Difference between revisions of "High Definition Disk Formats"
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It is indirectly possible to play back Hi-Def media such as Blu-ray and HD-DVD Disks in MythTV. While it is currently impossible to place a HD-DVD disk in the drive and play it with MythTV, one can rip the files onto the hard drive and play them with a patched version of MPlayer. Please note the following caveats before following this guide: | It is indirectly possible to play back Hi-Def media such as Blu-ray and HD-DVD Disks in MythTV. While it is currently impossible to place a HD-DVD disk in the drive and play it with MythTV, one can rip the files onto the hard drive and play them with a patched version of MPlayer. Please note the following caveats before following this guide: | ||
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* Blu-ray disks with the newer BD+ encryption are currently unrippable in Linux. There are Windows alternatives that are able to offer some BD+ ripping support. One option is SlySoft AnyDVD HD, which rips both HD-DVD and Blu-ray disk formats. | * Blu-ray disks with the newer BD+ encryption are currently unrippable in Linux. There are Windows alternatives that are able to offer some BD+ ripping support. One option is SlySoft AnyDVD HD, which rips both HD-DVD and Blu-ray disk formats. | ||
| − | + | = Understanding HD-DVD and Blu-ray structure = | |
Blu-ray and HD-DVD are fundamentally the same creature from a linux perspective. Both contain muxed files using either the MPEG-4 Part 10 (H.264), VC1, or MPEG-2 codecs, and audio tracks in AC-3, E-AC3, TrueHD, or MLP audio formats. HD-DVD uses the EVO container which is analogous to a VOB file in DVD parlance. Blu-Ray uses M2TS, or MPEG-2 Transport Stream containers. The video formats on both disk types are well understood and supported in both MPlayer and FFmpeg. The audio codecs are not. Presently, it is necessary to compile MPlayer to play most audio tracks found on Hi-Def disks. | Blu-ray and HD-DVD are fundamentally the same creature from a linux perspective. Both contain muxed files using either the MPEG-4 Part 10 (H.264), VC1, or MPEG-2 codecs, and audio tracks in AC-3, E-AC3, TrueHD, or MLP audio formats. HD-DVD uses the EVO container which is analogous to a VOB file in DVD parlance. Blu-Ray uses M2TS, or MPEG-2 Transport Stream containers. The video formats on both disk types are well understood and supported in both MPlayer and FFmpeg. The audio codecs are not. Presently, it is necessary to compile MPlayer to play most audio tracks found on Hi-Def disks. | ||
Revision as of 03:48, 21 January 2008
It is indirectly possible to play back Hi-Def media such as Blu-ray and HD-DVD Disks in MythTV. While it is currently impossible to place a HD-DVD disk in the drive and play it with MythTV, one can rip the files onto the hard drive and play them with a patched version of MPlayer. Please note the following caveats before following this guide:
- Decrypting copy-protected media may be illegal where you live. Take note of any local laws concerning the circumvention of copy-protection and act accordingly.
- Currently, most HD-DVD and Blu-Ray disks are implementing new audio formats that are only experimentally supported in open-source players. You will need to be capable of and familiar with compiling your own copy of mplayer to make the audio work in most cases.
- Playback of 1080p content is extremely processor-intensive. Many users download 1080p content from the internet that has been transcoded and downsampled to very low bitrates. True HD-DVD and Blu-ray rips average between two and four times higher bitrates. These files are therefore substantially more difficult to play. The advantage to this method is that the quality is vastly superior when viewing an untranscoded rip.
- This guide is written for use with Ubuntu, but there is very little within that cannot be directly applied to any other distribution.
- Menus and other interactive content are currently unavailable in Linux. The user will only be able to play the video files on the disk.
- Blu-ray disks with the newer BD+ encryption are currently unrippable in Linux. There are Windows alternatives that are able to offer some BD+ ripping support. One option is SlySoft AnyDVD HD, which rips both HD-DVD and Blu-ray disk formats.
Understanding HD-DVD and Blu-ray structure
Blu-ray and HD-DVD are fundamentally the same creature from a linux perspective. Both contain muxed files using either the MPEG-4 Part 10 (H.264), VC1, or MPEG-2 codecs, and audio tracks in AC-3, E-AC3, TrueHD, or MLP audio formats. HD-DVD uses the EVO container which is analogous to a VOB file in DVD parlance. Blu-Ray uses M2TS, or MPEG-2 Transport Stream containers. The video formats on both disk types are well understood and supported in both MPlayer and FFmpeg. The audio codecs are not. Presently, it is necessary to compile MPlayer to play most audio tracks found on Hi-Def disks.
Blu-Ray features are generally found in a single .m2ts file, while HD-DVD features are usually two EVO files (Usually the two largest on the disk and sequentially numbered, ie FEATURE_1.EVO and FEATURE_2.EVO).
Mplayer demuxing of EVO and m2ts files is imperfect, sometimes leading to missing audio tracks. For example, on a rip of "Crank" Blu-Ray, only the "family friendly" audio track is currently visible/playable. This appears to be related to the Blu-ray format muxing multiple audio streams into a single PID.
