Native Blu-ray ripping for OS X is finally here!

[iMerlin]

Glad you got it figured out. Did you have to force the IP address in PS3 Media Server?

I used that program for a short period of time before finally ditching my PS3 for a Mac Mini running Plex. I was doing the same thing you are ripping Blu-rays with Make MKV and then trying to play them on the PS3 via PS3 Media Server. I kept getting "File Errors" on quite a few of my MKVs. After trying to resolve the problem I finally said screw it and bought the Mini which hasn't given me any issues at all. If you run into a similar issue do you think you could reply? I'm really curious if it was just my issue or if anyone else has had a similar problem.

Yeah, I did force my IP and my Network Adapter within the PS3MS settings. Everyone will probably need to do that with an iMac if you have it wired as well as Airport on, this causes PS3MS to think you have 2 IPs and will get confused. So you force the IP of the wired connection and it was working very well.
However, I have been having similar problems as you mentioned. About 40% of my MKVs and M2TSs are giving me corrupted data errors. The ones that work, work great, but I cant seem to figure out how to fix the broken ones.

So you run your mini into your HDTV? How is it connected?

 

[DoFoT9]

Glad you got it figured out. Did you have to force the IP address in PS3 Media Server?

I used that program for a short period of time before finally ditching my PS3 for a Mac Mini running Plex. I was doing the same thing you are ripping Blu-rays with Make MKV and then trying to play them on the PS3 via PS3 Media Server. I kept getting "File Errors" on quite a few of my MKVs. After trying to resolve the problem I finally said screw it and bought the Mini which hasn't given me any issues at all. If you run into a similar issue do you think you could reply? I'm really curious if it was just my issue or if anyone else has had a similar problem.

how odd. so you never found a fix? thats a bit annoying, i sure hope i dont come across that.

Yeah, I did force my IP and my Network Adapter within the PS3MS settings. Everyone will probably need to do that with an iMac if you have it wired as well as Airport on, this causes PS3MS to think you have 2 IPs and will get confused. So you force the IP of the wired connection and it was working very well.
However, I have been having similar problems as you mentioned. About 40% of my MKVs and M2TSs are giving me corrupted data errors. The ones that work, work great, but I cant seem to figure out how to fix the broken ones.

that is rather disappointing. i wonder if its the format of the movie or the bitrate of the rip or something? maybe its just a setting somewhere?

So you run your mini into your HDTV? How is it connected?

im guessing DVI->HDMI.

then sound out to an amp (or straight to TV).

 

[iMerlin]

how odd. so you never found a fix? thats a bit annoying, i sure hope i dont come across that.


that is rather disappointing. i wonder if its the format of the movie or the bitrate of the rip or something? maybe its just a setting somewhere?

That's what I plan on figuring that out tonight!

im guessing DVI->HDMI.

then sound out to an amp (or straight to TV).

Don't you sacrafice LPCM with this connection method?

 

[DoFoT9]

That's what I plan on figuring that out tonight!

go son go!

Don't you sacrafice LPCM with this connection method?

if you plug in analogue maybe!

but you can always use a digital optical cable -> amp that can decode DTS/etc and you're schweet

 

[iMerlin]

how odd. so you never found a fix? thats a bit annoying, i sure hope i dont come across that.


that is rather disappointing. i wonder if its the format of the movie or the bitrate of the rip or something? maybe its just a setting somewhere?


im guessing DVI->HDMI.

then sound out to an amp (or straight to TV).

go son go!


if you plug in analogue maybe!

but you can always use a digital optical cable -> amp that can decode DTS/etc and you're schweet

I thought LPCM was only with HDMI?

 

[DoFoT9]

I thought LPCM was only with HDMI?

im fairly certain LPCM is formats like DTS/DD etc. if you rip the movie to mkv then have an optical cable + amp capable of decoding it, it will then work. caveman knows about this

unless im not understanding LPCM properly?

 

[iMerlin]

im fairly certain LPCM is formats like DTS/DD etc. if you rip the movie to mkv then have an optical cable + amp capable of decoding it, it will then work. caveman knows about this

unless im not understanding LPCM properly?

See maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, it wouldn't be the first time. I thought PCM was DTS And similar formats, and LPCM is lossless like DTS-HD and similar multichannel formats?
Optical can do digital DTS but HDMI is needed for HD audio.

Anyone know what the real deal is with this?

 

[DoFoT9]

See maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, it wouldn't be the first time. I thought PCM was DTS And similar formats, and LPCM is lossless like DTS-HD and similar multichannel formats?
Optical can do digital DTS but HDMI is needed for HD audio.

Anyone know what the real deal is with this?

baha nope im lost, ill put a bit of research in later on and get back.

 

[iMerlin]

baha nope im lost, ill put a bit of research in later on and get back.

Ok, so Ive been reading tonight... But Im sure someone out there knows more than I do so feel free to correct me if Im wrong. I thought Optical cable supported DTS 5.1 yes, but not Uncompressed 5.1, DolbyTrueHD or DTSHD. For those formats you need an HDMI connection.
I shouldnt have mentioned LPCM though, thats apples and oranges. Apparently I should be using bitstream but thats the preferred method for either connection type. Do I have an incorrect understanding of this?

Ok, with all that said... regarding PS3 Media Server and getting the Corrupted Data icon for some movies. It is a problem with the VC1 video Codec as the PS3 is unable to stream this codec. From what Ive gathered, there isnt a way around this without remuxing it or doing some type of encode.

In the interest of being thorough, I went ahead and tested a bunch of my m4v and mp4 files (some of which are encodes of a bluray MKV or M2TS) and every one of them streamed without an issue. Not so much as a stutter.

So for now, until I can consistently stream MKV files, Ill be converting my MKVs into m4vs with Handbrake. Sucks to have to add that to the workflow since it takes sooo fricken long!

So for those of you not streaming to a PS3, how are you getting your MKVs to your HDTV? Or are you just watching it in PLEX on this beautiful display?

 

[crazytrain]

So for those of you not streaming to a PS3, how are you getting your MKVs to your HDTV? Or are you just watching it in PLEX on this beautiful display?

Using a Western Digital TV Live - works absolutely perfectly! I have it with a portable hard drive connected although apparently you can have it streaming too (as its the live version) - have heard mixed reports as to how well that works though so haven't bothered trying it myself. The reason I got the live version was so that the DTS sound would work as I don't have a sound system (the previous non-live WD system apparently doesn't work with DTS)

 

[Dapness]

Ok, so Ive been reading tonight... But Im sure someone out there knows more than I do so feel free to correct me if Im wrong. I thought Optical cable supported DTS 5.1 yes, but not Uncompressed 5.1, DolbyTrueHD or DTSHD. For those formats you need an HDMI connection.
I shouldnt have mentioned LPCM though, thats apples and oranges. Apparently I should be using bitstream but thats the preferred method for either connection type. Do I have an incorrect understanding of this?

Ok, with all that said... regarding PS3 Media Server and getting the Corrupted Data icon for some movies. It is a problem with the VC1 video Codec as the PS3 is unable to stream this codec. From what Ive gathered, there isnt a way around this without remuxing it or doing some type of encode.

In the interest of being thorough, I went ahead and tested a bunch of my m4v and mp4 files (some of which are encodes of a bluray MKV or M2TS) and every one of them streamed without an issue. Not so much as a stutter.

So for now, until I can consistently stream MKV files, Ill be converting my MKVs into m4vs with Handbrake. Sucks to have to add that to the workflow since it takes sooo fricken long!

So for those of you not streaming to a PS3, how are you getting your MKVs to your HDTV? Or are you just watching it in PLEX on this beautiful display?

I'm just running Plex on a Mini using a mini display to HDMI adapter (video) and Toslink optical (audio) to a receiver for DTS/Dolby Digital.

I wish I would have found the info you did about the VC1 video when I had my PS3. I suspected it was something to that affect but I didn't search to hard. I'd had enough of trying to get media to play correctly. With a 2 year old and a 5 month old time isn't exactly on my side.

