Popcorn Hour BD network playback

[dfergie]

You can always rip to mkv's with the option of just keeping the main movie etc, will lose menu but keep chapter skip...

 

[TheForce]

Went to the PH website and saw it has internal connection to add your own hard drive. So you have a choice to stream the iso file from your computer over your network OR transfer the iso file to the PH local internal drive, right?

Don, have you tried to do anything with this and 3D BD iso's ? This will be great for my 3D productions if it will work. Right now I have to burn a BD-RE to play in my Home Theater Projector.

 

[dfergie]

I have created 3D iso's & files but haven't tried, they should work as when I try in the BT it gives the same message you get trying to play on a 2D set ... and you can play the youtube 3D videos also... the internal is not formatted as NTFS format though, you have to ftp content to it (or pull it and send to) I use an old laptop drive in mine just to save the internal stuff the popcorn uses (info & app's etc) I converted all my HD DVD's to mkv so I can watch them in 1080p thru it.

 

[dfergie]

I'll try afterwhile Don.

 

[dfergie]

Moved the popcorn posts to this thread ... easier to find.

 

[dfergie]

I'm going to have to hardwire my connection to stream from my pc (use homeplug now, can play limited bitrate material & access pics & music) in BT, so I connect 2 EHDD's at a time to my Popcorn Hour, it will connect directly to my Sony HD Cam & play content from it also...

 

[mike123abc]

You can also put a BD ROM into the PCH if you want and just use it as a BD player. I have not tried it. I have the C-200 model.

 

[dfergie]

I keep wanting to try hooking up one of my XBox HD DVD Drive's to mine to see if it will recognize ...

 

[diogen]

It won't play them since the file structure is different and you can't (officially) get a license to support HD DVD.
http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?tid=50007

An after-market workaround could be developed but I don't think there is enough interest...

Diogen.

EDIT:
During the last months of the HD vs. BD war Microsoft had an utility to convert VC1-encoded streams from HD to BD.
It was a one-way street since the latter had less restrictions on bitrate, key-frame frequency, etc.
Would be nice if they'd released that tool...

 

[dfergie]

Ah well, I've converted them all to mkv anyway...

 

[TheForce]

Based on your good reviews I went ahead and ordered one. Should be here on Monday. Hope it works OK for 3D as that is my main interest. Vegas Pro does a nice job of creating the iso 3D files.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Im trying to determine, as just a movie watcher, if it is worth getting and storing Blu ISO's. Would be quite a collection of HDD's over time.

 

[Ramy]

No need to worry about this.
The playback order is governed by the PLAYLIST database file on the same disk.

Diogen.

That won't work when all I want is the movie itself.

After I rip it with AnyDVD I need to put it onto a blu-ray. What software do you use?

 

[diogen]

I don't use ISO and any storage but hard drives. Most of the time I use MakeMKV.
It doesn't work 100% of the time (updated AACS/BD+, multiple angles video, etc.) so AnyDVD-HD is on standby.
Also, most of the time I do at least one re-encode to cut the file size in half.

I think you can create a BD ISO using ImgBurn (from the files ripped to the hard drive with structure intact)...

Diogen.

 

[dfergie]

ImgBurn will make the image, No luck last night with the 3D files, got the "your tv is not a 3D set" screen, didn't think about trying other cables till I had moved the PH back into the BT ...

 

[dfergie]

If you don't mind a little loss in PQ, BDRebuilder will shrink the BD ...

 

[TheForce]

ImgBurn will make the image, No luck last night with the 3D files, got the "your tv is not a 3D set" screen, didn't think about trying other cables till I had moved the PH back into the BT ...

Try using SBS half and see if that works for 3D. You'll need to render the 3D differently than ISO for Blu Ray but SBS Half should work. I'll try it next week after my popcorn hour arrives. I have several 1080 x 1920 SBS half files already rendered.

 

[dfergie]

It will play SBS or should, my WDTV will do that

 

[dfergie]

Another benefit of the popcorn box, I took some video at a football game last night with my little Sony HD cam, I hooked up it and played just like it was on a disc ... you have the option of seeing the time or turning subtitles off to take off ...

 

[mike123abc]

To make my ISO images I just use AnyDVD's image ripper. It just copies the whole BD to one .iso file and takes off all the copy protection and "fixes" the disc so you have menus and skip ability. Selecting the file from the PCH over my LAN starts it up just like you put the BD in a BD player with full menus.