Dear Internet,
I've been prepping for my HTPC build, which will commence as soon as the Ceton tuner is launched (You hear that jeremyh? I'm waiting on YOU) and lurking around here, gathering information. For my build, I keep going back and forth about whether or not a Blu-Ray drive is worth it, since I already have a dedicated Blu-Ray player. Previously I didn't think Blu-Ray rips were possible or feasible, as I didn't want to run a 3rd party movie manager like Media Browser or MyMovies, and I'd want full uncompressed disc rips, menus, features and all -- none of this MKV crap. But now...I'm cautiously optimistic.
This is what I think I've learned so far:
- DVD Fab HD Decrypter will do exactly what I'm looking for (complete BD rips to folder - BD equivalent of VIDEO_TS, whatever it's called) and it's free.
- The built-in movie library in Windows 7 Media Center will actually recognize these ripped folders (metadata still needed, just like a DVD rip)
- The only remote-friendly software that will actually play folder rips at the moment is ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre, which may not be as nice as PowerDVD 9, but it WORKS.

This is what I'd like to know:
- What's the average size of a BD folder rip? I know BDs are currently between 30-50 GB, but like DVD, a lot of that is copy protection and wasted space. How much are they on average on the HDD?
- Does BD-Live content work with folder rips? Does it just work, or are there hacks or work-arounds necessary?
- Is anyone else using this setup currently? How well does it work?
- Is TotalMedia Theatre really that bad? Most reviews single out PowerDVD as the better software, and ArcSoft just gets a collective, "Meh." I haven't found any pictures of the 7MC integration online...anyone know of any?

That is the knowledge of the Elders of the Internet that I seek. Please don't respond with "dude just use mkvs and mediabrowser lolz nub"

TMT3 works great for me under Windows 7 (Utlimate, 32 bit), I don't have any complaints about it at all.

 I also do full BluRay rips, and the resulting folder is, unforunately, just like you said -- 30 to 50 gigs per disc!

I haven't tried any of the BD-LIVE content, but I believe it works -- I'll try to give it a test soon.

 I'm also waiting on the Ceton ... hope it delivers!

RandomRage:

- What's the average size of a BD folder rip? I know BDs are currently between 30-50 GB, but like DVD, a lot of that is copy protection and wasted space. How much are they on average on the HDD?

I have around 140 Blu-ray movies. The average size is 32GB.

RandomRage:

Does BD-Live content work with folder rips? Does it just work, or are there hacks or work-arounds necessary?

I can't answer that but I can say that it works w/ ISOs. I have it disabled though, it can dramatically increase movie load time and in some cases (i.e. initial release of Iron Man) hang playback

RandomRage:

- Is anyone else using this setup currently? How well does it work?

I'm using AnyDVD HD to rip to ISO and playing w/ the native Movie Library in combination with TMT3. It works extremely well. I have all my media on my server and am using it on various clients throughout the house without an issue.

RandomRage:

- Is TotalMedia Theatre really that bad? Most reviews single out PowerDVD as the better software, and ArcSoft just gets a collective, "Meh." I haven't found any pictures of the 7MC integration online...anyone know of any?

TMT3 is much improved over older versions. I previously used PowerDVD but too many issues and the constant upgrade nag screens drove me to try TMT3. I installed the trial and ended up purchasing within a 3 days. I've been using for several months and have not had a single problem. The Media Center integration is slightly better as well. Not in terms of features but the GUI more closely resembles Media Center's.

daidavel:

TMT3 works great for me under Windows 7 (Utlimate, 32 bit), I don't have any complaints about it at all.

 I also do full BluRay rips, and the resulting folder is, unforunately, just like you said -- 30 to 50 gigs per disc!

I haven't tried any of the BD-LIVE content, but I believe it works -- I'll try to give it a test soon.

 I'm also waiting on the Ceton ... hope it delivers!

Good to know, thanks! What do you use to rip your discs, and how do you get your metadata, if you don't mind my asking?

mikinho:

I'm using AnyDVD HD to rip to ISO and playing w/ the native Movie Library in combination with TMT3. It works extremely well. I have all my media on my server and am using it on various clients throughout the house without an issue.