I'm glad I finally just spent the extra on the Mini for Plex. For a media center it's pretty much the premium package. I can control everything from my Harmony remote and everything plays perfect. With Netflix and Hulu you've got a ton of options for content so I canceled cable saving about $100 a month.

 

[iMerlin]

I'm just running Plex on a Mini using a mini display to HDMI adapter (video) and Toslink optical (audio) to a receiver for DTS/Dolby Digital.

Im thinking more and more about doing this setup as well. However, I have a Denon AVR with only 2 HDMI inputs which are already taken. So I would have to change my DirecTV to Component to free up the HDMI for the Mini. But Im starting to think that wont be much of a downgrade since DTV doesnt have 1080p that I know of.

I wish I would have found the info you did about the VC1 video when I had my PS3. I suspected it was something to that affect but I didn't search to hard. I'd had enough of trying to get media to play correctly. With a 2 year old and a 5 month old time isn't exactly on my side.

I know what you mean man, I have 2 year old twins, a boy and a girl! What a handful!! I usually stay up a while after they go to sleep and mess with things like this.
The VC1 info is disappointing and Im surprised I didnt see it sooner. I can only imagine that a lot of people are running into this same issue. So now I encoded all of those MKVs to m4vs with as little compression as possible and they look pretty amazing. However, Im still running into stutter issues for some reason, even on those m4vs. Ive hardwired my PS3 but maybe I need to create a separate network for the PS3 and iMac to separate traffic.
Anyway, Im still messing with settings in PS3MS but if I cant work out consistent streaming, I might call it quits and go treat myself to a Mini!

One question though, does the Mini need to be hardwired? Or are you guys just transferring the whole MKV to the Mini Hard drive?? I have a shared external drive with most of my M2TS and MKVs, if I stream from there am I going to run into the same issues with stuttering?

Another question, do I need a beefy Mini, or will the baseline work?

I'm glad I finally just spent the extra on the Mini for Plex. For a media center it's pretty much the premium package. I can control everything from my Harmony remote and everything plays perfect. With Netflix and Hulu you've got a ton of options for content so I canceled cable saving about $100 a month.

So let me get this straight... your Harmony IR remote controls the Mini? I have a Philips ProntoPro that I pretty much dont touch because it cant control my PS3, would I be able to control the Mini with my ProntoPro??? That would be excellent!!

 

[Dapness]

Im thinking more and more about doing this setup as well. However, I have a Denon AVR with only 2 HDMI inputs which are already taken. So I would have to change my DirecTV to Component to free up the HDMI for the Mini. But Im starting to think that wont be much of a downgrade since DTV doesnt have 1080p that I know of.

I have a Yamaha with 2 taken HDMI inputs so I just ran an HDMI straight to the TV. Since the HDMI isn't carrying audio (audio sent to the AVR via optical Toslink) it works better this way. But your solution works too.

One question though, does the Mini need to be hardwired? Or are you guys just transferring the whole MKV to the Mini Hard drive?? I have a shared external drive with most of my M2TS and MKVs, if I stream from there am I going to run into the same issues with stuttering?

Another question, do I need a beefy Mini, or will the baseline work?

I went ahead and ran a ethernet cable (gigabite) because I thought I would use my Mac Pro as a server but it's kind of pissing me off since I'm continually having to remount the drives on the Mac Pro after one or both units fall asleep for an extended period of time. If anyone has a solution besides not letting my macs sleep let me know. I just picked up a dual hard drive dock that I can keep hidden that's going to hold a pair of 1.5gb drives. You shouldn't run into any stuttering issues, USB 2 can handle the bandwidth no problem.

I picked up the 2.26 Mini and it plays all my Blu-ray rips without ANY hiccups.

let me get this straight... your Harmony IR remote controls the Mini? I have a Philips ProntoPro that I pretty much dont touch because it cant control my PS3, would I be able to control the Mini with my ProntoPro??? That would be excellent!!

