So now what? Purchased flashed Pioneer BD, Purchased MakeMKV, so how to convert and playback?

[RobAinscough]

Maybe I missed a link somewhere on how to do this?

1. Purchased Pioneer BD flashed firmware by Billy
2. Purchased makeMKV license.
3. Installed MakeMKV and selected Integrated and added my license key (registered).
4. Placed a BD in my Pioneer BD drive.
5. Ran MakeMKV and selected "Backup" and decrypt option to local HDD
6. I have 4 folders BDMV, CERTIFICATE, MAKEMKV, ROM_CONTENT_PDFs

Now what?

For now I just want to test playback to make sure it worked. If it works then I transfer the folders over to my NAS where I have Plex server installed and the Plex client running on my LG C2 OLED TV. I have no idea if Plex will work with whatever output MakeMKV provides or do I need to change the output format so that Plex or some other player can use it?

I was hoping there would be a basic How To or ReadMe on what needs to happen as I assume what I'm trying to accomplish is pretty common, but can't find anything here?

Cheers, Rob.

[dcoke22]

Run MakeMKV again, this time open the decrypted backup you made in step 5.

MakeMKV will show you a list of all the 'titles' on the disc with a checkmark next to each one. Uncheck everything that you don't want (or right-click and unselect all). The movie is usually the big one. Twist open the arrow for that title and uncheck whatever audio & subtitle tracks you don't want. Rename things as necessary (with Expert Mode in MakeMKV turned on) to account for Commentary tracks and whatnot. Make sure the output folder is where you want then click the Make MKV button in the upper right. That will produce a .mkv file for each title selected.

The titles that aren't the movie are probably a mix of things like company logos, FBI warnings, trailers for other movies, and any extras the disc includes, like deleted scenes or a making of documentary. Some of those are probably more valuable to you than others.

Those .mkv files can be put directly into the proper folder & naming structure for Plex on your NAS. Or use Handbrake (or whatever) to transcode the files to something smaller, then put them in your Plex.

[dcoke22]

VLC one of the many players that can play the .mkv files. I also like MPV and its Mac specific sibling IINA. There are a lot of good players.

MediaInfo is a handy tool for looking at the details of a .mkv file.

If you want to go a little deeper, on a blu-ray (and UHD), all the video files are in the /BDMV/STREAM/ folder in the decrypted backup you made. They're all .m2ts files. Most players will play the .m2ts files directly. The 5-digit numeric title of a .m2ts file corresponds to the 'Segment Map' line of any title you have highlighted in MakeMKV.

[RobAinscough]

Thank you for the response, but where am I navigating to in the directory tree, there are a lot of files? index.bdmv in the BDMV folder?

...this time open the decrypted backup you made in step 5.

Cheers, Rob.

[Radiocomms237]

A couple of small things I'd add to the above...

Making (and working from) a full backup isn't strictly necessary, you can just put the disc in the drive and open it directly with MakeMKV using the big disc drive icon in the middle of the screen.

But assuming you have successfully made a backup, you need to use the "Open files" button (top left) and browse to the backup folder you just created, then go into the BDMV folder and double-click on the "index.bdmv" file to open the backup in MakeMKV.

Before you do any of that, another thing I'd recommend you do as an absolute beginner is click on the "Spanner" icon to go into settings, and on the first "Video" tab you may want to change the "Minimum title length (seconds)" to some ridiculously high number like "3600" seconds.

Doing that will only display titles over an hour in length, which will make your choices much less complicated after you open the disc.

Just remember that you did this later when you want to look for those Special Features, you'll need to adjust that setting back to something like 30 seconds so MakeMKV displays more titles for you to choose from.

[RobAinscough]

Thank you for the response, I was able to figure out the index.bdmv in the BDMV after some trial and error. I did create one title .mkv which is working well.

On the Plex side of things, I'm organizing per recommendations:
/Media
/Movies
/Music
/TV Shows

But I'm not sure how to setup "Extras" that come with my BD/DVDs ... should this be separate folders or just more mkv files under the same main folder? Example:

/Media
/TV
/Seinfeld
Seinfeld Season 1 Episode 1.mkv
/Extras
Seinfeld Season 1 outtakes.mkv

Cheers, Rob.

[Radiocomms237]

That is a reasonably complicated topic, especially as Movies and TV Shows are handled differently.

Have a browse around the articles linked on this page:

https://support.plex.tv/articles/#cat-your-media

And come back with any questions (plus, that saves me a whole heap of typing)!

[charnathan]

Plex doesn't support BDMV or ISO playback, so you'll have to convert each file to a MKV.

As far as organization, you'll have to see how PLEX handles organizing. Some players are fine with a lot of sub folders, but some can't handle it.

[dcoke22]

Plex movie extras

For movies in Plex, I organize things with folders.

Code: Select all

/Movies
   /Avatar (2009)
        Avatar (2009).mkv
        poster.jpg
        /Other
             Making Of.mkv
             Trailer.mkv

I've defaulted to putting all the extras in the 'Other' folder because trying to decide what's a Featurette vs an Interview vs a Behind the Scenes thing was more work than I cared to do. I do try to get the extras named in a reasonably descriptive way. Often the blu-ray.com review of a disc has a good description of the extras on a disc.

[RobAinscough]

Thanks again for the additional information.

I've started building my Media/NAS unit, tight fit but coming together:






Can I get recommendations for a RAID controller which is supported by UNRAID? I currently will only be using 5 SATA HDDs 10TB each, but have space for 8 SATA HDDs so plan to expand. What's a good RAID controller with 8 SATA with drivers for UNRAID/Linux?

Another question on conversion ... on the audio side does makeMKV and Plex support Dolby ATMOS, DTS, etc.?

Cheers, Rob.

[dcoke22]

I don't use Unraid, so I'm just speculating, but isn't the point of Unraid that you don't need to use a RAID controller? Doesn't it mash all the individual disks together in a redundant pool?

MakeMKV copies whatever is on the disc. So if the disc has a DTS sound track, that'll be what's in your .mkv file. For Plex, it is dependent on whatever the capabilities are of your 'Plex client'.

[RobAinscough]

After digging a little more, you're correct ... don't need a RAID controller, but I do need an 8 ports so I ended up getting this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CFR ... UTF8&psc=1

So the .MKV file will have all the related audio data ... excellent. My client can work with most audio options.

[dcoke22]

Your pictures sorta look like it has a backplane in there for 8 SATA drives, but maybe not. A 2-port SAS controller should work fine.

[RobAinscough]

Yes the case has a PCB and connectors for hot swap drive (8) layout.

HDD Side:


Data and Power Cable Side:


Thanks again everyone for all the input/help.

Cheers, Rob.

[RobAinscough]

Just wanted to thank everyone for the support.

1. Movies converted
2. Media Server built
3. Unraid installed and licensed
4. Plex Server installed and licensed
5. Plex client install on LG TV (this took more work than it should have and LG support is useless)











All good, thank you ladies/gents.

Cheers, Rob.