First dip into Blu-Ray

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Dr. Righteous

2[H]4U
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Aug 1, 2007
Messages
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Howdy folks,

I'm ready to try transcoding Blu-Ray for my media player which fully supports MKV , MP4, H.264 video.
The drive I chose was an Asus BC-12B1ST.
I primarly use HandBrake ripping and transcoding but every thing I read when it came to Blu-Rays was you needed MAKEMKV to rip the blu-rays.
I use Linux (Ubuntu) for transcoding mainly because I can let it fly in the background while I continue to work without a hitch.
I installed the drive and tried MakeMKV on just a regular movie DVD and it gave me a RCP protection error and asked me to upgrade the drives firmware.
However, Handbrake spun it out and didn't seem to care.
I don't know if Handbrake can open a Blu-Ray or if it has to be ripped to the HD first (hince MakeMkv). Anyone run into this?
BTW, I have NOT upgraded the firmware via the software on the CD that came with the drive, the Asus site seem to be down. Won't let me complete the steps to download the firmware. :(
 
MakeMKV will remove copy protection...so use that first to rip to bit-perfect mkv on your hard drive. Then use Handbrake to transcode it to some smaller size in some container.

If you have another means of removing copy protection, like AnyDVDHD, then you don't need MakeMKV.
 
AQ_OC said:
MakeMKV will remove copy protection...so use that first to rip to bit-perfect mkv on your hard drive. Then use Handbrake to transcode it to some smaller size in some container.

If you have another means of removing copy protection, like AnyDVDHD, then you don't need MakeMKV.
Click to expand...

Do you recommend AnyDVDHD overMakeMKV? What are the pros/cons?
 
Well one 'Make's MKV's". The other removes encryption and will back up the disc to ISO.
 
Also, you can use the beta version of Make for free, while you have to pay for AnyDVDHD. I paid for both and use both...but I use Make when I want MKVs...but I rip to ISO, mount the ISO and then use Handbrake on the ISO once it is on my HD.
 
AQ_OC said:
Also, you can use the beta version of Make for free, while you have to pay for AnyDVDHD. I paid for both and use both...but I use Make when I want MKVs...but I rip to ISO, mount the ISO and then use Handbrake on the ISO once it is on my HD.
Click to expand...

I have the Beta version of MakeMKV installed for Linux and it seems to work accept of the RCP error. I'm -guessing- this is because I have not ran the upgrade firmware utility on the CD that came with the drive. It would seem you have to set your region before using the drive. I have heard of hacks to make it region free but not tried any of that. It seems the ASUS website is down to some extent. I can't complete the steps to get the firmware. It asks for the product, then the model number and then asks you to select your OS. But the pull down box is empty. ends there. I have a email into ASUS support, but not heard back.
 
You can probably stick a DVD in their and open it with Windows Media Player to set the region.
 
I might be mistaken...but I believe AnyDVDHD relieves you of having to set the region. There are some advantages to leaving your device region free, but I've not found any reason to do so.
 
Ok, got my hands on a blu-ray disc today and tried MakeMKV. Holy smokes, it worked great! :D I can play back the MKV file without a hitch.
The files size of the MKV was 18Gb. Unfortunately Handbrake crashes when I start an encode on it. :(
I was done with work so I booted into Windows and used DVDFab to rip the Blu-ray. (windowz can't read the linux partition) I started the Handbrake encode and it is going, but it is going dog slow. The old Phenom isn't going to cut it for transcoding Blu-Rays.
Hmmm, Bulldozer 8 core should be getting pretty cheap soon. ;)
 
UPDATE:
I didn't realize there was a version update for Handbrake so I installed it this morning and tried the transcode again. SUCCESS. Works great and I noticed the frame rates are MUCH faster than handbrake under Windows. 3 times faster on all the same settings. Plus I can open 2 playbacks and view the rip from the disc, and the MP4 from result from Handbrake at the same time.
The rip was 18GB, the handbrake MP4 was 3.7GB.
All I can say is amazing. The Handbrake result was not as super finely detailed as the original but overall I would say the vast majority of people would NEVER notice looking at both side by side. I could probably tweak HandBrake to squeak out better detail, but the file size would probably balloon.

Now some observations:
The native compression scheme for Blu-Ray is H.264 correct?
MakeMKV applies a transcode when it rips (or maybe a recode). The result file size was 18GB when the native on the disk was 22Gb.
Anyone ripping Blu-Rays in this manner? What would you say the optimum Handbrake settings are. So far I just choosing the "normal" preset.
 
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Makemkv is a bit-perfect copy....no compression at all....you just tell it what to take off the disc....you can just take a single audio track and no subtitle, if you like. File size depends on what you ask it to take....handbrake will transcode and apply compression. I try to get mine down to under 2gb....3.7 is a bit fat for me....but I keep full ISO and bit-perfect mkv, too.
 
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AQ_OC said:
Makemkv is a bit-perfect copy....no compression at all....you just tell it what to take off the disc....you can just take a single audio track and no subtitle, if you like. File size depends on what you ask it to take....handbrake will transcode and apply cumpression. I try to get mine down to under 2gb....3.7 is a bit fat for me....but I keep full ISO and bit-perfect mkv, too.
Click to expand...

Gotcha.
Now that you mention it I opted to scrape off the subtitles. There must have been subtitles in 10 different languages.
I put the HD movie on a USB stick and copied it to my media player and watched about 15 minutes of it.
The TV is only a 720p but the scaled 1080p looked outstanding!
 
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