Personal computing discussed
frumper15 wrote:Honestly, for straight playback I use my stand alone Bluray players instead of HTPC - it just works without a lot of fuss (as you alluded to). For the BRs that I own, I have ripped and compressed them into .mp4 and .mkv (i haven't really standardized yet because I own about 4 total) for easy playback on the HTPC without all the hassle they seem to have designed into the BR. That being said, nothing bothers me more than when we rent something from Redbox and it takes literally 10 minutes to actually get to the movie through all the unskippable previews, FBI/Interpol/MPAA warnings, etc. I feel like I'm being penalized for watching the movie the way the production company intended rather than rip it and just start with the thing I actually, you know, wanted to watch - the movie. Sorry for the little soapbox there. I wish there was a straightforward and affordable program that would integrate with Media center and/or use the remote well, but I haven't had good luck with any of the usual suspects that you have listed - I always end up frustrated by some kind of warning/error and either ripping it or just watching it in the standalone player.
southrncomfortjm wrote:
Is there a good process for ripping the movie in a lossless or near losses way? I'm assuming I need AnyDVD or some other paid decrypter right?
I wouldn't mind going about it that way, I just want 1080p (or close to) video with 5.1 surround.
JustAnEngineer wrote:Cyberlink's PowerDVD works fine for me. I have the full retail version on a couple of my PCs and the OEM version that came with my Blu-ray drives on the others.
Usacomp2k3 wrote:I'm going to agree with the simplicity of a set-top box for Blu-Ray playback.
southrncomfortjm wrote:
Is there a good process for ripping the movie in a lossless or near losses way? I'm assuming I need AnyDVD or some other paid decrypter right?
I wouldn't mind going about it that way, I just want 1080p (or close to) video with 5.1 surround.
southrncomfortjm wrote:So I did a search and found scattered discussion of Blu-Ray playback on the forum, but no main point for information so I thought I'd make one.
In my research, seems like every retail option - PowerDVD, ArcSoft's TotalTheater, Corel's offering, - are very expensive and aren't as polished as they could/should be.
Codec/Decryption options - PotPlayer+DVDfab passkey, AnyDVD, XMBC - all seem to be limited in some way.
So, my question is what do you all use for Blu-ray playback and/or what do you recommend and why?
cynan wrote:3)Compressing the Blu Ray video (and converting from AVC to H.264)
southrncomfortjm wrote:I use PowerDVD as well (version 12 Pro). It integrates nicely with WMC and the image is pretty good.JustAnEngineer wrote:Cyberlink's PowerDVD works fine for me. I have the full retail version on a couple of my PCs and the OEM version that came with my Blu-ray drives on the others.
Do you use 10, 11 or 12 and Ultra or Pro?
Forge wrote:Personally, I'm not worried about encode time. I'm not in a rush and I can just run these overnight. Can you recommend a place that will list these options step by step? Right now, I have all of my DVDs backed up to NAS but it would be nice to do the same with the BR.Even a simple CQ pass from x264, with the quality set quite high can reduce the video track size to 1/2 or less with little to no loss in picture. Commercial h.264 encoders are setup to output something that is as low complexity as possible, with the fastest encode time, within a single set constraint (output file size). You can actually run something like x264 over most commercial BDs and get exact, identical output (barring some minor fingerprint-type variation) with a vastly smaller file size. The trick is that you are devoting many hours of high-end CPU time to the encode, while a commercial setup would be using more speedy/lossy settings, and/or dedicated encoding hardware.
Darkmage wrote:southrncomfortjm wrote:I use PowerDVD as well (version 12 Pro). It integrates nicely with WMC and the image is pretty good.JustAnEngineer wrote:Cyberlink's PowerDVD works fine for me. I have the full retail version on a couple of my PCs and the OEM version that came with my Blu-ray drives on the others.
Do you use 10, 11 or 12 and Ultra or Pro?
Alas, I've found that as soon as a new version comes out, the old version will start having problems about a month later. I'm starting to get suspicious. Every now and then, it doesn't want to play a disc after resuming from sleep. Something about graphics drivers and resolution. A reboot will solve that, but that is a PITA.Forge wrote:Personally, I'm not worried about encode time. I'm not in a rush and I can just run these overnight. Can you recommend a place that will list these options step by step? Right now, I have all of my DVDs backed up to NAS but it would be nice to do the same with the BR.Even a simple CQ pass from x264, with the quality set quite high can reduce the video track size to 1/2 or less with little to no loss in picture. Commercial h.264 encoders are setup to output something that is as low complexity as possible, with the fastest encode time, within a single set constraint (output file size). You can actually run something like x264 over most commercial BDs and get exact, identical output (barring some minor fingerprint-type variation) with a vastly smaller file size. The trick is that you are devoting many hours of high-end CPU time to the encode, while a commercial setup would be using more speedy/lossy settings, and/or dedicated encoding hardware.
