How to: Convert Blu-ray Discs for Audio File Playback (Atmos supported)

[pat bateman]

This thread has been handy but, with tech changing, I thought it best I see if there are updated thoughts/opinions. I wrote a less perfunctory version but methinks this is what's important... Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom.

tl;dr:

• ISO, MKV, or [?]
• Plex Server, Kodi, or [?] to create a disc-like (and/or Kaleidscape-ish) experience
• Discs to rip: Pure Audio, SACD, DVD-A, and some Blu-ray/DVD-A rips (about 120, if I can figure out how to do the SACDs)
• Formats: Mono, stereo, 3.0, quad, 5.1, 7.1 & Atmos
• Hardware: Synology NAS --> Apple TV 4K/iOS. (Other hardware available: Windows 11 & Mac mini)

Concerns:

• Relative ease of ripping & cataloguing. I've been using DVDFab for a decade to rip lossless mono/stereo FLAC. Now I'd use its ISO, MKV. I've read here and elsewhere about tagging. I'm not up to the task of CUE files, etc. anymore. I know that may limit things.
• Stability & Compatibility: I asked Claude AI and it recommends ISO for music and MKV for movies. I'm not sure how either/both play with Plex and Kodi.
• Speed: My network can do about 100 mbps reliably throughout the house. Mix of ethernet/MOCA and WiFi. I don't mind load times but no one wants music stuttering.
• Size: I'll start with a 10tb x2 RAID but expand so space shouldn't be an issue.

In my dreams:

• Be able to choose discs from an attractive, fairly simple screen where I can filter, say, albums, concert videos, movies and scroll like Netflix/Kaleidscape AND
• Be able to just pull songs or albums from a file list.
• I don't expect both to be possible, so the first is my preference, but maybe somone knows more?

I won't be receiving the NAS for a few weeks, so now is the time where I can rip a few discs as a "beta test" on my PC before the money and real "time sink" happen and really know if I'm up to the task.

You can have your dream scenario easily. 1 of 2 ways depending on your needs.

If your collection is all 5.1/7.1, and you don't care about overhead channels, then the Apple TV will work with Plex on an Apple TV. If you want lossless Atmos, then you must use Kodi + Nvidia Shield. The UI is much nicer IMO anyways with Kodi + Nvidia Shield.

I don't like cue files either, so converting the mka files to m4a and using traditional tagging works great.

My workflow for ripping a disc is --
1. MakeMKV to rip the disc.
2. MKVToolNix to extract the "chapters", ie, tracks, into individual files. This makes .mka files.
3. MMH (Music Media Helper) to convert the .mka files to m4a.
4. Tagscanner to retag and move into my library.

If you are open to paying for software, DVD Audio Extractor can combine steps 2+3 I believe.

Regarding your SACDs - that's complicated. See here for more info - you are better off sailing the seas and finding someone else who has already done it. https://hifihaven.org/index.php?threads/rip-sacd-with-a-blu-ray-player.3652/

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

Regarding your SACDs - that's complicated. See here for more info - you are better off sailing the seas and finding someone else who has already done it. https://hifihaven.org/index.php?threads/rip-sacd-with-a-blu-ray-player.3652/

After you've found a suitable Blu-ray disc player, it's a fairly straight forward procedure...

 

[LuvMyQuad]

This thread has been handy but, with tech changing, I thought it best I see if there are updated thoughts/opinions. I wrote a less perfunctory version but methinks this is what's important... Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom.

tl;dr:

• ISO, MKV, or [?]
• Plex Server, Kodi, or [?] to create a disc-like (and/or Kaleidscape-ish) experience
• Discs to rip: Pure Audio, SACD, DVD-A, and some Blu-ray/DVD-A rips (about 120, if I can figure out how to do the SACDs)
• Formats: Mono, stereo, 3.0, quad, 5.1, 7.1 & Atmos
• Hardware: Synology NAS --> Apple TV 4K/iOS. (Other hardware available: Windows 11 & Mac mini)

Concerns:

• Relative ease of ripping & cataloguing. I've been using DVDFab for a decade to rip lossless mono/stereo FLAC. Now I'd use its ISO, MKV. I've read here and elsewhere about tagging. I'm not up to the task of CUE files, etc. anymore. I know that may limit things.
• Stability & Compatibility: I asked Claude AI and it recommends ISO for music and MKV for movies. I'm not sure how either/both play with Plex and Kodi.
• Speed: My network can do about 100 mbps reliably throughout the house. Mix of ethernet/MOCA and WiFi. I don't mind load times but no one wants music stuttering.
• Size: I'll start with a 10tb x2 RAID but expand so space shouldn't be an issue.

