Hi,
I have a quick question: which software do you use to play your Blu-ray HD or UHD movies and shows on your PC and Mac? I'm asking because when I try to use VLC to play the disc to see which episode of a TV show is which, it won't work with Blu-ray. It would also be helpful if the software could display details, so I could easily identify that title_05 is actually the first episode, for example.
Thanks,
Kevin
Bluray / UHD Player Software 2025
Re: Bluray / UHD Player Software 2025
My workflow is to first use MakeMKV to create a decrypted backup of a disc. (On the first screen of MakeMKV, the icon of a yellow folder with a green arrow.) I then open that backup in MakeMKV so as to create .mkv files from it.
When I'm trying to figure out which title is which, when I have a title highlighted in MakeMKV, I note the segment map line in the details on the right. In the <backup>/BDMV/STREAM/ folder of the disc backup, there will be a .m2ts file that corresponds with the number on the segment map line. I play that file with my player of choice (I like MPV, but lots of players can play .m2ts files) to determine what it is so I can name it correctly in MakeMKV.
When I have all the relevant titles sorted in MakeMKV I click the button to create .mkv files. This happens pretty fast since it is reading from and writing to my local storage with no optical drive involved.
Doing it this way, I never have to play a blu-ray or UHD disc on my computer. This saves a bunch of hassle IMHO. It also means if my first attempt at creating a .mkv file isn't quite right, it doesn't take much time to change something and do it again. Finally, it means I can separate the time consuming task of ripping a disc (creating a backup) from making .mkv files. For example, if I buy a new TV show, I can create backups of those discs in the background right away. This lets me know the discs are good during the return window. If it then takes me a couple weeks to get through making .mkv files of each episode, it doesn't matter other than the storage space the backups use while I'm working on it.
When I'm trying to figure out which title is which, when I have a title highlighted in MakeMKV, I note the segment map line in the details on the right. In the <backup>/BDMV/STREAM/ folder of the disc backup, there will be a .m2ts file that corresponds with the number on the segment map line. I play that file with my player of choice (I like MPV, but lots of players can play .m2ts files) to determine what it is so I can name it correctly in MakeMKV.
When I have all the relevant titles sorted in MakeMKV I click the button to create .mkv files. This happens pretty fast since it is reading from and writing to my local storage with no optical drive involved.
Doing it this way, I never have to play a blu-ray or UHD disc on my computer. This saves a bunch of hassle IMHO. It also means if my first attempt at creating a .mkv file isn't quite right, it doesn't take much time to change something and do it again. Finally, it means I can separate the time consuming task of ripping a disc (creating a backup) from making .mkv files. For example, if I buy a new TV show, I can create backups of those discs in the background right away. This lets me know the discs are good during the return window. If it then takes me a couple weeks to get through making .mkv files of each episode, it doesn't matter other than the storage space the backups use while I'm working on it.
Re: Bluray / UHD Player Software 2025
Thanks @dcoke22 for sharing your workflow. That sounds quite handy—and I do something similar with movies now when I'm unclear about the differences between different versions.
However, in my current situation, I have two different TV shows where I don't know which episode is which, and they don't have any episode names displayed in the series, so you would need to know the series by heart to assign the correct episode name to it—and this is where my problem lies.
This is why I was hoping I could use player software to play the Blu-ray/UHD, and when I select an episode through the Blu-ray menu, I would know exactly which episode number/name it is, and I could scrub through it and match it with the correct MKV file. Or if the player software shows the same title name as MakeMKV would name the episode, like "title_06," I would know that it's actually S01E01 because it would have the same file information.
At least, that was my hope.
Does anyone have an idea if software can do this? If not, I would still be interested in your recommendations for UHD Blu-ray player software so that I can work with the scrubbing solution.
Thanks,
Kev
However, in my current situation, I have two different TV shows where I don't know which episode is which, and they don't have any episode names displayed in the series, so you would need to know the series by heart to assign the correct episode name to it—and this is where my problem lies.
This is why I was hoping I could use player software to play the Blu-ray/UHD, and when I select an episode through the Blu-ray menu, I would know exactly which episode number/name it is, and I could scrub through it and match it with the correct MKV file. Or if the player software shows the same title name as MakeMKV would name the episode, like "title_06," I would know that it's actually S01E01 because it would have the same file information.
At least, that was my hope.
Does anyone have an idea if software can do this? If not, I would still be interested in your recommendations for UHD Blu-ray player software so that I can work with the scrubbing solution.
Thanks,
Kev
Re: Bluray / UHD Player Software 2025
When I encounter situations like that, and if DVDCompare.net doesn't have enough data for me to figure it out, I usually look up the show on Wikipedia (or the TVDB.com, or themoviedb.org, etc.) and figure out which episode is which by the combination of the episode director and writers. That and knowing it is unlikely that s02e20 is unlikely to be on disc 1 of season 2. 