Ripping Blu-ray for streaming

[balornt]

I have been looking around for this for a while, but need some advice. I know how to rip blu-rays, and I have been doing so just fine. The problem I face is with streaming a ripped blu-ray. I have a NAS with 6TB that I want to stream my ripped blu-rays from. The problem I have found with using MakeMKV for lossless ripping is that even on my Gigabit router with high-performance devices connected via ethernet I still experience some major buffering issues. This came as no surprise since the bitrates for lossless blu-ray rips are rather high. I have learned how to rip/re-encode blu-rays but the process is very time consuming so I would rather not have to experiment with settings.

The question I need answered is,"What settings do you use for ripped blu-ray files that you intend to stream over a Gigabit LAN while maintaining the highest quality possible?" It would be nice if I could choose between two audio streams, one for stereo, one for 5.1 surround sound on a DTS/AC3 capable sound system.

I am a fan of ffmpeg (and it's assorted GUI's, i.e. WinFF, Avanti, etc.) and if you use a different encoder please let me know why so I can make a decision on encoding tools.

[fritzi93]

Are you using MakeMKV to create an MKV or a full disc backup?

Anyway, if reducing bitrate/file size is what you want, I have two suggestions:

1) Re-encode the audio to AC3 5.1 at 640 kb/s. If that's acceptable to you.
2) Re-encode the video with the x264 encoder using quality-based encoding at a setting of crf18 or so. CRF18 will give you very good quality while still reducing file size. If you go as low as crf16, you may not save any space at all (lower crf means higher quality). Output file size will be unpredictable using quality encoding, but you won't over-compress (or under-compress) that way.

A number of programs use the x264 encoder, e.g. BDRB, Handbrake, RipBot. I use Ripbot myself to re-encode audio and video, and output as MKV with original chapter timings.

Good luck and welcome to the forum.

[balornt]

I tested MakeMKV for creating an MKV. Its bitrates were too high for streaming (I had constant buffering issues in XBMC on a high performance machine). I am looking into using AnyDVD HD for decryption and re-encoding into mp4 files using h264 for video, ac3 for 5.1 surround, and aac for stereo sound. I used Quality-based encoding with crf17 for one test file. I understand how to do all this, what I really want to know is what is the highest quality settings people have used for streaming blu-ray rips while maintaining constant playback (no mid-playback buffering). Space isn't really an issue for me, so I want to preserve as much quality as I can while still being able to stream. Assume that I am streaming 5.1 surround BUT I'm using passthrough for the audio. My sound system will be handling the audio decoding.

I realize that this is somewhat subject to your player and streaming machines' hardware, but I want to get a sense for an average "highest possible streaming" settings before I start encoding all of my blurays since encoding one blu-ray can take a full 24 hours.

[hogger129]

As stated, use BDRB to create a smaller .mkv file. As for DTS and AC3, I can't tell much of a difference between DTS and 640kbps AC3 5.1. That said, it's up to you. Use BDRB to make the .mkv file. I do all my rips at BD9 with 448kbps AC3 5.1 in DVDFab and I'm happy with the quality.

[neomaine]

balornt,

Not knowing what you're using as a playback device, you don't mention it, you need to ensure everything supports the -sustained- bandwidth you're looking for.

I stream from my PC via gigabit NIC, gigabit router to 100mb WDTV Live. Handles full lossless BRs just fine, 1080p and DTS-HD which means anything from 10Mb – 50Mb/sec. But I know I can get sustained 100MB/sec+ throughput from my dedicated video drive (2 standalone 2TB drives, each with their own types of video).

If you have a PC that can read from the NAS, get some sustained read numbers. I'd be willing to bet that your NAS isn't keeping up.