Blu-ray movie on hard drive - how to play

[Priapismic]

New computer
New bie

Hi folks,
I searched to no avail for this...:
Just got a new computer with a blu-ray burner/player. Got Anydvd. Ripped my movie to the hard drive but Cyberlink PowerDVD won't play it from there like it will from the disc. In fact, it won't even open it, and I have updated the program. Anyone know what I am doing wrong?

Also, I have read here about many of you are backing up your Blu-rays to DVD, but I can't find a definitive thread that explains this process. Would love some step-by-step help if anyone has time. Thanks!

[NanoBot]

Hi,

you are doing nothing wrong. All newer versions of PowerDVD will refuse to play a BD or HD-DVD file structure from your HDD. Instead, you will have to rip the disk to an iso image and mount that image, e.g. with Slysofts "Virtual Clone Drive". Then you can select the drive letter from the mounted iso file as source within PowerDVD, and it should work.The difference is that PowerDVD now is seeing your ripped disk as a drive instead as a bunch of files.

C.U. NanoBot

[shon3i]

Or just install ArcSoft Total Media Tethre and enjoy in watching HDDVD and Blu-Ray titles from hdd

[Priapismic]

I tried the first suggestion and all is well. I know Arcsoft makes some fine products but since I already have Anydvd, and am quite impressed with Slysoft's products, I went with their drive emulator. Thank you both for your kind attention.

I have some other questions - if there is still anyone watching this;

1) I have placed the movie on my hdd in both ISO and m2ts formats. I like m2ts for viewing as it eliminates all of the blubs. BUT someday I am going to want to put it on a disc (when I get a player) - either DVD(s) or BD (when the price comes down, or both, so:
which format should I keep or does it matter?
What format will a BD player recognize?
Will I have to encode it? If so, what to use I have done a lot of reading here; Ripbot? TSMuxer? Some other?
If I encode to DVD(s), what encoder do I use? I tried my old stand-by DVDShrink and it obviously won't open a m2ts...DUH!

My intent is to keep the 1080 quality.
Any help is gratefully accepted. THANK YOU!

[Guest]

Just play your original disk.

[Priapismic]

I like experimenting and learning.
This process fascinates me and I know there are many others with similar questions. Much of this, if it is covered anywhere...at all, is buried deep within a fragmented, disjointed thread that benefits no one.
And isn't that what a forum is for? The sharing of a collective knowledge for the enrichment of each other and those who will follow?

[CWR03]

I think neuron2's point was, why do something as ridiculous as spending $20-30 on a Blu-Ray movie, then either break it up on several DVD-5's or spend another $10 on a blank BD just to watch it, when you can watch it from the original disk? The type of questions your asking are usually those asked by people who have either downloaded a BD-rip or have rented a Blu-Ray disk and are trying to make a copy. For example:

which format should I keep or does it matter?
It doesn't matter since you can always re-rip from your original disk.

If I encode to DVD(s), what encoder do I use?
Why wouldn't you just buy a standard DVD copy to begin with rather than Blu-Ray hardware and disks?

[Wombler]

Yeah but given the cost of the originals and the cost of blanks I can understand why people would want to play them from hard disk to:

(a) prevent damage to a costly original, and;

(b) avoid purchasing an also costly blank for every disk you have.

It's a perfectly reasonable request in my mind but the onus is definitely on the OP to clarify their aims.


Wombler

[Guest]

Yeah but given the cost of the originals and the cost of blanks I can understand why people would want to play them from hard disk to That question was answered straightforwardly. Now the OP has morphed the thread into something different.

[Priapismic]

The type of questions your asking are usually those asked by people who have either downloaded a BD-rip or have rented a Blu-Ray disk and are trying to make a copyOf course! That is a reasonable assumption as I am sure most of the lurkers here are of roguish intent.

