Bluray ripping beginner

[DukeFleed]

Hi everyone.

Before purchasing the Bluray burner I would like to know from other Linux users if ripping is as satisfactory as I think it is on Windows. This is because in past years I had read that watching Blu-rays on Linux was problematic and therefore I think ripping was also problematic. And this has always stopped me from buying a burner and I have therefore only made copies of my DVDs and not BDs.

But now I've decided to try because I've noticed that BDs bought a few years ago can sometimes become unreadable and have to be bought again, unlike older DVDs which can still be seen.

My questions:
1) With Linux (I use Ubuntu 20.04) can I make copies of my BDs with satisfaction?

2) As a burner I was oriented towards the Asus BW-16D1HT, but doing research on the forum I would now like to buy the Pioneer BD-R 212v (on Amazon the difference between the two is just a few euros): am I right? For now I'm not interested in UHD, and then I only have normal BDs.

3) While waiting to buy the burner, I have already installed the necessary libraries on Ubuntu (some were already installed) including the KEYDB.cfg file, as well as obviously VLC and MakeMKV which I was already using: do I need anything else?

Thank you

[MrPenguin]

Whether or not ripping BluRays is easy depends almost entirely on your drive and its firmware, rather than which OS you use. That is certainly true from the perspective of MakeMKV. The initial configuration is obviously different, because on Linux, MakeMKV needs a read+writable /dev/sgX device node for each of your optical drives.

Any Pioneer drive bought from Amazon today will almost certainly not support ripping UHD disks, and there's a good chance it never will either. Nor will the window for obtaining a UHD-compatible Pioneer drive remain open indefinitely. Having said that, my Pioneer drives are definitely more reliable readers than my other drives for reading UHDs.

Personally, I don't bother ripping ordinary BluRays because there are sufficient publicly available keys and host certificates for VLC to play them directly. However, this isn't true for UHD disks unless you can somehow either obtain its Read Device Key (RDK) or disable Bus Encryption entirely via LibreDrive.

I also store all of my "rips" on a multi-terabyte USB hard drive, and don't burn anything to other optical media.

[DukeFleed]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

So, if I understand correctly, with normal BDs I "shouldn't" have problems, while I could have them with UHD bluray, but as said I don't care, and Pioneers are more reliable than other brands especially for UHD discs.

Only one thing I didn't understand: "MakeMKV needs a read+writable /dev/sgX device node for each of your optical drives". Meaning what? What should I do on Ubuntu? Thank you.

[MrPenguin]

I think everyone finds Pioneer drives to be far more reliable at ripping disks, and MakeMKV only needs LibreDrive for UHD disks. But having said that, should you ever want to change your mind in the future, you should also be aware that the window for acquiring LibreDrive-compatible Pioneers is closing...

Only one thing I didn't understand: "MakeMKV needs a read+writable /dev/sgX device node for each of your optical drives". Meaning what? What should I do on Ubuntu?

I don't know how Ubuntu configures its Linux kernel - do you already have any /dev/sg* device nodes in the filesystem? Because if not, you will need to load the sg kernel module, and then ensure that your non-privileged user ID has read/write permissions for them.

[DukeFleed]

I think everyone finds Pioneer drives to be far more reliable at ripping disks, and MakeMKV only needs LibreDrive for UHD disks. But having said that, should you ever want to change your mind in the future, you should also be aware that the window for acquiring LibreDrive-compatible Pioneers is closing...

I don't think I will change my mind in the future.

Only one thing I didn't understand: "MakeMKV needs a read+writable /dev/sgX device node for each of your optical drives". Meaning what? What should I do on Ubuntu?

I don't know how Ubuntu configures its Linux kernel - do you already have any /dev/sg* device nodes in the filesystem? Because if not, you will need to load the sg kernel module, and then ensure that your non-privileged user ID has read/write permissions for them.

I had never heard of this and I don't have these nodes on Ubuntu. Without these MakeMKV won't work to rip blurays? I use it for DVDs and it works great for me.

[MrPenguin]

I had never heard of this and I don't have these nodes on Ubuntu. Without these MakeMKV won't work to rip blurays? I use it for DVDs and it works great for me.

Try this:

Code: Select all

# modinfo sg

MakeMKV doesn't find any optical drives on my Linux machine unless the sg kernel module is loaded.

[DukeFleed]

Try this:

Code: Select all

# modinfo sg

MakeMKV doesn't find any optical drives on my Linux machine unless the sg kernel module is loaded.

I gave the command in the terminal but nothing appeared on the screen.

However, the DVD burner I have makes MakeMKV. Why should it be different with the bluray one? I do not understand. The device is /dev/sr0.

[MrPenguin]

However, the DVD burner I have makes MakeMKV. Why should it be different with the bluray one? I do not understand. The device is /dev/sr0.

I can only tell you how MakeMKV behaves on my own Linux box, i.e. that it completely fails to recognise any optical drives unless these drives have /dev/sg* device nodes as well as /dev/sr* ones.

[DukeFleed]

I understand. Sorry, I would like to ask you something else: since, as you know, I would like to buy the Pioneer BD-R 212v, I had the doubt that since it has a Vinpower Digital firmware it could give recognition problems to Linux. What do you think about it? However, I wrote to Vinpower. Thank you.

[georgesgiralt]

Hello,
On all my Ubuntu machines, the BD/DVD drives I plug into (BU40N, Pionner and various DVD burner from many makers) are recognised and useable strait on be it with Brasero, MakeMKV, VLC, K3B or any program trying to access them. *
You can "easily" rip your DVD or BD under Linux provided you have a drive able to read them and sufficient disk space to hold the files.
You can, also burn optical disks provided you have the proper BD media able to hold the files you kept on your hard drives....
UHD disks produce HUGE files and, then, need large BD disks...




* : K3B has a tab to ask/show what external programs you need for the program to run properly. So you would know if something is missing.

[DukeFleed]

Ordered the Pioneer BDR-212v on Amazon on Tuesday and it arrived a some hours ago, everything ok, recognized by Linux and I also copied a BD

Hello,
On all my Ubuntu machines, the BD/DVD drives I plug into (BU40N, Pionner and various DVD burner from many makers) are recognised and useable strait on be it with Brasero, MakeMKV, VLC, K3B or any program trying to access them. *
You can "easily" rip your DVD or BD under Linux provided you have a drive able to read them and sufficient disk space to hold the files.
You can, also burn optical disks provided you have the proper BD media able to hold the files you kept on your hard drives....
UHD disks produce HUGE files and, then, need large BD disks...




* : K3B has a tab to ask/show what external programs you need for the program to run properly. So you would know if something is missing.

Thanks for replying to me

[georgesgiralt]

You're welcome ! Enjoy your drive !