What 's the best hardware and software for ripping blu-ray movies?

[lacywest]

I got PowerDVD9 with my 205 and that plays HD, as long as you have a decent video card. I like Media Play Classic and it's free. I'm sure your system is fine to process BD, certainly the processor is, the biggest thing is you need at least 50gb or more of HD space.

I have MediaPlayer Home Cinema and VLC Media Player installed in my pc. I watch a lot of .avi and .mkv files that are stored in my pc with them, but I thought that a special player was needed to watch a blu-ray disk. I haven't bought the blu-ray player/burner yet. I don't have a tv so I watch everything on my pc, including DVDs, and I want to watch blu-ray disks on my pc when I get the BD player/burner.

I have BD playback smoothly on PC's w/ 8800GTX, 8600GT, 2600XT and HD4650

What are 8800GTX, 8600GT, 2600XT and HD4650?

I'm sorry, I mis-read the post. I thought you wanted to process (rip) bluray movies with the 205. You don't need 50gb HD space to watch a movie.

I have 12 1T/2T internal hdds and 4 750G externals so storage space isn't a problem, but you're right, I do want to rip and convert blu-ray movies so that they'll be stored on my hdds. I have about 30 blu-ray hd .mkv movies and they're much nicer to watch than .avi files.

as long as you have a decent video card.

I have an ASUS EAH4650-DI-512MD2 video card. Since I watch a lot of videos on my pc, I tried to get a good one, and I have a Dell UltraSharp 2408WFP monitor. I'm pretty happy with them.

You need a Blu-ray player program like ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre, or there are a couple of others, all pay programs. I like TMT 3 as it can play BD from my hard drives also. If you use a decrypter like AnyDVDHD you can also play the individual .m2ts files with MPC-HC or VLC or a few others. You definitely need a decrypter program if you plan to backup and convert your BD files and AnyDVDHD is the best one out there at present.

I back up and convert BD>MKV 8GB files. That takes about six hours on my 3.4Ghz quad core, so I just run RipBot overnight.

This is really good info, thanks redwudz


This really is a good thread . . . a lot of good info, thanks to everybody who's helping

Here are some links to get you started ... for looking at video graphics cards ... plenty more areas to look at ... but this should help you get started.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-PNY-GeForce-8600GT-8600-GT-PCI-Express-Video-Card_W0QQitemZ170...item27ae326845

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sapphire-ATI-Radeon-HD4650-HD-4650-1GB-DVI-HDMI-PCI-E_W0QQitemZ170...item27ae0edea5

http://shop.ebay.com/kingsnc/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131169

[HartsVideo]

Here are some links to get you started ... for looking at video graphics cards ... plenty more areas to look at ... but this should help you get started.

I have an ASUS EAH4650-DI-512MD2 video card. I bought it because it's able to drive a resolution flat-panel displays up to 2560x1600. Are you saying that it isn't good enough?

[fritzi93]

Your video card is fine:

http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=sHoHi2mw3t8Dieuj&templete=2

All you need is the BD drive.

[ocgw]

Just how important is this to you? A BD25 should play on damn near any player, BD 5/9 is hit-and-miss. And, not to belabor the obvious, but to play on a BD standalone, use BD structure, i.e. BDMV folder or disc image.

I'm thinking that I can convert the files 2 ways . . . one way to store them on hdds and another way to burn them to disks. I won't burn every BD movie, just when someone wants to see one. I'll know much better once I buy the player/burner. Since BD25 is more apt to play, I'll probably start with them to avoid problems playing them and when I have some experience with the programs and sure about what I'm doing, I can check out the BD9's.

BDRebuilder can compress to approx. 7gb with DTS 5.1 audio and fit on a DL disc. If you use a BD25 you can do DTS-HD audio. I've done a few and the DL (BD9) disc come out great. I don't even bother buying BD media now.

Sounds good

What do you use for a monitor?

I use a 56" 1080p DLP so compression artifacts have no where to hide in my home theater lol

ps. i only WISH I had as much free space on my HDD as you lol

I have a Dell UltraSharp 2408WFP monitor and the HD .mkv movies on my hdds look terrific. Most of the movies are 1080p. It may seem that I have a lot of room. That's what I thought when I bought the 1T hdds and had lots of room but I kept adding and the room started to disappear. within about a year, I'll have to replace all the 750Gb hdds with 2T hdds and the year after that, I'll have to start replacing the 1T hdds with 2T hdds. It's the way it's been going.

