Ripping BRs with new protections is there an easy way to determine MPLS

[cal_tony]

I usually convert my BRs to mkv and usually play them with my media players from external hard disks. To do this I use Fab passkey to rip the BR to a decrypted ISO. With most BRs BDinfo will generally pop up the correct mpls to convert to MKV.

However, with some disks multiple mpls files yield similar sized mkvs. Same size, same length, same number of chapters. Hunger Games used this technique.

So far the method I use to find the correct MPLS is to play the BR in my PS3. It selects the correct MPLS to play but it doesn't indicate what MPLS it uses. So I run thru the movie by forwarding by chapters and writing down all the chapter times.

Next I'll use BDinfo and examine all the MPLS it selects that have the same length until I find the one that has the same chapter times. That title would be the correct one.

Are there easier ways to select the correct MPLS ?

Tony

[fritzi93]

It's not uncommon to see multiple mpls listings.

I just run Passkey in the background and extract main movie (to BD structure) from disc with Clown_BD. It will list the longest titleset first, so typically if there's an extended and a theatrical version, they'll be listed in that order.

Or you can do much the same with Ripbot. Run Passkey and select one of the m2ts files in the Stream folder (doesn't matter which one), and it will list longest titleset first. Choose the one you want and demux. After it demuxes the assets, you can remove the disc, so it's not like you're putting extra wear on your optical drive. In the project folder, Ripbot will also identify any forced subtitles if you demuxed them too. Choose your encoding settings (even copy streams if that's what you want). Then make your MKV.

[cal_tony]

Thanks for the reply but what I'm looking at with some of the newer BDs is confusing Titles that mimic the real movie. They are the same in most respects but they mix around the chapters or in the case of Hunger Games there were 4 or 5 similar titles but only one had the correct chapter designations. The others had a few seconds of the movie re-insertd half a dozen times throughout.

Tony

[hello_hello]

It sounds like a DVD Fab bug. Or it needs updating to work properly with those particular discs. I'm pretty sure DVDFab has it's own forum. Maybe it'd be better to ask there.

[cal_tony]

Fab Passkey is constantly updated and I always use the latest version but this problem has been ongoing for quite a while now. The latest movie that this shows up for me is with my copy of Expendables2. MakeMKV indicates it has 4 similar titles. 2 with 16 chap one with 21.4 gb one with 21.2 gb.It also has 2 with 15 chap both at 21.3 gb.

So far the only way I've been able to determine the correct MPLS is to match the chapter sequence as played by my PS3.

VMP [computer BD player] selects the main movie, I think. It may just be playing the largest title and assumes it is the movie but I'm not sure. Anyway VMP plays the movie but it doesn't have a feature that to indicate what MPLS it uses or an ability to move forward by chapters.

Fab Passkey will decrypt the movie but I'm looking for an easy accurate way to find the correct title for the movie

Tony

[jman98]

It sounds like a DVD Fab bug.

I wouldn't rule out that it's being done deliberately to cause problems for people who want to rip.

[cal_tony]

It is done deliberately. Earlier today , I downloaded the reg version of fab and selected the movie only option and it decided that MPLS 26 was the movie only. Comparing that to the one that the PS3 chose[MPLS 684: determined by chapter times] shows that there are minor differences between the two even though the movie length and number of chapters are the same. With MPLS 26 one m2ts pops up about 20 min in and than pops up again near the end and one m2ts about the same size doesn't show up at all.

After examining both MKVs I guess the only way to be sure is to actually use my PS3 to make the determination. Also makes me wonder if all BR players pick the right MPLS for these movies.

Tony

[hello_hello]

Have you tried AnyDVD HD? I'd be curious to see if it makes the same choices as DVDFab. I'm pretty sure it has a trial period. Mind you I've only ripped a handful of those multi-whatsit discs using AnyDVD but I didn't seem to have any problems doing so.

I don't know if ripping to an ISO could be causing the problem, but it there any particular reason you do it that way? I use the same method as fritzi93, only instead of running Passkey in the background and extracting with Clown BD, I run AnyDVD in the background and extract with HD-DVD/Blu-Ray Stream Extractor. I use the latter mainly because it's a tool built into MeGUI, which I generally use for encoding. If you're not re-encoding it probably doesn't make much difference either way (you still have to mux the MKV containing the video with the audio stream after extracting with HD-DVD/Blu-Ray Stream Extractor), but if you're converting it might save time by eliminating the extra ISO step.

You're not using an old version of BDInfo are you? It was updated to fix handling of multi-whatsit discs a while back.

It's possible you're not having problems when using the PS3 as many discs contain PS3 updates which I assume are installed automatically?

[cal_tony]

I haven't used anyDVD hd in years. Since I did use it once I'm sure my trial period has expired.

