Copy Blu-ray onto Inter HTPC/NUC for Kodi playback

Date May 11, 2016 Author Catherine Category Blu-ray Tips

Almost everyone owns or knows about PC (Personal Computer), and some are familiar with or even proficient in home theater. On the surface, HTPC is the combination of personal computer and home theater. It refers to a device partially or wholly combining the capabilities of PC with a software application that can play back video, photo, and music, etc. With HTPC, you could avoid suffering the load and crowed cinema while having the same enjoyment of the fantastic visual effect.

Want to own an Inter HTPC/NUC with infinite Blu-ray movies now? Ripping Blu-ray to digital formats is what you need to do first. The article here is going to guide you through the whole process of copying Blu-ray to Inter HTPC/NUC for Kodi playback. Please take a look.

Part I: Intel HTPC/NUC’s Blu-ray Support with Kodi

Overview and Purpose:

This thread is for compiling user-verified Intel hardware w/Intel Graphics working reliably, with issue-free playback of MVC 3D ISO’s, preferably w/HD audio. The issues we’ve trying to avoid include lip sync error, tearing, wobbly/wavy/shaky video, blurriness or other unwanted artifacts. Most of these artifacts are likely related to incompatible graphics drivers.

Let us detail solutions, workarounds in this thread. Plus, for those who want 4K, let’s discuss which Intel options exist, what’s on the horizon, and which features are supported (60fps, 10-bit HEVC, HDMI2.0a, HDCP2.2).

Above spreadsheet and this post will NOT cover AMD h/w as it’s a software-only MVC solution, and there are more reports of failures than successes. Also, it will not focus on non-Intel graphics like nVidia. However, there’s confirmation from @brazen1 that the latest builds work well on systems w/nVidia GPU’s. This file (libmfx32) must be downloaded and extracted to the installation folder (usually at C:\Program Files (x86)\Kodi\).

Steps to Take:

• Use Windows 10. If you’re continuing to have graphics driver issues even after trying below, see if Windows 8 (and driver for it) may resolve issues.
• Use Intel’s Driver Update Utility to scan your HTPC/NUC and download/install the latest suggested drivers, especially graphics, audio, LAN and BIOS. This utility seems to point to the most ideal drivers (in most cases, not all) vs. simply downloading latest from Intel’s website or using Windows update. But, Intel’s website or doing update via Device Manager may work better for some h/w.
• – Alternative driver app is Driver Booster. @sarcoptic has let us know “their database has quite a few new drivers over what Microsoft Update and Intel Update utilities could find.”
• Make the necessary Windows, Intel graphics and Kodi settings as shown below in the photo slideshow!
• If you’re installing another Kodi MVC build, uninstall the existing version first (you can leave your profile folder as is when prompted during uninstall).
• [Optional] Use Launcher4Kodi to get that OpenELEC-like experience.

Necessary and Recommended Settings:

Tips & Other Considerations:

• Blu-ray menus are not supported. If you need this w/your HTPC, an external player solution is still necessary. See @brazen1’s excellent guide here.
• Dolby Digital Plus is broken at this point, it seems w/Kodi 17 builds in general. Workaround: Disable DD+ under passthrough so you’ll at least get multichannel 5.1 out of 5.1/7.1 DD+.

Part II. Enable Blu-ray playback on HTPC/NUC with Kodi

As you see, Blu-ray will not always run well Inter HTPC/NUC. By default Kodi can play Blu-rays but only unencrypted ones at the moment(licensing issues). When you encounter “Intel HTPC/NUC doesn’t have native Blu-ray support via Kodi” matter, just follow the solution below:

If you want to copy and play encrypted Blu-ray on the newly built Inter HTPC/NUC via Kodi, basically your best bet is to find a third-party tool to extract the Blu-ray content and convert them to Inter HTPC/NUC/Kodi friendly file type like MP4, MKV or AVI. There are many Blu-ray rippers available, but what is the best one? If I were in your position, I would choose Pavtube ByteCopy for Mac as it possesses the following key features.

* It can decrypt commercial Blu-ray discs that are under copy protection and lift region limitation upon Blu-ray discs.

