BR file type

[mic j]

I am about to embark on the biggest part of making my aTV 3 movie library, the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings BR's. I have been transcoding all of the "lesser" stuff to mp4 using Handbrake. I am considering just changing the container (no transcode) for these movie files (iso) to mp4 using Subler or mp4Tools. Obviously, the file sizes are 30-40GB for each file, but storage size is not an issue. I use wifi to stream from a HDD connect to to Time Capusle to the aTV.

Considering the file size and more importantly the video stream bitrate of 33.5Mbps (aTV is capped at 25, right?), is it even feasible for this movie to play smoothly over wifi?

 

[tbayrgs]

I am about to embark on the biggest part of making my aTV 3 movie library, the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings BR's. I have been transcoding all of the "lesser" stuff to mp4 using Handbrake. I am considering just changing the container (no transcode) for these movie files (iso) to mp4 using Subler or mp4Tools. Obviously, the file sizes are 30-40GB for each file, but storage size is not an issue. I use wifi to stream from a HDD connect to to Time Capusle to the aTV.

Considering the file size and more importantly the video stream bitrate of 33.5Mbps (aTV is capped at 25, right?), is it even feasible for this movie to play smoothly over wifi?

Probably not. And while I can appreciate your desire to maintain the quality of the original blu-ray, I'd bet you'd probably be pretty satisfied with an encoded version--just load the rip into HB and lower the RF a bit (try 18-19 to see if that satisfies your eye). An encode with a bitrate of 10-12 Mbps looks pretty damn good, at least to my eye, and the resulting file will likely be only 1/4 to 1/3 of the native rip.

 

[DeusInvictus7]

I tried playing a full BR rip of Transformers on the ATV3, and it doesn't work too well. The highest bitrate that I can seem to get to stream properly without any stutter is about 17-18mbps, so well under the 30ish mbps that a lot of BR discs are.

 

[mic j]

Probably not. And while I can appreciate your desire to maintain the quality of the original blu-ray, I'd bet you'd probably be pretty satisfied with an encoded version--just load the rip into HB and lower the RF a bit (try 18-19 to see if that satisfies your eye). An encode with a bitrate of 10-12 Mbps looks pretty damn good, at least to my eye, and the resulting file will likely be only 1/4 to 1/3 of the native rip.

Thanks for your feedback.

Yeah, I am just about at that point of just doing the conversion and keeping the full iso's in storage. Who knows what the future holds? Possibly a jailbroken aTV 3 running Plex or XMBC that can play mkv's (I don't mind replacing the iso container). With my previous media streamer I had the HDD connected directly, so streaming BR's were never a problem. But even with a jailbroken aTV/XMBC combo, I would still probably run into wifi streaming stutters.

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I tried playing a full BR rip of Transformers on the ATV3, and it doesn't work too well. The highest bitrate that I can seem to get to stream properly without any stutter is about 17-18mbps, so well under the 30ish mbps that a lot of BR discs are.

Yeah, that's what I figured. But I have just kept reading here about people saying "why transcode...just convert to mp4 container". So I thought maybe I was underestimating what the aTV could do. Most dvd's are mpeg2 and can't just be remuxed to a different container and most BR's are high profile 4.1 with bitrates above 25Mbps. So it just wasn't consistent to me.

Thanks for the input.

 

[urkel]

Please delete if were not supposed to ask questions like this, but is it legal to download a high quality BR rip if you OWN the original BluRays? Like the OP, I own a few movies on BR that I'd like to convert but I dont know enough about converting to do as good a job as the "pirates" so why not let them do the work and get their copy?

 

[tbayrgs]

Please delete if were not supposed to ask questions like this, but is it legal to download a high quality BR rip if you OWN the original BluRays? Like the OP, I own a few movies on BR that I'd like to convert but I dont know enough about converting to do as good a job as the "pirates" so why not let them do the work and get their copy?

Actually, you can very easily do a much better job than most of the pirated crap if you have a blu-ray drive and have both MakeMKV and Handbrake installed on your computer. Really not very difficult--don't be intimidated.