I didn't say I wish I had as much room as you, I said I wish I had as much free space, you have way more free space than I have, my 13TB is almost full, and my planned local storage upgrade path ends @ 17TB so i am going to have to start making "tough choices"

you have several hundred gigs left on all your drives, i have drives all the way to Z just like you and most of them have only a few 100mb free

add it up and you still have several TB "free", I am a week or two away from ordering another HDD, and I have only 2 more HDD bays free

I have 730 uncompressed (400+ BD, 300+ DVD) movies and 6800 (mostly wma lossless) songs on my Windows 7 Ultimate Gigabit Ethernet Network Home Media Server/HD HTPC

ocgw

peace

[HartsVideo]

Your video card is fine:

http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=sHoHi2mw3t8Dieuj&templete=2

All you need is the BD drive.

Ok, great, and thanks for the link.

I didn't say I wish I had as much room as you, I said I wish I had as much free space,

Gotchya. With video files, free space is at a premium.

[ocgw]

Your video card is fine:

http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=sHoHi2mw3t8Dieuj&templete=2

All you need is the BD drive.

Ok, great, and thanks for the link.

I didn't say I wish I had as much room as you, I said I wish I had as much free space,

Gotchya. With video files, free space is at a premium.

How about some pics of that media server of yours? must be awessome

I started a thread to show off HTPC's and media servers

https://forum.videohelp.com/topic368691.html

check this out HartsVideo, I don't have quite as much space as you yet lol (adding 2 more HDD's and I am done), but I have a chit load of content too buddy



ocgw

peace

[HartsVideo]

When I built my pc, I didn't set up a server. The drives are set up in an IDE format. 12 are internal and I have a few externals because I ran out of room on the internals. The case hold 12 hdds.

My Computer Components
- GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DQ6 LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Motherboard
- Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield cpu
- mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel RAM
- CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W
- 7 WD Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB, 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
- ASUS EAH4650-DI-512MD2 Graphics Card
- HighPoint RocketRAID 2300 PCI Express SATA II 8-Port Controller Card
- LIAN-LI PC-201A 12-Bay Case
- Dell UltraSharp 2408WFP Monitor
- Windows XP Pro x64

[HartsVideo]

This is what it looked like before I built the new pc.

[HartsVideo]

. . . and this is what it looks like now.

[HartsVideo]

I also have an external eSATA enclosure that holds 2 1Tb hdds in a JBod configuration which isn't in the picture. I haven't taken pictures since I built the pc in Jan 09.

[ocgw]

That is a nice case, it is what I wanted @ first but was a lil' too rich for my blood, last I looked cases like that were running @ least $400USD

You made a 1000% improvement, very professional

The case I bought has 13 bays of which 11 are useable for HDD's, I now use 7 HDD internally, 1x 1TB and 6x 1.5TB, I have 2 sata hot swap bays free for expansion (gonna' get 2 more 1.5TB drives) all aluminum and it only cost $250USD

I use 2 2x sata HDD usb enclosures w/ 2x 750GB and 2x640GB respectively (max 2x 1TB each) which I will max out as I sell the small HDD to my friends @ work

That is a very nice setup, but even w/o a window case maybe you should think about cable management, if you make "harnesses" it makes doing maintenance on your PC a snap

I have since cleaned up my psu wires, I have the same psu you have, the Corsair 850 watt w/ its beautiful cabling



ps. any PC can be media server w/ the right software, I use MyMovies3 Server/Client software, it automatically installs all the SQL and Visual C++ BS you need (I think you need all the .net crap too)

btw I was suggesting you post your pics in my "Post your HTPC pics" thread

ocgw

peace

[HartsVideo]

The Lian-Li case, with $70.00 shipping/handling cost me a total of $309.00 in Jan 09. It costs about $40.00 more now. http://www.ncixus.com/products/index.php?sku=21737&vpn=PC-201A&manufacture=LIAN-LI

I'm hoping that this will be the last complete pc that I build. I'm sure that I'll have to replace parts but 1 or 2 at a time as things fail or better technology is way beyond what I have. I saved to build this pc for 4 years until I had the money to buy what I wanted. There's better out there but I'm happy with what I bought. It does what I wanted it to do.

