Blu Ray drive for Mac Pro (1 Viewer)

[Citizen87645]

Thanks for the info. I'm probably looking to get a UHD drive soon and start ripping the 4k discs I have so far.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks for posting Mark about your experience doing a UHD disc. This is really good info!

Since you‘re running Windows, I’m curious to do the same on my Macintosh. As I mentioned earlier, I also have a Pioneer drive, so I can see how that works. I’ll post when I try out a UHD disc.

 

[Nelson Au]

On another type of disc, I thought I’d post about an experience trying to rip an older DVD of Remington Steele. I was able to make MKV files of the first season. I tried to make MKV files of the first disc of the second season. The first episode failed while the renaming episodes on the disc were Ok. I suspect this could be due the disc being a two sided disc. I bought a second second season set and I had the exact same problem. I did try to play the disc using DVD player on the Mac and it would not play that episode, it played a short segment then pixelated and went whacko. So I decided to take one more stab at it and found another copy on eBay for less money and I expect the disc later this week. If that doesn’t work, then I will give up for now. I also wondered if it was because it is a 90 minute episode. Will post when I give it another try.

I tried to wipe the disc down, even though these are brand new unused discs. And I noticed on the outer edge of the disc from my first set, there was a slight discoloration on the playing side. Slightly yellowed region about 3/16“ in from the edge going around about 1/3 of the circumference. I wondered if it was a sign of deterioration.

BTW, My Mac Pro has two drive bays, I used the second drive bay for the Pioneer blu ray drive. The forst bay still has the original SuperDrive. I even tried that drive to make the MKV of the disc.

 

[Mark McSherry]

Nelson, as you suggest, the problem may lie with disc deterioration. I had the same problem trying to rip episodes from my Season One Alfred Hitchcock Presents which is also a double-sided disc. Some episodes could not be ripped much less played. Reading here on HTF of the many Warner Archive DVDs failing, I should be archiving my (too) many WA discs too.

Leawo's UHD Ripper and UHD Copy also play nice with the two Pioneer UHD bluray players. Their Ripper will output various file types beside .mkv. Also you can change output resolution--- instead of outputting a 70G 2001: A Space Odyssey 4K .mkv, you can create a 26G 2001 HD .mkv. you could say that Leawo's UHD Ripper is a cross between MakeMKV and Handbrake.

Leawo's UHD Copy gives you the option to create an .iso of your UHD disc to archive. And PowerDVD and VLC can read and play .iso files too.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks for the info Mark about UHD ripper. I was curious about how to downconvert a UHD file to a lower HD resolution. I’ll give that some consideration.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

@Mark McSherry thanks for doing the heavy lifting on UHD drive research. When my current BD-only drive bites the dust, I know what I’ll be looking at for a replacement.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

And I noticed on the outer edge of the disc from my first set, there was a slight discoloration on the playing side. Slightly yellowed region about 3/16“ in from the edge going around about 1/3 of the circumference.

That sounds like the telltale sign of the glue between layers failing, unfortunately. It’s nothing you’ve done wrong, it just happens sometimes.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey Josh, I hope the next set I get won’t have failed! As Mark said, I better get going to make copies of these discs before it’s too late!

 

[Greg.K]

Thanks for posting Mark about your experience doing a UHD disc. This is really good info!

Since you‘re running Windows, I’m curious to do the same on my Macintosh. As I mentioned earlier, I also have a Pioneer drive, so I can see how that works. I’ll post when I try out a UHD disc.

I posted on the other thread about my experience with the Pioneer BDR-XD07UHD drive. It works fine on my Macs. I don't use a separate AC adapter, either, it's been fine powered off of USB. No problem with UHD discs.

 

[Nelson Au]

Guys, thought I’d post about my experience with another copy of Remington Steele Season 2 DVD. I bought a used copy on eBay, this set is different from my first set. The season set I originally have is one Amaray case that holds all four discs. The used copy I just got is a cardboard sleeve with two thin Amaray type cases with two discs in each case.