Pagey wrote:I use Cyberlink PowerDVD 12 on my PC, and we have a Samsung BD-C5500 stand alone player attached to a 32" Sony Bravia LCD TV. The stand alone player is by far superior in image quality. In fact, I prefer it, but the kids have camped on the TV. I needed a place to consume my media in peace, so I put a BD player in the PC, but if I had it to do over again I'd have gotten another small TV, a stand alone player, and a good set of headphones.
southrncomfortjm wrote:JustAnEngineer wrote:Cyberlink's PowerDVD works fine for me. I have the full retail version on a couple of my PCs and the OEM version that came with my Blu-ray drives on the others.
Do you use 10, 11 or 12 and Ultra or Pro?
I was going to test out 12 Ultra later this week with their free trial and see how it works.
Pagey wrote:I rip my DVDs down to AVI files (mp3 for sound, DivX/MP4 for video) using WinXDVD at around a 2200kbps bit rate.
Pagey wrote:That's about half the size of the full mpeg2 video on the source disc. When viewing the AVI using VLC, the video quality often looks as good as or better than the actual, physical DVD played using PowerDVD 12. I have no explanation for this, but it is what it is.
Pagey wrote:I rip my DVDs down to AVI files (mp3 for sound, DivX/MP4 for video) using WinXDVD at around a 2200kbps bit rate. That's about half the size of the full mpeg2 video on the source disc. When viewing the AVI using VLC, the video quality often looks as good as or better than the actual, physical DVD played using PowerDVD 12. I have no explanation for this, but it is what it is.
Pagey wrote:Unfortunately I deal with exotic codecs and non-English subtitles all the time, mainstream Bluray players that claim support for multiple codecs still will be tripped up from time to time. So for those my only option is a HTPC. Following that line of thinking, if I can get away with just one "box" then it is a good thing. But sounds like a standalone BR player can make sure maximum quality out of the discs (and speed it seems).The Blu-ray player I use also has the ability to play different codecs from source material on discs, USB drive, or a network share using the Samsung PC Share software. It's a rather versatile device, all things considered. However, with the kids having camped on the main TV, I needed a PC option - hence the BD-ROM drive and PowerDVD 12.
Pagey wrote:As far as PowerDVD 12 goes, I have yet to experience any disc/media incompatibility issues. There are occasional patches/updates,
but I have never experienced any issues when applying them. What stands out to me the most is the difference in image quality. I don't know the technical reason(s) for the obvious difference in image quality, but the difference is easily discernible. It's noticeable on DVDs as well. The Samsung BD-C5500 upcoverts DVDs (as long as the transfer was a quality transfer) very well, and, again, the difference in quality is very apparent.
I rip my DVDs down to AVI files (mp3 for sound, DivX/MP4 for video) using WinXDVD at around a 2200kbps bit rate. That's about half the size of the full mpeg2 video on the source disc. When viewing the AVI using VLC, the video quality often looks as good as or better than the actual, physical DVD played using PowerDVD 12. I have no explanation for this, but it is what it is.
The Blu-ray player I use also has the ability to play different codecs from source material on discs, USB drive, or a network share using the Samsung PC Share software. It's a rather versatile device, all things considered. However, with the kids having camped on the main TV, I needed a PC option - hence the BD-ROM drive and PowerDVD 12.
I can't really fault the software anywhere expect in the image quality department. Hope that helps a little.
Forge wrote:Pagey wrote:I rip my DVDs down to AVI files (mp3 for sound, DivX/MP4 for video) using WinXDVD at around a 2200kbps bit rate.
I'm sorry, I have to, again. MP4 is not a codec, it's a container. I'm guessing you meant DivX/Xvid, or maybe Divx/h.264. Impossible to tell.Pagey wrote:That's about half the size of the full mpeg2 video on the source disc. When viewing the AVI using VLC, the video quality often looks as good as or better than the actual, physical DVD played using PowerDVD 12. I have no explanation for this, but it is what it is.
Most upscaling DVD players soften the video as part of the upscale, to hide MPEG2 artifacts. Most either by defect or design make the picture over-soft.
MadManOriginal wrote:I wonder about the strange differences in quality too. For BR the HTPC is worse, for DVD it's better?
Pagey wrote:My evidence is obviously purely anecdotal. I can't offer anyone a technical, reasoned explanation of why my Blu-ray discs look better on the Samsung stand alone than in the Samsung BD-ROM in my PC, which uses PowerDVD 12. I too prefer the idea of a "magical' all-in-one HTPC device. Maybe it's the LCD I'm using on the PC? Maybe it's the Radeon HD 4350? I can't say. But if I hooked my PC up to my TV, and the "quality" looked the same as it did on my 19" LCD attached to the PC, I'd be rather upset.