The cabling in your case looks really good. The blue data cables that I originally used were too long so I replaced them with shorter ones. Some of the cables just about reach from the hdd to the port on the mobo/expansion card so I can't pull them all together but I can combine some of them. Thanks for the idea

The power cables to the hdds can just barely be seen in the picture but I bought daisy chains power cables that I connected to 3 hdds each. They loop off to the sides of the hdds, keeping them out of the way for easier access to the hdds.

btw I was suggesting you post your pics in my "Post your HTPC pics" thread

Sorry, I didn't see that.

Hopefully, in the future, 4T or 5T hdds will be available. I'd like to eventually get rid of all my externals.

[ocgw]

I use these to expand my internal HDD capacity

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994054&cm_re=bytecc_sata-_-17...-054-_-Product



That pic is old, I have 3 sata hot swap removeable trays now

I got rid of that Thermaltake 250w 5" bay dedicated gfx card psu when I upgraded from my Silverstone 650w 54a 12v rail psu to my Corsair 850w 70a 12v rail psu

The LG BD/HD-DVD reader is in my backup rig, I have the Pioneer BDR-203 in my main rig

ps. I love all that room you have in your case (I have big hands)

ocgw

peace

[lacywest]

Here is a screenshot of my system ... WINXP and Windows 7 are a 80 GB drive ... partitioned with about 40GBs each ... in a dual boot configuration.

Only the 80GB drive is inside the tower ... the rest are USB 2.0 Drives sitting on the work bench around my PC.

I've just about used up all my drive letters too ...

[HartsVideo]

I use these to expand my internal HDD capacity

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994054&a ... -_-Product

I like those hot swap drive cases built right into the front of your puter. Do the hdds that are put in them stay in good condition if they go in and out a lot?

I've never seen anything like the Creative Sound Blaster . . . what is it?

I've just about used up all my drive letters too

That was another reason for buying larger drives. I had a lot of smaller drives, 250G, 300G, 500G, and they were taking up a lot of drive letters and their capacity was small. I have them in a box in a closet with no one to sell them to. I'm thinking about putting them on eBay but I don't want to go through all the trouble for a small amount of money, under $20 ea. New, pocket-sized 250Gb hdds are going for $45.

[ocgw]

I use these to expand my internal HDD capacity

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994054&a ... -_-Product

I like those hot swap drive cases built right into the front of your puter. Do the hdds that are put in them stay in good condition if they go in and out a lot?

I've never seen anything like the Creative Sound Blaster . . . what is it?

I've just about used up all my drive letters too

That was another reason for buying larger drives. I had a lot of smaller drives, 250G, 300G, 500G, and they were taking up a lot of drive letters and their capacity was small. I have them in a box in a closet with no one to sell them to. I'm thinking about putting them on eBay but I don't want to go through all the trouble for a small amount of money, under $20 ea. New, pocket-sized 250Gb hdds are going for $45.

there are 2 kinds of hot swap bays, the ones where the tray of the HDD has a open back end so the drive connectors wear when you take the HDD in and out are inexpensive, and the ones w/ a back plane in the tray so the tray wears out not your drive which cost a lil' more

I don't take mine out so I don't need the more expensive kind, @ least mine have little 40mm fans built in pushing air over the drives

That is the Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS "Platinum" drive, it is an extension of the sound card connected internally w/ a ribbon cable w/

optical digital audio in and out
coaxial digital audio in and out
midi (musical instrument digital interface in and out (for keyboards)
1/4 phone for mike and headphones w/ vol cntrl
stereo analog audio input (rca jacks or phono connectors if you will)
firewire w/ networking
infared receiver for remote control

all connectors 24KG



both my sound card and ATSC HDTV tuner cards have remotes, both of them are programmed into my Marantz big screen main home theater remote along w/ all the other home theater gear including the room lighting

then there is the backlit Logitech keyboard, and glowing Razor Diamondback laser mouse

ps. give those HDD's away and make a lot of ppl happy, they will value them far more than you, and i bet you will get taken to lunch a few times

ocgw

peace

[TomBud]

As far as ripping to serve, I found this guide awhile back and it is great. https://forum.videohelp.com/topic368581.html BD's that look awesome, are about 5gb each, and can be burned to standard DVD (if fits) to play in most pc-based bd players. Since you got your bd playing software with your drive (as most do, not all) the only real piece you nede to shell $out for is AnyDVDHD, which is on sale for a lifetime license right now. Not a bad deal for putting all those WalMart discount BD's on your server! Now I need to find those 2tb sata's on sale...hmmm.