Is there any particular reason you do ISO instead of folder rips? I know you've got a plugin on your site to mount ISOs from inside Movie Library, but I'm trying to keep things as uncomplicated as possible. And yeah, BD-Live is kind of a bag of hurt, even on a dedicated player. I figure someday there's got to be a disc extra that makes it worth the trouble...right? Right?

I'm yet to see any compelling content w/ BD-Live.

I leave it as ISOs for a couple reasons:

1- If I do run into problems w/ TMT3 I can revert back to PDV9.

2- I'm not confident Arcsoft won't remove the functionality. They removed it and added it back in already once. PDVD7 could playback from disk but it was removed there as well. I had my Blu-ray saved to disk and it was irritating having to convert to ISO. I'd rather not have to do that again.

RandomRage:

Dear Internet,
I've been prepping for my HTPC build, which will commence as soon as the Ceton tuner is launched (You hear that jeremyh? I'm waiting on YOU) and lurking around here, gathering information. For my build, I keep going back and forth about whether or not a Blu-Ray drive is worth it, since I already have a dedicated Blu-Ray player. Previously I didn't think Blu-Ray rips were possible or feasible, as I didn't want to run a 3rd party movie manager like Media Browser or MyMovies, and I'd want full uncompressed disc rips, menus, features and all -- none of this MKV crap. But now...I'm cautiously optimistic.
This is what I think I've learned so far:
- DVD Fab HD Decrypter will do exactly what I'm looking for (complete BD rips to folder - BD equivalent of VIDEO_TS, whatever it's called) and it's free.
- The built-in movie library in Windows 7 Media Center will actually recognize these ripped folders (metadata still needed, just like a DVD rip)
- The only remote-friendly software that will actually play folder rips at the moment is ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre, which may not be as nice as PowerDVD 9, but it WORKS.

I started playing with DVD Fab HD this weekend, but it looks like it's only free now for 30 days and then you have to buy a two year license. Any DVD is also a license for BluRay. (It appears that the standard version is still free for DVD Fab at least).

While it doesn't give me menus or extras (I'll just use the player if I want that), I did want to play on my extenders and have undertaken conversion to dvr-ms to make a suitable mpeg2 version.

So far I haven't successfully done DVRMSToolKit (getting buffer underflows right now) but VideoReDo 4 will work with a title that has an AC3 track. (ToolKit works with DTS, just not for me yet).

Just another consideration if you're going cablecard then you'll have access on an extender as well. I'm going with dvr-ms to make sure it's mpeg2 (.wtv can be either mpeg2 or mpeg4 which won't play on my extenders) for compatibility on the network.

John

JohnW248:

RandomRage:

Dear Internet,
I've been prepping for my HTPC build, which will commence as soon as the Ceton tuner is launched (You hear that jeremyh? I'm waiting on YOU) and lurking around here, gathering information. For my build, I keep going back and forth about whether or not a Blu-Ray drive is worth it, since I already have a dedicated Blu-Ray player. Previously I didn't think Blu-Ray rips were possible or feasible, as I didn't want to run a 3rd party movie manager like Media Browser or MyMovies, and I'd want full uncompressed disc rips, menus, features and all -- none of this MKV crap. But now...I'm cautiously optimistic.
This is what I think I've learned so far:
- DVD Fab HD Decrypter will do exactly what I'm looking for (complete BD rips to folder - BD equivalent of VIDEO_TS, whatever it's called) and it's free.
- The built-in movie library in Windows 7 Media Center will actually recognize these ripped folders (metadata still needed, just like a DVD rip)
- The only remote-friendly software that will actually play folder rips at the moment is ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre, which may not be as nice as PowerDVD 9, but it WORKS.

I started playing with DVD Fab HD this weekend, but it looks like it's only free now for 30 days and then you have to buy a two year license. Any DVD is also a license for BluRay. (It appears that the standard version is still free for DVD Fab at least).

While it doesn't give me menus or extras (I'll just use the player if I want that), I did want to play on my extenders and have undertaken conversion to dvr-ms to make a suitable mpeg2 version.

