Solving the dilemna of no Blu-ray on current iMacs?

[panzer06]

Enough already with this redundant Blu-ray topic

Why do we have all these Blu-ray threads? They all say the same thing. One group wants Bluray and the other makes up all manner of silly reasons why we don't need it. It's the same discussion over and over.

Good grief we don't need most of the stuff we own! However, we demand the flexibility and freedom to buy it. Apple should no more make judgements as to what we need than any other entity.

Apple needs to give us choice. I bought a simple $89 external 12.7mm combo drive and $20 player software. Works great except I have to start bootcamp to Windows to watch any of my 50+ Blu-ray movies. If it weren't for Games & Blu-ray I wouldn't need Windows at all.

Cheers,

 

[DoFoT9]

Apple needs to give us choice. I bought a simple $89 external 12.7mm combo drive and $20 player software. Works great except I have to start bootcamp to Windows to watch any of my 50+ Blu-ray movies.

Cheers,

have you tried playing BR movies via VM? i wonder how that goes.

also, had you thought about ripping the movies to HDD? you can then play them via the OSX side of things - no need for discs either!

 

[iMerlin]

I already have a PS3

Now that I have a collection of Blu Ray, I want to watch them in my room. The discs are basically tied to one room. Thats why I wish more companies were adopting blu ray more.

Read around this forum, you can use your PS3 to rip bluray. Ive been doing it for the last week getting ready for my iMac to arrive.

I know the whole point is that didnt include it. But at least there are ways.

 

[DoFoT9]

Read around this forum, you can use your PS3 to rip bluray. Ive been doing it for the last week getting ready for my iMac to arrive.

I know the whole point is that didnt include it. But at least there are ways.

interesting! is it a program that somebody has developed? hmmm. now to buy a ps3 ahah

 

[camgrant84]

Apologies in advance for a bunch of stupid questions..

If I bought something like this:

http://www.skycomp.com.au/product.aspx?id=120949

1. Would OSX recognise it as far as a drive?
2. Would I be able to boot into Windows and watch bluray movies in 1080p with no degradation in quality?
3. New 27" imacs have no HDCP issues?
4. USB transfer speed poses no issues with the amount of data etc required for 1080p?

Thanks again

 

[iMerlin]

interesting! is it a program that somebody has developed? hmmm. now to buy a ps3 ahah

Here is a couple of links, but the long and short of it is...

Load Ubuntu on the PS3.
Run Parallels on your Mac. Get AnyDVD HD, Virtual Clone Drive and tsMuxeR (I have 1.10.6) for windows.
Load Bluray in PS3, fire up terminal on your Mac, SSH into your PS3 and mount your Mac drive on the PS3 by using the linux commands in the links, copy contents of BD drive to Mounted Mac drive. Depending on speed and your setup, could take an hour or so. Im doing mine wirelessly and its taking multiple hours to rip the iso. Sometimes I let it run overnight and its good by morning.
Open the iso in Parallels using Virtual Clone Drive which mounts it as a virtual drive. Then use txMuxeR to convert it to an m2ts file. Then Handbrake on the Mac to convert it to whatever format you would like. Apple TV seems to be the best so far for play back on my Mac.

Long story short, it takes a weekend to get it working, but so far I can deal with the hoops Im jumping through.

links..
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/621983/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/541517/

 

[panzer06]

Apologies in advance for a bunch of stupid questions..

If I bought something like this:

http://www.skycomp.com.au/product.aspx?id=120949

1. Would OSX recognise it as far as a drive?
2. Would I be able to boot into Windows and watch bluray movies in 1080p with no degradation in quality?
3. New 27" imacs have no HDCP issues?
4. USB transfer speed poses no issues with the amount of data etc required for 1080p?

Thanks again

1. It just get recognized as a DVD writer, no BR
2. That's exactly what I do with the $89 slim external BR combo drive I bought. Works fine and plays on the Mac screen or my HD TV
3. Don't have a 27" so I can't say
4. None so far.

have you tried playing BR movies via VM? i wonder how that goes.

also, had you thought about ripping the movies to HDD? you can then play them via the OSX side of things - no need for discs either!

I have not tried VMware or Parallels instead of Bootcamp but wonder if the generic emulated display adapter is HDCP compliant.
I've done a bit of that to get some DVDs on my ipod or iphone but no, I have not tried to rip a BR and frankly I just toss a couple of movies in my car before I travel and really don't want to bother with a rip. Native BR support is long overdue but until I get it, Bill Gates gets the occasional Windows license fee from me.

Cheers,

 

[iMerlin]

As someone suggested I have not tried VMware or Parallels instead of Bootcamp but wonder if the generic emulated display adapter is HDCP compliant.

Cheers,

Of course I cant find the thread right now but I think I read that you cant playback in Parallels, its not currently supported. Not sure about VMWare. I also remember something about it being subpar playback in any virtual machine since you are sharing resources with OS X. Hence the preference to bootcamp, giving all the available resources to Win.

Personally, I dont mind having the extra step it takes to rip it and convert it to a Mac format. Then I can compress it (still looks amazing at 1080p) and get rid of the 30gb iso source file and have a nice little 2-8gb file for my iTunes library...

Now if only I had my i7 to watch these on!

 

[DoFoT9]

Here is a couple of links, but the long and short of it is...

Load Ubuntu on the PS3.
Run Parallels on your Mac. Get AnyDVD HD, Virtual Clone Drive and tsMuxeR (I have 1.10.6) for windows.
Load Bluray in PS3, fire up terminal on your Mac, SSH into your PS3 and mount your Mac drive on the PS3 by using the linux commands in the links, copy contents of BD drive to Mounted Mac drive. Depending on speed and your setup, could take an hour or so. Im doing mine wirelessly and its taking multiple hours to rip the iso. Sometimes I let it run overnight and its good by morning.
Open the iso in Parallels using Virtual Clone Drive which mounts it as a virtual drive. Then use txMuxeR to convert it to an m2ts file. Then Handbrake on the Mac to convert it to whatever format you would like. Apple TV seems to be the best so far for play back on my Mac.

Long story short, it takes a weekend to get it working, but so far I can deal with the hoops Im jumping through.

links..
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/621983/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/541517/

but of course! what an easy way of doing it!!! if only i had a ps3 lol! i would not compress it though, i prefer having it as the uncompressed raw thing that it is

thanks for sharing!

I have not tried VMware or Parallels instead of Bootcamp but wonder if the generic emulated display adapter is HDCP compliant.
I've done a bit of that to get some DVDs on my ipod or iphone but no, I have not tried to rip a BR and frankly I just toss a couple of movies in my car before I travel and really don't want to bother with a rip. Native BR support is long overdue but until I get it, Bill Gates gets the occasional Windows license fee from me.

Cheers,

true about the HDCP issues, i doubt there is support for it yet. maybe in Parallels 5? lol. ill save up for a BR drive and ill get back to you in about 4 months haha (saving for the iMac and some speakers first ).