[ocgw]

As far as ripping to serve, I found this guide awhile back and it is great. https://forum.videohelp.com/topic368581.html BD's that look awesome, are about 5gb each, and can be burned to standard DVD (if fits) to play in most pc-based bd players. Since you got your bd playing software with your drive (as most do, not all) the only real piece you nede to shell $out for is AnyDVDHD, which is on sale for a lifetime license right now. Not a bad deal for putting all those WalMart discount BD's on your server! Now I need to find those 2tb sata's on sale...hmmm.

Everyone has an opinion, this one is mine

If you only have 5GB of HDD space to devote to a movie buy the DVD, better to have standard-def, than hi-def w/ compression artifacts

and you didn't depend all freakin' day processing it

in my most humble of opinions

ps. "some" BD-9's look good imo

ocgw

peace

[HartsVideo]

both my sound card and ATSC HDTV tuner cards have remotes, both of them are programmed into my Marantz big screen main home theater remote along w/ all the other home theater gear including the room lighting

then there is the backlit Logitech keyboard, and glowing Razor Diamondback laser mouse

WOW . . . that's AWESOME!!!

the ones w/ a back plane in the tray so the tray wears out not your drive which cost a lil' more

I'm not sure what these are. Can you give me a link to one of these. I can take my 500Gb hdds out of their external cases and back-up files to them. They'll only be inside the tray long enough to copy files to them so I won't have to worry about heat and they'll free up 2T of space on my internals. I really don't know of anyone who wants small externals and to box and wrap them up for mailing isn't worth my time, effort and shipping cost.

I accidentally clicked on the link to not watch this thread anymore. Does anyone know what I can do so I can keep receiving emails for it?

[HartsVideo]

If you only have 5GB of HDD space to devote to a movie buy the DVD, better to have standard-def, than hi-def w/ compression artifacts

I have a number of .mkv movies that have terrific sound with my speakers and subwoofer and the picture quality is really good on my monitor. I don't have a tv (nor do I want regular one) so I use my pc to play videos. If I had a large plasma screen tv, hd, that would be anther story, but my purse is a little sparce for that. I'm at my pc most of the time anyway.

[ricoman]

[quote="HartsVideo"]

I accidentally clicked on the link to not watch this thread anymore. Does anyone know what I can do so I can keep receiving emails for it?

You have to login to the forum first, then go to the thread you want and then scroll all the way down as far as you can go, on the left hand side click "watch this topic for replies."

[ocgw]

both my sound card and ATSC HDTV tuner cards have remotes, both of them are programmed into my Marantz big screen main home theater remote along w/ all the other home theater gear including the room lighting

then there is the backlit Logitech keyboard, and glowing Razor Diamondback laser mouse

WOW . . . that's AWESOME!!!

the ones w/ a back plane in the tray so the tray wears out not your drive which cost a lil' more

I'm not sure what these are. Can you give me a link to one of these. I can take my 500Gb hdds out of their external cases and back-up files to them. They'll only be inside the tray long enough to copy files to them so I won't have to worry about heat and they'll free up 2T of space on my internals. I really don't know of anyone who wants small externals and to box and wrap them up for mailing isn't worth my time, effort and shipping cost.

I accidentally clicked on the link to not watch this thread anymore. Does anyone know what I can do so I can keep receiving emails for it?

thx HartsVideo'

ummm......not sure what you mean, just mount the HDD's in your case, no need to transfer anything, better yet jut put 1-2TB in the racks and transfer the externals to them

You can buy extra trays for hot swap bays cheap

Donate those HDD's to your local library or Community College if you are not going to do anything w/ them, heck give them to the Salvation Army before you let them rot lol

ps. here's the link:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994054&cm_re=bytecc-_-17-994-054-_-Product

[HartsVideo]

ummm......not sure what you mean, just mount the HDD's in your case, no need to transfer anything, better yet jut put 1-2TB in the racks and transfer the externals to them

You can buy extra trays for hot swap bays cheap

ps. here's the link:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994054&a ... -_-Product

Are the "BYTECC BT-135E-BK 3.5" SATA Aluminum Drive Case - Retail" the kind with the "open back end so the drive connectors wear when you take the HDD in and out are inexpensive," or are they "the ones w/ a back plane in the tray so the tray wears out not your drive which cost a lil' more"? I'm intereted in buying the ones that are a little more expensive. I'm not sure what they are or what to buy, just what you mentioned that won't wear out the drive connectors. Are there 2 things that I have to buy . . . trays and hot swap bays? I've never seen them before.

