Blu Ray drive for Mac Pro (1 Viewer)

[Nelson Au]

Good news Rodney, thanks!

 

[Greg.K]

Good to hear.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey guys, I have a question about ripping the 2004 Battlestar Galactica blu rays. I just started ripping them, I did the first three discs of the first season. I’m finding that there are two copies of each episode. I can’t tell if there is any difference. The file sizes are the same and the audio tracks appear to be the same number of tracks. Perhaps one has a different subtitle track? I guess I’ll find out when I play an episode. I used the first set in the rips and saved the second one in case there is a difference.

By the way, I wanted to send out thanks to the guys here for the help with the ripping process. When I started this thread, it was great help from Josh and Dave and the others. It’s amazing that now when I get a new disc, or series, I will rip the discs instead of watching the discs. So my collection of ripped films and TV shows is growing! I have two 14 TB drives and i’ve almost filled the first drive and the second drive is 1/3 filled. i have room for one more drive in my Mac. I’ll really need to consider a proper NAS soon.

 

[Robert Harris]

Hey guys, I have a question about ripping the 2004 Battlestar Galactica blu rays. I just started ripping them, I did the first three discs of the first season. I’m finding that there are two copies of each episode. I can’t tell if there is any difference. The file sizes are the same and the audio tracks appear to be the same number of tracks. Perhaps one has a different subtitle track? I guess I’ll find out when I play an episode. I used the first set in the rips and saved the second one in case there is a difference.

By the way, I wanted to send out thanks to the guys here for the help with the ripping process. When I started this thread, it was great help from Josh and Dave and the others. It’s amazing that now when I get a new disc, or series, I will rip the discs instead of watching the discs. So my collection of ripped films and TV shows is growing! I have two 14 TB drives and i’ve almost filled the first drive and the second drive is 1/3 filled. i have room for one more drive in my Mac. I’ll really need to consider a proper NAS soon.

How are you backing up these files?

 

[Nelson Au]

Hi Robert! Never expected to see you here.

Backing up files is a concern I have, I feel like I’ve been skirting disaster for some time. If something goes bad, I still have all the discs to re-rip the film or TV show. With the number of files and the sizes of all the files, I’m thinking eventually I’d need a massive amount of extra drive space to make back up copies. DaveF has suggested setting up 4 drives as a RAID. So if one drive fails, the other three has the files backed up.

As I said, I’m thinking of eventually setting up a dedicated network attached storage device to take the burden off the Mac. I’m thinking it will have a ton of space available. Not sure if It will be enough to back up everything though. And I wondered if a cloud service would be an option. Backing up the files is something I should figure out!

 

[AcesHighStudios]

Hi Robert! Never expected to see you here.

Backing up files is a concern I have, I feel like I’ve been skirting disaster for some time. If something goes bad, I still have all the discs to re-rip the film or TV show. With the number of files and the sizes of all the files, I’m thinking eventually I’d need a massive amount of extra drive space to make back up copies. DaveF has suggested setting up 4 drives as a RAID. So if one drive fails, the other three has the files backed up.

As I said, I’m thinking of eventually setting up a dedicated network attached storage device to take the burden off the Mac. I’m thinking it will have a ton of space available. Not sure if It will be enough to back up everything though. And I wondered if a cloud service would be an option. Backing up the files is something I should figure out!

Working in film and television, I have many, many, many large capacity hard drives. What I try to do, although it has become much more expensive since Covid, is to back up every drive to another drive, like an A and B drive. The A drive gets used and the B drive just sits on an archive shelf. If something ever happens to the A drive, I pull the B drive off the shelf, immediately make a back up and the B drive becomes the new A drive and the new drive becomes the B drive and the same process continues. That may be more than you need to do since you still have the discs, but I'm dealing with tons of 4K, 6K and 12K footage that can never be reshot again and would be an absolute disaster to lose to a failed hard drive.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hi Mike, thanks for your insights! I can understand the need to take your precautions with material that’s irreplaceable. So your process of having two drives with the same data makes sense. my initial thought for back-up was similar, to have extra drives that backs up the primary drives.

 

[justarandomstan]

Hey everyone!

