BD Ripper (3D Plus) BD9 iso vs mkv.audiocopy

[bigbwb]

Yet another quandry for you experts.....

Just got through building myself a nice HTPC running xbmc. I rip my blu ray movies with Fab and had always used the mkv.audiocopy option (full 1080p with bits/pixel number over 3.00) to preserve the lossless codecs and cut the size of the movie down. Someone one here had mentioned the BD9 iso option yields excellent picture quality as well and I imagine keeps the lossless codes in tact too.

Thoughts on which approach is best? I display it on a 58" panny plasma.

Thanks!

[bigbwb]

Anyone? My other concern has always been issues with subtitles as well. Correct me if I am wrong, but with ISO's they work like the disc, correct? Meaning you can include them all and turn them on/off within xbmc. Where as the mkv's you need to determine which subtitle to use and whether or not to "force" them. All of which confuses me too much I end up getting no subtitles at all during movies which are all english but have scenes with foreign languages.

Thanks,

[cwt]

Dont have a htcp bigwb but If forced would use mkv at a good bitrate ;some bd's as isos can be 40gb + so compressing that to bd9 size isnt something Ide consider

bd9 is still bigger than an average sd dvd iso though so its all relative ; I have a projector so cant compare to the ''small screen''

Yes isos have exactly whats on the disc and subtitles are no bother . Why not try using bd copy iso with the output set to bd25 [ better than 9gb] to shrink the file and have full playback menus [as long as xbmc handles iso's ? no experience as using an oppo instead ]

[signals]

This is subjective, you really should try the same movie both ways and see what meets your standards. If you want the best video quality and all the extras, regardless of file size, use Blu-ray Copy-Full Disc or Clone modes. If size is a factor, Use Main Movie and compress it to 25GB if necessary. It is not necessary to make an ISO, you should get the same playback functionality (subtitles) with the DVDFab .miniso which is generated automatically. The only MKV or other BD Ripper profile that preserves the original video and audio quality is mkv.remux, which may have playability issues with some source discs and will be almost as large as the original files on the disc. The BD9 does look very good and is the exact size of a DL DVD-9.

[bigbwb]

Dont have a htcp bigwb but If forced would use mkv at a good bitrate ;some bd's as isos can be 40gb + so compressing that to bd9 size isnt something Ide consider

bd9 is still bigger than an average sd dvd iso though so its all relative ; I have a projector so cant compare to the ''small screen''

Yes isos have exactly whats on the disc and subtitles are no bother . Why not try using bd copy iso with the output set to bd25 [ better than 9gb] to shrink the file and have full playback menus [as long as xbmc handles iso's ? no experience as using an oppo instead ]

Thanks for the suggestions. Its tough to decide upon having easy playback (iso's), versus hard drive space, and quality of playback. XBMC does play iso's just fine. I will soon compare a mkv rip vs a BD9 iso rip on my plasma, so hopefully that will help my decision.

[bigbwb]

This is subjective, you really should try the same movie both ways and see what meets your standards. If you want the best video quality and all the extras, regardless of file size, use Blu-ray Copy-Full Disc or Clone modes. If size is a factor, Use Main Movie and compress it to 25GB if necessary. It is not necessary to make an ISO, you should get the same playback functionality (subtitles) with the DVDFab .miniso which is generated automatically. The only MKV or other BD Ripper profile that preserves the original video and audio quality is mkv.remux, which may have playability issues with some source discs and will be almost as large as the original files on the disc. The BD9 does look very good and is the exact size of a DL DVD-9.

I do plan to compare a mkv rip to a BD9 rip soon. Unfortunately hard drive space is a concern for me. I prefer to keep the movies around 10-15gigs/each. The problem is that when you create mkv files, the whole subtitle issue is challenging for me.

I am not sure the benefits to the mini iso being I need the file to ultimately play onto xbmc.

One thing I have not tried is the mkv.remux with video (I always preserve the audio but compress the video). I may have to try this and see if it saves any space over just ripping the main movie to 25gb iso.

Thanks!