I don't want to buy hdds for them. I want to use the 4 500G hdds that I have in external cases, remove them from their external cases and use them in the hot swap trays. They'll give me 2T of storage for free. I'll be keeping my 750Gb externals in their cases for now. I already have hdds in all of the internal bays, there aren't any free bays and I don't want to swap my internal drives. But I have free bays that are available for an external tray for swapping the 4 500Gb hdds that I have.

If it sounds as if I don't know what I'm talkling about, it's because I don't lol.

Donate those HDD's to your local library or Community College if you are not going to do anything w/ them, heck give them to the Salvation Army before you let them rot lol

That's a good idea for my 250Gb and 300Gb externals. I'd also hate to see them go bad

You have to login to the forum first, then go to the thread you want and then scroll all the way down as far as you can go, on the left hand side click "watch this topic for replies."

I gave that a try but all that's available is "Stop wathing this topic"

[ocgw]

ummm......not sure what you mean, just mount the HDD's in your case, no need to transfer anything, better yet jut put 1-2TB in the racks and transfer the externals to them

You can buy extra trays for hot swap bays cheap

ps. here's the link:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994054&a ... -_-Product

Are the "BYTECC BT-135E-BK 3.5" SATA Aluminum Drive Case - Retail" the kind with the "open back end so the drive connectors wear when you take the HDD in and out are inexpensive," or are they "the ones w/ a back plane in the tray so the tray wears out not your drive which cost a lil' more"? I'm intereted in buying the ones that are a little more expensive. I'm not sure what they are or what to buy, just what you mentioned that won't wear out the drive connectors. Are there 2 things that I have to buy . . . trays and hot swap bays? I've never seen them before.

I don't want to buy hdds for them. I want to use the 4 500G hdds that I have in external cases, remove them from their external cases and use them in the hot swap trays. They'll give me 2T of storage for free. I'll be keeping my 750Gb externals in their cases for now. I already have hdds in all of the internal bays, there aren't any free bays and I don't want to swap my internal drives. But I have free bays that are available for an external tray for swapping the 4 500Gb hdds that I have.

If it sounds as if I don't know what I'm talkling about, it's because I don't lol.

Donate those HDD's to your local library or Community College if you are not going to do anything w/ them, heck give them to the Salvation Army before you let them rot lol

That's a good idea for my 250Gb and 300Gb externals. I'd also hate to see them go bad

You have to login to the forum first, then go to the thread you want and then scroll all the way down as far as you can go, on the left hand side click "watch this topic for replies."

I gave that a try but all that's available is "Stop wathing this topic"

The kind I use are the inexpensive kind, the link I provided was for the one I use, open back, active cooling and the HDD mounts in a tray and has a keylock

the really cheap crappy ones are "trayless" and and have no active cooling

The best have a backplane on the tray

Another idea, donate them to a church, they will write you a receipt for the full retail value that you can "write off" on your taxes

ocgw

peace

[HartsVideo]

The best have a backplane on the tray

So, the "BYTECC BT-135E-BK 3.5" SATA Aluminum Drive Case - Retail," have backplanes for each hdd? I really don't know anything about these and I don't want to buy the wrong things but what I need "so the tray wears out not your drive"

[ocgw]

Here is a screenshot of my system ... WINXP and Windows 7 are a 80 GB drive ... partitioned with about 40GBs each ... in a dual boot configuration.

Only the 80GB drive is inside the tower ... the rest are USB 2.0 Drives sitting on the work bench around my PC.

I've just about used up all my drive letters too ...

