What software to fully read UHD Blu-ray?

[HarryKleins]

Hello,

Thank you for the work you do.

My question would be to know what is the best software on Windows to read 4K UHD blu-rays while benefiting from the menus (chapter, audio, bonus).

Thank you

[SamuriHL]

Not read. You mean play. And the terminology may seem trivial but it's not. MakeMKV can read UHD's just fine. To copy them. It can't, however, play them. With that out of the way:

Free: VLC
My preferred: JRiver Media Center

There are other solutions, as well but both of these will give you full menu playback if you so desire. And MakeMKV can integrate with both of them for realtime decryption of discs during playback.

[MrPenguin]

Not read. You mean play. And the terminology may seem trivial but it's not. MakeMKV can read UHD's just fine. To copy them. It can't, however, play them. With that out of the way:

Free: VLC
My preferred: JRiver Media Center

There are other solutions, as well but both of these will give you full menu playback if you so desire. And MakeMKV can integrate with both of them for realtime decryption of discs during playback.

In my experience, while VLC 3.x can handle BluRay menus correctly, it cannot handle HDR. (I believe HDR support is scheduled for VLC 4.x.) This results in VLC displaying "washed out" colours when playing UHD disks. Personally, I use mpv to play UHDs, which displays colours correctly but doesn't support menus.

[SamuriHL]

This is why I use JRiver. It handles everything properly.

[HarryKleins]

Hi,

Thanks for JRiver I didn't know.
However, we insert the UHD blu-ray, it takes a lot of time to load, is this normal?
Also, the film starts directly, I don't come across the menus. I have to right click to choose the menu afterwards. Is there a way to directly launch the menu when launching the blu-ray?

THANKS

[SamuriHL]

Go into options, Video, look under Blu-ray Playback. Set menus to either ask or on.

[zoom+slomo]

Not read. You mean play. And the terminology may seem trivial but it's not. MakeMKV can read UHD's just fine. To copy them. It can't, however, play them.

Thanks for clarification because after stating very plainly what I wanted I feel that I really got the runaround elsewhere on this forum about what makeMKV can/can't do.

I’ve used VLC player for years to play DVDs but now I want to use it and JRiver to play, but not rip, BDs.
VLC has the best slow motion but very clunky zoom control while JRiver has excellent zoom but no slow motion control, two features which I often find indispensable for DVD and BD movie playback.

I’ve tried and failed more than once to correctly install these things https://www.lifewire.com/play-blu-rays- ... 10-4582918 And these presumably more exacting steps are even way more confusing. https://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=176924

Again, I have no need or interest in ripping BDs. And I have no problem with propriety software, but with Redfox gone can anyone say how reliable this or another solution is for 1080p BD movie playback on VLC and JRiver? https://www.dvdfab.cn/passkey-for-blu-ray.htm

[SamuriHL]

In theory the MakeMKV integration with JRiver and/or VLC should provide what you need. I've seen that it doesn't always work for people. But if you want to try it (you say you have it working for DVD's so this may be redundant if you've already tried this, but I want to be thorough), go into MakeMKV, open up the view, preferences menu, navigate to the integration tab, and VLC and/or JRiver SHOULD be listed there. Put a checkmark next to them and it will enable integration. From then on out, those applications SHOULD work with any DVD, Blu-ray, or UHD you throw at it.

If that solution does not work or you want something simpler to use, you can use Xreveal. https://www.xreveal.com/

That provides similar functionality to AnyDVD. The caveat is they provide no keys themselves. They require you to update the public KeyDB regularly. If you buy a license, it'll do a back-end lookup for you. An advantage this has is that it can use unit keys whereas MakeMKV requires a VUK or for the title to be supported in the internal hashed keys.

I hope this helps.