It might. Goggle it and check it out. The Harmony has a specific setup for Plex so maybe your Philips does too. Also, you can screen share your Mini on the MBPro in case you don't want to mess with a keyboard. That's what I do. All in all I think the Mini with Plex is super solid. Although I don't think I'd feel the same if I had to control it with a wireless keyboard.

 

[iMerlin]

I have a Yamaha with 2 taken HDMI inputs so I just ran an HDMI straight to the TV. Since the HDMI isn't carrying audio (audio sent to the AVR via optical Toslink) it works better this way. But your solution works too.

Good call, I could work that out no problem. Actually my TV also has a DVI and VGA port as well so I have some options. I didnt even think about that. That way I could also listen to music from iTunes on the Mini while watching something else on TV! I like watching football while I have music on, dont ask me why!

I went ahead and ran a ethernet cable (gigabite) because I thought I would use my Mac Pro as a server but it's kind of pissing me off since I'm continually having to remount the drives on the Mac Pro after one or both units fall asleep for an extended period of time. If anyone has a solution besides not letting my macs sleep let me know. I just picked up a dual hard drive dock that I can keep hidden that's going to hold a pair of 1.5gb drives. You shouldn't run into any stuttering issues, USB 2 can handle the bandwidth no problem.

I picked up the 2.26 Mini and it plays all my Blu-ray rips without ANY hiccups.

Ok, thanks for the info. Somehow I have to convince my wife this thing is an Airport Extreme!!! HAHAAA

It might. Goggle it and check it out. The Harmony has a specific setup for Plex so maybe your Philips does too. Also, you can screen share your Mini on the MBPro in case you don't want to mess with a keyboard. That's what I do. All in all I think the Mini with Plex is super solid. Although I don't think I'd feel the same if I had to control it with a wireless keyboard.

Ill have to look into this. So does your Harmony also control OSX navigation, or is the mini ALWAYS running PLEX?

 

[Dapness]

Ok, thanks for the info. Somehow I have to convince my wife this thing is an Airport Extreme!!! HAHAAA

Pffft, yeah my wife wasn't a fan at first at all. "You want a freaking $600 computer to play Blue DVDs or whatever they're called!?!"

I have to look into this. So does your Harmony also control OSX navigation, or is the mini ALWAYS running PLEX?

I only use it to run Plex so yes it's always running and unless I close it, that's all I see. I have a MBPro in the same room. If I need to navigate OSX I just log into my Mini via my MBPro using screen sharing and I can do anything I need to.

I'll admit there's a slight learning curve involved with Plex especially pertaining to properly naming and storing your media but once you mess with it for a few days it makes sense.

 

[iMerlin]

Pffft, yeah my wife wasn't a fan at first at all. "You want a freaking $600 computer to play Blue DVDs or whatever they're called!?!"



I only use it to run Plex so yes it's always running and unless I close it, that's all I see. I have a MBPro in the same room. If I need to navigate OSX I just log into my Mini via my MBPro using screen sharing and I can do anything I need to.

I'll admit there's a slight learning curve involved with Plex especially pertaining to properly naming and storing your media but once you mess with it for a few days it makes sense.

So far I really love the Plex UI but navigation is a bit rough, although I know how to store and name all my movies already.

In the last few days Ive gotten better consistency from streaming to the PS3, which means no Mini for now... although I keep thinking about it which usually translates into me going to the Apple store and buying it! I must resist the urge! I have yet to see a configuration file for my ProntoPro to control the Mini, but if the Mini has IR, Im all good. I can learn the codes from the Apple remote... wait, is the Apple remote IR???



Regarding PS3 Media Server, I was able to tweak some settings and get stutter free playback consistently. The setting that seemed to do the trick was the limit bandwidth setting. Im hard wired so I adjusted this setting to 100 mbps. After doing this I am streaming very nicely.

