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  • Boxee Box

    Tired of the ever-hulking, always-advancing glacier of DVD and BD cases in my living room, I've procured a media server and a Boxee box to run it. My plan is to migrate all of my media (probably about 700 DVDs and BDs, counting all the TV shows I have) onto the server over the next year or so, and banish the hardcopy to a closet for backup.

    Media server with 6TB storage running FreeNAS lives in the basement, Boxee box hooked into AV stack (Plasma, BD player, CD player, cable box, Receiver) lives upstairs, CAT-5 network.

    So far I'm getting great quality playback from some items, but real movies that I've ripped are not great. I've played with a few different programs, but I like DVDFab the most so far.

    Does anyone know if it's really a "bit - to - bit clone" , or am I getting some default compression even if I've set that to 0%?

    -dale

  • #2
    If there's a visible difference between the DVD and the copy then it's being compressed. Sometimes the format you decide to convert it to has issues. I seldom do it so I'm not really au fait with what is good but the software I use is Handbrake and convert it to either .mov files or uncompressed mpeg4
    In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

    Leibniz

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    • #3
      So after patting myself on the back for getting the Boxee box and ripping about 30 DVDs to full iso files (I'm not interested in culling specific bits and pieces at this point - I don't need to save space), I find out that although Boxee USED TO auto-decode simple ripped isos to get around copy-protection and the like, as of 3 weeks ago it no longer does so.

      So I was fecked. All of the isos I'd ripped looked shitty - not so bad for an ancient MST movie or Rifftrax short, but truly awful and out-of-synch for a real movie like Star Wars, etc. After some flailing, I did some research (i.e. Google) and have come up with a software combo that seems to work well - AnyDVD + CloneDVD. I've tried a few tonight and it seems to be working correctly. I still don't have 100% "it's just like putting the DVD in the player", but I'm learning, and the synch and video quality issues seem to be solved.

      I run AnyDVD in the background and it decrypts automatically, then CloneDVD rips and builds the iso. I copy that to my media server in the basement, and I access it via Boxee. It doesn't run quite as fast as the previous option I used, but it seems to give me 100% of the video quality I want.

      And I bought a 60" Panasonic plasma for the basement at Best Buy. $900 - that's practically giving them away. So I have two giant TVs in the house - I am an a-hole. Or will be when they deliver on Tuesday. :)

      -dale

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      • #4
        Originally posted by dalem View Post
        So after patting myself on the back for getting the Boxee box and ripping about 30 DVDs to full iso files (I'm not interested in culling specific bits and pieces at this point - I don't need to save space), I find out that although Boxee USED TO auto-decode simple ripped isos to get around copy-protection and the like, as of 3 weeks ago it no longer does so.

        So I was fecked. All of the isos I'd ripped looked shitty - not so bad for an ancient MST movie or Rifftrax short, but truly awful and out-of-synch for a real movie like Star Wars, etc. After some flailing, I did some research (i.e. Google) and have come up with a software combo that seems to work well - AnyDVD + CloneDVD. I've tried a few tonight and it seems to be working correctly. I still don't have 100% "it's just like putting the DVD in the player", but I'm learning, and the synch and video quality issues seem to be solved.

        I run AnyDVD in the background and it decrypts automatically, then CloneDVD rips and builds the iso. I copy that to my media server in the basement, and I access it via Boxee. It doesn't run quite as fast as the previous option I used, but it seems to give me 100% of the video quality I want.

        And I bought a 60" Panasonic plasma for the basement at Best Buy. $900 - that's practically giving them away. So I have two giant TVs in the house - I am an a-hole. Or will be when they deliver on Tuesday. :)

        -dale
        You can never have too many screens
        In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

        Leibniz

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by dalem View Post
          So far I'm getting great quality playback from some items, but real movies that I've ripped are not great. I've played with a few different programs, but I like DVDFab the most so far.

          Does anyone know if it's really a "bit - to - bit clone" , or am I getting some default compression even if I've set that to 0%?
          Its not clear what format you are ripping to ?

          Is it a clone ie the same file structure & format on the disk is preserved or other.

          If you are imaging into iso or bin/cue disk image format then you will be getting a bit perfect copy provided the ripper was able to read your disk without any sector errors.

          Another point is duration taken to do the rip, a conversion will add some more time + cpu overhead compared to just copying everything off a disk.
          Last edited by Double Edge; 07 Feb 12,, 17:05.

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          • #6
            If you want, I'll take one of them TVs off your hands so's you feel less of an a-hole. I'm that kind of friend that would do that for you
            Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.

            Abusing Yellow is meant to be a labor of love, not something you sell to the highest bidder.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Double Edge View Post
              Its not clear what format you are ripping to ?

              Is it a clone ie the same file structure & format on the disk is preserved or other.

              If you are imaging into iso or bin/cue disk image format then you will be getting a bit perfect copy provided the ripper was able to read your disk without any sector errors.

              Another point is duration taken to do the rip, a conversion will add some more time + cpu overhead compared to just copying everything off a disk.
              I'm doing full iso rips. I tried something that claims it does "100% bit-to-bit copies", and maybe that's so, but it doesn't do anything about decrypting anything else, and that is the problem. The combo I mention above works pretty great, video quality is uncompromised so far, and I can keep my menus, etc. I'm well-pleased, and all my DVDs can go in a box in the closet now.