Please allow me this: I own about 700 DVDs. All have been archived onto +Rs. The originals (but for one) are in pristine condition and will stay that way.
I own (so far) 2 BDs. Both have been archived onto a hdd because blanks are unreasonably priced. When they come down I wish to do as I have done for the DVDs but don't yet understand the encoding process (though I have read the two guides here five times!) and so, until I learn more I wish to know which format benefits me most, ISO or m2ts, rather than duplicate my efforts again for no reason.

May I point out that had I wanted to steal rentals, which I do not and have never rented a movie in my life, I would not need to continue this thread; I already have the ability to copy movies to hdd and watch them from there.

[cwl7454]

Priapismic,

Unfortunately as of late it seems that the norm on this sight anymore is to assume that you are illegally coping, guilty untill you prove your innocense seems to apply, that's why I tend to "lurk" anymore, not interested in the accustations or that I should have to justify my request to strangers.

[Priapismic]

I figure the seasoned veterans are just protecting their site.
I am new here, and it is human nature to treat newness with caution.
Besides, there are quite a few sites where this information can be gleaned,
I can go anywhere and be rejected ;)

[setarip_old]

@Priapismic

Hi!

The following link may provide you with some of your desired information:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1196964#post1196964

[Priapismic]

Clearly a valuable commodity and worth having.
I will purchase it when disc prices allow me to use it to backup my (soon-to-be-burgeoning) collection.

Thank you one and all!

[SamuriHL]

You seem to have two goals here. You were interested in m2ts files because it gets rid of all the previews, extras, etc which is not a bad goal for your backups. But, you want a format that's easily burned to disc when media becomes cheaper. That's also not a bad thing. I make movie only ISOs of all my BD movies. This saves space on the hard drive and gives me what I want in a backup...the movie. If I want the extras and all that, I'll pull it off the shelf. Most of the time I'm interested in simply watching the movie. In any case, if you have AnyDVD, you can do the following:

-Open BDInfo (http://www.cinemasquid.com/Tools.aspx) and scan your disc. This will tell you the playlist file for the main movie. (Useful for movies that are split in seamless branching)
-Open TSMuxer (http://www.smlabs.net/tsmuxer_en.html) and open the playlist discovered in BDInfo
-Select/Deselect the streams you want to keep/remove
-Write it out to a BD Folder Structure
-Use ImgBurn (http://www.imgburn.com) to create a new UDF 2.50 ISO from your BD folder structure

This will give you a movie only ISO that you can mount and play back in any software player, and when prices are cheaper you can then burn it back to a blank disc, as well.

[Priapismic]

I appreciate your offer of help and my goals are just as you say.
I tried BDinfo however it will not open the disc. The error dialog says;

The volume does not contain a recognized file system.
Please make sure that all the required file system drivers are loaded and that the volume is not corrupted.

There is nothing wrong with the disc, it is perfect. Powerdvd plays it just fine. Anydvd parses it just fine. I'm stumped...again.

[SamuriHL]

That's because you're running Windows XP and do not have a UDF driver installed. Search Google for "Toshiba UDF driver" and you'll find what you need. :)

[NorthPole]

Or just install ArcSoft Total Media Tethre and enjoy in watching HDDVD and Blu-Ray titles from hdd


What version of Total Media Theatre allows playback of Blu-ray from your hdd?

[SamuriHL]

I have the latest retail version... 2.1.6.121 and it offers that feature.

[Priapismic]

Yes indeed, that opened it. Thanks! I found the thread with instructions right here at "home" on doom9 :)
I need to play around with TSmuxer a bit more to get it right. The outputed m2ts had no sound in Powerdvd, but did in VLCmedia player. But VLC froze up after a few minutes with a YUV problem and closed. I burned an ISO with Imgburn anyway and, sure enough, no sound. I left all of the files checked in TSmuxer except for french...and ticked "create blu-ray disc'.
hmmmm, I'll try again.

[SamuriHL]

Not sure what happened to you on that one. You should be getting sound for sure. When you play it in PowerDVD, turn on the show information menu item and look at what it shows. Can you manually select an audio track?