In my dreams:

• Be able to choose discs from an attractive, fairly simple screen where I can filter, say, albums, concert videos, movies and scroll like Netflix/Kaleidscape AND
• Be able to just pull songs or albums from a file list.
• I don't expect both to be possible, so the first is my preference, but maybe somone knows more?

I won't be receiving the NAS for a few weeks, so now is the time where I can rip a few discs as a "beta test" on my PC before the money and real "time sink" happen and really know if I'm up to the task.

A few things i can offer.
Kodi dosent play ISOs, but it does have a very good library interface. Kodi relies on all music being tagged in some way. I convert everything to FLAC except videos and Atmos. Tagging FLAC files is fairly easy.

For videos i use MKV. Kodi uses a seperate library for videos. Each video will require at least an NFO file (similar to a CUE file) for kodi to read. If you break the video into chapters, each chapter will require an NFO file It will not play a video seperated into chapters gaplessly, so there is always a small studder between chapters.

For Atmos, i use MKA. Kodi considers MKA a music format. I use a single MKA file with CUE. It plays gapless with no problems. As i understand it, kodi will be able to read tagged MKA files in the next software iteration.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

You can have your dream scenario easily. 1 of 2 ways depending on your needs.

If your collection is all 5.1/7.1, and you don't care about overhead channels, then the Apple TV will work with Plex on an Apple TV. If you want lossless Atmos, then you must use Kodi + Nvidia Shield. The UI is much nicer IMO anyways with Kodi + Nvidia Shield.

I don't like cue files either, so converting the mka files to m4a and using traditional tagging works great.

My workflow for ripping a disc is --
1. MakeMKV to rip the disc.
2. MKVToolNix to extract the "chapters", ie, tracks, into individual files. This makes .mka files.
3. MMH (Music Media Helper) to convert the .mka files to m4a.
4. Tagscanner to retag and move into my library.

If you are open to paying for software, DVD Audio Extractor can combine steps 2+3 I believe.

Regarding your SACDs - that's complicated. See here for more info - you are better off sailing the seas and finding someone else who has already done it. https://hifihaven.org/index.php?threads/rip-sacd-with-a-blu-ray-player.3652/

2 things.

The media player dosent have to be an Nvidia Shield. There are several options beyond the Shield. This one is popular right now.

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...-who-cares-about-dolby-vision-playback.36509/

Unless something has changed, m4a will not play gapless with kodi.

 

[HomerJAU]

There is now support for tagged mka files in Kodi and playing chaptered mka files gapless. There is current activity to support same tags as other music file types.

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...orkaround-in-post-41.34938/page-6#post-829681

 

[LuvMyQuad]

There is now support for tagged mka files in Kodi and playing chaptered mka files gapless. There is current activity to support same tags as other music file types.

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...orkaround-in-post-41.34938/page-6#post-829681

Thats good news Garry. Right now all my Atmos rips are single file with cue. Will it be fairly easy to convert them, or will i need to re-rip?

 

[HomerJAU]

Right now all my Atmos rips are single file with cue. Will it be fairly easy to convert them, or will i need to re-rip?

If your mka has chapters then just tag them (but Kodi needed chapterless mka + cue since Kodi 18 or 19.
If your mka has no chapters use MMH 9’s new add chapter to ‘from cue’ file command, then use ‘Get Tags..’ command and Save
I started saving my MKV rips more often than I was, so I’ll just retag those.
Worse case scenario if you haven’t saved your disc rip to iso or MKV is doing a new rip.

Many of my old rips were split into individual m4a files for Atmos and tagged (no need for gapless playback on most releases anyway). I plan to support merging all Atmos files into mka and creating chapters in MMH’s Merge tool before it’s officially released (not too far away).

 

[LuvMyQuad]

If your mka has chapters then just tag them (but Kodi needed chapterless mka + cue since Kodi 18 or 19.
If your mka has no chapters use MMH 9’s new add chapter to ‘from cue’ file command, then use ‘Get Tags..’ command and Save
I started saving my MKV rips more often than I was, so I’ll just retag those.
Worse case scenario if you haven’t saved your disc rip to iso or MKV is doing a new rip.

Many of my old rips were split into individual m4a files for Atmos and tagged (no need for gapless playback on most releases anyway). I plan to support merging all Atmos files into mka and creating chapters in MMH’s Merge tool before it’s officially released (not too far away).