Pop the disk in your drive, open MakeMKV. Select the desired title (usually one of the the first listed and the largest), select your desired audio, deselect any subtitles not desired, rip away. Take the resulting rip and select it as a source in HB. Click on the Apple TV 2 preset, (until there's an Apple TV 3 preset), increase the picture resolution to 1080p and click start. If you like to tag your movies/TV shows, load it into your tagger of choice (I prefer iDentify but also like Subler), let it look up the relevant info and save it.

Obviously you can tweak settings here and there to your likely as you become more familiar with the software but these basic steps will produce a very good result.

And anyways, aren't most pirated copies in MKV or AVI format? If that's the case, you'd still have some work to do to get it to play on your Apple TV.

 

[mic j]

Actually, you can very easily do a much better job than most of the pirated crap if you have a blu-ray drive and have both MakeMKV and Handbrake installed on your computer. Really not very difficult--don't be intimidated.

Pop the disk in your drive, open MakeMKV. Select the desired title (usually one of the the first listed and the largest), select your desired audio, deselect any subtitles not desired, rip away. Take the resulting rip and select it as a source in HB. Click on the Apple TV 2 preset, (until there's an Apple TV 3 preset), increase the picture resolution to 1080p and click start. If you like to tag your movies/TV shows, load it into your tagger of choice (I prefer iDentify but also like Subler), let it look up the relevant info and save it.

Obviously you can tweak settings here and there to your likely as you become more familiar with the software but these basic steps will produce a very good result.

And anyways, aren't most pirated copies in MKV or AVI format? If that's the case, you'd still have some work to do to get it to play on your Apple TV.

For the aTV 3 video in HB use the High Profile preset, check Web Optimize. For the audio: use AAC (Core Audio)/Dolby Prologic II for the first track and AC3/Passthru for the second track (If you have a DTS source select AC3 (ffmeg)/6 channel discrete)

Make these setting a default preset and all you have to do is load the file and press start

 

[urkel]

Actually, you can very easily do a much better job than most of the pirated crap if you have a blu-ray drive and have both MakeMKV and Handbrake installed on your computer. Really not very difficult--don't be intimidated.

Pop the disk in your drive, open MakeMKV. Select the desired title (usually one of the the first listed and the largest), select your desired audio, deselect any subtitles not desired, rip away. Take the resulting rip and select it as a source in HB. Click on the Apple TV 2 preset, (until there's an Apple TV 3 preset), increase the picture resolution to 1080p and click start. If you like to tag your movies/TV shows, load it into your tagger of choice (I prefer iDentify but also like Subler), let it look up the relevant info and save it.

Obviously you can tweak settings here and there to your likely as you become more familiar with the software but these basic steps will produce a very good result.

And anyways, aren't most pirated copies in MKV or AVI format? If that's the case, you'd still have some work to do to get it to play on your Apple TV.

Great info. Is there a recommended BR drive for Mac? Also, how long do the MKV conversions take?

I don't have the eagle eyes of some videophiles but I definitely can tell the difference between SD and 720p so in the end that's all I want. A decent 720 version of a few favorite movies and many times they are available in mp4 online. (But I would prefer to do the conversion myself for legal purposes which is why I'm looking for an external BR drive for my Mac Mini)

 

[mic j]

Great info. Is there a recommended BR drive for Mac? Also, how long do the MKV conversions take?

I don't have the eagle eyes of some videophiles but I definitely can tell the difference between SD and 720p so in the end that's all I want. A decent 720 version of a few favorite movies and many times they are available in mp4 online. (But I would prefer to do the conversion myself for legal purposes which is why I'm looking for an external BR drive for my Mac Mini)

I use a Plextor read only bluray drive. It's usb powered. You do not need a BR writer with a Mac anymore. Personally, I find that the upscaling of dvd's by my HDTV to be near enough to HD quality to be adequate in probably 95% of the movies I watch. Upscaling can be quite good. BR's are a big hassle if you don't really need them, large file sizes, slow transcodes, little subtitle support, etc. Think hard before you start ripping and transcoding BR's.