I have all, fullsized BD rips of my movies. In these, I have the DTS-HD MA with regular DTS track or vice versa with Dolby in mkv format. I have Amazon FireTV clients, but my main client is the Xbox One. I am warming up to the idea of converting my collection to mp4 or m4v (trying to understand the difference here). As I understand it, to do this, I would have to let go of my higher quality audio tracks. I could then direct play the files. What is everyone's take on this. Is it worth it to do the conversion or just let it direct stream?
It will be a lot of work, not work I am scared of, but a lot nonetheless.
Is it worth it? mp4 is much more universal, so there is that and the fact that, i suspect I could never tell the difference on a 5.1 system. One day I would like a more robust HT, but that is years away.
Is it worth it? mp4 is much more universal, so there is that and the fact that, i suspect I could never tell the difference on a 5.1 system. One day I would like a more robust HT, but that is years away.
When the day finally comes, do you want to re-rip everything then?
Go with a server that is powerful enough to do transcoding and you're set I'd say.
I have all, fullsized BD rips of my movies. In these, I have the DTS-HD MA with regular DTS track or vice versa with Dolby in mkv format. I have Amazon FireTV clients, but my main client is the Xbox One. I am warming up to the idea of converting my collection to mp4 or m4v (trying to understand the difference here). As I understand it, to do this, I would have to let go of my higher quality audio tracks. I could then direct play the files. What is everyone's take on this. Is it worth it to do the conversion or just let it direct stream?
It will be a lot of work, not work I am scared of, but a lot nonetheless.
Is it worth it? mp4 is much more universal, so there is that and the fact that, i suspect I could never tell the difference on a 5.1 system. One day I would like a more robust HT, but that is years away.
Philip
For the love of everything that is holy, do NOT convert your ripped Blurays to MP4 - the Xbox One will only play them in stereo and MP4 loses video quality no matter what anyone tells you. If you've ripped them into MKV's (I'm hoping you did, as MakeMKV is literally the only way one should rip their Blurays), then just use Popcorn Time (free) to convert the DTS file into AC3 5.1. It does not change the video quality at all (it remuxes), and it will allow you to playback all of your h.264 MKV's on your Xbox One just re-contained without any video transcoding (or loss in video quality).
I also rip all of my Blurays for playback on the Xbox One, but stereo sound is unacceptable. MKV + AC3 5.1 FTW!!!!!
For the love of everything that is holy, do NOT convert your ripped Blurays to MP4 - the Xbox One will only play them in stereo and MP4 loses video quality no matter what anyone tells you. If you've ripped them into MKV's (I'm hoping you did, as MakeMKV is literally the only way one should rip their Blurays), then just use Popcorn Time (free) to convert the DTS file into AC3 5.1. It does not change the video quality at all (it remuxes), and it will allow you to playback all of your h.264 MKV's on your Xbox One just re-contained without any video transcoding (or loss in video quality).
I also rip all of my Blurays for playback on the Xbox One, but stereo sound is unacceptable. MKV + AC3 5.1 FTW!!!!!
Of course they are MKV! What about Dolby tracks? Same Thing? I use MKV tools, I think it can do the same thing.
Stick with MKV.. Direct Stream does not affect quality and does not use much processor power. Plus, with Murphy's Law and all, the second you were done converting all your mkvs to mp4, Microsoft would update the XBO to support MKV.
Also, keep in mind that the XBO only supports bitrates up to 20MBps, anything higher than that (most direct BluRay rips) will force the video to transcode regardless of file type.
Stick with MKV.. Direct Stream does not affect quality and does not use much processor power. Plus, with Murphy's Law and all, the second you were done converting all your mkvs to mp4, Microsoft would update the XBO to support MKV.
Also, keep in mind that the XBO only supports bitrates up to 20MBps, anything higher than that (most direct BluRay rips) will force the video to transcode regardless of file type.
Yea I've read that, but why is that? Certainly it's not a hardware limit thing, right? Maybe that will change.
Of course they are MKV! What about Dolby tracks? Same Thing? I use MKV tools, I think it can do the same thing.
Xbox One only supports h.264 files with AC3 (which is Dolby Digital) and AAC. It does not support DTS (which almost all Blurays are encoded in). I use PopCorn MKV for my DTS => AC3 remux. I've never used MKV Tools for that, but it might work. I only use MKV Tools to join 2 different files (or split one). PopCorn time takes 1 file (you can do entire folder directories and do all your movies at once) and converts the DTS to AC3 Dolby Digital without affecting video quality at all.