This used set has some light scuffs or scratches on some of the discs. But to my surprise, the first disc ripped ok. No errors! Fortunately the disc was scratch free. So after some extra expense to buy two additional sets of Season two to find a good disc, I found a good disc 1. Ha, ha! And this isn’t a series I’m going to be watching too often. I like it, but I’m not a super fan. I just couldn’t leave it alone that one episode (so far) had errors trying to copy. Hope I can do the rest of the series with the discs I have and finish this.

 

[Nelson Au]

Greg, thanks for the link to your post about Pioneer drives in Macs. Great to hear you can do UHD discs fine. The one I have is an internal drive mounted inside my Mac Pro. So if I ever have to remove the drive, I might have to find an enclosure to install it in for external use. Or get an external drive If my Mac Pro dies and I need a new Mac.

 

[Greg.K]

Greg, thanks for the link to your post about Pioneer drives in Macs. Great to hear you can do UHD discs fine. The one I have is an internal drive mounted inside my Mac Pro.

Is the drive labeled as a UltraHD drive? If so it should work. The ones not sold as UltraHD won't work and can't be flashed like the LG drives can. For instance there is a non-UHD Pioneer BDR-XD07B version of the BDR-XD07UHD that doesn't have the UHD capability.

 

[Nelson Au]

Guys, I just ripped the 2017 Blu ray of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Checking the times of the files, I was able to determine which was the 1977 version, the 1980 Special Edition, and the 1998 Directors Cut. I tried to set up folders for the 1977, 1980 and 1998 version. Of course only the 1977 version was recognized by Plex. I’m curious if anyone was able to create separate versions that work in Plex. I think I’ll keep at it. But curious if anyone has solved this.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

The databases that Plex draw from generally only recognize one version of a title. It’s the same way that as far as IMDb is concerned, they’re all the same movie.

What you have to do is get Plex to recognize each version as the same movie, and then use its controls to show them as separate entries, and then manually adjust the metadata to note which version is which.

I put each of the versions into the Plex folders, the same way I would put any other movie in.

If it doesn’t recognize one or more of them as the movie, I use the “fix match” function to do that.

Once they’re all recognized by Plex, all versions show up as the original release under one listing. (You might notice a tiny “3” in the corner of the poster thumbnail. That’s indicating that there’s three versions of the movie in the system.)

Then I use the “split apart” function which will allow each of the three versions to show up as separate entries. Right now, they all will still have the same poster art and metadata.

Then I manually open up the info for each one, check which file its pointing to, and adjust the title, poster art and any other metadata I want to change to however I want it to look.

Once that’s done, each is a separately entry that can be searched for and played independently of the other.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey Josh, thanks for the speedy reply! I’ll give your suggestions a try.

Also, I found there are two versions of each version of CEOTTK. The file sizes and running times the same. I am guessing maybe one version has alternate languages? .

 

[DaveF]

You can generally setup multiple versions in a single folder. You can then select for playback the specific version you want.

I do this with HD and 4K and have also done it with 2D and 3D and theatrical and directors cuts. Each server has it’s own approach for naming conventions.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey Dave, thanks. I’m sure I’ll be able to separate these 3 versions!

I’ll follow Josh’s suggestions above. Now that I think about it, I must have done it before because I managed to separate Alien theatrical and Directors Cut. Also did it for Aliens. I think I just totally forgot how. I’ll make note of it this time.

I’ll let you know later today.

 

[DaveF]

In Emby it's a simple matter of appending " - Alt Title" to a movie file name.

So I'll have in a movie folder:

Blockbuster Movie (2022) - HD.mkv
Blockbuster Movie (2022) - UHD.mkv

And then Emby lists them in the client software to be selected between.

 

[Greg.K]

I just make the main version of the movie I'll be most likely to watch the main feature and put any alternate versions in the "Other" extras folder. Not ideal but keeps the folders neater with only one entry for a movie.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I just make the main version of the movie I'll be most likely to watch the main feature and put any alternate versions in the "Other" extras folder. Not ideal but keeps the folders neater with only one entry for a movie.

The only reason I don’t do that is because I use Infuse as the client app on my AppleTV, and Infuse doesn’t recognize bonus features. If I used the Plex app that would be the simplest approach.