Blu Ray drive for Mac Pro (2 Viewers)

[Rodney]

It’s a blu disc. I don’t think it is an issue with the software. I think that the OS doesn’t recognize that the disc has readable data. That’s why it gets spit out.

I am not sure what you mean by “black disc”.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Is it blu or UHD? Is it a “black” disc, such as used in low-volume production? Those are always a problem for me.

I don’t rip a lot or much quantity these days, but the only problems I have presently are: “black” discs from writeable discs; brand new UHD; and Blu with obnoxious main title obscuration. I don’t think I’ve enountered an un-rippable blu in years.

Just a standard regular Blu.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I think that the OS doesn’t recognize that the disc has readable data. That’s why it gets spit out.

Yeah I think that’s exactly it. I don’t have a PC to try it on, I’d be curious to see if the results were the same.

I’ll try it again in a few months after the inevitable MakeMKV update - maybe someone will have figured this out by then.

 

[jcroy]

(More generally).

I have had many experiences where a particular dvd/bluray disc is not recognized on one dvd/bluray drive, while a second or third different drive (from a different manufacturer) recognized these same dvd/bluray discs as if nothing was wrong.

 

[jcroy]

I am not sure what you mean by “black disc”.

The burned bd-r discs I have come across over the years, usually have a blackish looking tint on the data side.

 

[DaveF]

It’s a blu disc. I don’t think it is an issue with the software. I think that the OS doesn’t recognize that the disc has readable data. That’s why it gets spit out.

I am not sure what you mean by “black disc”.

Writeable discs, I believe, are very dark and look almost black. I’ve gotten a few of those – possibly unintentional gray market / pirated discs — and my drive won’t read them.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Writeable discs, I believe, are very dark and look almost black. I’ve gotten a few of those – possibly unintentional gray market / pirated discs — and my drive won’t read them.

There are also a few legit ones out there - the format isn’t widely used because of those compatibility issues but there were certain lesser selling Paramount and Sony catalog titles where the studio let Amazon go the MOD route, and some other retailers got pressed discs. I’ve never had an issue ripping one of those so if there’s anything you want to mail up for me to try on my end and have me send back with a USB stick with the MKV file, I’m game.

 

[jcroy]

There are also a few legit ones out there - the format isn’t widely used because of those compatibility issues but there were certain lesser selling Paramount and Sony catalog titles where the studio let Amazon go the MOD route, and some other retailers got pressed discs. I’ve never had an issue ripping one of those so if there’s anything you want to mail up for me to try on my end and have me send back with a USB stick with the MKV file, I’m game.

(On a tangent).

Ironically, there exists officially released Sony bluray mod movie discs which do not have any encryption on them. Apparently Sony's home video division person(s) who handles the mod bluray titles, does not want to pay any further royalty fees to even get the proper AACS encryption keys.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Don’t blame them. The Sony MOD titles are generally things that aren’t going to be popular enough to be bootlegged. I’m glad to have the ones I do, but I don’t think “The Bitter Tea of General Yen” from 1933 is burning up the illegal bootleg market.

 

[Mark McSherry]

Yeah I think that’s exactly it. I don’t have a PC to try it on, I’d be curious to see if the results were the same.

I’ll try it again in a few months after the inevitable MakeMKV update - maybe someone will have figured this out by then.

From One of the Seventy-Six:

Fortunately for me, MakeMKV ripped Imprint's CONQUEST OF SPACE with no problems on my Win10 PC. But PowerDVD 21 will not play the disc on that same computer-- stuck on a black screen. Of course, the ripped movie and two featurettes play fine using PowerDVD.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

From One of the Seventy-Six:

Fortunately for me, MakeMKV ripped Imprint's CONQUEST OF SPACE with no problems on my Win10 PC. But PowerDVD 21 will not play the disc on that same computer-- stuck on a black screen. Of course, the ripped movie and two featurettes play fine using PowerDVD.

That’s great! I can’t quite justify buying a PC to rip one disc but good to hear nonetheless!

