Handbrake not working with UHD Atmos mkv - Alternate tool to shrink MKV to 50 GB so compliant BD (BDMV/CERT folders)

[njweb]

I am relatively new to makemkv and new to transcoding. Hopefully this is the right forum to post this.

Goal:
I am trying to back up some of my original UHD discs to 50 GB BD-R DL discs so I can play the BD-R and keep the original safe from being scratched and damaged (have some limited edition and out of print rare discs that I want to preserve); however I am running into an issue creating BD spec compliant content - the final m2ts file does not work (see steps below), which seems to be due to Handbrake.

I know my Blu Ray player can play backups since I took two of my 1080P original discs and successfully used makemkv to create two full disc backups and burned the BDMV and CERTIFICATE folders to BDR-DL discs using IMgBurn (Mode 1, UDF 2.60) and both of those 1080P discs play fine in my Sony BD player.

The issue occurred when trying to back up one of my UHD discs which is over 50GB sand shrink it to under 50GB for burning on to a BDR-DL as a BD spec compliant disc:

Step 1: I used makemkv to create an mkv file by selecting one title of the original disc - one title in its entirety (i.e. kept all subitems checked - e.g. other audio streams under that one title).

Step 2: I then used Handbrake to shrink the above mkv to under 50GB.
Note - This where I think the issue lies - It appears Handbrake is NOT creating BD spec compliant mkvs (at least not for my UHD Atmos test disc) that could then be remuxed back into BDMV and CERTIFICATE folders using TsMuxeR ''Blu Ray folder' options - Blu ray ISO'' is an alternative) - see step 3 below.

Step 3 - I use TSmuxeR to take the shrunken mkv and remux it to create BDMV and CERTIFICATE folders.

The issue is the resulting m2ts file is not working when I used Handbrake.
I ran tsMuxer on the full size mkv as well as a test (i.e. NOT shrunken / NOT processed by Handbrake - i.e. skipping step 2) and that non shrunken m2ts works fine after running the mkv thru TsMuxeR, so it appears the issue is with Handbrake not working for my situation.

Note - I am using TsMuxerGui version git-a50c2c5 (from title bar of the app).

As a test, I tried DVDFab trial. 'UHD Copy' on the same UHD original disc and the BD-R DL it created works well in my BD player (although fast forwarding is not working right). However a lifetime license is not cheap especially if I also need Cinavia which is a separate package it appears (still considering it since it is very fast and straight forward - single tool does it all and had a BD50 setting built in and it shrinks the disc yet still retains menus / special features etc.).

My question, assuming of my assessment about Handbrake being the culprit is correct (please confirm if am right), is the following:
Is there a (simple) FREE alternative tool to Handbrake to shrink >50 GB UHD mkvs down to under 50GB while still creating BD disc spec compliant output (i.e. m2ts file in BDMV stream subfolder etc) that plays in a home BD player

[dcoke22]

Your goal is not one I've seen anyone else try for before. Most people just play the digital files because it is less hassle than dealing with discs and probably cheaper in the long run than buying BD-Rs. Getting rid of unskippable previews and annoying menus is a big bonus in my view.

I wonder how much space you'd save by not extracting audio tracks you don't need? MediaInfo (https://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo) can tell you how big the various parts of a MKV file are. For example, on a UHD rip I have, the DTS-HD track is 3.74 GiB and the DTS track is 1.21 GiB. In a movie with a lot of language tracks, that stuff can add up to a lot of space. By removing things you don't need, you might be able to skip the transcode step.

[njweb]

Your goal is not one I've seen anyone else try for before. Most people just play the digital files because it is less hassle than dealing with discs and probably cheaper in the long run than buying BD-Rs. Getting rid of unskippable previews and annoying menus is a big bonus in my view.

I wonder how much space you'd save by not extracting audio tracks you don't need? MediaInfo (https://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo) can tell you how big the various parts of a MKV file are. For example, on a UHD rip I have, the DTS-HD track is 3.74 GiB and the DTS track is 1.21 GiB. In a movie with a lot of language tracks, that stuff can add up to a lot of space. By removing things you don't need, you might be able to skip the transcode step.

Thanks, yes there appear to be a limited number of people using discs these days as you noted.
I am indeed old fashioned (in some ways, not at all in others) and prefer playing the discs and not using digital codes. That being said, we do have Plex and I did back up some of my movies as mkvs and stored them on my Plex Server HDD, but those are discs that I do not mind losing if the HDD fails.
I like the menus [and extras too etc.], although I am willing to forego extras to get the content under 50GB).
Believe it or not, I have yet to start using my Digital codes! Then again my ISP is implementing data caps, so for now it may be a good thing that I prefer Blu Ray discs vs. digital codes since we stream Netflix, Prime Video (fka Amazon Prime) and Hulu a lot and use a lot of bandwidth there...

Thanks for the audio suggestion. This was a movie under 1 hr 50 mins and it was 55GB all together. I did originally select just the True HD track, but then read that tsMuxeR needs the AC3 portion as well (something to that effect) and also when the mt2s was not playable (before I knew Handbrake was the culprit), I assumed perhaps I needed to select the entire contents of one title at least and not just part of it.
Let me experiment again.

Since Handbrake is not working, I assume there must be another tool (other than DVDFab UHD Copy e.g. which is not free) that can shrink an mkv by re-encoding the video but still retain BD spec compatibility so that TsMuxeR output file is playable (i.e. m2ts file plays properly, unlike the non-working m2ts created by TsMuxeR due to having used Handbrake to shrink the mkv in the step before)?

[d00zah]

Haven't used it in a long time, & it's not free (except for a trial period), but CloneBD might be worth a look?

[njweb]

Haven't used it in a long time, & it's not free (except for a trial period), but CloneBD might be worth a look?

Thanks, per their features page, it looks like CloneBD is good for unprotected BD50 to BD25 scenarios, but not my situation of wanting to compress UHD (>50GB) to BD50 and have it BD spec compliant...

[d00zah]

That was part of the original BD function, IIRC, but as they've tacked on "Support for UltraHD Blu-ray (UHD) discs" @ the end of the list since I last tried it, giving the trial a go seemed a worthwhile experiment. YMMV

[njweb]

That was part of the original BD function, IIRC, but as they've tacked on "Support for UltraHD Blu-ray (UHD) discs" @ the end of the list since I last tried it, giving the trial a go seemed a worthwhile experiment. YMMV

Thanks, let me look into it then. Seems CloneBD only supports unencrypted discs though.

[d00zah]

How 'bout a decrypted folder rip via MakeMKV?