              BDs, that'll be another issue. I probably won't bother - by the time I'm ready to rip 40GB BDs and put them on a server, 100% reliable HD BD streaming services will exist that I'll bow to.

              It's been a long slow path to weaning me off of physical media, but it's finally happening. :)

              And bigross, I appreciate your willingness to sacrifice on my behalf. :)

              -dale

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              • #8
                Originally posted by dalem View Post
                I'm doing full iso rips. I tried something that claims it does "100% bit-to-bit copies", and maybe that's so, but it doesn't do anything about decrypting anything else, and that is the problem. The combo I mention above works pretty great, video quality is uncompromised so far, and I can keep my menus, etc. I'm well-pleased, and all my DVDs can go in a box in the closet now.
                DeCSS came out almost a decade back, so even if you get a crypted rip there are any number of utilities to decrypt, failing that your chosen player might do it on the fly like a standalone DVD player.

                What stumped is if indeed this is the method you use to rip how can there be a visbile difference between playback of the disc vs. the ripped copy. All DeCSS does is decrypt the content. It does not do any encoding whatsoever, so it escapes me why there is an issue at all.

                Originally posted by dalem View Post
                BDs, that'll be another issue. I probably won't bother - by the time I'm ready to rip 40GB BDs and put them on a server, 100% reliable HD BD streaming services will exist that I'll bow to.
                Typical blue ray is 25-35mb/s, this will be pushing it for more than one stream on a 100Mbs ethernet but should work with gigabit. You want a wired connection for flawless HD videos. On a pc rig you can get gigabit network cards for cheap but on a NAS that will be pricey.

                Originally posted by dalem View Post
                It's been a long slow path to weaning me off of physical media, but it's finally happening. :)
                You still listen to LPs & CDs, walkover and flip them over ?

                Can understand being slow to do digital with video because i find i don't need to rewatch video, audio is a differerent matter entirely.
                Last edited by Double Edge; 14 Feb 12,, 17:38.

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                • #9
                  Well, my vinyl is all in the basement but yeah, I still buy CDs and pop them into the changer - seems perfectly normal to me. The main reason I'm doing this with my visual media is really storage space - I buy, on average, a movie (BD now) every other week. The cases were taking over everything and spilling off of the shelf.

                  My home network is CAT5 not CAT6 so GBEthernet has to wait until I feel like redoing my cable runs.

                  I agree that it is a stumper about the visual differences. Especially because VLC handles everything flawlessly. If I could get VLC to run on Boxee, then.... :)

                  For instance, I tried my DVD of Silverado. Non-animated menus, everything looks the same, the (non-animated) menu works and is the same, EXCEPT... the moving frame selector is green out of the player and blue off of the server. Makes no sense to me.

                  -dale

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by dalem View Post
                    Well, my vinyl is all in the basement but yeah, I still buy CDs and pop them into the changer - seems perfectly normal to me. The main reason I'm doing this with my visual media is really storage space - I buy, on average, a movie (BD now) every other week. The cases were taking over everything and spilling off of the shelf.

                    My home network is CAT5 not CAT6 so GBEthernet has to wait until I feel like redoing my cable runs.

                    I agree that it is a stumper about the visual differences. Especially because VLC handles everything flawlessly. If I could get VLC to run on Boxee, then.... :)

                    For instance, I tried my DVD of Silverado. Non-animated menus, everything looks the same, the (non-animated) menu works and is the same, EXCEPT... the moving frame selector is green out of the player and blue off of the server. Makes no sense to me.

                    -dale
                    How to stream from VLC to Boxee Box? - Page 2 - boxee :: forums

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by dalem View Post
                      For instance, I tried my DVD of Silverado. Non-animated menus, everything looks the same, the (non-animated) menu works and is the same, EXCEPT... the moving frame selector is green out of the player and blue off of the server. Makes no sense to me.
                      Wait a minute, you're talking menus here, i thought you said there was a visible difference in the movie playback.

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                      • #12
                        Couldn't a person build a Gbit NAS? by putting a few 2 TB drives into a pc server with a Gbit LAN?
                        sigpic"If your plan is for one year, plant rice. If your plan is for ten years, plant trees.
                        If your plan is for one hundred years, educate children."

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by USSWisconsin View Post
                          Couldn't a person build a Gbit NAS? by putting a few 2 TB drives into a pc server with a Gbit LAN?
                          You still need the cable to push it through, and ideally, you want every other active device on that network to be Gbit capable as well.

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                          • #14
                            Isn't all this what apple tv is for?
                            In the realm of spirit, seek clarity; in the material world, seek utility.

                            Leibniz

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Double Edge View Post
                              Wait a minute, you're talking menus here, i thought you said there was a visible difference in the movie playback.
                              I'm sorry, I'm running some things together. The actual movie playback is uncompromised and unchanged, but some of the animated menus and the like are a bit wonky. I don't yet understand it but I can live with that.

                              Wooglin - thanks for the link! I haven't noodled out everything on the boxee forums yet and they can be contradictory (like any forum), but that'll be a fun read.

                              For instance, there is a thread on there stating that you can't pull a full menued iso of a multiepisode TV DVD and have it work right under boxee - the guys said you have to rip the individual episodes.

                              I tried it for fun with a Babylon 5 DVD, and the iso and menus work fine. There is a definite video quality hit, so I need to check the encryptions again, but the mechanical functionality and chaptering, etc., is all there.

                              Fun stuff!

                              -dale

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