Blu-Ray Player for USB Drive Attached or Network to Play Music and Video MKV Files?

[Steve Bruzonsky]

I have a Kaleidescape system consisting of an 88TB Terra Server ( for buying uncompressed movies/videos from their online store), 2 Strato C players (for playing all 4k HDR/SDR, blu-ray/HD quality, and DVD/SD quality on my server from the online store), a DV-700 disc vault (stores up to 300 blu-ray (n,ot 4k) and/or DVDs), and 2 Altos (blu ray players – an Alto is necessary to play blu-rays or DVDs in the disc vault). I have a lot of Dolby Atmos and/or Auro 3-D music blu-rays, and some music/concert DVDs as well, in the vault. Note my audio/theater systems are all hard wired ethernet.

I have an Oppo 103D blu ray player which I bought when they were closing out but which I have used exclusively to rip SACDs (very reliable and easy to do). For my dedicated home theater being upgraded/renovated (will be done finally within a few months) I also have a Pioneer Elite UDP-LX500 4k blu ray player (for blu rays and 4k discs not in the Kaleidescape store) (I had an Oppo 205 but I sold it several years ago as a nice profit).

(Note that for years I’ve been ripping SACDs – via my Oppo 103D blu ray player – and blu rays to stereo and multi-channel FLAC/WAV files – using AnyDVD HD to decrypt and DVD Audio Extractor to rip – now that Redfox AnyDVD HD is shut down, I’ve been using MakeMKV to easily backup and decrypt the entire blu ray or DVD, then DVD Audio Extractor to rip. Files are on my Western Digital 64TB PR4100 network server. Which I play in my family room system (with a Roon Ready Exasound 7.1 channel player/DAC), and my upcoming dedicated home theater (with a Roon Ready Trinnov Altitue 32 SSP).-

My Kaleidescape disc vault is so full that some music/concert blu rays and DVDs that I’ve watched I have unloaded from the vault to make room for others. Recently I got the urge to rip Dolby Atmos & Auro-3D blu rays and then play then hopefully via my network (64TB Western Digital PR4100) network server or via an SSD USB drive plugged into a blu ray player.

Thanks to help on this forum, I was instructed how to easily rip Dolby Atmos music/video blu rays to mkv files, using MakeMKV and then MKVToolNix if I want to break up the larger MKV file into music tracks.

But now the trick is to have a player to play these MKV files without undue hassle.

My Pioneer Elite UDP-LX500 4k blu-ray player plays MKV files via an attached USB drive, but will not play the files via network as I’ve tried. But it’s a bit choppy at times playing Dolby Atmos MKV files, and more problematic playing Auro-3D MKV files.

My Oppo 103D is fantastic at playing MKV files without any hitches both via network and attached USB. EXCEPT – for Dolby Atmos MKV files, it only sends them decoded as multi-channel without the height channel information. I can’t figure any way around this – which rules out the Oppo 103D player for this. I do not know whether the Oppo 203/205 4k blu ray players have this same limitation. Can anyone tell me?

I tried a Nvidia Shield Pro from Amazon and quickly returned it. My demo showed that it converted uncompressed Dolby Atmos to compressed Dolby Digital Plus.

Does anyone know or have experience if any of the newer 4k or blu ray players can reliably play MKV files in uncompressed Dolby Atmos (and Auro-3D) whether via network or via attached USB SSD drive? Thanks.

 

[HomerJAU]

The NVidia Shield with Kodi will play Atmos TrueHD and play Dolby Vision FEL (one of only 3 media players known to support DoVi FEL for file playback, apart from UHD disc players. But media players are much faster for menu and file navigation.

Oppo 4K BD players do not do DoVi correctly with a ‘red’ push.

With Kodi and a NAS you can get your Kaleidoscope experience from your own hardware/software. More customisable, expandable and affordable but also more complex than prebuilt system.

 

[CINERAMAX]

Magnetar UDP800, built like a tank, acts like a very well clocked and timed Oppo and there is a hack option too. I love mine.

 

[Steve Bruzonsky]

Magnetar UDP800, built like a tank, acts like a very well clocked and timed Oppo and there is a hack option too. I love mine.

But does it play MKV files over the network to the Magnetar with the SSP showing its playing Dolby Atmos as opposed to showing its playing only Dolby TrueHD (and showing that only the base TrueHD channels are playing and not the heights)?

 

[Steve Bruzonsky]

It was pointed out to me the issue with the Oppo 103's Mediatek chip causing this issue:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=19879396&postcount=10581

 

[marpow]

Steve,
Your system overall seems very complicated and maxed out from what I read post 1.
I do know this for fact that when you have been doing your way for a long time it is easy as it is your way.
But the getting maxed out part and ready/asking about changes means things will need to be at least a little bit different.
I won't get into the deep details but I have:
1. A synology Nas ethernet connected.
2. I rip everything, stereo CD's to FLAC using Windows Media Player. SACD's ripped (Sonore) via dedicated OPPO 105 for ripping only, no playback, ethernet connected. Non dedicated PC ethernet connected with ripping software DVDAE for DVD's, MAKEMKV for Blu Rays and Music Media Helper for tagging chapters (tracks) of MKV files.
MKV files that are stereo, 4.0 or 5.1 are tagged FLAC with MMH. MKV files for ATMOS playback are left as MKV files either as a solid one file or split into chapters.
3. My player is JRiver on a fanless PC ethernet connected, USB out to Exasound MCH DAC and HDMI out for MKV files to AVR.
4. I access my fanless PC on my audio rack via a remote program called SplashTop.

