I have been cleaning up my DVD collection and converting several to MP4 so
I can stream them over my home network.

DVD drives always seem to me a bit sensitive and temperamental and VLC
always seems unhappy about playing them. I have been looking at Blu Ray
drives and they seem to range in price form £85 to £300 from what I've
seen so far.

Any suggestions for a make/model robust enough to read/play anything
that's chucked at it without getting into a hissy fit?

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
There are 10 types of people in the world, those who do binary and those
who don't.

On 22 Mar 2024 22:48:30 GMT, "Jeff Gaines" <jgnewsid@outlook.com> wrote:

>
>I have been cleaning up my DVD collection and converting several to MP4 so
>I can stream them over my home network.
>
>DVD drives always seem to me a bit sensitive and temperamental and VLC
>always seems unhappy about playing them. I have been looking at Blu Ray
>drives and they seem to range in price form £85 to £300 from what I've
>seen so far.
>
>Any suggestions for a make/model robust enough to read/play anything
>that's chucked at it without getting into a hissy fit?

I have an Asus BW-16D1HT with v3.11 firmware - bought via Amazon/from Amazon direct circa £90.

It will rip Bluray's with makemkv under linux Mint for each title, but needs to be flashed with modded firmware to rip 4K discs which I haven't done. Inserting a 4K disk just seems to be ignored and the drive appears "empty" I presume the patched
firmware resolves this issue.

I've used DVDfab13 under WIndows 10 via virtualbox to rip disks without issue - but map the optical drive directly to the guest with "passthrough" and "hot-pluggable" enabled.

And DVDfab is trialware - so I don't use it now.

Can't see any native Blueray player software for Linux anywhere - probably DRM "issues"

ruby-ripper for CD audio works fine too.

And I haven't burnt any DVD or Blueray (or MDISC) discs on the Asus - so can't attest to reliability etc.

In terms of DVD rips and burns, I've never had any issues using an external USB slimline optical from Lite-on. Using either xfburn; dvdbackup, vobcopy (now obsolete) or DVDfab as above.

And, have plenty of disc space!
--
Sump

On 23/03/2024 in message <2j0tvi9da30t5qoso1bk6ruf1beujusin0@4ax.com> Sump
wrote:

>In terms of DVD rips and burns, I've never had any issues using an
>external USB slimline optical from Lite-on. Using either xfburn;
>dvdbackup, vobcopy (now obsolete) or DVDfab as above.

Many thanks for all the advice!

On win 10 the best option seems to be:

AnyDVD
https://www.redfox.bz/en/anydvdhd.html

with

MakeMKV
https://www.makemkv.com/

MakeMKV does work on its own but just seems smoother with the help of
AnyDVD. I think the quality is better than mp4 but that's just a
subjective judgement. It also finds the chapters so I have separate files
for each episode, the other method I tried only produced one file for the
disk and then only seemed to have the first episode, anyway fine now.

Only problem I have found is one of the DVDs has an extra file, it should
only have 2 episodes but has found 3!

I'm OK for disk space but copying them over the network from the working
machine to my main machine is a killer!

I've ordered the Asus BW-16D1HT, it's on its way.

As part of my trying to make life easier I decided that I would use a
spare PC next to the HiFi cabinet and plug it into the only unused HDMI
port on the AV Receiver and control it via RDP. Unbuilt the study, rebuilt
the lounge and, of course, realised that although you can output the sound
from the remote PC the picture is on the machine you are controlling it
with. There must be a way round but playing these videos via the Roku is
much easier. Oh, Mellow Magic is coming through on the AV receiver 100%
now. I emailed Yamaha and they replied by return saying they would check
via their radio service supplier, nothing heard since but a couple of day
later it perked up enormously.

All good fun :-)

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
That's an amazing invention but who would ever want to use one of them?
(President Hayes speaking to Alexander Graham Bell on the invention of the
telephone)

On 24/03/2024 15:54, Jeff Gaines wrote:
> On 23/03/2024 in message <2j0tvi9da30t5qoso1bk6ruf1beujusin0@4ax.com>
> Sump wrote:
>
>> In terms of DVD rips and burns, I've never had any issues using an
>> external USB slimline optical from Lite-on. Using either xfburn;
>> dvdbackup, vobcopy (now obsolete) or DVDfab as above.
>
> Many thanks for all the advice!
>
> On win 10 the best option seems to be:
>
> AnyDVD
> https://www.redfox.bz/en/anydvdhd.html
>
> with
>
> MakeMKV
> https://www.makemkv.com/
>
> MakeMKV does work on its own but just seems smoother with the help of
> AnyDVD. I think the quality is better than mp4 but that's just a
> subjective judgement. It also finds the chapters so I have separate
> files for each episode, the other method I tried only produced one file
> for the disk and then only seemed to have the first episode, anyway fine
> now.
>
> Only problem I have found is one of the DVDs has an extra file, it
> should only have 2 episodes but has found 3!
>
> I'm OK for disk space but copying them over the network from the working
> machine to my main machine is a killer!

That's your next project, upgrade your network to 10 GbE, that will give
you 1.25 Gbyte/Sec transfer :-)

Alternatively you could use the SneakerNet standard, the fastest ever
network possible using your portable DAS unit.... :-)

> I've ordered the Asus BW-16D1HT, it's on its way.
>
> As part of my trying to make life easier I decided that I would use a
> spare PC next to the HiFi cabinet and plug it into the only unused HDMI
> port on the AV Receiver and control it via RDP. Unbuilt the study,
> rebuilt the lounge and, of course, realised that although you can output
> the sound from the remote PC the picture is on the machine you are
> controlling it with. There must be a way round but playing these videos
> via the Roku is much easier. Oh, Mellow Magic is coming through on the
> AV receiver 100% now. I emailed Yamaha and they replied by return saying
> they would check via their radio service supplier, nothing heard since
> but a couple of day later it perked up enormously.
>
> All good fun :-)
>

> Oh, Mellow Magic is coming through on the
> AV receiver 100% now. I emailed Yamaha and they replied by return saying
> they would check via their radio service supplier, nothing heard since
> but a couple of day later it perked up enormously.