The one downside so far is that I downloaded PS3MS for streaming my MKVs which I was only partially successful doing. Any MKV or M2TS file with the VC1 video codec would fail and say "Corrupt Data". So I encoded them in Handbrake to h264 with an m4v file extension. I used the High Profile preset but kept 6 channel discrete audio. Everything seems to be shaking hands now. The PS3 seems to like the MP4 container much better than anything else.

 

[dopeytree]

Now does anyone now if one of these

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MINI-PCI-E-WW..._PCMCIACards?hash=item2301d1d66c#ht_842wt_941

would work with the broadcom mini pci-e card installed?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....464575&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_3501wt_941

I don't see why not unless maybe it needed a driver because of going through usb instead of the real mini pci-e in the laptop

Anyone know? Sure would make it a hell of a lot easier than opening up my macbook pro (it's an older versian so the cpu pumps right up when it plays HD content)

I guess I just need to wait for a decent osx driver for the broadcom chip

 

[DoFoT9]

I find a pefect soft Blu-Ray Ripper for Mac.It can directly rip and convert DVD and Blu-ray DVDs, even the CSS copyright protected one,to any formats you want.Just have a try.

looks interesting.. but have to pay for it - so nah ill give it a miss.

 

[DoFoT9]

Regarding PS3 Media Server, I was able to tweak some settings and get stutter free playback consistently. The setting that seemed to do the trick was the limit bandwidth setting. Im hard wired so I adjusted this setting to 100 mbps. After doing this I am streaming very nicely.

hey man! great to hear that everything is going sweet as for you now! mine is working PURRRfectly for me, all my mkv rips are working stutter free so far. i have set the MPED2 video quality to the "lossless quality, crazy bitrate" setting, which is uncompressed apparently. audio is set to 640kbps, sort of compressed but it wont go any higher apparently. ah well

wired ftw

The one downside so far is that I downloaded PS3MS for streaming my MKVs which I was only partially successful doing. Any MKV or M2TS file with the VC1 video codec would fail and say "Corrupt Data". So I encoded them in Handbrake to h264 with an m4v file extension. I used the High Profile preset but kept 6 channel discrete audio. Everything seems to be shaking hands now. The PS3 seems to like the MP4 container much better than anything else.

that is pretty annoying. stupid VC-1. i wonder if an email to the author of PS3MS could bring this to his attention? maybe it could be fixed so that the VC-1 is transcoded into some sort of mpeg format? at the moment it doesnt seem to be doing this

 

[iMerlin]

hey man! great to hear that everything is going sweet as for you now! mine is working PURRRfectly for me, all my mkv rips are working stutter free so far. i have set the MPED2 video quality to the "lossless quality, crazy bitrate" setting, which is uncompressed apparently. audio is set to 640kbps, sort of compressed but it wont go any higher apparently. ah well

wired ftw

Seriously? You must have a pretty fast network. What kind of router are you running with? I have mine set to good quality and finally got stutter free. I should try uncompressed again and see what happens. Did you set the limit bandwidth or did you keep that to 0 (unlimited)?

Can you post a screenshot of your config pages so I can compare?

that is pretty annoying. stupid VC-1. i wonder if an email to the author of PS3MS could bring this to his attention? maybe it could be fixed so that the VC-1 is transcoded into some sort of mpeg format? at the moment it doesnt seem to be doing this

So DoF, you said all your MKV rips are playing? Do none of them have VC1? Seems like all the newer Blurays I rip are all VC1. The Hangover was my most recent.

With that said, the author knows about it. I popped into their forum and many people have mentioned the VC1 issue. He says its a PS3 problem and the fact that the VC1 video codec is really beefy, most machines arent powerful enough to transcode it. I find the later hard to believe though, I think my i7 is pretty beefy. I know its not a Mac Pro and all, but still.

 

[DoFoT9]

Seriously? You must have a pretty fast network. What kind of router are you running with? I have mine set to good quality and finally got stutter free. I should try uncompressed again and see what happens. Did you set the limit bandwidth or did you keep that to 0 (unlimited)?

currently only have a 100mbps old apple airport dome router in the middle. however now that i think about it, the imac<->PS3 connection is connected directly via our gigabit cisco switch. so that would explain why it peaks at >100mbps transfer rates during playback of ps3.