[Coopervid]

In theory the MakeMKV integration with JRiver and/or VLC should provide what you need. I've seen that it doesn't always work for people. But if you want to try it (you say you have it working for DVD's so this may be redundant if you've already tried this, but I want to be thorough), go into MakeMKV, open up the view, preferences menu, navigate to the integration tab, and VLC and/or JRiver SHOULD be listed there. Put a checkmark next to them and it will enable integration. From then on out, those applications SHOULD work with any DVD, Blu-ray, or UHD you throw at it.

If that solution does not work or you want something simpler to use, you can use Xreveal. https://www.xreveal.com/

That provides similar functionality to AnyDVD. The caveat is they provide no keys themselves. They require you to update the public KeyDB regularly. If you buy a license, it'll do a back-end lookup for you. An advantage this has is that it can use unit keys whereas MakeMKV requires a VUK or for the title to be supported in the internal hashed keys.

I hope this helps.

Great advice!

[zoom+slomo]

In theory the MakeMKV integration with JRiver and/or VLC should provide what you need. I've seen that it doesn't always work for people. But if you want to try it (you say you have it working for DVD's so this may be redundant if you've already tried this, but I want to be thorough), go into MakeMKV, open up the view, preferences menu, navigate to the integration tab, and VLC and/or JRiver SHOULD be listed there. Put a checkmark next to them and it will enable integration. From then on out, those applications SHOULD work with any DVD, Blu-ray, or UHD you throw at it.

If that solution does not work or you want something simpler to use, you can use Xreveal. https://www.xreveal.com/

That provides similar functionality to AnyDVD. The caveat is they provide no keys themselves. They require you to update the public KeyDB regularly. If you buy a license, it'll do a back-end lookup for you. An advantage this has is that it can use unit keys whereas MakeMKV requires a VUK or for the title to be supported in the internal hashed keys.

I hope this helps.

First, I've played countless DVD movies on VLC without any decrypting software; I'm surprised you didn't know that. As for JRiver, my trial expired long ago. I would love to buy a license but only if I knew of a solid BD decrypting solution that's easy for dummies to install, works perfectly and nearly with every BD and never involves any ripping. But from what I've gleaned this is not the case with makeMKV.

OTOH, who knows how honorable these guys are about refunds if it didn't decrypt my BDs on the fly in the background as promised. https://www.dvdfab.cn/passkey-for-blu-ray.htm

However, what if I had the same problem after purchasing an makeMKV license?

I think the simple solution would be for makeMKV to give me another trial version so that I can at least try it with VLC player.
Then if it works exactly as desired, I would buy the license, knowing that it would probably work as well with JRiver, and buy that license also.

But who to ask about this I wouldn't know.

[dcoke22]

I think the simple solution would be for makeMKV to give me another trial version so that I can at least try it with VLC player.
Then if it works exactly as desired, I would buy the license, knowing that it would probably work as well with JRiver, and buy that license also.

But who to ask about this I wouldn't know.

In your other thread, it was mentioned how to update your MakeMKV to use the latest beta key.
https://forum.makemkv.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=36195

FAQ about BETA and PERMANENT keys.

[zoom+slomo]

I'll try again updating this expired trial. Maybe I'll get lucky.

FINALLY!! Thanks to Andy1249 now I know where to get that key!! https://cable.ayra.ch/makemkv/

And he said to be sure that all boxes are checked.
https://www.avforums.com/threads/slysof ... t-32692350

[dcoke22]

FINALLY!! Thanks to Andy1249 now I know where to get that key!! https://cable.ayra.ch/makemkv/

You had the link to the current beta key in your first post in your other thread. I guess it wasn't clear to me that you were unsure about that.

[zoom+slomo]

I had clicked on that link last week but nothing happened, but today when I clicked on the other one from Andy1249 it took me where I obviously had to be. Will try this tonight.

[demuxme]

I have been unsuccessful in getting JRiver Media Center to play anything on both MacOS & Windows. I tried both UHDs and BDs. Thankfully I am in the trial period. Never tried but I have heard great things about PowerDVD seems to be great but it's only on Windows.