I have recently began thinking about starting to rip my collection for preservation and convenience purposes, however I have a question.

Can someone give me a tip how to do that when it comes to TV shows in order to be able to rip every episode separately.

Or maybe VLC already does that. Or.. should it even be VLC, any better alternatives?

I'm new to this thing and any pointers (or links to posts in this very thread) would be more than welcome.

Thanks in advance,
Stan.

P.S. - I'm a Windows user, if that matters at all.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hi Stan,

I was totally new to this too when I was curious to try this. The guys here were very helpful. What I learned to do involves a few steps.
1. You need software to rip your discs and if you have blu rays, you need a blu ray drive. What I use is MakeMKV. It is free for a 30 day trial. After I messed with it for 2 months, I decided it was worth it to pay for a license. The other option is Handbrake. I am preferring MakeMKV as it makes an exact bit for bit copy. So no compression that can degrade the image quality.
2. You need a computer that will rip the discs and a place to store the files. I am currently using the extra drive slots in my Mac to add large drives to store the files.
3. You will need an application on your computer that will be a server for the video files. I use Plex.
4. You then need a way to play the files on your home theater display. For me, I use an AppleTV 4K. And in the AppleTV, I installed the Plex app where I can find the TV shows for playback. I mainly use an app called Infuse for playback. At the time, this app had more capability to play back more audio files. Not sure if Plex and Infuse are at parity now.
5. Then when you rip each TV show disc, you need to make time to manually name each file and number the episode with its season and episode number, the way this works is Plex and Infuse uses on-line TV and Film databases to identify the titles and then in Plex and Infuse, it will populate the TV series with the proper artwork and titles.
6. Naming each show title can be a time sink. What I do, after I rip the disc, for example, I’m now ripping the Bewitched DVDs. What happens is after I rip the disc, 7 or 8 files will appear in the folder for that TV show. I don’t know a better way, but I play each file to see what the episode is so I can name it. On the Mac it uses VLC to play the file. You can use the website: themoviedb.com. There you search for a show. Then you can see the tiles for each episode and episode number. For the first season and first episode, the episode is named s01e01- episode title. You name it this way so Plex can identify it. I created a folder on my drive where I keep media and folders for TV and for movies. For Bewitched, I have a section called TV Shows/Bewitched/Season01. You have to place the episodes in a folder called Season 01, or Season 02 and so on.

I know this probably sounds intimidating and it was to me too a bit. And I did type this up off the cuff, so hopefully it makes sense. You can refer to posts in the earlier sections of this thread too as you will see my posts as I navigated my way through this.

I’m really enjoying this process and as you say, it’s super convenient for watching all my content. I can also watch the content on my iPhone and iPad via the Infuse app. My next step is to figure out how to update the firmware on my blu ray drive so it can rip a 4K blu ray.

 

[justarandomstan]

@Nelson Au - Thanks so much! This information is absolutely invaluable.

I'm totally down to purchase the MakeMKV program if it is gonna help me on my quest to creating what is pretty much my own streaming service for home use

With the increasing prices of all streaming services, having the convenience of our collections one click away sounds more and more appealing.

Just one more thing - say for example I'm ripping a Murder She Wrote DVD. Does MakeMKV separate the files for each episode automatically, or does it create one big MKV file with all episodes connected that I'd have to to go on later on and cut up using a program like Final Cut or Sony Vegas.

Thanks again for the detailed information. You helped me out A LOT!

 

[DaveF]

Hey everyone!

I have recently began thinking about starting to rip my collection for preservation and convenience purposes, however I have a question.

Can someone give me a tip how to do that when it comes to TV shows in order to be able to rip every episode separately.

Or maybe VLC already does that. Or.. should it even be VLC, any better alternatives?

I'm new to this thing and any pointers (or links to posts in this very thread) would be more than welcome.

Thanks in advance,
Stan.

P.S. - I'm a Windows user, if that matters at all.

I’ve discussed a Windows-centric experience with HTPC in my older thread.