Can you post a screenshot of your config pages so I can compare?

sure! its below. this is a screeny of the "common transcode settings", i only have access to one other "MEncoder" but i havent changed anything in that.

So DoF, you said all your MKV rips are playing? Do none of them have VC1? Seems like all the newer Blurays I rip are all VC1. The Hangover was my most recent.

well yes all the ones ive tested are working perfectly fine. so far they are all downloaded off the interwebz and are mostly around 10GB->15GB in size. i just checked one of the movies formats that i have successfully played - Futurama "Into the wild green yonder" is (according to VLC), a VC1 formatted movie! it played perfectly! looks amazing (check other screen shot below)

With that said, the author knows about it. I popped into their forum and many people have mentioned the VC1 issue. He says its a PS3 problem and the fact that the VC1 video codec is really beefy, most machines arent powerful enough to transcode it. I find the later hard to believe though, I think my i7 is pretty beefy. I know its not a Mac Pro and all, but still.

it could be the bitrate i guess. the VC1 futurama 1080p rip was only 4.3GB in size, but its only 1.5hrs long.... no clue..

PM coming soon btw

 

[iMerlin]

sure! its below. this is a screeny of the "common transcode settings", i only have access to one other "MEncoder" but i havent changed anything in that.

I followed your settings and Im streaming perfectly as well. Thanks DoF!

well yes all the ones ive tested are working perfectly fine. so far they are all downloaded off the interwebz and are mostly around 10GB->15GB in size. i just checked one of the movies formats that i have successfully played - Futurama "Into the wild green yonder" is (according to VLC), a VC1 formatted movie! it played perfectly! looks amazing (check other screen shot below)

I still cant seem to get MKVs to work though. So Ive been encoding those to m4v and the quality doesnt appear to suffer. I found the FF and RW with m4v files to be very responsive, whereas with the MKVs I was having all sorts of problems. Maybe it was just my settings, who knows.

Either way, Im very pleased with this program. Now if only I could get it working with DirecTV. The HR20 has a Media Share feature and I cant get it working no matter what I try. But thats a project for this weekend!

Anyway, thanks again for the settings DoF. Seems to be running flawlessly now.

 

[DoFoT9]

I followed your settings and Im streaming perfectly as well. Thanks DoF!

im glad it worked! no problems

I still cant seem to get MKVs to work though. So Ive been encoding those to m4v and the quality doesnt appear to suffer. I found the FF and RW with m4v files to be very responsive, whereas with the MKVs I was having all sorts of problems. Maybe it was just my settings, who knows.

very interesting. could it be the version of PS3? i have the older, larger model - 80GB. i will have to wait until i yet YTL on mine to try it.

i dont use FF/RW - i use the "go to" setting thing, much easier on my iMac lol.

Either way, Im very pleased with this program. Now if only I could get it working with DirecTV. The HR20 has a Media Share feature and I cant get it working no matter what I try. But thats a project for this weekend!

whats that? lets you watch/record TV through your ps3? meh i have eyetv for that

Anyway, thanks again for the settings DoF. Seems to be running flawlessly now.

glad i could be of help

 

[northy124]

it could be the bitrate i guess. the VC1 futurama 1080p rip was only 4.3GB in size, but its only 1.5hrs long.... no clue..

Yes you really do have no clue, Animations can have extremely high bitrates and still be only 4.37GB, that is how the Scene role (you illegal eagle).

 

[DoFoT9]

Yes you really do have no clue, Animations can have extremely high bitrates and still be only 4.37GB, that is how the Scene role (you illegal eagle).

haha gee thanks! what a moral booster you are

i understand the differences between animation vs "real life" wrt videos, but the bitrates are still high - iMerlin is having troubles with the VC1 playback and it could possibly be because of the bitrate.

i can playback files perfectly, i dont see why he should be able to. the only difference is that mine arent legal (i guess the bitrates of my movies are half that of his - contributing factor?)