 

[Rodney]

I just installed the MakeMKV software on a Windows laptop I have here and plugged in my USB UHD drive to it, but NO go. It spins and makes the same noises as on the Mac, the only difference is it doesn't spit it out after a few minutes, it just stops spinning and then MakeMKV says there is no disc:

 

[Mark McSherry]

Not that it will make a difference, but I'm still using an earlier version of MakeMKV--- v1.16.1 win(x64-release).

I hope these screenshots will help.

Starting MakeMKV with disc in my Pioneer UHD BDXL drive-

After clicking on drive icon-

The ripping process took 30 minutes with the movie and two featurettes created-

While MakeMKV works ripping this disc, I can not get PowerDVD or VLC to recognize the disc and play its contents. They do play the ripped .mkv files.

 

[Rodney]

Not that it will make a difference, but I'm still using an earlier version of MakeMKV--- v1.16.1 win(x64-release).

I hope these screenshots will help.

Starting MakeMKV with disc in my Pioneer UHD BDXL drive-

I didn't mean to imply I didn't believe you. Just bummed that it didn't work for me. Not sure if it is the drive I am using or that the discs Josh and I have just cannot be read.

 

[Mark McSherry]

I didn't mean to imply I didn't believe you. Just bummed that it didn't work for me. Not sure if it is the drive I am using or that the discs Josh and I have just cannot be read.

I didn't take it that way at all. Just thought you might glean something helpful from the screenshots.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Not that it will make a difference, but I'm still using an earlier version of MakeMKV--- v1.16.1 win(x64-release).

I hope these screenshots will help.

Starting MakeMKV with disc in my Pioneer UHD BDXL drive-

View attachment 135243

After clicking on drive icon-

View attachment 135244

The ripping process took 30 minutes with the movie and two featurettes created-

View attachment 135245

While MakeMKV works ripping this disc, I can not get PowerDVD or VLC to recognize the disc and play its contents. They do play the ripped .mkv files.

I’ll take a look to see if downgrading to that older version will get me where I want to be, but I suspect that there’s some Mac mojo working against me here. Definitely appreciate the screenshots, can’t hurt!

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey Mark, I see you use a Pioneer drive, I am using a Pioneer internal BD drive in my Mac Pro. Now I’m curious if the drive is a factor here. I have not ordered Conquest of Space yet. I’m curious to gent this disc and give it a try in my drive.

 

[Mark McSherry]

Hey Mark, I see you use a Pioneer drive, I am using a Pioneer internal BD drive in my Mac Pro. Now I’m curious if the drive is a factor here. I have not ordered Conquest of Space yet. I’m curious to gent this disc and give it a try in my drive.

Good luck! It is probably a combination of things- drive type, operating system ... And just pure (good) luck it worked with my setup.

 

[Nelson Au]

Josh, Mark,

I finally picked up Conquest of Space and I just did a rip with MakeMKV. I had success and was able to make an MKV file. So the common thread perhaps is the Pioneer drive. It’s not the operating system as I’m using a Mac Pro. It is an older Mac Pro running 10.13.6 High Sierra. I have a internal Pioneer drive I installed.

I have not seen this movie since I was an early teen when it was on TV. I remember Ross Martin and Benson Fong in the cast. I can see that this film could have influenced Kubrick. But will see when I watch this movie. The first few minutes looks like this is a great transfer!

 

[Mark McSherry]

I updated to MakeMKV v1.17.1 win(x64-release). Before this update the software would not recognize any UHD discs placed in my Pioneer UHD Bluray player. Now, with the update, I can rip a 4K disc as easily as a HD disc. Of course, it takes longer and there is a much bigger footprint on your hard-drive.

I understand this latest update finally recognized Pioneer's UHD players. Mine is the UltraUHD BDXL BDR-211M. Today I tested Pioneer's portable UHD BDR-XD07UHD player with MakeMKV v1.17.1 and it passed. Ripped my 2001 UHD disc to a 70G .mkv file. It also ripped the sometimes problematic Imprint 'Conquest of Space' bluray.

And both played well with Plex.

​

I'm using a win 10 PC but the BDR-XD07UHD runs on Macs too---

In theory, this drive should run off the USB connection but I prefer using an AC adapter which is NOT included with the player. So I ordered this item---

I needed to use the third tip from the left (3.5 x 1.35 mm) to fit into the player plug-in.