easiest way to enjoy bluray on htpc..

im coming to the conclusion that converting the bluray titles to mkv using makemkv seems like the easiest and best way to totally integrate bluray into a windows 7 mediacenter pc....
ive always just ripped the main movie and i dont compress. (dvd or bluray)
ive been playing with tmt3 but honestly i dont find the integration to be seamless enough, although its close. im not the only one that uses the htpc for movies, so i want to make it as easy as possible.
so, my plan for bluray is to rip main movies using dvdfab or anydvd-hd then use makemkv to convert it to mkv format so i dont lose any quality due to compression. (im not worried about 30gb/movie if its bluray quality so im not going to use any compression utlities)

main reason for thinking i should use mkv....my main issue with tmt3 for bluray playback is when the player closes and reverts back to wmc, the taskbar is highlighted so i cant navigate the menus unless i mouse on the main screen to select it again. in my setup i purposely replaced the usual mouse/keyboard with a dinovo mini and im not swithcing it back and forth all the time when i shouldnt have to. arcsoft really needs to fix that.

so is my method for bluray a good way to go or is there something im missing?

my main issue with tmt3 for bluray playback is when the player closes and reverts back to wmc, the taskbar is highlighted so i cant navigate the menus unless i mouse on the main screen to select it again

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That doesn't sound right - I haven't had that happen on any WMC/TMT setups I have done, though I'm not sure how you would fix that.

If you're using Mediabrowser to launch TMT, there are different .exe's to choose from in the install folder, and one that is made for wmc. I couldn't tell you off the top of my head what the settings should be, but I know that you shouldn't have to go through focus issues switching between the two applications. Even outside of MediaBrowser, I don't have focus problems if I insert a BR disc and have WMC autoplay it by launching TMT.

As far as the whole .mkv vs folder issues, as long as disk space isn't a problem, I prefer to have the disc folder (or .iso); I like having chapter access and the popup menu, and for some discs (especially kids stuff), the other stuff on the disc is accessed just as much as the main movie.

Cax6ton said:

That doesn't sound right - I haven't had that happen on any WMC/TMT setups I have done, though I'm not sure how you would fix that.

If you're using Mediabrowser to launch TMT, there are different .exe's to choose from in the install folder, and one that is made for wmc. I couldn't tell you off the top of my head what the settings should be, but I know that you shouldn't have to go through focus issues switching between the two applications. Even outside of MediaBrowser, I don't have focus problems if I insert a BR disc and have WMC autoplay it by launching TMT.

As far as the whole .mkv vs folder issues, as long as disk space isn't a problem, I prefer to have the disc folder (or .iso); I like having chapter access and the popup menu, and for some discs (especially kids stuff), the other stuff on the disc is accessed just as much as the main movie.

Click to expand...

no im not using mediabrowser...and i cant stand menus or extras...i just rip the main movie. im just using the wmc as my front end. and it doesnt seem to matter whether i launch tmt3 in wmc or standalone outside media center, i still get this stupid thing when i stop the movie where the windows taskbar is highlighted and i have to select the screen to navigate windows or the wmc interface menu.