I watched my first ripped Blu-ray movie on SageTV

[mkanet]

This is probably not really a big deal, but I just watched my first Blu-ray movie (on SageTV). The only thing I did was rip the movie to disk and pull out the unwanted audio streams using a remuxer... then drop it in my Imported Videos folder.

This was just a test to see SageTV playing back Blu-ray's newest format: H.264 AVC.

[Slipshod]

What did you use for the ripping and remuxxing? I'll be embarking on this shortly - now that the format war is basically over and BD+ is R.I.P.'d

[mkanet]

There's only one app that rips BD... that's AnyDVD-HD. You basically press the rip button and it puts it on your hard disk.

I'm using a free tool for remuxing... tsMuxeR

The only drawback to this method of watching blu-ray is you lose all the blu-ray menus and extra features.

Originally Posted by Slipshod

What did you use for the ripping and remuxxing? I'll be embarking on this shortly - now that the format war is basically over and BD+ is R.I.P.'d

[mikesm]

Does it work on the extender?

[mkanet]

I dont have an extender. Maybe someone else can try. My guess it yes. The extenders have the same media playback capabilities.

Originally Posted by mikesm

Does it work on the extender?

[Lucas]

Mkanet that's great news. Can you please post the steps you did in TSMuxer?

Are you outputing .ts or .mkv?

[mp328]

also are u sure ur getting the 5.1 output correctly thru sage using .mkv container??

all my blu-ray rips using .mkv work in sage, but the 5.1 is not working correctly. if i play the files in zoomplayer i get a completely "different" sound then in sage. sage sounds more like stereo then 5.1 to me

[mkanet]

If you try TSMuxer, you'll know there isnt really much to it. You just load the file and uncheck the audio and video streams that you dont want; leaving only the video AVC stream and ac3 English streams. It super easy. I'm outputing in .ts format.

Originally Posted by Lucas

Mkanet that's great news. Can you please post the steps you did in TSMuxer?

Are you outputing .ts or .mkv?

[mkanet]

Im saving as TS. I dont have 5.1 audio. So, I dont know for sure. My guess is with tsmuxer saved as TS (keeping the ac3 stream) you'll be fine.

Originally Posted by mp328

also are u sure ur getting the 5.1 output correctly thru sage using .mkv container??

all my blu-ray rips using .mkv work in sage, but the 5.1 is not working correctly. if i play the files in zoomplayer i get a completely "different" sound then in sage. sage sounds more like stereo then 5.1 to me

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by mkanet

Im saving as TS. I dont have 5.1 audio. So, I dont know for sure. My guess is with tsmuxer saved as TS (keeping the ac3 stream) you'll be fine.

Yes, ts-muxer plus anydvd-hd is a great combo. You don't get menus and such, but most people don't care that much about that. And it's just easier than trying to integrate powerdvd etc...

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by mikesm

Does it work on the extender?

I've yet to get smooth blu-ray playback on the extender. I've tried VC-1 encodes and H.264 encodes to no avail. On some rips I get choppy video and on some I get no video at all. I'm still trying to narrow down the issue to see if it's a ripping problem, a network problem, or a Sage problem. Audio is another issue altogether, but .ac3 seems to work OK.

Somebody in another thread said he got smooth VC-1 playback using a .mkv container but that did not work for me. (I used tsRemuxer to demux and mkvmerge to put it in a .mkv container.) I've also tried .ts and .m2ts containers.

If anybody has had success I'd like to hear about it, I am looking forward to watching HD movies on my extenders

[mkanet]

The playback smoothness is related to the extender's hardware and software that the extender depends on. I'm guessing you would get the same kind of performance playing it locally on the extender machine in Windows Media Player. There's a small chance it's related to network bandwidth. For example, I dont think you can play them back smoothly on extenders with 802.11G wireless.

I know that the http://www.sagetv.com/hd_extender.html (SageTV HD Extender) is designed to play these files too with appropriate hardware and software.

Originally Posted by tmiranda

I've yet to get smooth blu-ray playback on the extender. I've tried VC-1 encodes and H.264 encodes to no avail. On some rips I get choppy video and on some I get no video at all. I'm still trying to narrow down the issue to see if it's a ripping problem, a network problem, or a Sage problem. Audio is another issue altogether, but .ac3 seems to work OK.

Somebody in another thread said he got smooth VC-1 playback using a .mkv container but that did not work for me. (I used tsRemuxer to demux and mkvmerge to put it in a .mkv container.) I've also tried .ts and .m2ts containers.

If anybody has had success I'd like to hear about it, I am looking forward to watching HD movies on my extenders

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by mkanet

If you try TSMuxer, you'll know there isnt really much to it. You just load the file and uncheck the audio and video streams that you dont want; leaving only the video AVC stream and ac3 English streams. It super easy. I'm outputing in .ts format.

Thanks!

I know it's pretty easy. My first few tries resulted in a file I could not play in SageTV. I need to experiment further.

EDIT: After one more attempt I got a .ts file with 1080p H.264 which plays fine in SageTV Client with the PowerDVD 7.0 Decoders.

On the other hand the HD Extender sits there trying to load it to no avail.....

In my experience the only things, h.264 related that play well on the extender are 720p x.264 reencodes.

So one could use TSmuxer to get the .ts file for playback on an HTPC and if needed do a reencode down to 720p x.264 for the HD Extender.

[chrisc983]

mkanet, what blu-ray drive are you using to rip the blu-ray discs?

Edit: Also after you run the muxer program how big are the files left? How long does it take to rip the movie wih AnyDVD?

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by chrisc983

Edit: Also after you run the muxer program how big are the files left? How long does it take to rip the movie wih AnyDVD?

Pretty close to the original source files used. ie Many many Gbs

[mkanet]

It's an LG Super-multi drive. It came with my PC. Works great. I've been using it for a year now.

Surprisingly, the size does get smaller after pulling out all the unwanted audio streams and/or misc video. I've only tried a couple of movies; and it went from approximately 27GB-->19GB and 25GB-->27GB

This process isn't really that quick; it takes about an hour or so for ripping and remuxing. Its only worth it for movies I care about and want to watch again.

Originally Posted by chrisc983

mkanet, what blu-ray drive are you using to rip the blu-ray discs?

Edit: Also after you run the muxer program how big are the files left? How long does it take to rip the movie wih AnyDVD?

[chrisc983]

Sorry for asking a stupid question but I just want to make sure before purchasing it but do I need a blu-ray burner or just the player to rip the movies? Such as the Sony BDUX10S.

[mikejaner]

MKANET, would you be willing to cut a 10 second clip from the movie? If so I could try it with the extender.

[mkanet]

You dont need a burner.

Originally Posted by chrisc983

Sorry for asking a stupid question but I just want to make sure before purchasing it but do I need a blu-ray burner or just the player to rip the movies? Such as the Sony BDUX10S.

[mkanet]

Hi Mike, sorry.. that's illegal. I only backup my movies just as a personal backup.

Originally Posted by mikejaner

MKANET, would you be willing to cut a 10 second clip from the movie? If so I could try it with the extender.