2016 HTPC for Catfisch Cinema

I've wanted an "media PC" for a long time. But finances and practicalities have thwarted me until last year. Previously, it was finances. In 2012 I had the finances, but my goals were in conflict, so I gave up without building...

www.hometheaterforum.com

 

[DaveF]

First, let me say that ripping and managing TV shows is far more annoying that just movies. The amount of manual work is much higher because you‘re dealing with 10-20+ episodes a season and maybe 5-20+ seasons. And then you bump into numbering issues between aired-date numbering vs original series numbering. And there’s mini-series, and special features, and made-for-TV-movies. It can get messy and confusing. It’s all doable. Just takes time and patience and time searching how-to’s

@Nelson Au - Thanks so much! This information is absolutely invaluable.

I'm totally down to purchase the MakeMKV program if it is gonna help me on my quest to creating what is pretty much my own streaming service for home use

With the increasing prices of all streaming services, having the convenience of our collections one click away sounds more and more appealing.

Just one more thing - say for example I'm ripping a Murder She Wrote DVD. Does MakeMKV separate the files for each episode automatically, or does it create one big MKV file with all episodes connected that I'd have to to go on later on and cut up using a program like Final Cut or Sony Vegas.

Thanks again for the detailed information. You helped me out A LOT!

For DVD and Blu-ray, I tend to prefer using AnyDVD to rip to ISO and then use CloneBD to rip and de-mux titles from the ISO. CloneBD also is good at automatically identifying the main feature(s) and extras and saving them with slightly more helpful names than MakeMKV.

MakeMKV and CloneBD both will output episodes to individual files.


(But CloneBD I can’t recommend for 4K UHD titles.)

 

[justarandomstan]

@DaveF - thanks a lot for this information.

I do realize that ripping and managing the TV shows is gonna be a hassle. Have multiple shows that are 15+ seasons. Got a loooong road ahead of me, that's for sure.

I'd definitely look into the thread you provided me with above, it sure is gonna come handy when I am about to take this step in the near future.

 

[Nelson Au]

Dave, I had a look at your HTPC thread, that’s quite a build! I’m still going over it, it’s very technically advanced! And you really use a lot of different applications to rip, but I know you mentioned quite a few of them.

 

[Nelson Au]

Stan about your question of ripping a disc of TV episodes. I had been ripping a few discs yesterday and took a screen cap for you, so what you see below is what I get right after a rip from MakeMKV. So as I said and Dave said, you have to manually name each episode.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey guys, not sure I should post about this here or in a new thread. But as it relates to Plex, I’ll post here, perhaps someone could direct me to a better thread.

Yesterday I upgraded my home internet access from AT&T Uverse to AT&T fiber. The old system uses the copper phone lines in the house. AT&T forced us into that change in my area as they will stop supporting the old telephone copper lines outside. As I was using their VoIP for my phone service, I had no choice. My old speed is 24mbps on a good day. It’s been going south recently, undoubtedly AT&T not maintaining it. The old AT&T modem is also plugged into my Apple AirPort Extreme wifi base.

How fiber is connected to the house is totally new to me and I had to try to gather as much Intel before hand. It was pretty simple. They were able to fish the fiber through the underground conduit from the street to my house where the copper lines enter a utility electric meter and phone box on the side of my garage. From there the fiber entered my garage and working with the tech, we routed the fiber to a wall thats fairly close to the center of the house. What I was not aware of is that now, the home telephone copper lines are now no longer functional. The new AT&T gateway modem is now my communication device. The fiber now plugs into that Gateway modem. I am now using its wifi to feed the entire house. There are Ethernet ports in the back so I can add devices to it and I can plug an old school telephone into it. I may need to get a cordless phone in the house. Wifi coverage is good in my house with speeds up to 3-400mbps via Ookla speed check on my iPhone.

Now here’s the problem. My Plex server is a Mac Pro mid 2012 model, the last cheese grater model. I was using the old AT&T modem‘s Ethernet ports to plug into the Mac Pro and a work PC desktop. The desktop PC has no wifi, so I am getting an external wifi adaptor that plugs into the USB 3 port.