Maybe I an a cynical old git but Yamaha will presumably be paying
royalties to the service provider for the "privilege" of hosting the
radio stations.

Perhaps Yamaha or the service provider may have degraded the service in
order to find out if anyone would notice......

no complaints, means either Yamaha can pay less for fewer radio services
or the service provider can make more profit by quietly dropping the
degraded radio stations that Yamaha are paying for?

On 24/03/2024 in message <utq26j$ifcq$1@dont-email.me> SH wrote:

>>Oh, Mellow Magic is coming through on the AV receiver 100% now. I emailed
>>Yamaha and they replied by return saying they would check via their radio
>>service supplier, nothing heard since but a couple of day later it perked
>>up enormously.
>
>
>Maybe I an a cynical old git but Yamaha will presumably be paying
>royalties to the service provider for the "privilege" of hosting the radio
>stations.
>
>Perhaps Yamaha or the service provider may have degraded the service in
>order to find out if anyone would notice......
>
>no complaints, means either Yamaha can pay less for fewer radio services
>or the service provider can make more profit by quietly dropping the
>degraded radio stations that Yamaha are paying for?

You could be right. From the comments in here when I first mentioned
Mellow Magic I suspect I am their only listener :-)

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
This mess is what happens when you elect a Labour government, in the end
they will always run out of other people's money to spend.
(Margaret Thatcher on her election in 1979)

On 24 Mar 2024 15:54:10 GMT, "Jeff Gaines" <jgnewsid@outlook.com> wrote:

>MakeMKV does work on its own but just seems smoother with the help of
>AnyDVD. I think the quality is better than mp4 but that's just a
>subjective judgement. It also finds the chapters so I have separate files
>for each episode, the other method I tried only produced one file for the
>disk and then only seemed to have the first episode, anyway fine now.

Yes, MakeMKV is an extractor and image creator (MKV), very much like handbrake (Usually MP4)... It isn't a DVD or Bluray verbatim copier.

So for each title - you'll get a new file. And I think (?) that by default they both just pick the largest title time wise - presuming that would be the main film etc.

e.g. Handbrake: an example DVD containing 4 episodes, you'll have to queue up the four DVD titles with 4 unique output filenames.

DVDfab will copy the disc file structure, either DVD or Bluray, but newer discs (later protections) are only supported on the paid version.

I'll have a look at AnyDVD.

>I've ordered the Asus BW-16D1HT, it's on its way.
>

Excellent, update us all if you ever decide to flash the drive with "libredrive" firmware for 4K blurays. I can't afford the space, given that 4K can be up to a 4 layer BDrom at 128GB..

--
Sump

On Mon, 25 Mar 2024 13:54:17 +0000, Sump <sumpusent@outlook.com> wrote:

>On 24 Mar 2024 15:54:10 GMT, "Jeff Gaines" <jgnewsid@outlook.com> wrote:
>
>
>>MakeMKV does work on its own but just seems smoother with the help of
>>AnyDVD. I think the quality is better than mp4 but that's just a
>>subjective judgement. It also finds the chapters so I have separate files
>>for each episode, the other method I tried only produced one file for the
>>disk and then only seemed to have the first episode, anyway fine now.

Hi Jeff, apologies..

>
>Yes, MakeMKV is an extractor and image creator (MKV), very much like handbrake (Usually MP4)... It isn't a DVD or Bluray verbatim copier.
>
>So for each title - you'll get a new file. And I think (?) that by default they both just pick the largest title time wise - presuming that would be the main film etc.
>
>e.g. Handbrake: an example DVD containing 4 episodes, you'll have to queue up the four DVD titles with 4 unique output filenames.
>
>DVDfab will copy the disc file structure, either DVD or Bluray, but newer discs (later protections) are only supported on the paid version.
>
>I'll have a look at AnyDVD.

I've misread your first paragraph... You already know what I've just said above!

>
>>I've ordered the Asus BW-16D1HT, it's on its way.
>>
>
>Excellent, update us all if you ever decide to flash the drive with "libredrive" firmware for 4K blurays. I can't afford the space, given that 4K can be up to a 4 layer BDrom at 128GB..

--
Sump

On 24/03/2024 in message <xn0ojpiv8a36j3500c@news.individual.net> Jeff
Gaines wrote:

>I'm OK for disk space but copying them over the network from the working
>machine to my main machine is a killer!

Spoke too soon. Down to 9% free space on drives. Decided to take drives
(collection of spinners ordered at different times from different places
per Jaimie's instructions) out of unused Buffalo and put in the spare
QNAP. Couldn't find key to Buffalo, looked everywhere and was wondering
whether to break in. One last place - tin in bureau marked "keys" there it
was, stupid place to keep it!

>I've ordered the Asus BW-16D1HT, it's on its way.

Arrived about an hour ago, OEM version (thought I had ordered retail).
Enclosed DVD has star shaped crack in it and thought do I fit it or don't
I? Anyway fitted it and although light comes on it's dead as a Dodo :-(
Will be collected by postie tomorrow and replacement is on the way.

I think it is the only item I've ever had from Amazon that arrived DOA,
had to happen sometime I guess.

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
We chose to do this not because it is easy but because we thought it would
be easy.