BD Ripper (3D Plus) Rec. Compression Settings for Audio & Video

[bigbwb]

Hey guys!

Just ordered a brand new pioneer internal blu ray writer/burner. My goal is to rip my blu rays to my HD for streaming across my PS3 using Playstation Media Server. I already do this successfully with my DVD's and now need some help with suggestions for blu rays.

My goal is to compress the files down to around 5-10GB for each movie. I would like to keep the Lossless audio somehow. I do not believe TrueHD and DTS-MA will stream to the PS3 so how can I convert it to FLAC or even PCM? I also have no need for full 1080p, 720p will be sufficient considering my TV's are only 720p.

Currently I have converted all of my files to .mpg ones since they play without any transcoding/encoding to the PS3. I want the most universally accepted file type for the PS3 Let me know thoughts on what rip settings/options to use in DVD Fab.

Thanks for any suggestions!
Brandon

[Complication]

My suggestion given your goals would be to use MKV.H264.AC3 as the profile in Blu-ray Ripper. Then you can use a free program called mkv2vob (google it) to quickly repackage the file into a format the PS3 will accept. DVDFab's native profiles for PS3 would produce AAC audio in one step but I think the AC3 audio is better.

[bigbwb]

My suggestion given your goals would be to use MKV.H264.AC3 as the profile in Blu-ray Ripper. Then you can use a free program called mkv2vob (google it) to quickly repackage the file into a format the PS3 will accept. DVDFab's native profiles for PS3 would produce AAC audio in one step but I think the AC3 audio is better.

Thanks for the reply! I am familair with mkv2vob(used it before). After more research, I came across a few other options and I want to get feedback as well.
Option #1 is for streaming blu rays to my PS3-
Use DvDFab to rip the blu ray down to BD9 size (720p is fine for picture quality) leaving a file size of around 10GB. Then convert this compressed file into an mkv folder which I believe DVDfab can do. Final step would be to use mkv2vob and convert this file into an mpg file that plays flawlessly on the ps3( hopefully able to still keep the lossless audio which can be converted to PCM with mkv2vob) unless of course this last step is unecessary, although I do not believe the PS3 will natively accept a streamed mkv file correct?

Option #2 - If I have a reference disc I do not want to molest in terms of PQ & AQ such as Avatar for example, my thought would be to just back it up to another blank BD-R. In this scenario I would attempt to use DVDFab to try and cut out the extras, and get it onto a BD25. I think many films if you remove the extras, alt. audio, and previews will fit onto a BD25 without any audio or video compression.

I suppose I can convert the audio on some films (such as comedies and dramas) to lossy AC3 since these have little need for full lossless sound which will save disc space as well.

So in conclusion, do the above scenarios sound doable? I assume that last conversion into an .mpg file using mkv2vob is necessary for the PS3 streaming?

Thanks so much for helping a noob understand all of this!

Brandon

[Complication]

You are getting well beyond my audio understanding and have not tried PCM.

Option #1 seems viable as long as you own both DVDFab Blu-ray Copy and Blu-ray Ripper. It used to be that DVDFab maintained the same video codec which would be a problem for you on VC-1 encoded discs but I read they had switched all re-encoding to H264, YMMV. Sony has not been kind enough to support the MKV container (yet?).

Option #2 will also be a problem if the source video is VC-1 since the PS3 will not play it from a file but I'm not sure how many releases are VC-1.

I believe BD9 only support movie only so it would remove the extras regardless.

The PS3 will play a M2TS file directly but it is rare to find one that doesn't have a non-allowed stream in it (ex. VC-1, HD, MTS). From my experience (which is minimal on BD I admit), you are almost always going to need to use mkv2vob to fix something. DVDFab will do the heavy lifting for video compression.

[bigbwb]

You are getting well beyond my audio understanding and have not tried PCM.

Option #1 seems viable as long as you own both DVDFab Blu-ray Copy and Blu-ray Ripper. It used to be that DVDFab maintained the same video codec which would be a problem for you on VC-1 encoded discs but I read they had switched all re-encoding to H264, YMMV. Sony has not been kind enough to support the MKV container (yet?).

Option #2 will also be a problem if the source video is VC-1 since the PS3 will not play it from a file but I'm not sure how many releases are VC-1.

I believe BD9 only support movie only so it would remove the extras regardless.

The PS3 will play a M2TS file directly but it is rare to find one that doesn't have a non-allowed stream in it (ex. VC-1, HD, MTS). From my experience (which is minimal on BD I admit), you are almost always going to need to use mkv2vob to fix something. DVDFab will do the heavy lifting for video compression.

Thanks again! Sorry to get a bit detailed in regard to the audio portion. I admit, Im more of an audiophile than a videophile I will play around with an mkv file I have now to see if my above scenarios work.

Like you said, my best bet is probably to continue using mkv2vob at the end of the process to make sure the file is PS3 compatible.