[Priapismic]

No. Nope. Despite my best efforts; re-muxed from scratch with same results - VLC will play with sound but none from Powerdvd. Powerdvd has no audio track to select from. Information shows the following for audio;

Multispeaker Audio Device: Realtek HD audio output (not in use)
SPDIF output device: Realtek HD audio output (not in use)

True. I'm just using the line out to speakers but that should not make a difference, especially since VLC will play it.

Maybe I'm missing a codec or a driver. I wonder if installing FFDshow would help. Maybe downloading K-lite codec mega would help.

[SamuriHL]

Woa woa, slow down. I don't know what information you were looking at, but, that's not what I requested. When the movie is playing, right click in the video window and select "Show information". This will put a little display at the top right of the video window that displays codec information for the streams it's playing. I couldn't care less about the audio devices. :) Although it shows them as not in use which is not a good sign. I want to know what PowerDVD sees for audio information. And you ARE playing this from a mounted ISO, right? Not trying something foolish like attempting to open an m2ts file directly? Cause, um, that no workie. :) You need to be opening this as a disc. (Sorry if this is obvious to you but I have to cover all bases here)

[Priapismic]

Feel free to cover bases with me, I often miss the obvious and never get an attitude about it. The information I gave you came from the Configuation.

OK, that information: at the top right it just shows Time and Video info. no audio info.

The file on HD shows as a MPEG file with a m2ts extension. And yes I am opening it directly for Virtualclone will not mount it.

Must go now, back tomorrow. Thanks again for all your efforts. It's nice of you to be so helpful.

[SamuriHL]

Yea, ok, that doesn't work. PowerDVD refuses to play HD audio formats when you open the m2ts directly. Nor does it give you control over which audio to select. Nor does it give you hardware acceleration. All in all, a really bad deal. When you say Virtual CloneDrive won't mount it, what do you mean exactly? You should have an ISO file to mount. If you don't, then you need to create one.

[Priapismic]

I have this sorted out now. The mistake was mine. I retraced my steps when all the hardware and software checked out by trial-and-error, and learned something about human error.
At the same time I was learning from this thread I was also tweaking XP in the new computer I built. I had accidentally unchecked PDVDServ (C:Progarms\Cyberlink\PowerDVD\PDVDServ.exe) in the msconfig Startup while trimming the boot. Doing this will still allow PowerDVD to load and play when opening a file directly...but no audio track will be there.

Now, to make an ISO with Imgburn today.

[SamuriHL]

That's interesting about pdvdserv. I wasn't aware of that one.

As for making an ISO with imgburn, it's not too difficult. Just make sure you select UDF 2.50 file system or you'll run into problems. Also make sure there's a certificate directory(even if it's empty) in addition to the BDMV dir.

[Priapismic]

I must be a problem child!! Another snag. I did a "build" in imgburn from the output of TSmuxer, it defaulted to UDF, and it made a MDS file too. but when it mounted and played...get this...no audio. Funny thing, it opened as a mpeg in PowerDVD. I wonder if I was supposed to tick (in options) ISO9660+Joliet+UDF, or ISO9660+UDF.

[SamuriHL]

No ISO. UDF 2.5 only.

[Priapismic]

After twice building an ISO (UDF2.5, which is the only thing imgburn will let you do with this file type) with Imgburn and twice getting the same results;

...the resulting file plays video in media player classic, VLC, and PowerDVD. But only VLC plays the audio...

the only logical conclusion is that the file I have created with TSMuxer contains an improperly formatted/converted audio track. The audio is there alright but it must be of an unusual type. I wish I had a program that would tell me the contained audio type in the m2ts or the ISO.

Heck, I don't even know what audio extensions PowerDVD recognizes!

[SamuriHL]

BDInfo will allow you to see what kind of streams are in there.

[Priapismic]

"unable to loacte BD Structure" is all I got from it on the m2ts and the ISO.