Blade Runner 4K UHD (1982)

[Warm Gun]

I wonder if you would still say ISO is the way to go if you did have the means and saw how much bigger your collection got. MKVs are much smaller at the same quality without slow disc menus, logos and warnings. If you really care about special features and having them easier to navigate in a home theater environment, I can see the point. But, since we're on the 4K board, most UHDs have few if any special features, except commentary tracks, which you don't need an ISO or BDMV for. Visual special features are usually on the regular BD in the box.

I watch enough TV shows on DVD and Blu-ray that it would be so bothersome to go in and out of virtual DVD and BDs. I like the file manager of Zidoo devices. When I am browsing my movies, I use the visual library that wishes it were Plex or Netflix. But for TV shows, the file manager is enough. I don't know if the visual library would spoil episodes with synopses and thumbnails. Anyway, the basic file manager tells me what episodes I have watched with an eye icon. When I played TV shows on a PC, I used a notepad or bookmarked the beginning of the next episode in my media player, when I remembered.

[oddbox83]

After finding what I did with my old BD set, it gave me the push to buy the 4K. Just the standard, I wasn't paying inflated prices for the OOP 4K Unicorn cover when I've managed to back-up what matters the most to me, the alternative cuts. A shame I can't watch the extras now, but I'll cope.

Night and day, really! The 4K is stunning, in spite of it's middle of the road compression. The model work is absolutely glorious to behold. The Atmos is superb too.

I wish more recuts would be as sympathetic to the original material as The Final Cut. When it makes changes, it's very retrained compared to some other films we all know which felt the need to change tons just for the sake of it. Ben Ford's CG enhancement bit doesn't quite work mind, it looks odd. Joanna Cassidy's bit is still great though, even 16 years later.

Makes me want a proper 4K revisit of the other cuts all the more. The old VC-1 encodes are really long in the tooth, and strikingly soft next to the 4K.

[Big-D]

Originally Posted by Warm Gun

I wonder if you would still say ISO is the way to go if you did have the means and saw how much bigger your collection got. MKVs are much smaller at the same quality without slow disc menus, logos and warnings. If you really care about special features and having them easier to navigate in a home theater environment, I can see the point. But, since we're on the 4K board, most UHDs have few if any special features, except commentary tracks, which you don't need an ISO or BDMV for. Visual special features are usually on the regular BD in the box.

I watch enough TV shows on DVD and Blu-ray that it would be so bothersome to go in and out of virtual DVD and BDs. I like the file manager of Zidoo devices. When I am browsing my movies, I use the visual library that wishes it were Plex or Netflix. But for TV shows, the file manager is enough. I don't know if the visual library would spoil episodes with synopses and thumbnails. Anyway, the basic file manager tells me what episodes I have watched with an eye icon. When I played TV shows on a PC, I used a notepad or bookmarked the beginning of the next episode in my media player, when I remembered.

The ISO file is basically a mirror image of the original disc. If you have that you can create any type/size of file you like.

The menus aren't important to me, but subtitle, chapters and commentaries are. So basically I can create a bespoke version according to my own specs and even mux in additional commentaries, subtitles from other releases. That way, you don't have multiple versions of the same film, but a definitive one.

[nissling]

Originally Posted by Big-D

The menus aren't important to me, but subtitle, chapters and commentaries are.

The .mkv container supports multiple soundtracks, subtitles and chapters. You can choose whatever you want to keep when a disc is ripped using MakeMKV for instance. The encoding is identical to what's on the disc as well so you can remux without any additional compression or convert to a different codec, bitrate or whatever you want.

To me the only real benefit of ripping an ISO if for the discs with multiple versions of the film on the same disc. Not only can you save space while keeping multiple versions of the same movie (Leon, The Natural etc) but in some occasions it can be consufing to know exactly which one you're supposed to rip.

The American Disney releases have separate titles for US, Canadian and Mexican versions of the film and therefore titles, credits and sometimes even content (signs for instance) have been altered for that specific region. Unless you know exactly which title you're supposed to rip, as they all have identical soundtrack, subtitles and runtime, you may end up ripping the wrong version and have wasted an hour. Ripping an ISO avoids this all together.

[IndyMLVC]

Originally Posted by Warm Gun

I wonder if you would still say ISO is the way to go if you did have the means and saw how much bigger your collection got. MKVs are much smaller at the same quality without slow disc menus, logos and warnings. If you really care about special features and having them easier to navigate in a home theater environment, I can see the point. But, since we're on the 4K board, most UHDs have few if any special features, except commentary tracks, which you don't need an ISO or BDMV for. Visual special features are usually on the regular BD in the box.