From my experience, the stream extractors find the mpls that yields the largest file and and they use that as the main movie.

From what I remember the programs that selected the main movie in the hunger Games had the same problem. Every once in a while the same short scene would keep keep popping up during the movie.

Tony

[hello_hello]

Maybe the only way to work out which is the correct title is by checking them, although you'd assume if a Bluray player can tell which one is correct then ripping software should be able to. Next time I rip one of those discs I'll have to pay more attention.

Anyway, I came across this a little while ago. It's a list of Bluray titles with their running times, and if you click on a title it takes you to the post with further details including the mpls/m2ts file to use. I can't vouch for it's accuracy, but I'm sure you could verify a few titles before you decide to trust it. Did you decide 00005.MPLS or 00004.M2TS were correct for Hunger Games?

It's been a while since I've ripped a Bluray disc, but I'm sure even when ripping discs which use multiple mpls, if I run AnyDVD in the background and open the disc using HD-DVD/Blu-Ray Stream Extractor, it just opens the appropriate mpls file and displays which m2ts files it's using. Something like this. I don't recall ever having to pick which mpls file to rip, unless there's multiple versions of the same movie in different languages, but then it's easy to work out which one is correct. If I was you, I'd try ripping a "problem" disc using HD-DVD/Blu-Ray Stream Extractor or Clown BD with Passkey just decrypting in the background. If the problem goes away then it's either the way Passkey is ripping the disc, or BDinfo isn't being clever enough. It can't hurt to try, and at least then you'll know.

[cal_tony]

I've been trying all of these programs over the last few days and none of them select the correct MPLS.
Most just select the MPLS that generates the largest file.

Since my last post I did run Expendables2 thru VMP. It selects the movie and then lists the bonus features separately.

For expendables 2 it did not select the MPLS that the PS3 selected or the MPLS that Fab HD selected as the movie.

Initially, I was just wondering if anyone knew if there was a drop down menu for the PS3 that indicated what MPLS it was using.

Tony

[Steve(MS)]

Cal_tony, not to take away from the other suggestions as they might be better than the way I do it.
I use dvdfab and always copy the entire disc to hard drive (in folder form, don't know if that matters).

Then if I run into one of those discs with a bunch of fake playlists, I find out on web what the total run time is of movie.
If only one playlist shows total time then I simply use that playlist.
I have run into about 5 titles or so that were somewhat difficult to figure out the exact playlist because more than one playlist had the correct total run time.

Usually check the fab forum and see if any discussion on particular discs, sometimes that works as to which title playlist is correct.
For maybe a couple, the total play time was multiple possible playlists so I went through the process
of writing down the order of the m2ts files and see which playlist had the correct order.

Most of the time I open disc after copied to hard drive with BDtoAVCHD as it shows the playlists and their respective m2ts order of files.
But sometimes this program doesn't even show the correct playlist so I end up reopening the file in dvdfab, selecting main movie only.
Between all this I usually find the correct playlist....yeah I know this is very unorthodox but it has worked for me so far.

I haven't got Expendables 2 yet but have copied successfully most of the difficult ones up to a few months ago.
I did hunger Games and Source Code, can't remember the other movies...I got CRS...

Anyway, I usually use BDtoAVCHD if it will display the correct playlist (and it usually does) since it has neat options to copy straight to no re-encoded MKV
or copy main movie with no compression...then copy movie to external hard drive for playback.
The advantage it has over DVDfab main movie setting is it puts the entire main movie in one m2ts or a MKV file.
Its surprising more are not using it, it works for me, don't mind if anyone else uses it or not.
I believe it uses some of the same programs listed by members in the replies above.

[cal_tony]

I have used most of the programs avail for playing ripping and converting BRs. Mostly I use passkey to decrypt. I use MakeMKV for most conversions to MKV. My preferred program for downsizing, if that what I finally decide to do, is VidCoder.

Having said that, It appears that some movies are getting difficult to work with using the usual methods[ My rip of Expendables 2 yielded 2 titles One at 20,738,431 bytes and the other at 20,738,432] . Most programs chose the one that was 1 byte larger. But that was the wrong one. Initially, when I started this topic I was looking for a program that actually looked at the BR Disk the same way that my player does and chooses the right MPLS. Evidently none of them do. If they did you wouldn't see disks with these confusing MPLS's.

The method I use is easy. Like I indicated above, I put the disk in my PS3, select movie play and forward the movie by chapters writing down the time for each chapter. Easy as can be but it requires me to sit there with a pencil and paper and write these down. Once the correct MPLS is determined there are lots of programs to use to do whatever you want.

My next thought is to just Google Expendables 2 correct MPLS for movie and see where that takes me.

Tony