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It's about time for an update, I think. I mentioned earlier that I was having no luck with an H.264 Paramount title, and unfortunately I'm still stuck. However, the other reason for the delay was a VC-1 issue. Even though the short clips that I was testing with worked fine, I ran into problems when trying to convert a whole movie, where QuickTime would cut off the video at the 2 GB mark. However, this has now been resolved!

All of the Windows tools mentioned work in VMware and do not require Boot Camp. All of these steps are for VC-1 HD DVDs. Ensure that you have plenty of hard drive space available; I recommend 50-60 GB in Windows and 25-30 GB in OS X for an HD-30 disc, more if you don't want to delete your intermediate files once you've finished with them (Edit: Shared Folders are a better idea so that you don't run into arbitrary space restrictions).

I recommend starting off with a short video before spending too much time on a full movie. All of the Universal discs that I've tried have a 32-second file called unilogo.evo that can be used for practice :)

1. In Windows, use AnyDVD or similar to copy the movie to your hard drive. Please note that this tool is not free, although there is a trial available.
2. Use EVOdemux to split the feature.evo file into MPA and MPV files. Although they'll have long, complex names by default, I'm going to refer to them as movie.mpa and movie.mpv. You can delete the EVO files once they are demuxed.
3. Use vc1conv to convert the MPV to a .vc1 file ("vc1conv movie.mpv movie.vc1"). You can then delete the MPV file.
4. Use vc12avi to encapsulate the VC-1 content into a set of AVIs. You can now delete the VC1 file.
5. Use eac3to with the -libav switch to change your MPA from E-AC3 to regular AC3 ("eac3to movie.mpa movie.ac3 -libav"). You can then delete the MPA file.
6. Merge the set of AVIs into one big one with VirtualDubMod. You can then delete the partial AVIs.
7. Transfer the AC3 and large AVI onto the Mac side, and shut down VMware. Everything's done in OS X from here.
8. Ensure that you have A52Codec and Flip4Mac installed so that QuickTime can read the sound and video.
9. Open the AC3 file in QuickTime Player and export it to AIFF. Check that the resulting AIFF plays correctly, then you can delete the AC3.
10. Open the AVI file in MPEG Streamclip and re-save it as MOV. You can then delete the AVI.
11. Open the MOV in QuickTime Player, Select All, and Copy.
12. Open the AIFF in QuickTime Player then choose Edit > Add to Movie. This will paste the video into the file.
13. Save out to a new MOV and you'll have a complete, playable file! You can delete all other intermediate files at this point.
14. At this point I had heavy corruption in the video. I'm not sure what the cause is (possibly my system being too slow to decode the video in real time, due to the VC-1 codec being less efficient than on Windows). However, exporting the video to another format (eg. H.264) worked perfectly. Note that the free version of Flip4Mac will watermark any exported video. You need Player Pro (which is the cheapest of the various "editions") to perform the final export.
15. Enjoy your exported file!

Notes for the above steps:
2. Double-layer movies have two files, feature_1.evo and feature_2.evo. When you select the first in EVOdemux, it'll automatically find the second and merge the output into a single file. Theoretically you could also have feature_3.evo on a 51 GB disc but it doesn't look like we'll ever see one of those. It's also worth mentioning that while feature.evo does seem to be the most common filename, it's not set in stone. If feature.evo is missing then just look for another huge file :)
3. I'm not exactly sure what this step does. Apparently the video needs to be played at 23.976 fps but vc12avi will assume 29.97 unless you run it through this tool first. The end result is that if you skip this step then you'll end up with the video playing too fast. However it may not be required for all discs.
5. You need to eventually convert to WAV or AIFF, and although eac3to can do this I had problems with it. A future release of eac3to may be able to do the conversion directly.
9. The third-party encoder that I use can't read AC3, hence the conversion to AIFF. You may be able to get away with staying in AC3 depending on your requirements.
10. QuickTime has difficulty with VC-1 in AVI. One of my movies would cut out at the 2 GB mark and another would not play at all (displayed a white screen). Changing to MOV fixed this issue.

I will update this post later with links to the tools required (edit: done), and will also clarify any steps that you get stuck on. Feel free to ask questions below and I'll do my best to answer them :)
 
Movies that I've successfully ripped using the method above (in alphabetical order):

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Heroes (Have only done one episode so far)
The Italian Job
Liar Liar
The Matrix (I had to export the sound to WAV instead of AIFF for this one)
The Matrix Reloaded
The Meaning of Life
Meet the Parents
The Mummy

And ones that didn't work:

Clerks II
Transformers (Update: I managed to rip this via VisualHub but the sound isn't in synch with the video)

I'll update this list as I slowly work through my collection.
 
