Home Theater setup clarification/help

[jdl8422]

I just purchased a new 58" Samsung PN58B650 Plasma and a 7.1 Klipsch surround sound setup. I currently use my PS3 for watching blu-rays. I would like to figure out some sort of HTPC setup that will allow me to have 100% quality with picture and sound. I paid all this money for a 1080p/24 TV and calibration and Surround sound. I'd hate to rip blu rays and only play them at 70% without HD sound. I've been reading about makemkv.com and it seems to be going in the right direction. I've also been reading about different ripping solutions but im confused about if quality is being lost during conversion to MP4 or MKV or whatever is being used. I'm not too worried about what computer to use and how to hook that up. My number one concern is quality loss. I want it 100%. Thanks

 

[glap1922]

I just purchased a new 58" Samsung PN58B650 Plasma and a 7.1 Klipsch surround sound setup. I currently use my PS3 for watching blu-rays. I would like to figure out some sort of HTPC setup that will allow me to have 100% quality with picture and sound. I paid all this money for a 1080p/24 TV and calibration and Surround sound. I'd hate to rip blu rays and only play them at 70% without HD sound. I've been reading about makemkv.com and it seems to be going in the right direction. I've also been reading about different ripping solutions but im confused about if quality is being lost during conversion to MP4 or MKV or whatever is being used. I'm not too worried about what computer to use and how to hook that up. My number one concern is quality loss. I want it 100%. Thanks

I'm not too good with Blu-ray, but I can tell you that any conversion will cause some loss. With a standard DVD the only way not to lose any quality would be by playing from the dvd itself (or an iso of it) or by playing from the video_ts folder. I personally have a Mac Mini connected to my tv (52inch sony) which is also a 1080p/24. I use handbrake to convert my DVDs to mkvs with some custom settings, but the quality is still very good. Depending on your storage capabilities you may be forced to lose some quality.

 

[Cave Man]

My number one concern is quality loss. I want it 100%. Thanks

There is no computer solution for your problem on the Mac side. The video can be done, but the HD audio cannot. The two limiting factors are:

1. Optical audio from Macs can only handle compressed audio (i.e., AC3 or DTS), not HD audio (i.e., True-HD and DTS-HD).
2. There is no playback software that can deal with HD audio (Plex extracts AC3 and DTS cores from HD audio on the fly to send it by optical port).

Unless Apple turns on audio through the DisplayPorts on Macs, you will not see HD audio on the Mac side.