Open-Source Blu-ray Decryption Library For Linux

[kmod]

Where to get the keys?

A Blu-ray multimedia database key must also be installed on the system.

Just installed it but can't find any documentation on where to get the keys. Can anyone tell me? Thanks

[cjcox]

Image quality is much better on Blu-ray.

I bought a Blu-ray movie but I refuse to buy a standalone Blu-ray player or friggin' $100 player software for my computer just so I can play a damn Blu-ray. (I have a BD-ROM drive.) So eventually I'm just going to rip it and throw the disc in the trash.

I do agree, the picture is (marginally) better. However, IMHO, it destroys many movies in that the sharpness actually helps reveal the absolute "fakeness" of things like CGI. Blu-ray raw rips are between 25-30+GB in size. So... ripping is very expensive... and if the goal is transcoding anyhow (where lossy-ness comes in), then perhaps this is just an idea that really needs to just die. Which is my personal opinion. Most of the good stuff was made before the sharpness could be of any real benefit anyhow... and again, I can't overstate how much the sharpness ruins some titles.

DVD for the win. Rips are 4-5+GB in size and fast and easy to do. Blu-ray rips are large, slow and hard to do (arguably since there's always a "new" BD hurdle to overcome decryption wise).

Anyone who watches streaming content... let's face it, the HD is compressed... and really can be worse than native DVD in some cases. Again, if having physical media is something you want (which is wise since there are already examples of "online right to use" being taken away from people who thought they bought something persistent).... if physical media is something you want, I think DVD is still the best movie/TV wise. Technically, there's usually a revocable right to use on the physical media, but I figure that's pretty unenforceable... so at least I get to keep my movies. With that said, I do rip out of convenience. And if it matters after all of this... I transcode to save space and store in h264/aac for portability to my Roku's using Plex (PMS).

But I won't stop people from spending 2-4x as much on media that's difficult to deal with if they just have to have Blu-ray (if you haven't guessed, I have a very small Blu-ray investment).

[Hamish Wilson]

If this works as well as libdvdcss, I may actually buy a Bluray drive and bluray films.

Does anyone really know if this comes close to libdvdcss in terms of functionality?

[dstaubsauger]

I can't overstate how much the sharpness ruins some titles.

I agree with that, but if you can rip it, you can also watch it on your phone (yeeaay technology!)

[deanjo]

(also, blurays are not 4k)

Yet, but they are on their way.

[GreatEmerald]

Anyone who watches streaming content... let's face it, the HD is compressed... and really can be worse than native DVD in some cases.

Hardly. Now I only have one set of DVDs (a gift, and that's how I got introduced to the whole DRM situation on Linux), but reading the DVD specification I see that it's pretty much as good as it can get on DVDs. And it's bad. It's MPEG2, 576i, and it's very evident. There are artifacts everywhere, interlacing is horrific, the resolution is low. It doesn't even get close to the regular videos I watch and create (YouTube 1080p). Yes, it's compressed, but it's compressed in a good format (VP8) and it's sharp. Sharp enough that in 1080p resolution you can easily see the weapon numbers in Unreal's HUD, and the numbers there are just a few pixels in size. (Admittedly you can't see the number of items being held that clearly, but that's because they're also a few pixels in size and also red, and red text is something all video encoders hate with a passion.)

Of course, if DVDs were written without caring for the (old and useless) standards, they would be OK (still not good due to CSS, but at least not that bad). However, they aren't...

[Luke]

I can match Blu-ray's quality with coomputer-only video on DVD on vids < 1 hr 20 min

It is the highest quality format for media, giving the best possible video and audio quality, and will be for some time.

When I made a "year in review" video of the activist news items I have covered in 2013, the full 1080p/30fps archive file was an MP4 just under 1GB in size with
an H264 stream at 6000K. I see no artifacts on it, good stereo sound . I have neither recording nor playback gear for surround sound as I do news, not movies.
Main distribution was as a 720p file sent to Liveleak, but when shown to people in person they get the 1080p version if a machine that can play 1080p is
available.

The video was 21 minutes long, meaning a 4GB single-layer DVD would hold an hour and 20 minutes of this type of video, even a CD would handle 15 minutes
of it, so long as standalone players are ignored and the disc is a data disc. With 3 DVD-R's, you could distribute a long amateur feature in this format.

[bakgwailo]

When I made a "year in review" video of the activist news items I have covered in 2013, the full 1080p/30fps archive file was an MP4 just under 1GB in size with
an H264 stream at 6000K. I see no artifacts on it, good stereo sound . I have neither recording nor playback gear for surround sound as I do news, not movies.
Main distribution was as a 720p file sent to Liveleak, but when shown to people in person they get the 1080p version if a machine that can play 1080p is
available.

The video was 21 minutes long, meaning a 4GB single-layer DVD would hold an hour and 20 minutes of this type of video, even a CD would handle 15 minutes
of it, so long as standalone players are ignored and the disc is a data disc. With 3 DVD-R's, you could distribute a long amateur feature in this format.

And switching 3 discs sucks. BTW, a BD holds 50 gigs, which is about 10x more than a DVD, so to get true compatibly quality you would need about 11 DVDs. Honestly, the LOTR EE is already 2 blurays each, I can't imagine having to switch 20 disks to watch the movie. While 720p stereo maybe OK for you news, there is a huge difference in high quality cinematography between that and uncompressed 1080p with true 5.1/6.1/7.1 surround sound.

[curaga]

(Admittedly you can't see the number of items being held that clearly, but that's because they're also a few pixels in size and also red, and red text is something all video encoders hate with a passion.)

Protip: red and blue text getting bad is due to 4:2:2 formatting, where color resolution is halved. Using a codec that allows 4:4:4 full resolution fixes that.

Apologies if you knew already.

[GreatEmerald]

Protip: red and blue text getting bad is due to 4:2:2 formatting, where color resolution is halved. Using a codec that allows 4:4:4 full resolution fixes that.

Apologies if you knew already.

Hmm, but wouldn't YouTube just transcode it to 4:2:2 in any case?