Software Advice Please - BluRays to Media PC to 4K Television

[Benedict_Arnold]

What's the best piece of commercially available software for recording BluRays to hard disc then playing them back? AFAIK it's legal so long as it's for my own use, convenence, etc., a bit like it was deemed legal to copy LPs onto cassette tapes back in the 1980s for such purposes. As long as I'm not selling or even giving away copies, I'm fine.

There's been a few changes on the domestic front recently. Suffice it to say, I now have my own "mdia room" with attached kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and study. And the wife still lives at the house.

Since I'm now more or less free to do as I please media-wise, only restricted by finances, which, with what I earn aren't that restricted, I now have a spiffing new 60 inch Samsung 4K TV (don't ask me which model, I'm sure the WHF buffs will tell me there are better, but it was the best on offer at the only place that would give me credit, and I'm happy, so it really doesn't matter).

I'm feeding it using a newly purchased Onkyo TX-NR535 receiver. Again, not the be-all-and-end-all, but good enough for my "media room with attached living quarters". I could use my TX-NR707 instead, as that's in the wardrobe, but the 535 seems good enough and the CD playback seems a little better on the 535.

Mixed into all of this is a homebuilt media PC using a 3.4 GHz intel i5 CPU, 16 gigs of RAM and dual 2-terabyte hard disks (not RAIDed) running Windows 8.1. A ZOTAC low profile graphics card with 2 gigs of RAM provides the video at 4K resolution. All of thi is housed in a standard hifi box wide PC case from Silverstne, a brand I highly recommend.

I'm going to keep using Windows media player with the Xifg (sp) CODECS for FLACs of my CD collection for music, although I'm working on chopping that down to stereo only at the receiver whilst maintaining 5.2 surround sound for films. Lter on I might feed music into a new Cyrus system, but not this side of NEXT Christmas.

Suggestions?

 

[jmjones]

I use anydvd hd and mymovies in combination with windows media centre. Very pretty, works well but isn't cheap.

Trial versions can be used of both items for a while. Worth a look.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

DOes it copy the DVDs to the hard disc?

Does it work with BluRays?

 

[jmjones]

Yup, take a look at the web pages for the detail. Combined, the items give you a comprehensive software system.

Www.mymovies.dk

Www.slysoft.com

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

Yup, take a look at the web pages for the detail. Combined, the items give you a comprehensive software system.

Www.mymovies.dk

Www.slysoft.com

Thanks

I'll give them a tryout this week, maybe purchase next.

NOW, if anyone can recommend a decent LOW PROFILE (to fit in the case) graphics card with HDMI (ideally) and / or DVI (at worst) outputs that is a step up from the ZOTAC one I'm using I'd appreciate it. It has 2 gigs of RAM but seems to be struggling with keeping up and delivering a picture that isn't, erm "gloomy" all the time (okay, I've mostly been watching Game of Thrones, but.....). Budget is 100 to 200 quid or 150 to 300 US$.

 

[cheeseboy]

for ripping the dvd's, all you need is makemkv - it's free and does it all for you

As for the graphics card, what is the Zotac one you currently have? Chances are the issues are not with the card,but with windows media player not correctly using hardware acelleration. Try using wmp hc and see if that copes better http://mpc-hc.org/

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

for ripping the dvd's, all you need is makemkv - it's free and does it all for you

As for the graphics card, what is the Zotac one you currently have? Chances are the issues are not with the card,but with windows media player not correctly using hardware acelleration. Try using wmp hc and see if that copes better http://mpc-hc.org/

Thanks for the software tip. I'll give it a go tonight.

The graphics card is a Zotac NVIDIA GeForce GT740 2GB DDR3 HDMI PCI Express 3.0 Low Profile ZT-71006-10L

 

[cheeseboy]

Thanks for the software tip. I'll give it a go tonight.

The graphics card is a Zotac NVIDIA GeForce GT740 2GB DDR3 HDMI PCI Express 3.0 Low Profile ZT-71006-10L

that graphics card should eat high def for breakfast. Definitely need to make sure you are running playback software that uses DVXA (hardware) decoding.

If you're looking to go down the media center route, check out XBMC, it's probably the best thing out there bar none quite frankly for free.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

OK guys

Thanks for the advice.

What I've ended up using is MakeMKV (free) for ripping the BluRays to hard disk, then Cyberlink Power DVD Ultra ($50 download from Amazon) for playback.

MakeMKV allows me to organize where the files go and copies both DVD and BluRay formats. It's a bit slow (up to an hour to rip a BluRay). This is going to use up A LOT of disk space though! Already planning on adding 6 more terabytes of external storage!

Power DVD plays back both formats and has a good catalogue function which updates itself. Playback is in native format but either the receiver or the TV (or both) is / are upscaling to 4K.

Watched "Gravity" this way last night and I couldn't tell the difference between playing off the PC and playing the Bluray back the "old fashioned" (ahem) way.

 

[dcanham001]

@ Benedict Arnold

Once you have used MakeMKV to rip the file try using Handbrake to encode it and reduce the file size. The software is free and could save you a lot of space. Typically the more you compress the file the more quality you sacrifice but you should be able to compress it a bit without noticing any drop in quality.

My understanding is that MakeMKV is only free for 5 Blu-ray rips and then you have to purchase the software. It is free for DVDs however.

Hope this helps

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

I'm playing back into a 4K TV so I don't wwant to lose any quality, thanks. I can buy a 4-bay RAID enclosure and 4 3 terabyte hard discs for 500 US, or about, what, 330 quid, so adding hard discs will be the way I'll go.

Anyway.

Two problems to report.

1, MakeMKV won't "backup" certain BluRays so they play back successfully. Specifically neither "X Flies" (yeah, I know), nor "Skyfall" or "Live, Die, Repeat", so far. Playback brings up a message "You need to upgrade your BluRay player to play this BluRay" or some such.

2. Can't seem to get MakeMKV "backup" DVDs so that they play back at all.

Help anyone?

Oh, MakeMKV version 1.8.14, PowerDVD Pro version 14, Windows 8.1, intel i5 PC. All software is fully licensed and paid for, not trial versions.