BluRay to MBA?

[Smartie]

I've started thinking that I should rip all my DVDs and Blurays so that I can have them on my NAS. I'm getting an ATV and would also like to be able to see the movies on my iPad when traveling.

Can I buy an external Bluray player and use that for ripping my movies? Ive heard that Macs dont support external Bluray players but that sounds strange. If it does, any suggestions for a player?

Can Handbrake or RipIt that I've read in the forum being good SWs for ripping handle a Bluray player, or only DVD?

 

[theSeb]

I've started thinking that I should rip all my DVDs and Blurays so that I can have them on my NAS. I'm getting an ATV and would also like to be able to see the movies on my iPad when traveling.

Can I buy an external Bluray player and use that for ripping my movies? Ive heard that Macs dont support external Bluray players but that sounds strange. If it does, any suggestions for a player?

Can Handbrake or RipIt that I've read in the forum being good SWs for ripping handle a Bluray player, or only DVD?

Macs do support the majority of external BR drives. There are some odd compatibility issues with a handful of drives. Macs do not support direct BR playback, but you there are ways around it. I don't do this myself since I watch movies on my TV either via my dedicated BR player or XBMC from my NAS.

I use an external LG blu ray writer. It works perfectly fine with my MBP, MBA and Mini. I rip exact copies using makeMKV and then I compress these mkv files using Handbrake for consumption on the iPad.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/LG-BE12LU38-External-Blu-ray-Re-Writer/dp/B005UH6MW8/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

This is the newer version of the model that I use.

 

[Smartie]

Thanks Sebastian. Quick and to the point.

 

[theSeb]

Thanks Sebastian. Quick and to the point.

My pleasure.

 

[bpd115]

I do the exact same thing, works well. I compress the Blu Rays to a 720P since I have a mix of 1st/2nd/3rd gen Apple TVs in the house. That and file size. Works well and took my Mac Pro 1,1 about 2 hrs or so to compress a movie in handbrake. Haven't had a chance to try it since I replaced the processors with 5355s yet though.

There are apps for the iPad/iPhone that will let you stream your media from home over the Internet as well so you're not eating up space on your I device.

 

[applerepairs]

It can be Used.

 

[lannisters4life]

What kind of file sizes do you guys end up with, for reference?

 

[bpd115]

Depends on the movie length but for 720p generally about 3 gig. 1.5 gig for DVDs....