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RalphSpoilsport

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 1, 2008
5
0
I've just installed Plex on my Mac. Can I play an actual Blu-ray image or does it have to be transcoded before Plex will play it?
Thanks
 

phrehdd

macrumors 601
Oct 25, 2008
4,289
1,292
I've just installed Plex on my Mac. Can I play an actual Blu-ray image or does it have to be transcoded before Plex will play it?
Thanks

Short answer is no.

Long answer is if you can "archive" your blu ray movie to drive, Plex can play the M2TS file.

Things to consider

Windows XP or Vista environment
Blu Ray reader/burner
AnyDVD HD - software to archive your movie to disk
TSMuxer - software to demux and mux the movie files with only the audio streams you want.

Result file - if you do it correctly, Plex will read it, play it and make you smile.

- Phrehdd

ps - make sure you have a core duo at least 2.0ghrz or playback can be choppy/stuttering.
 

Cave Man

macrumors 604
I've just installed Plex on my Mac. Can I play an actual Blu-ray image or does it have to be transcoded before Plex will play it?

If it's an image that has had the HDCP and encryption removed, then Plex will play it. But you'd have to navigate to the m2ts file since Plex is not yet set up to read BD structures (like it can for DVD images). This would be most unpleasant.

uuummm i think so, it was just more based around the Mini being able to play Blu-Ray ripped movies. they had been converted into mp4 (most anyway).

No, transcoding is not necessary. Plex will play the m2ts files provided they are de-HDCP'd and decrypted.
 

DoFoT9

macrumors P6
Jun 11, 2007
17,586
98
London, United Kingdom
lalalala


No, transcoding is not necessary. Plex will play the m2ts files provided they are de-HDCP'd and decrypted.

yes i knew that, just didnt properly word it. on your other thread you had a demo file which was .mov?? or .mp4?? i couldnt remember so i just called it mp4. they werent compressed at all though were they? just going off that
 

RalphSpoilsport

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 1, 2008
5
0
thanks all

i was hoping to play an blu-ray image on my mac mini but it only can handle up to 1.5 gigs of ram. i guess that i'll just have to buy a blu-ray burner and a re-writeable disc.
 

J4YP34

macrumors newbie
Oct 18, 2008
18
0
London, England
I have tried 3 Muxed bluray movie files (m2ts) they are 15gb, 23gb and 32gb in file size and each one seems to be choppy when playing it back with Plex. It keeps stuttering.

I have tried it on my 2.16ghz Macbook and also a MacMini but the problem is still there. I have tried playing back the files off my Apple Time Capsule over a Cat 6 cable, off a locally attached USB harddrive and also off the local hard disk also. Problem is still there.

has anybody else had this problem? Or is there a solution?
 

J4YP34

macrumors newbie
Oct 18, 2008
18
0
London, England
Tell us what the movies are. When you say "muxed" do you mean with tsmuxer?

The children, Death Race and Eagle Eye.

Yes ive used tsmuxer on death race as it was split into a few separate files.
Ive increased the buffer in Plex and set it to max for audio and video with still no joy.

Sometimes the playing doesnt stutter when I play it on the macbook but when stutters everytime i connect the mac to the projector.

The mac is connect to the projector with a apple mini dvi to dvi connector and the a dvi to hdmi connector but i wouldnt have thought that this would make a difference, would it?
 

Cave Man

macrumors 604
The children, Death Race and Eagle Eye.

I don't have any of these, so you'll need to play them in Plex and see what the frame rate is (using the 'I' key). The two BR rips I've had difficulties with were both variable frame rate movies (IJ Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Stargate Continuum). Once I put them down to 24 fps they played fine. Also, with tsmuxer did you remove all the other unnecessary files and extract AC3/DTS cores? That can have an impact on performance as well.

Sometimes the playing doesnt stutter when I play it on the macbook but when stutters everytime i connect the mac to the projector.

By 'mac' you mean your Mini? What is its processor speed and how much RAM does it have. If it is a 2 gHz model, it should have no problem playing 24 fps BR rips from its internal hard drive, FW drive or gigabit ethernet (provided it's being served gigabit - 100kbps will not provide enough throughput).

The mac is connect to the projector with a apple mini dvi to dvi connector and the a dvi to hdmi connector but i wouldnt have thought that this would make a difference, would it?

I agree, that should not have an impact from the Mini. It may from a MacBook (sharing the video on the bus) but not from the Mini.
 
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