* It can convert Blu-ray movies into video or audio in more than 200+ formats such as MP4, MKV, AVI, MP3, etc. for playbac on HTPC/NUC with Kodi with 100 % original quality reserved and a high conversion speed.

* It can convert 2D/3D Blu-ray movies into 3D videos by adding one of Anaglyph, Top-Bottom, Side-by-Side 3D effects available for playing on Kodi.

* It allows users to trim video length, crop video size, add text or picture on videos to distinguish other videos, and adjust video effect.

* It enables users to only convert main movie of the Blu-ray disc to save hard drive space as there are three movie modes available: Full Disc Copy, Main Movie Backup and Blu-ray to lossless MKV ripping with multi-track subtitle/audio and all chapter markers keeping 5.1, even 7.1 surround sound.

* It allows you to uncheck the subtitle/audio track that you don’t want and adjust video size/bitrate to let you cram more Blu-ray movies for playback on Inter HTPC/NUC via Kodi.

Note: You can have the program downloaded and installed for a trial before you decide to purchase one. For windows users, Windows version is also avaliable. By the way, trial version has Pavtube watermark while registered version is free to rip any Blu-ray movie. Now I will show you how to rip and copy Blu-ray movies to Inter HTPC/NUC for Kodi playbackeasily and fast.

Free download and install Pavtube ByteCopy for Mac:

Other Download:

– Pavtube old official address: http://www.pavtube.cn/bytecopy-mac/

– Cnet Download: http://download.cnet.com/Pavtube-ByteCopy/3000-7970_4-76177783.html

Part III:  Rip Blu-ray to Inter HTPC/NUC for Kodi playback

Step 1: Add Blu-ray movie

Launch the program and add the movie you want to encode by clicking the “Load file(s)” icon on the main interface. You can see the chapter information of your Blu-ray movies on the main interface after you loading to the program.

Step 2: Choose output format

Then choose the output format. According to Kodi (XBMC)/HTPC supported format, you can choose some play common multimedia formats like “H.264 HD Video(*.mp4)” or “MKV HD Video(*.mkv)” from “HD Video”. Click the “Browse” button to set output folder where you want to save the copied Blu-ray discs. (Make sure there is enough space for copying your Blu-ray to Inter HTPC/NUC for Kodi)

Or you can find the “Directly Copy” option to backup Blu-ray main movie without extras. It will support to backup 100% intact the main movie with all multiple tracks preserved. And you will get a M2TS file for output.

Note:

1. If you want to makes 1:1 copy of original Blu-ray Disc without quality loss with all audio streams, subtitle tracks, extras, etc., just hit the Copy the entire disc icon on the main interface and start 1:1 Blu-ray backing up process.

2. If you want to backup Blu-ray without quality loss. Meanwhile, several audio tracks and subtitles are preserved so you can switch language when watching movies, you can choose ByteCopy for Mac to rip Blu-ray to lossless mkv on Mac.

Tip: If your storage space, like internal drive doesn’t have too much space, you can adjust file size in “Settings”. Bitrate is the key to decide the output video size. You can adjust it to a lower standard. Size is another point to file size. And to rip 5.1 Blu-ray video files without quality loss, you can choose “5.1 channels” from “Channels” drop-down menu to keep or adjust 5.1 sound.

Step 3: Start ripping Blu-ray to Inter HTPC/NUC for Kodi 

Hit the big “Convert” button, it will start converting Blu-ray movies to Inter HTPC/NUC for playback via Kodi. This process will cost some time depending on the original Blu-ray size, you computer configuration, network speed.

Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You:

* The free trial version can just rip Blu-ray content watermark. So if this program is palatable to you, just buy it right away!

* The software developer only advocates ripping/copying Blu-rays for personal use only and suggests referring to the Blu-ray copyright laws in your countries before doing so.

* Still have trouble about how to fix “Intel HTPC/NUC doesn’t have native Blu-ray support via Kodi” issues? See Blu-ray Ripping/Copying FAQs, or feel free to Email Us via dvdmacsupport@pavtube.com or dvdwinsupport@pavtube.com.

