Blu Ray possible?

[cliver]

Hi,
I have managed to get makemkv installed and running on my Fedora 17 laptop.
It reads and rips DVD's ok but I can't get it to read Blu Ray discs.
I can't play Blu Ray discs on it at all. Even through VLC. I assumed thisa was because of the drm/encryption and that makemkv would allow me to rip the disc so I could make a non drm version of the disc to play on my laptop.
I guess I'm missing codecs.
Can anyone point me in the right direction please?

[SorenM]

You shouldn't need anything other than MakeMKV - I use MakeMKV under Ubuntu, and cannot play blu rays through VLC either; but have no problem using MakeMKV to create MKV copies of blu ray disks.

Once MakeMKV has been started and you put a blu ray disk in the drive, what output do you see in MakeMKV? Any error messages? Or does it not detect the disk at all?

[cliver]

You shouldn't need anything other than MakeMKV - I use MakeMKV under Ubuntu, and cannot play blu rays through VLC either; but have no problem using MakeMKV to create MKV copies of blu ray disks.

Once MakeMKV has been started and you put a blu ray disk in the drive, what output do you see in MakeMKV? Any error messages? Or does it not detect the disk at all?

thanks SorenM, that confirms what I am expecting to happen.
When I put a blu Ray disc in MakeMKV shows "Reading disc" then comes back with "no disc installed".
With an ordinary DVD it reads and rips it correctly.
I had to dig around a bit to get it installed in Fedora 17 do I'm guessing I'm missing a codec somehow but not sure what our where to look for it.

[SorenM]

Sounds like the drive doesn't recognise the blu ray disk as a valid disk - what blu ray drive do you have in your laptop?

[cliver]

I was thinking that it might be the drive itself as well.
It's an oldish Sony Vaio that used to have Windows on it.
I use it to experiment with Linux these days. I was liking to migrate entirely to Linux but there are some things I can't get Linux to do as well as Windows yet.
Anyway, it's the only blu Ray drive I have at the moment. Looks like I'll have to invest in a new one. I can try it on a Windows machine first then try in a Linux box to compare. Unless there are any other suggestions?
Would a usb bd drive work ok?

[SorenM]

A USB drive works fine with MakeMKV (I have both an internal and external USB blu ray drive).

However, before you run off and get yourself a new drive, please check the thread "MakeMKV has stopped being able to open Blu-Ray discs" (viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5847) - if you have had a new blu ray disc in the drive, then maybe AACS has been updated in the drive itself, and you'll need the latest version of MakeMKV; so, please confirm that you are using 1.7.9 before you buy a new drive!

[SorenM]

(Sorry for potential duplicate response - but posted a link in previous response and it's waiting on moderator).

Anyway. Just wanted to ensure that you read the thread "MakeMKV has stopped being able to open Blu-Ray discs", and confirm that you are using the latest version of MakeMKV (currently 1.7.9) since apparently just inserting a new blu ray (with latest copy protection) can cause the drive to no longer work with older version of MakeMKV (for blu rays!).

Also, using a USB blu ray drive works fine with MakeMKV (I have both internal and USB drives).

[cliver]

Thanks for the heads up. Yes I'm on 1.7.9
Going to look at options for a new bd Rom drive. Perhaps usb so I can test out on Windows as well as Linux.
Any suggestions as to make/model?

[SorenM]

I can only really speak for my own USB drive, which is an LG super multi blue. I have not had any problems with it (other than some kernel versions freezing when attaching it with eSATA cable rather than USB, but no issues when using USB cable).

I have read in other forums that LG drives supposedly are slower than other drives but have not noticed this myself - but to be fair, it is infrequent that I rip since I only buy approximately 5-10 new blu rays a year. You may want to create a new thread just to ask others for recommendations - there have been a few other hardware threads already that may be helpful as well.

[cliver]

Thanks again
I have been looking at LG. They seem to get a fairly good press from most quarters.
I'll do s not of digging before I commit. Thanks for all your help.

[cliver]

Just to confirm, it was my blu ray drive at fault. I bought a cheap and cheerful liteOn Rom only, as I didn't want to spend a lot to find it wasn't that.
Anyway it works perfectly and was pretty much plug and play