On the Mac Pro Plex server, I have to now turn on its internal AirPort Extreme card for wifi. This works and I can get on the internet with that Mac via wifi. This Mac must have a limited speed as Ookla speed test got 60 Mbps. My service is 1 gig! This Mac Pro is located in a separated room from the AT&T gateway, so the wifi has to pass two walls and about 15 to 20 feet distance. My iPhone in the location of the Mac Pro can get 200 to 300 Mbps depending on where I check in that room. So maybe the Mac Pro’s wifi is too old. It is 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless networking;3 IEEE 802.11a/b/g compatible.

At any rate, that Mac Pro is located on the floor under my desk and with Plex running, the Apple TV4k in the family room next to the new AT&T gateway can receive the show from the Plex server. But it will play about 2 minutes and then pause for 1 minute as it buffers, this was quite frustrating as it took 40 minutes to watch 25 minutes of a TV show MKV file. I tried adjusting position of the Apple TV and the gateway, and I dragged the Mac out from under the desk as far as I could. This All failed to help. In the middle of the night, I could not sleep so I got up and shut the Mac Pro down and I lifted it up on the table top next to my display. This was not ideal but I had to test this to trouble shoot. To my amazement, the built-in wifi on the Mac Pro was now able to stream to the Apple TV in both the familty room, the living room with the main HT set up and even to my bedroom where I could watch on my iPad Pro running the Infuse app to stream from Plex. The videos ripped from blu rays play fine so far. Better than before too. Obviously there is furniture that was inhibiting the wifi signal speed. Now there is a more unobstructed line of sight to the AT&T gateway and Apple TV’s. (Prior, using my Apple Airport extreme, it has an unobstructed line of sight to the ATV‘S. ( I checked the Mac Pro’s wifi link speed, it’s 144mb/s. )

So now I think I solved the Plex server issue. It’s not ideal as the huge Mac Pro is on my desk. I suppose doing this via wifi is not bad. My house makes it very hard to fish Cat6 cable to that room.

So now I am considering options. I’ll be curious what others think. I may retire that Mac Pro as it’s aging and can’t update beyond High Sierra. But its pluses are that it can have 4 hard drives inside it and an internally mount blu ray drive. So now I’m considering a new Mac Pro or Mac Studio. The Studio probably will fill my needs. But then I need to understand external enclosures to up to 4 or 5 hard drives. i will pull from the two drives in old Mac Pro with my MKV files. I figure i’ll need room for more drives as I keep ripping discs. I’m thinking just have external drive enclosure that plugs into the Mac Studio or Mac Pro. Plus I’ll need a new external blu ray drive. Another plus is the old Mac Pro has an internally installed Pioneer blu ray drive I use to rip the Blu rays and DVDs.

If I get a new Mac Pro, I’d like to use that on the floor, so I wonder if it’s internal wifi will be better to reach the Apple TV’s in the other rooms. Or the Mac Studio that will be desktop situated so I figure the built in wifi will work fine with that.

By the way, I considered a NAS too. Not sure that’s the way to go. And I also saw a YouTube video from Plex about how to use a 2012 Mac Mini as a Plex server. That looks pretty good, but like my Mac Pro, it’s limited to High Sierra.

That’s about it. One nice thing about the fiber update is now I can watch youtube, Paramount plus and other streaming without the pausing and buffering or dropped resolution I was experiencing before. It’s great!

Thanks for any insights!

 

[DaveF]

Why can’t you connect your Mac Pro to Ethernet like you used to?

 

[Nelson Au]

Hi Dave, thanks for the quick reply.

if I could, I would use Ethernet. My house is not set up with Ethernet. The new AT&T gateway is located in the center of the house where the fiber was routed to. The Mac Pro is set up in my home office in the front of the house.

i have pondered how to route some Cat6 cable from the garage to the home office. This house is built on a concrete slab and there is no physical connection between the garage and home office except a front door. And there is no attic space to route a cable.

 

[DaveF]

That’s not where things were located before?

Current WiFi can be quite fast. Upgrade from your old Apple gear to a current mesh system might be wholly sufficient.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Might not even need a mesh system depending on the strength of a new wireless router and its placement. I was advised to get a mesh system but found that my solitary router was putting out 500+mbps at the closest points and 300+ in the furthest parts of the house and the backyard, which far exceed what I actually need.