track to AC3.

How do you do that using eac3to? Anyone know of a how-to on doing that?

The HD200s do pass the DTS core from DTS-HD thru HDMI & optical. So if you're hooked up to an amp you're OK.

My problem was with my TVs and HDMI. I needed the AC3 track for that.

You use tsmuxer and take your video track of choice and downconvert the DTS-HD track to a DTS core track and output the video and audio to an m2ts container.

With eac3to you convert the DTS track to AC3.

Then use tsmuxer to build a Blu-ray with the video from the m2ts file and the audio from the new ac3 file (keep the DTS track if you want also).

The command line for eac3to to make an AC3 track for a movie muxed to MyMovie.m2ts where the DTS audio track is the second track in the m2ts file, would be:
eac3to MyMovie.m2ts 2: MyMovie.ac3

The 2: (in the command line) indicates the second track is the audio track to convert.

If you have a problem and need more of a step by step, I'll work one up tomorrow, time permitting. Just say so.

EDIT: eac3to can operate on the DTS-HD track to make the AC3 track, but I got better results and no audio sync issues by letting tsmuxer do the DTS core extraction and then having eac3to use the core for the AC3 build.

[Brent]

Thanks for the explanation - that makes sense. I have two of my HD200s connected with component cables so that would be why I'm not getting DTS audio right?


I think I'll check my HDMI connected HD200 tomorrow and then try the HDMI>DVI cable on another one to see how that works.

later this week I'll try following your instructions for eeac3to for the conversion just to see how that works for me. In the end I'm hoping to just get that audio track to work because some of what I'm doing is just streaming rented Netflix Blu-Rays and some just don't have the AC3 audio tracks on them or the AC3 is the one with commentary and such.

[aflat]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

There's a newish program called MakeMKV that looks promising that is able to rip DVD's, BD's and HD-DVD's losslessly to an MKV container.

I had some problems with this when trying to play simple movies. "Dan in Real Life" for example, not tons of action there. It has some nasty studdering. Hard wired, it it 100g, but that is more then enough. Beta/release/standalone/extender mode, doesn't matter, it studders in the same spots. So it's either the file, or the hardware.

If I play the movie not in the mkv container, just using the bluray structure as is, no conversion, just straight from a ripped folder streamed to a HD200, it plays fine, so it's only after the makemkv conversion that it gets wonky. That makes me think it's a file issue somehow, and not a hardware issue.

I really do like makemkv better then ripbot264, it is much faster, and I can live with the 1-5 gigs larger file makemkv file creates compared to ripbot264. For me the quality very similar, as long as it is studder free.

[Stuntman]

I'm trying to follow all this, but is sure seems very complicated! Are there any good batch file creators out there? It would be great if we could install al these programs and just run a batch file that asks just a few questions and it just goes! Better yet, if a GUI application could be made to do it all in one go!

Even better.. SageTV could do a BD to BD/AC3 conversion! I can convert to just about anything else, why not convert BD down to something it can play!

[aflat]

The beta versions of the HD200 software can play bluray format nativly, as long as you remove the encryption. So if you install AnyDVD HD, and add your bluray drive as an import folder in Sage, it can play your bluray disk.

If you want a simple gui, ripbot264 and makemkv are both really simple gui programs that convert a bluray structure to mkv format

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Brent

Thanks for the explanation - that makes sense. I have two of my HD200s connected with component cables so that would be why I'm not getting DTS audio right?


I think I'll check my HDMI connected HD200 tomorrow and then try the HDMI>DVI cable on another one to see how that works.

later this week I'll try following your instructions for eeac3to for the conversion just to see how that works for me. In the end I'm hoping to just get that audio track to work because some of what I'm doing is just streaming rented Netflix Blu-Rays and some just don't have the AC3 audio tracks on them or the AC3 is the one with commentary and such.

It's got nothing to do with HDMI or not, it's all about the decoder you've got the HD200 connected to. If the HD200 is connected to an SSP/AVR/TV that can decode DTS via S/PDIF or HDMI and the HD200 is set to bitstream, you're fine.

The only time there's an issue is if you're connected via analog audio (L/R audio RCAs), or via S/PDIF or HDMI with the HD200 set to PCM, or S/PDIF or HDMI with bitstream but the AVR/SSP/TV doesn't decode DTS.

The HD200 can't decode DTS internally, it can only pass DTS to an external decoder. If you're connected to an SSP or AVR, it's quite unlikely it doesn't handle DTS. TVs are more prone to that limitation.

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by Stuntman

I'm trying to follow all this, but is sure seems very complicated! Are there any good batch file creators out there? It would be great if we could install al these programs and just run a batch file that asks just a few questions and it just goes! Better yet, if a GUI application could be made to do it all in one go!

Even better.. SageTV could do a BD to BD/AC3 conversion! I can convert to just about anything else, why not convert BD down to something it can play!

There is a GUI interface called BDClown that automates this process. Once you install it, you can set up your desired audio output format as AC3 and anything it processes ends up with an AC3 track.

I havn't used BDClown for a few months now so don't know how far along it is. I did have some audio sync issues with DTS HD to AC3 in the early versions and just decided to do the DTS disks by hand.

Give it a shot though, if you need AC3 tracks. Let us know the results.
BDClown uses tsmuxer and eac3to to produce the Blu-ray disc. It is just a manager GUI that links the two.

[stanger89]

I think you mean Clown_BD

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by stanger89

I think you mean Clown_BD

Right!!