You need to agree to install all of the added codecs and crap, but don't panic. It's clean (at least scanning with Malwarebytes, AdAware, and other popular scanners seemed to think so).
I'm not sure of they "why" it's on Microsoft's side, so Lord only knows why they do some things they do.
You sure? Not to be an A-hole or anything, I was reading the PS4 FAQ and it has the same 20mbits limit. Just seems odd that it is something that two very different and "beat the other to the punch" companies would implement.
I was reading the PS4 FAQ and it has the same 20mbits limit. Just seems odd that it is something that two very different and "beat the other to the punch" companies would implement.
I'm convinced that this was done so people wouldn't just rip their Blurays to MKV. If >20 MB/s gets supported, there would literally be no reason to use optical discs.
Right now, some form of transcoding/compression needs to take place for >20 MB/s bit rate video files, so the powers that be (read: all movie production companies) know that in order to experience the highest definition experience, you'll still need an old fashioned optical disc and Bluray player. Sucks, but I'm convinced that's the reason.
I'm convinced that this was done so people wouldn't just rip their Blurays to MKV. If >20 MB/s gets supported, there would literally be no reason to use optical discs.
Right now, some form of transcoding/compression needs to take place for >20 MB/s bit rate video files, so the powers that be (read: all movie production companies) know that in order to experience the highest definition experience, you'll still need an old fashioned optical disc and Bluray player. Sucks, but I'm convinced that's the reason.
/end conspiracy theory soapbox speech ;)
Could be. But it seems like the studios would be the idiots here. We buy BD for the quality and rip. The average persons heads on over to iTunes or Amazon to make their purchase. Effectively killing the disc by their own actions. Idiots.
I have found that ripping a Blu-Ray and converting to MP4 and AC-3 5.1 works perfectly fine for playback on the Xbox One. I get 5.1 sound and no server side transcoding.
I understand the transcoding aspect, but curious why you would choose to use PopCorn MKV to convert DTS to AC3, which is a permanent conversion. You're losing audio quality that way as I believe DTS allows for discreet rear channel (while AC3/DD, etc) will mix both rear channels together and produce the same sound out of both.
Seems to me that the best course of action would be to let it transcode and hope the XB1 eventually supports it, or a future device you may own supports it.
For the love of everything that is holy, do NOT convert your ripped Blurays to MP4 - the Xbox One will only play them in stereo and MP4 loses video quality no matter what anyone tells you. If you've ripped them into MKV's (I'm hoping you did, as MakeMKV is literally the only way one should rip their Blurays), then just use Popcorn Time (free) to convert the DTS file into AC3 5.1. It does not change the video quality at all (it remuxes), and it will allow you to playback all of your h.264 MKV's on your Xbox One just re-contained without any video transcoding (or loss in video quality).
I also rip all of my Blurays for playback on the Xbox One, but stereo sound is unacceptable. MKV + AC3 5.1 FTW!!!!!
I do not agree with you on this what-so-ever. How would simply remuxing from MKV to MP4 cause the MP4 to loose video quality? It's exactly the same just wrapped in a different package.
If you are talking about having to transcode the video then "maybe" you loose quality. DEPENDS
I say depends because if the source is already 264 and the overall bitrate is under 20mbit just remux. But if higher than 20 you can transcode the video using HandBrake/ffmpeg down so your overall bitrate is under 20 and "direct playable".
ALSO worth noticing is the codec used by the blu ray after you rip it with a tool such as MakeMKV. If it's VC-1 then I would not keep it but would surely transcode this to 264 since VC-1 doesn't transcode on the fly worth ■■■■ due to only being able to use one thread for it.
I guarantee in this case the quality on the xBox will be better if you transcode a head of time vs letting Plex do it in real-time.
So it really comes down to how each OP use their own system and what clients it has available. If you have multiple clients with a hard limit under your blu ray rips bitrate you might be better off pre-processing them down under 20 yourself before adding them to your library for the best video possible.
If you have other clients you regularly use that can direct play then it's a different story.
In a perfect world you could store an original copy/rip and also be able to generate a version that is client friendly.
In a perfect world you could store an original copy/rip and also be able to generate a version that is client friendly.
This. If you have the possibility to do this... then do not hesitate. I can guarantee you that in the future you are going to wish that you did not compress your original material so much. Imagine what size of TV you will have in 5 years. Which resolution it will have.
If you have the possibility to keep it unaltered, and make a device friendly version as well: Do it. Future you will thank you.