Movies that I've successfully ripped using the method above (in alphabetical order):

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Heroes (Have only done one episode so far)
The Italian Job
Liar Liar
The Matrix (I had to export the sound to WAV instead of AIFF for this one)
The Matrix Reloaded
The Meaning of Life
Meet the Parents
The Mummy

And ones that didn't work:

Clerks II
Transformers (Update: I managed to rip this via VisualHub but the sound isn't in synch with the video)

I'll update this list as I slowly work through my collection.

I have been doing a few HD-DVDs as well and have successfully converted to h.264 1080p using MeGUI on Windows. I am playing them in 1080p (in ts container) via a networked PS3. I am surprised you were able to get this working on Quicktime (with Flip4Mac). I tried but Quicktime really struggles with VC-1.

Here's a link to the way I've been doing it. Link

How long does it take to encode in 1080p h.264 in Quicktime? My method using VMWare on C2D iMac takes about 30-36 hours to encode at 15,000 kbps, 2 passes.
 
If already H.264 just use passthrough, If not don't as it can struggle with those files to encode & you get parts of a movie get distorted.

Can I ask why neither of you are encoding into .mp4 & going into .mov & .avi respectively? Seeing as your both mainly using windows to do this you can make a .mp4.

I read yesterday on HandBrake forums that they are allowing .EVO & .m2ts encoding to .mp4 (I think thats what you can encode it to) but they won't allow ripping in the next HandBrake. Now the MacTheRipper guys should make a program to rip Blu-Ray & HDDVD's.
 
Blu Ray encoding thru VirtualBox?

So, I'm getting my blue ray burner tomorrow. I plan on using VirtualBox w/ Vista, AnyDvd HD, Cyberlink BD edition, and AVGO Media Recorder to rip directly to h264 720p aac. Anyone know of an easier way of getting hd vids off the disk and onto the mac?
 
I picked up a BR drive and The Dark Knight today. Trying to do a rip at the moment. Got the video into QuickTime but no sound yet.
 
It's not that the sound didn't work, but rather that I hadn't done it yet. Tsmuxer splits the m2ts file into separate video and sound tracks and at the time of writing I'd only brought the video into a QuickTime-compatible format.
 
TSMuxer can be set to output a single file

I use it to output a m2ts file containing both audio and video. Why don't you follow the link above with the guide first.
 
I couldn't get anything on OS X to play an .m2ts file (if you're aware of anything, please let me know). I'm trying not to re-encode, I'm just trying to get the full HD video playing in OS X (QuickTime). I've accomplished that.
 
I couldn't get anything on OS X to play an .m2ts file (if you're aware of anything, please let me know). I'm trying not to re-encode, I'm just trying to get the full HD video playing in OS X (QuickTime). I've accomplished that.

But there's no solution–not even for a smaller video file pulled from a direct rip–that can be done entirely in OS X yet, right?
 
I can't do the actual ripping on OS X but I've managed to get the VC-1 video and AC3 sound into a .mov file with full quality. Combined with Flip4Mac and an AC3 codec, I have a QuickTime-playable copy of the movie.
 
I can't do the actual ripping on OS X but I've managed to get the VC-1 video and AC3 sound into a .mov file with full quality. Combined with Flip4Mac and an AC3 codec, I have a QuickTime-playable copy of the movie.

Okay, in your walkthrough up there, you mention the A52Codec, and your link to it doesn't work anymore.

Going to the page for it, I see that it says that it is included in Perian now, so should your walkthrough be updated to say Perian and Flip4Mac?

And also, is this walkthrough for Blu-ray, as well, or are the steps different from those of HD DVDs?
 
This is really no solution to what people are wanting to do here, which is to rip a copy of their HD content for whatever purpose (many, I suppose, want a copy for their iPod/iPhone...

What I do is BUY Blu-ray for my main use and then RENT a regular DVD copy from Netflix for ripping purposes. Not every DVD these days rip, but most do. It's a little extra work, but at least I have the two copies I need.

I have a Vizio 50" 1080p HDTV and honestly, with my Mac Mini playing a movie and the monitor set at 1920 x 1200, the movie looks pretty dang good... certainly not as good as good as Blu-ray, but it gets the job done. Thank God OS X upsamples the DVD.
 
This is really no solution to what people are wanting to do here, which is to rip a copy of their HD content for whatever purpose (many, I suppose, want a copy for their iPod/iPhone...

What I do is BUY Blu-ray for my main use and then RENT a regular DVD copy from Netflix for ripping purposes. Not every DVD these days rip, but most do. It's a little extra work, but at least I have the two copies I need.

