Can Plex Play M2TS files
Ok thank you!. So if I am correct based on that article I can play M2TS files as long as I have the main stream only. I have several Ripping tools (DVDFAB, PavTube ByteCopy, MakeMKV, and AnyDVD HD). I am not concerned about storage as I have around 48TB. So it appears that M2TS is completely uncompressed unaltered version of the movie or at least it seems to provide more data.
PavTube ByteCopy can carve out the main M2TS stream as can AnyDVD HD. AnyDVD appears to do a raw dump of the Blu-Ray into multiple folders and files. Under the BDMV>STREAM folder that it create I see a bunch of M2TS files, but only one is the unmistakably the main stream for the fact that it is the largest by far. PavTube ByteCopy just makes it easy to select that main stream. Other than that both files form PavTube BytCopy and AnyDVD HD are identical. I used The Polar Express Blu-Ray as an example I they are bit for bit the same.
The article you mentioned indicates concerns of commentaries along with the main stream, none of which I experienced. Thus, can I assume that picking the largest M2TS files from the dump is just the main movie and nothing else?
Hmmm… Interesting. Not only does Plex play the M2TS file, but all the chapters are there as well. So what am I missing?
Yes, it appears that PavTube ByteCopy and AnyDVD HD are separating the streams into individual M2TS files. I have been primarily using AnyDVD HD to rip to ISO and then DVDFab to convert the main movie to MKV.
I prefer AnyDVD HD as it has been a solid performer and gives me control of the speed of my Blu-Ray drive (Slow and Quite) and does not require CUDA GPUs to off load conversions from the CPU. DVDFab has been my “Go To” for converting to MKV, but it lately it has been giving me issues, hence I am looking for alternatives such as MakeMKV and PavTube ByteCopy. However, if I am able to play M2TS files natively with Plex then DVDFab is no longer needed. MakeMKV was going to be my replacement for DVDFab as it is a very straight forward product, is updated regularly and performs flawlessly. PavTube ByteCopy was just a an experiment and lacks good community support, so I will be dropping that product from my list.
The end result here is that if I am able to continue with the M2TS format using AnyDVD HD this will eliminate a lot of work needed to go from a Blu-Ray disc to MKV. I have a Synology DS3615xs which appears to handle my PMS very well when playing either MKV or M2TS files. My new Roku Ultra is also a solid perfomer.
I did find some differences between M2TS and MKV. If I use AnyDVD HD to copy the Blu-Ray disc, the main movie file is about 10.6Gb, but the data rate is 14564kbps and the total bitrate is 15205kbps. With MakeMKV the MKV file is about 10.0Gb, but hte data rate is 13730kbps and the total bitrate is 14447kbps. Both have the same audio rates and channels.
So I could conclude that there is something missing even though MakeMKV claims that they are creating a “Lossless” version in MKV.
Understood.
I am going to take this back. The Polar Express is a 5.1 channel movie. When ripping Ice Age Collision Course (7.1 channels) ANYDvd HD creates a 20Gb files with a data rate of 33,300kbps and a total bit rate of 33748kbps, audio bit rate of 448kbps. MakeMKV’s file comes out at 22.7Gb and the data rate is 24,413kbps and a total bit rate of 32,809kbps with the audio bit rate at 4617kbps. however the channel from MakeMKV is 8 (7.1 channels) and ANYDvd HD is 6 (5.1 channels)
I am sure that the larger file size from MakeMKV is due to the fact I was able to include the 7.1 channel streams. Question now is what am I losing in the 8,887kbps difference in the data rate and will I get Plex to play 7.1 channels when I select 7.1 channel streams?
Plex Media Server supports the following media files:
Movies, TV Shows, and Home Video: MP4, MKV, AVI, MOV, DIVX, and more
Music: MP3, M4A, FLAC, WMA, and more
Photos: JPG, PNG, RAW, TBN, and more
@NVader2000 said:
Can Plex Play M2TS files
You don’t need transcode ANYTHING.
Matroska (MKV) is a container, and it can carrie on your m2ts inside without lost NOTHING of quality in audio or video.
What do you need?
For complete blu-ray images you need MakeMKV. Free program, always in beta because is in constant development. This is the primary option. It takes around 10 minutes to do the job.
ALSO, you can use MKVToolNIX to remux the audio or subtitles that you want.
IF you’re looking for the complete bluray with menus, tc. Plex don’t offer that feature (yet) But you can with MakeMKV thake all trakcs that you want of any bluray and rename each one after the process.
More of 10 munites, maybe 5 more, it depends of your HDD speed.
Hope helps
ignore post
Plex doesn’t like video disk images, but if you go into the m2ts image and into the stream folder, locate the largest file and copy it out (video also a m2ts file), Plex can scan it and serve it out.