[Show spoiler]
I watch enough TV shows on DVD and Blu-ray that it would be so bothersome to go in and out of virtual DVD and BDs. I like the file manager of Zidoo devices. When I am browsing my movies, I use the visual library that wishes it were Plex or Netflix. But for TV shows, the file manager is enough. I don't know if the visual library would spoil episodes with synopses and thumbnails. Anyway, the basic file manager tells me what episodes I have watched with an eye icon. When I played TV shows on a PC, I used a notepad or bookmarked the beginning of the next episode in my media player, when I remembered.

I've been wanting to do this for years. I really need to do more research on the best way to do it because I know nothing about it. Any thoughts on the best place to start?

[Warm Gun]

Yes, branched discs are the only ones I keep BDMVs for. Usually, I only keep one cut, though. Most of Ridley Scott's extended versions, for example, are worthless. Of course I keep the Blade Runner archival versions as BDMV. Alien 3 is a weird one. Branched, but the two MKVs are actually slightly smaller. Must be a ton of differences between them, and the foreign audio tracks certainly add a significant amount.

Zidoo devices are crummy in a few ways, including being unable to play Dolby Vision when going from disc menu to movie. I can play the long version of a movie in Dolby Vision by pressing the play icon in the library rather than "BD," but if I want the short version in DV I have to rip to MKV. I wish more devices that don't break the bank existed. I want something better.

[NotASpeckOfCereal]

Originally Posted by regeyer

I have 136 HD DVDs and I never had a problem with any of them until this last Christmas season. The Polar Express would not play. So I bought a Blu-Ray copy and after watching it I threw the HD DVD in just to check it one last time before I tossed it. Of course, it worked again.

I think disc rot is overblown. I think a lot of people blame disc rot when the problem is a dirty disc or a dirty player. I have 3 HD DVD players and my Toshiba XA2 never fails. But my other players have failed to play some discs.

Yeah, similar story: when Samsung got out of the optical player biz (and stopped updating firmware), I bought a Sony. So all UHDs go to the Sony while I play all BDs in the Sammy (since it still plays those fine).

But a few times, when the Sony wouldn't play a UHD well, I popped it in the Sammy and it worked.

So yeah, lots of variables, no reason to cry defective disc off the bat

Eh?

[Big-D]

Originally Posted by nissling

The .mkv container supports multiple soundtracks, subtitles and chapters. You can choose whatever you want to keep when a disc is ripped using MakeMKV for instance. The encoding is identical to what's on the disc as well so you can remux without any additional compression or convert to a different codec, bitrate or whatever you want.

To me the only real benefit of ripping an ISO if for the discs with multiple versions of the film on the same disc. Not only can you save space while keeping multiple versions of the same movie (Leon, The Natural etc) but in some occasions it can be consufing to know exactly which one you're supposed to rip.

The American Disney releases have separate titles for US, Canadian and Mexican versions of the film and therefore titles, credits and sometimes even content (signs for instance) have been altered for that specific region. Unless you know exactly which title you're supposed to rip, as they all have identical soundtrack, subtitles and runtime, you may end up ripping the wrong version and have wasted an hour. Ripping an ISO avoids this all together.

Yeah, for me the ISO is a back-up should any problems arise from the disc in the future (disc rot, theft, damage etc).

For playing back on a NAS, the. mkv file which is the container file is basically what is created from the disc or ISO which then gives you the versatility to pretty much customise the parts you need or don't need.

[Warm Gun]

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

I've been wanting to do this for years. I really need to do more research on the best way to do it because I know nothing about it. Any thoughts on the best place to start?

Problem with answering how to start is that you need to take care of three big obstacles: ripping, mass storage and playback. I think almost any Blu-ray drive that connects to a PC will work, but I have not had to flash one in years. You can find recommendations. People above have already talked about ripping software. My storage is made from my old PC parts, a PCIe to SATA expansion card and a bunch of WD Red hard drives (and system drive SSD) running on TrueNAS, connected to the network. You can then play your movies from your PC, but Windows doesn't have Dolby Vision. That's one of the reasons I never watch movies with the computer anymore. Others were that framerate matching with a graphics card became annoying and the fans were audible. I would check if your TV's Android system can play MKV/BDMV files with DTS-HD MA and TrueHD.

[CreasyBear]

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

I've been wanting to do this for years. I really need to do more research on the best way to do it because I know nothing about it. Any thoughts on the best place to start?

You need a disc drive, hard drive space, and MakeMKV. Buy a Nvidia Shield and download Kodi. Done.

[Warm Gun]

Not that cut and dry.

