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A few questions from a newbie to this technology

Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 10:17 pm
by g00se
Hello All,

I stopped using disks about 6 years ago, life has been great, steam has provided me all my games and netflix/prime all of my TV and movie content.

I have however now started to get frustrated with the lack of quality of both video content and audio quality from streaming providers. (Before anyone says anything, yes I am receiving the best possible quality from them and my internet is fast enough to not have problems with buffering or decrease in quality to make up for a slow internet connection)

My longer term goal is to produce my own box (Either a raspberry PI 4 or PC built from spare bits I have) which I can insert a disk and by some kind of automated process, the movies end up in a Plex or KODI library without me having to even touch the computer.

I'm in the UK, so preferably an EU seller if anyone is going to be specific about purchasing locations. (This will make more sense in my questions below)

My questions:
1. Which Blu-Ray reader should I get, it can be in a PC(SATA) or USB3 I do not mind, it must support UHD disks and going by my reading of this forum I think it should support LibreDrive? Region unlocked would be a bonus but not seen as a requirement?
2. If I buy a product key for MakeMKV, can I use it on Windows and Linux, I want to start with manually going through the process on my Windows 10 PC, but eventually move to a Linux box (my long term goal mentioned above)?
3. Has anyone on here currently got any successful scripts which can achieve my long term goal without having to program/script anything myself, I am happy to do this though if no-one does?
4. Is there an online API or cloud storage area where I can easily access publicly known decryption keys? I don't want to be involved in the process of having to find keys once I have my final solution.
5. If there's any extra advice anyone would like to provide? it will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all in advance and I hope to contribute more.

Re: A few questions from a newbie to this technology

Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:34 pm
by st4evr
g00se wrote:
Wed Oct 30, 2019 10:17 pm
1. Which Blu-Ray reader should I get, it can be in a PC(SATA) or USB3 I do not mind, it must support UHD disks and going by my reading of this forum I think it should support LibreDrive? Region unlocked would be a bonus but not seen as a requirement?
This questions has been asked a thousand times. Hence why there are numerous posts on this already including the following sticky post guide that goes into a lot of detail:

https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic ... 16&t=19634

Pay particular attention to the forums stickies, they have answers to these common questions.

UHD drive subforum discussions occur here:

https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=16

Where there is plenty of additional info.
g00se wrote:
Wed Oct 30, 2019 10:17 pm
2. If I buy a product key for MakeMKV, can I use it on Windows and Linux, I want to start with manually going through the process on my Windows 10 PC, but eventually move to a Linux box (my long term goal mentioned above)?
Yes, it supports Linux. Again sub-forum and sticky post all dedicated to this:

https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=224

https://www.makemkv.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=3

And Windows as also clearly detailed in the official MakeMKV Download page:

https://www.makemkv.com/download/
g00se wrote:
Wed Oct 30, 2019 10:17 pm
4. Is there an online API or cloud storage area where I can easily access publicly known decryption keys? I don't want to be involved in the process of having to find keys once I have my final solution.
Thank you all in advance and I hope to contribute more.
No. That's not how the current UHD decryption process works. You'll have to allow MakeMKV internet access (at the very least periodically), so that it can download the newest set of decryption keys as they are added by the software's developer. No current software developer/company—be it DeUHD, AnyDVD, DVDFab, etc—will put the keys out on the net publicly for various reasons. Why? That horse has been beaten to death in this forum and across the web for the past 2 and half years now. The forum search function works and you can find hundreds of more discussions on that topic through Google as well.
g00se wrote:
Wed Oct 30, 2019 10:17 pm
5. If there's any extra advice anyone would like to provide? it will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you all in advance and I hope to contribute more.
Read the stickies, browse and search the forum. There is wealth of knowledge that has accumulated here throughout the past 10+ years and in the past 2+ years in regards to UHD development/support. It will save you time and headaches. A lot of people have shot themselves in the foot by simply not taking the time to read.

Also, get a second piece of software that also supports UHD decryption. MakeMKV is a great piece of software and Mike does an amazing job in developing/supporting it, but it's not the be all end all for this task. Where MakeMKV can sometimes have a hard time with certain media, others may save the day and vice versa.