I have a Vizio 50" 1080p HDTV and honestly, with my Mac Mini playing a movie and the monitor set at 1920 x 1200, the movie looks pretty dang good... certainly not as good as good as Blu-ray, but it gets the job done. Thank God OS X upsamples the DVD.

There are plenty of good reasons to want to rip your HD content to disk. Now that my HD-DVD library is obsolete, I like the convenience of streaming them from my MacPro via PS3 Media Server to my PS3 and displaying them on a 110" projector. By the way a regular DVD doesn't really look that good at 110" compared to 1080P.

I have ripped all 25 of my HD-DVD's and probably another 20 Blurays, all fairly simply.

1) Rip the Disk using AnyDVD in BootCamp or VM.
2) Use Eac3to (command line utility, BootCamp or VM) to extract the video, audio, and subtitle streams
3) If the video is VC-1 convert to h264 using ffmpeg (either in windows, or in osx. To use in osx you will need to compile from svn. The downloadable binary does not include the x264 libraries
4) If you need subtitles, use Subrip in BootCamp or VM to convert the .sup file to a .srt
5) Use either TSMUXER or MKVMERGE to merge the streams into a .m2ts or .mkv, your preference.

If you need a mp4 file, you can load your .m2ts into Handbrake and generate it.
Edit: It occurred to me that if you want an mp4, you can skip step 3, as handbrake will do the vc-1 to h264 conversion for you.
 
1) Rip the Disk using AnyDVD in BootCamp or VM.
2) Use Eac3to (command line utility, BootCamp or VM) to extract the video, audio, and subtitle streams
3) If the video is VC-1 convert to h264 using ffmpeg (either in windows, or in osx. To use in osx you will need to compile from svn. The downloadable binary does not include the x264 libraries
4) If you need subtitles, use Subrip in BootCamp or VM to convert the .sup file to a .srt
5) Use either TSMUXER or MKVMERGE to merge the streams into a .m2ts or .mkv, your preference.

If you need a mp4 file, you can load your .m2ts into Handbrake and generate it.
Edit: It occurred to me that if you want an mp4, you can skip step 3, as handbrake will do the vc-1 to h264 conversion for you.
Thanks for the tuturial… however…*seems too complicated for me.

I think I will:

1) Buy Blu-ray
2) Netflix DVD copy
3) Handbrake the Netflix copy

Much easier method for my needs.

Again -- thanks for the info... I C/P it for later viewing if I decide I have the need.
 
If you only do steps 1,2,5 (what 99% of the people will need to do) then it is really pretty simple. But as you stated, mostly unnecessary unless you need a true 1080P file.
 
Sorry for bumping an old topic, but anyone find anything new to this dilemma?

Been looking for ages, but going to hold out. Tried the PS3 route, but this failed too...

Going to hold out for the new iMac range. I think with BluRay already pre-supported within iTunes there has to be some way of doing this. I just might get a PS3 Slim & just use it for a BluRay player. I did want to just use my :apple:TV as its so much more slick.
 
Help Me Please!!

Hey guys. im new to the forum but i have been looking around at threads to try and desperately find an answer to my problem.

I, like all of you im sure, enjoy watching my HD movies. All of which i have downloaded and they are in .mkv format. Most of them have subtitles and different language settings and i use VLC Player to play them. I am using a MacBook Pro OS X 10.6.4 and i can watch the movies absolutely fine. However i REALLY want to somehow make these movies into .mp4's or even .m4v's for playback on portable devices like my iPod. Granted it won't be the best viewing, but i would still like them in mp4 format. I have tried multiple ways already but with minor success. I have managed to convert the mkv to mp4, but it has the wrong (by default) language/subtitles. If ANYONE can help me, i would be eternally grateful, as this is becoming a real pain in the ass.

Regards, Josh.
 
Josh,

If you are using Handbrake, select the Audio tab to choose the correct audio stream, and select the Subtitles tab to choose the correct subtitles track.
 
Ok thanks alot!! im gunna be honest, i havnt tried handbrake before and ive just downloaded it. it looks easy enough, but on the subtitles tab it doesnt have the subtitle thats in the file. but i see theres an add external srt, so can you recommend a good extract program so i can add the subtitles myself? Also, just finished my first conversion, but there was no sound. what did i do wrong? ive gone on the audio tab and clicked under track 1: English (AAC), as the only other options are Italiano (DTS) (5.2 ch) and Italiano (AAC). Then the audio codec is AAC (Core Audio) and the mixdown is stereo, sample rate is auto and the bitrate, 128. so. i dont know whats going on. any help please?

Cheers, Josh
 
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