If there were a QQ MPV, it would be you.

 

[TheAbsentMind]

Thanks!

You can have your dream scenario easily. 1 of 2 ways depending on your needs.

Who doesn't want to wake up to hear good news!

If your collection is all 5.1/7.1, and you don't care about overhead channels, then the Apple TV will work with Plex on an Apple TV. If you want lossless Atmos, then you must use Kodi + Nvidia Shield. The UI is much nicer IMO anyways with Kodi + Nvidia Shield.

Interesting. Since I have an Atmos setup and plenty of Atmos discs, I definitely want to follow a path that gets the fullest. I'm not at all opposed to Nvidia, but this is disappointing since I'm trying to streamline and Apple is the ecosystem where I'm steeped. Ah, reality.

Just realized I forgot to include I have Jriver 33. I've never used it for video... and it probably doesn't matter.

I don't like cue files either, so converting the mka files to m4a and using traditional tagging works great.

My workflow for ripping a disc is --
1. MakeMKV to rip the disc.
2. MKVToolNix to extract the "chapters", ie, tracks, into individual files. This makes .mka files.
3. MMH (Music Media Helper) to convert the .mka files to m4a.
4. Tagscanner to retag and move into my library.

If you are open to paying for software, DVD Audio Extractor can combine steps 2+3 I believe.

Interesting about m4a. I didn't think of that as a lossless option for video. I'm not opposed to buying the software but first I'd make sure whether DVDFab can do it since I already own that software. Similar conundrum as Apple TV vs. Nvidia... I'm already invested so I've got more learning to do before buying more hardware that might lead to more stuff in my personal Closet/Museum of Forgotten Tech.

Regarding your SACDs - that's complicated. See here for more info - you are better off sailing the seas and finding someone else who has already done it. https://hifihaven.org/index.php?threads/rip-sacd-with-a-blu-ray-player.3652/

Thanks for this, too! You're probably right on this front. I don't have as many but the goal really is to make a single unified library.

Questions lead to answers leading to questions! So much homework. Thanks for helping here. Lotta time and money once I've committed to a path.

 

[TheAbsentMind]

Thanks! My responses are just "thinking out loud" to help me internalize.

A few things i can offer.
Kodi dosent play ISOs, but it does have a very good library interface. Kodi relies on all music being tagged in some way. I convert everything to FLAC except videos and Atmos. Tagging FLAC files is fairly easy.

Interesting. My audio library is essentially all ALAC (except pesky old irreplacable mp3s). I've mostly ripped them using Jriver for the last decade. Everything is meticulously tagged (with of course all the errors that come from endless data entry). If needed, these should be easily converted to FLAC... with time.

For videos i use MKV. Kodi uses a seperate library for videos. Each video will require at least an NFO file (similar to a CUE file) for kodi to read. If you break the video into chapters, each chapter will require an NFO file It will not play a video seperated into chapters gaplessly, so there is always a small studder between chapters.

Interesting. This adds to my appeal for ISOs. I'm not sure I have the patience to do this much granular work and I suppose I'm desiring a "digital shelf" of the physical discs.

I have 125ish music-related discs and about... oof... 700 films. I wouldn't do all the movies, but over time I'd expect many. Sounds like chapterizing could interrupt flow across the board, even if minimally.

For Atmos, i use MKA. Kodi considers MKA a music format. I use a single MKA file with CUE. It plays gapless with no problems. As i understand it, kodi will be able to read tagged MKA files in the next software iteration.

Huuuuuge help. Altogether I probably have 100ish Atmos releases.

Again, can't thank you all enough. I'm not the most technical person and the time/money outlay is enough for analysis paralysis. These sorts of responses help me prepare before committing... to what I could see myself giving up on if I get overwhelmed.

 

[HomerJAU]

I have 125ish music-related discs and about... oof... 700 films. I wouldn't do all the movies, but over time I'd expect many. Sounds like chapterizing could interrupt flow across the board, even if minimally.

The rips to MKV contain chapters by default, no extra work. For music if you want to see the song names in the Kodi UI, you need to name each chapter with the song titles and tag the album title, artist etc. This can semi automated, you must enter the Artist and Album title and search for it, then accept the data and Save it to the mka or MKV file, about a minute per album.

Just to confirm: MKV contains video and audio. MKA is audio only.

All the programs mentioned by @pat bateman are freeware, no cost involved. Kodi is also free.