So far I haven't successfully done DVRMSToolKit (getting buffer underflows right now) but VideoReDo 4 will work with a title that has an AC3 track. (ToolKit works with DTS, just not for me yet).

Just another consideration if you're going cablecard then you'll have access on an extender as well. I'm going with dvr-ms to make sure it's mpeg2 (.wtv can be either mpeg2 or mpeg4 which won't play on my extenders) for compatibility on the network.

John

John,

How are you converting BluRay to DVR-MS using VideoReDo?  I have VideoReDo4, ANYDVDHD, TMT3.  However, I have Linksys extenders and I would like to save BluRay in DVR-MS or WTV to play on extenders. Isn't MPEG2 limited in resolution? 

Danno100:

John,

How are you converting BluRay to DVR-MS using VideoReDo?  I have VideoReDo4, ANYDVDHD, TMT3.  However, I have Linksys extenders and I would like to save BluRay in DVR-MS or WTV to play on extenders. Isn't MPEG2 limited in resolution? 

I first rip the movie only to my HD with DVD Fab. Then I open the .ts stream with VideoReDo4 video file open (this only works with AC3 and you have to remove HD audio).

Then I just put the title in under options dvr-ms and then save it as a dvr-ms file. There is no resolution problem with dvr-ms (Vista recorded HD broadcast and cable with it). So far I haven't overloaded the linksys, but I've only had two successful titles which had AC3. I just started so I've only played with about four titles so far.

If you don't remove the HD audio or use a DTS track, you'll get a PID not found when you try to open the .ts stream.

John

JohnW248:

I started playing with DVD Fab HD this weekend, but it looks like it's only free now for 30 days and then you have to buy a two year license. Any DVD is also a license for BluRay. (It appears that the standard version is still free for DVD Fab at least).

While it doesn't give me menus or extras (I'll just use the player if I want that), I did want to play on my extenders and have undertaken conversion to dvr-ms to make a suitable mpeg2 version.

So far I haven't successfully done DVRMSToolKit (getting buffer underflows right now) but VideoReDo 4 will work with a title that has an AC3 track. (ToolKit works with DTS, just not for me yet).

Just another consideration if you're going cablecard then you'll have access on an extender as well. I'm going with dvr-ms to make sure it's mpeg2 (.wtv can be either mpeg2 or mpeg4 which won't play on my extenders) for compatibility on the network.

John

I believe DVD Fab HD Decrypter is free - it's like a limited version of DVD Fab. It's on the DVD Fab website under links titled 'free stuff'. Since I don't have the BD drive yet, I haven't played with it, but I THINK it'll do full iso and folder rips, just nothing else. I THINK. Confirmation on this would be lovely.

The reason I don't want to rip to MKV, DVR-MS or anything else is that I'm a quality freak. Lowering the bitrate to something the 360 can handle just isn't something I want to do, and it's not worth it since if I do get the BD drive for the living room, I can just move the dedicated BD player to the bedroom, anyway. So, no need for extender support. Plus there's all the artifacting and compression issues that come along with lossy recompression, and I do want to have access to menus and extras on the HTPC as well.

RandomRage:

 I believe DVD Fab HD Decrypter is free - it's like a limited version of DVD Fab. It's on the DVD Fab website under links titled 'free stuff'. Since I don't have the BD drive yet, I haven't played with it, but I THINK it'll do full iso and folder rips, just nothing else. I THINK. Confirmation on this would be lovely.

Well I just downloaded it from there and the dvd side is free, but bluray has a 30 day limit until it has to be registered which means you have to buy a key which is good for two years. You don't find out until after you download and install it and run it and the register screen comes up and shows your expiration date after you run it once.

But maybe you've found a different link than I used.

For your use, you're probably better off with the ISO/folder options.

John

MetaBrowser to get all the metadata and cover art / backdrops.

I took a peek at MetaBrowser, but it wasn't terribly user friendly. I'll give a couple of others a shot, but I may end up just going back to the plain ol' MyMovies client.

Brett - do you have this working for Blu-Ray  rips?  If so, how?