Yeah, I hate when you run out of drive letter, i know that you can mount new drives in folders after you run out of drive letters, but I don't know how to display them and their contents along w/ the rest of the drives

anybody know the best remedy after you use up the first 26 drive tetters?

ocgw

peace

[ocgw]

The best have a backplane on the tray

So, the "BYTECC BT-135E-BK 3.5" SATA Aluminum Drive Case - Retail," have backplanes for each hdd? I really don't know anything about these and I don't want to buy the wrong things but what I need "so the tray wears out not your drive"

The BYTECC BT-135E-BK does not have a backplane, I don't need a backplane, I just want my case to support more drives, however this rack has an inner tray, a 40mm fan and a key lock

ocgw

peace

[TomBud]

[quote/]Everyone has an opinion, this one is mine

If you only have 5GB of HDD space to devote to a movie buy the DVD, better to have standard-def, than hi-def w/ compression artifacts

and you didn't depend all freakin' day processing it

in my most humble of opinions

ps. "some" BD-9's look good imo

ocgw

peace[/quote]

ocgw:
Have you tried ripping using the steps in the guide and viewed the results? The picture has no artifacts, if you are seeing that you must have bad source material or a bad copy. On my 47" 1080p monitor @ 12' it'd be an interesting test for you to do a blind comparison and tell me which one is BD. Please note I am 'buying..' the BDdvd. I'm only not switching them out in the tray when I want to watch , I'm pointing and clicking.
Peace in the New Year

[HartsVideo]

The BYTECC BT-135E-BK does not have a backplane, I don't need a backplane, I just want my case to support more drives, however this rack has an inner tray, a 40mm fan and a key lock

Ok, thanks. I'll do some looking around to find what I need. The thread is about ripping blu-ray disks and, again, thanks everybody for all the help I received.*

[ocgw]

Everyone has an opinion, this one is mine

If you only have 5GB of HDD space to devote to a movie buy the DVD, better to have standard-def, than hi-def w/ compression artifacts

and you didn't depend all freakin' day processing it

in my most humble of opinions

ps. "some" BD-9's look good imo

ocgw

peace[/quote]

ocgw:
Have you tried ripping using the steps in the guide and viewed the results? The picture has no artifacts, if you are seeing that you must have bad source material or a bad copy. On my 47" 1080p monitor @ 12' it'd be an interesting test for you to do a blind comparison and tell me which one is BD. Please note I am 'buying..' the BDdvd. I'm only not switching them out in the tray when I want to watch , I'm pointing and clicking.
Peace in the New Year

I went thru the BD-9 making "phase", I was BD-9's long before that guide was ever written (all new blu ray discs, no copies or downloads), and I have been "pointing and clicking" on blu ray for 2 full years

I made a couple of dozen BD-9's in all highest quality and slowest speed settings of BD-RB to view first on a Sony 60" LCoS, (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) and now on my 56" Samsung 1080p DLP (Digital Light ProjectorR) @ 7-8 ft

All show very sharp definition in the focused foreground where your attention is, in the dim corners and soft pastel and monochrome backgrounds they will show slight delination of shades of grey and a little noise, and outright "mottling" in the shadows

It seems that the x264 codec can handle detail flawlessly, but doesn't quite know what to do w/ noise and soft subtle backgrounds

1 out 0f 5 movies will show obvious compression artifacts in a few scenes backgrounds

Been there, done that

Can I tell the difference between an original blu ray of a well shot movie and a BD-9?, yeah sure, all day long, it might not make it self known for a few minutes, but I have never seen a BD-9 that didn't give itself away @ some point

It is kinda' like picking out the drag queens from the whores on Jerry Springer, some ppl can't tell, and some ppl can spot them from a mile away

So now instead of sitting @ my PC shrinking videos, I sit @ my coworkers and neighbors PC's servicing them, and use the money to buy HDD's among other things

ps. even looking @ a mid size monitor from a considerable distance I think you should still see the grunge on some titles

btw. If it is any consolation, I preached the very same thing you are preaching @ first, i swore up and down there was no difference, but now that I know what to look for I can't stop looking @ the artifacts, and I am too much of a videophile to try to ignore it

Chit!, 5-10% of blu rays are mastered w/ clearly visible compression artifacts, worst case was "Midnight Meat Train", omg that release was unfreakin'watchable

To each his own tho'

Happy New Year

Converted about 50 HD-DVD to blu ray too lol

ocgw

peace