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/adv...hield.3231300/

https://www.hifivision.com/threads/s...-player.88070/

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShieldAndro...doo_vs_shield/

Was going to get a Shield myself a year ago, but a user here convinced me to get the Zidoo instead. Still wish I had something without the kinks, though.

[CreasyBear]

Originally Posted by Warm Gun

Not that cut and dry.

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/adv...hield.3231300/

https://www.hifivision.com/threads/s...-player.88070/

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShieldAndro...doo_vs_shield/

Was going to get a Shield myself a year ago, but a user here convinced me to get the Zidoo instead. Still wish I had something without the kinks, though.

Been using a Shield for years. No issues.

[philthehip]

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

I've been wanting to do this for years. I really need to do more research on the best way to do it because I know nothing about it. Any thoughts on the best place to start?

Others may feel different but my first piece of advise is to not go over 8TB HDD if you are going to plug directly into your playback device. Buy your HDDs as you need them or when an offer is too good to miss, namely because drives do fail, so splitting a collection up will offer better longterm protection from a failed drive.

[IndyMLVC]

Originally Posted by CreasyBear

You need a disc drive, hard drive space, and MakeMKV. Buy a Nvidia Shield and download Kodi. Done.

I was wrong. Have the disc drive (that can rip 4K) and use makemkv all the time. It's the playback part...

[M A]

I use my Sony X800M2 through the usb port as it can play back FEL Dolby Vision that way (provided I convert to .ts from .mkv first)

[CreasyBear]

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

I was wrong. Have the disc drive (that can rip 4K) and use makemkv all the time. It's the playback part...

https://www.amazon.com/NVIDIA-Shield.../dp/B07YP9FBMM

https://www.amazon.com/WD_Black-Driv.../dp/B07VNTFHD5

[Jason One]

Originally Posted by Big-D

Yeah, for me the ISO is a back-up should any problems arise from the disc in the future (disc rot, theft, damage etc).

For playing back on a NAS, the. mkv file which is the container file is basically what is created from the disc or ISO which then gives you the versatility to pretty much customise the parts you need or don't need.

I also like to have the entire ISO for backup purposes. (Actually I have the complete disc folder structure, from MakeMKV's "Backup" function. But I could convert that back into an ISO with ImgBurn if I ever needed.)

Having the complete backup lets me run proper BDInfo scans for site specs. I can then point MakeMKV to the backup for creating an MKV file for viewing purposes, with my customized audio and subtitle choices (also adding back in the original sound mix when it's missing, like with Blade Runner: The Final Cut 4K!).

Originally Posted by CreasyBear

https://www.amazon.com/NVIDIA-Shield.../dp/B07YP9FBMM

I need to investigate getting something like this to take over file playback from my Oppo 203. The Oppo is okay for that task but it's kind of clunky.

I don't like the sound of the Shield's "AI-enhanced upscaling." Thankfully it looks like you can change it in the settings to "standard" upscaling.

[WBMakeVMarsMovieNOW]

Originally Posted by IndyMLVC

I was wrong. Have the disc drive (that can rip 4K) and use makemkv all the time. It's the playback part...

MPC+LAV Filters+a good version of MadVR+perhaps the special DTS-MA decoder from

or JRiver (which can make itself set to use MadVR and such) this one can also do menus for blu-ray and UHD and not just DVD, if you care; and has more bass management options to handle tricky analog audio scenarios (like crossed over bass needing regular level and LFE channel needing to be played back louder)

with AnyDVDHD can also use those to play back directly off the actual discs. As far as tone mapping for HDR, you could just let MadVR handle anything you need, set max allowd brightness, tonal curve, no curve, etc. etc. (in LG sets you can also turn off the in built tone mapping curve it applies for 1000, 10,000 etc. mastered discs and so playback is not altered based on that metadata and it doesn't darken stuff down, etc. and then just let everything be handled by MadVR, if you even want things handled much)

I didn't get to try it yet, but I hear that you can now extract the DV FEL bits and apply them for playback on a PC too.

[Big-D]

Originally Posted by Warm Gun

Not that cut and dry.

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/adv...hield.3231300/

https://www.hifivision.com/threads/s...-player.88070/

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShieldAndro...doo_vs_shield/

Was going to get a Shield myself a year ago, but a user here convinced me to get the Zidoo instead. Still wish I had something without the kinks, though.

I originally had the Zidoo Z9X, but I returned it as it had too many bugs and a poor remote.

However, I bought an Nvidia Shield TV Pro instead and it's a brilliant unit that plays pretty much everything you throw at it. There's a free app called NOVA Player and it scrapes all the files on your drives along with poster art and background picture. It even plays Dolby Vision files, and it also allows you to use third party media players such as Kodi and VLC. Highly recommended.

[oddbox83]

The film Blade Runner.