Best Way to Play Ripped Blu-rays on HD300 and Clients??

[kcjack]

I am trying to come up with Best method to rip / containerize and play Blu-rays on HD300 and Clients. I have read through a lot of threads and tried several things, but can not get a consistent Blu-ray BDVM or ISO to play. Some do some don't. Had Lots of problems with "The Expendables". No issues playing movies in SageTV at all with DVDs just using AnyDVD for VTS folder format.

After reading I am trying to get the Best List of things to do to To get Ripped Blu-Rays to play in SageTV consistently.

Currently run AnyDVD to rip, but I do not use anything to put them in containers like using Handbreak or ClownBD. (I have not used either yet.)

Is Best solution to (De-encrypt) Using AnyDVD then use Handbreak or ClownBD to put them in MKV containers? Does full surround audio still work if it is DTS/True Dolby/DTS Master or PCM 7.1? Mainly what I have seen on Blu-rays.

Any help with Best Method or Methods would be appreciated.

[Fuzzy]

I just copy the whole folder with AnyDVDHD running (to remove protection on the fly). Haven't had a problem yet. I have, at times, used MakeMKV if all i wanted was the main movie, or for TV discs to get individual files for each episode.

[Bagal]

Ultimately the best method comes down to what works for you since there are now (thankfully) many options to rip and playback Blu-Rays and as you've found some people are successful with one method while others another.

Personally I use MakeMKV as all I ever want is the main movie and none of the extras, it will de-encrypt the movie and package it in the MKV container in one step so no need to use the likes of Handbreak or ClownBD.

Originally Posted by kcjack

Does full surround audio still work if it is DTS/True Dolby/DTS Master or PCM 7.1?

The MKV container supports the HD audio formats and MakeMKV will allow you to rip them, you just need to make sure you select them when ripping the discs as by default it selects the DTS or Dolby Digital track (you can also select to rip both as MKVs support multiple audio tracks, so for instance you can have both Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital tracks in the same MKV, clients that support HD audio can use the TrueHD track and clients that don't the DD track).

As for playback, while my HD300 plays back everything flawlessly I had to play around with the codec choices on my client to get a combination that played back Blu-Rays smoothly and also HD TV, which in the UK is broadcast as 1080i, so you'll really need to experiment to get a combination that plays back your content correctly and to be honest this isn't something that you can come up with the best method for simply because each persons setup is so different and as I said before what works for one doesn't work for someone else.

[kcjack]

Originally Posted by Bagal

Personally I use MakeMKV as all I ever want is the main movie and none of the extras, it will de-encrypt the movie and package it in the MKV container in one step so no need to use the likes of Handbreak or ClownBD.


The MKV container supports the HD audio formats and MakeMKV will allow you to rip them, you just need to make sure you select them when ripping the discs as by default it selects the DTS or Dolby Digital track (you can also select to rip both as MKVs support multiple audio tracks, so for instance you can have both Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital tracks in the same MKV, clients that support HD audio can use the TrueHD track and clients that don't the DD track).

I am starting to wonder if I have an issue with my installation of SAGETV. That aside, I am going to start looking up MakeMKV and seeing if I understand it's use. Thanks for the info from both. For some reason I have not always had luck making AnyDVD work. May be me. To some old timers in this forum or guys that grew up with computers it may seem easy, but seems to me to be a big learning curve as I have not attempted this type of stuff before. So many variables makes SageTV very configurable, but makes getting everything working difficult. That said, I am enjoyng this and learning through trial and error and more importantly the good folks in this forum.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

I just copy the whole folder with AnyDVDHD running (to remove protection on the fly). Haven't had a problem yet. I have, at times, used MakeMKV if all i wanted was the main movie, or for TV discs to get individual files for each episode.

I just want to clarify... do mean copy as in just use the windows explorer to copy the directory, and AnyDVDHD will automatically strip the protections? Or do you mean to use the use AnyDVDHD program to rip to harddisk?

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by stuckless

I just want to clarify... do mean copy as in just use the windows explorer to copy the directory, and AnyDVDHD will automatically strip the protections? Or do you mean to use the use AnyDVDHD program to rip to harddisk?

Yes, that's how AnyDVDHD works. It removes the copy protection from the disc on the fly. To windows, it appears as an unprotected BlurRay or DVD disc. All you have to do is copy it. (I actually have a batch file that uses robocopy to copy it to a temp folder, then move that folder into my library, so it arrives in the library complete - doesn't show up until it's all on the HDD).

rip.bat:

@echo off
set rip_source=%1
set rip_destination=%2
for /f "tokens=1-5*" %%1 in ('vol %1') do (
    set rip_volume=%%6 & goto copyit
)
:copyit
echo Making Directory for Rip : %rip_destination%\..\rip_temp\%rip_volume%...
md %rip_destination%\..\rip_temp\
md %rip_destination%\..\rip_temp\%rip_volume%
echo Copying from %rip_source% to %rip_destination%\..\rip_temp\%rip_volume%...
robocopy %rip_source% %rip_destination%\..\rip_temp\%rip_volume% /e /eta /xd Any!
echo Moving rip to %rip_destination%\%rip_volume%...
move %rip_destination%\..\rip_temp\%rip_volume% %rip_destination%
rd %rip_destination%\..\rip_temp
set rip_source=
set rip_destination=
set rip_volume=

So, all i have to do is insert the disc, wait for AnyDVDHD to finish analysing it, and then run rip.bat D: M:\Movies

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Yes, that's how AnyDVDHD works. It removes the copy protection from the disc on the fly. To windows, it appears as an unprotected BlurRay or DVD disc. All you have to do is copy it. (I actually have a batch file that uses robocopy to copy it to a temp folder, then move that folder into my library, so it arrives in the library complete - doesn't show up until it's all on the HDD).

So, all i have to do is insert the disc, wait for AnyDVDHD to finish analysing it, and then run rip.bat D: M:\Movies

That's cool. I never realized it worked that way.

[sungod]

Even though it is not its intended purpose, AnyDVD (from slysoft) can rip your bluray disc to your hard drive, too. Make sure it is running first. You will see a tiny red fox in your notification area (bottom right near the time/date on windows). It takes a minute or two to scan a disc, then you can right click on the fox and say copy DVD. I know its a bluray disc, but it still says DVD.

This will take some time... each Bluray is about 50 GB of stuff.