Additional Tip: Traditional Home Theater vs HTPC Comparison

HTPC vs. Traditional HT: Concepts 

Traditional HT: Home Theater refers to a system for playing movies/films at home mainly for family use. Understandably, traditional home theater is composed of signal sources (DVD and LD), AV receiver, speaker box (5.1-5.7), and display devices (TV, projector and PDP).

HTPC: On the surface, HTPC is the combination of personal computer and home theater. It refers to a device partially or wholly combining the capabilities of PC with a software application that can play back video, photo, and music, etc. More straightforward, HTPC can be considered as a conceptual home theater or a carrier taking computer as signal source and processing part. Specifically, HTPC is a personal computer preloaded with various multimedia decoding players, and capable of playing varied audio-visual media correspondingly and connecting to all kinds of display devices like digital audio devices, for example, TV, projector, PDP (Plasma Panel Display), and audio amplifier at the existence of corresponding interfaces.

HTPC vs. Traditional HT: Configurations: 

HTPC: The configuration of HTPC is flexible. People can choose among all kinds of fittings and accessories with different performances under differed brands according to the actual needs and personal budgets. Because of the open architecture of PC, the updates become easy in operation and rational in price. A customer can change any part of PC once he does not satisfy with it.

Traditional HT: For general DVD player, functions are fixed and dead. Only the functions at the time when you purchased the machine are available. An entire player must be replaced and discarded in case of functional enhancement or upgrade. At present, there are some high-tech modularized DVD players which can be upgraded, but they restrict plugins and software for upgrade to its own dedicated brands. What’s worse, these upgrade-supporting players are quite expensive even for a minor upgrade.

HTPC vs. Traditional HT: Processing: 

HTPC: The processing capacity of PC is powerful and updatable. With the introduction of APU (Audio Processing Unit), many functions can be realized on a single HTPC. It has great leap in cost performance and space occupation. Besides, graphics card play a significant role in providing excellent display quality. Any output format at any revolution ratios and field frequencies can be set to copy with different displays by combining the graphics card with specific optimizers.

Traditional HT: Different requirements on movie watching are only realizable with the help of multiple devices working divisionally and separately in the traditional HT system. In detail, DVD player is responsible for decoding MPEG2 video, AV decoder is in charge of decoding and processing surround sound, while STB (Set Top Box) specializes in decoding HDTV, and so on and so forth. With respect to satisfactory video output, traditional home theater is at least in need of DVD player, line doubler at sky-high price, say, Faroudja line doubler and an extra D/A conversion. Moreover, currently common display devices such as LCD, DLP, LCOS/D-ILA and PDP for traditional HT are all displays at fixed pixels. Therefore, the signal input needs to be displayed at its own pixel. Likewise, only the signal input completely corresponding to its pixels can be displayed with good output effect, or else, the format is rudely disposed by stretching and flattening.

HTPC vs. Traditional HT: Storages:

HTPC: The cheap storage and high capacity is the most outstanding aspect of HTPC. The considerable room of hard disk and technical development in virtual CD/DVD ROM, CD and DVD can be virtualized to be played on hard disk, which is equivalent to owning a CD/DVD library. Simple mouse clicks can help you enjoy movies as many as possible. In addition, the function of disk recorder can also achieved conveniently with some additional hardware.

Traditional HT: In order to play several CD/DVD discs on traditional home theater, disc library/tower and complicated mechanical machinery are required and also not acceptable by household appliance possibly. Besides, it is inevitable to find the wanted disc and importing/exporting CD/DVD at the time of each playing.

HTPC vs. Traditional HT: Software: 

HTPC: Rich software brings the functions of PC into full play. Generally, the software can also be operated on another PC on the same OS except for special requirement on hardware. Flexible combination of software can generate unimaginable functions.

Traditional HT: The function menu of traditional home theater is fixed in the equipment. Although, for some types of equipment currently, additional contents can be expanded through upgrading, these are minor changes and modifications confined to the same machine type under the same brand. However, Home Theater PC is not so good for a special group. As a computer, it is a little bit complicated and troublesome to operate for the elder generation. But conclusion can be drawn from the previous descriptions about the difference between HTPC and traditional HT that HTPC has an advantage over physical home theater, in terms of functionalities and usages.