This obviously didn't happen in a day, probably about 2 days, and the whole process a couple of years to get to where I am now.
Works everyday, never a problem.

About every two months I transfer my rips from my non dedicated PC to and external hard drive (stored in a different place) for back up so I have one copy on NAS and one copy external.

Now I know my way does not necessarily fix your problem, but take a little here and a little from others on QQ and I have no doubt you will have it all working great to your style in no time at all.
Any questions about my situation feel free to ask.

 

[Steve Bruzonsky]

Steve,
Your system overall seems very complicated and maxed out from what I read post 1.
I do know this for fact that when you have been doing your way for a long time it is easy as it is your way.
But the getting maxed out part and ready/asking about changes means things will need to be at least a little bit different.
I won't get into the deep details but I have:
1. A synology Nas ethernet connected. i USE WDMYCLOUD PR4100 64TB

2. I rip everything, stereo CD's to FLAC using Windows Media Player. SACD's ripped (Sonore) via dedicated OPPO 105 for ripping only, no playback, ethernet connected. Non dedicated PC ethernet connected with ripping software DVDAE for DVD's, MAKEMKV for Blu Rays and Music Media Helper for tagging chapters (tracks) of MKV files.
MKV files that are stereo, 4.0 or 5.1 are tagged FLAC with MMH. MKV files for ATMOS playback are left as MKV files either as a solid one file or split into chapters.

I only want/need to use MakeMKV for ripping Dolby Atmos & Auro 3D. Everything else I rip SACDs and Blu Rays to DSD and FLAC files including multichannel. Especially with my theater to be (Trinnov Altitude 32 SSP and family room Exasound s88 ROON READY, it works and sounds the very best! But I am now using MakeMKV to decrypt and fully backup music blu rays for the purpose of using DVD Audio Extractor to rip to FLAC. And I've been using the Oppo 103 exclusively for ripping SACDs. Keep in mind that the Kaleidescape online store is great for most movies, but have very few Dolby Atmos music albums and no Auro-3D music albums, of which I have a large and growing collection.

3. My player is JRiver on a fanless PC ethernet connected, USB out to Exasound MCH DAC and HDMI out for MKV files to AVR.
4. I access my fanless PC on my audio rack via a remote program called SplashTop.

I used JRiver for about 4 years then got ROON when it came out. Luv ROON. Use JRiver for some tagging files though. My ROON server (after several changes/upgrades) has been an Exasound Delta for several years and don't plan to change. And you and I think alike as my family room primarily music system is Exasound s88 7.1 channel DAC - a 5.1 system!

This obviously didn't happen in a day, probably about 2 days, and the whole process a couple of years to get to where I am now.
Works everyday, never a problem.

About every two months I transfer my rips from my non dedicated PC to and external hard drive (stored in a different place) for back up so I have one copy on NAS and one copy external.

I do the same, but once I rip, I quickly transfer over a fast wi-fi (or wired) from my SSD laptop to my WDMyCloud server.

Now I know my way does not necessarily fix your problem, but take a little here and a little from others on QQ and I have no doubt you will have it all working great to your style in no time at all.
Any questions about my situation feel free to ask.

We are a lot alike. I just realized its easy to rip the Atmos & Auro-3D tracks and hopefully play via network, instead of taking up space in my Kaleidescape disc server!

 

[Steve Bruzonsky]

Magnetar UDP800, built like a tank, acts like a very well clocked and timed Oppo and there is a hack option too. I love mine.

Page 29 of the Magnetar manual states this will work over a network. But it doesn't state if there are any limitations in the audio mode playback over the network. So For this I would need to have actual user experience.

Page 29 of the user manual:

"
Playback from a Home Network
This product can remotely play music, pictures and video documents stored in media devices connected to the same home network with it. You have to prepare a set of hardware like a computer (network attached storage) server connected to the same network segment as the player. Install and configure software which is functionally equivalent to NFS, DLNA or SAMBA/CIFS (a protocol for sharing network documents) client. In the setting menu, my network setting is enabled. Choose the network icon in the main menu. Then, press OK, and a list of servers available will be displayed. In some cases, you might have to disable the hardware firewall, to allow access to the server by this product.

For the UDP-800 player, a network can be shared in any of the following three ways
 Function as digital media player (DMP):
 The player can actively search the local DLNA server, browser and play the share content therein.
 Access SMB/CIFS:
 The player can actively search the SMB/CIFS, brows and share the content therein with the player.
 For instance, the documents shared in the neighborhood document of Windows."


I prefer to use a blu ray player to access the MKV files over the network because I've been advised (and also seen how easy and quick it is with the Oppo 103 over the network) that its easy and quick to access the network files.





 Access NFS:"
 The player can actively search the NFS, and browse the content it shares with the player.
 Generally, it will take more time to search the NFS."

 

[Steve Bruzonsky]

My friend Ash Sharma also has a Kaleidescape system and he uses Dune HD Pro Vision 4k Solo HD Media Players in his house in addition to Kaleidescape. He verified how excellent it works with ripped blu rays and DVDs. I ordered this from Wal-Mart online as they still have this model which is the best for my purpose. YEA! I can always attach a SSD USB drive vs network and see how I like it.

 

[CINERAMAX]

IT WONT PLAY 3D FILES ANYMORE. 3D WITH VIDEOWALL, ATMOS AND WAVEFORMING IS WHERE ITS AT.

 

[Steve Bruzonsky]

I believe Ash found a sales link for the old model that does! And I'm gonna have ta be satisfied with my 2.35 14' wide screen and Sony 380 projector! HAQ