[mythtvnz] Which image format (ISO, BIN etc) shall I use to rip a Blu-Ray disc?

[Nick Rout]

On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 10:17 PM, Stephen Worthington
<stephen_agent at jsw.gen.nz> wrote:
> On Tue, 20 Sep 2011 22:02:54 +1200, you wrote:
>
>>Hi,
>>
>>Which image format (ISO, BIN etc) shall I use to preserve all information
>>from an unencrypted Blu-Ray disc?
>>
>>I have a Blu-Ray copy of my wedding video (in addition to a DVD) in H.264
>>1080p, to which I own all relevant copyright (so you can feel safe giving me
>>advice). I do not have a Blu-Ray drive, but am borrowing one from a friend.
>>While I have the drive, I want to make an image of the disc that preserves it
>>in its entirety and could be either burnt to a new BR disc (creating an
>>identical copy to the original) or played in MythTV etc.
>>
>>With the DVD, I made an .iso image. This can be burnt to blank DVDs and
>>plays natively in MythTV.
>>
>>I have been told that for a Blu-Ray disc I need to use a BIN file image in
>>order to preserve all relevant information of the disc. I have searched quite
>>a lot (see links below) and as far as I can tell, a bin image is a
>>bit-for-bit copy of the disc surface, whereas an iso image is a copy of the
>>*files* on the disc.
>>http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061130153208AA1w2qP
>>http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/7976
>>http://club.myce.com/f3/differences-bin-img-iso-images-245082/
>>
>>As I understand things, if all relevant information on the disc is a file
>>(as it is with DVDs), an iso image is sufficient. If some relevant
>>information on the disc is not a file (such as copy protection mechanisms on
>>Blu-Ray?), I would need a BIN file. I have found that BIN files don't play
>>natively in a lot of the programs that I use.
>>
>>My understanding is that Blu-Ray is just a collection of files in a UDF
>>filesystem
>>(https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats/BluRayAndHDDVD). I
>>expect that copy protection outside of that filesystem often stops you seeing
>>the files. For my wedding Blu-Ray, I can see all of the files and play the
>>.m2ts file directly, suggesting to me that the disc is entirely unprotected
>>(as it should be). In this case, should an iso image be everything that I
>>need?
>>
>>As a number of things don't work properly with Blu-Rays on Gnu/Linux (eg the
>>menus), it is hard to just have a go and test
>>(http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Bluray).
>>
>>Failing an answer, I guess that I just do a BIN file as well and hedge my
>>bets.
>>
>>I'm a member of the FSF, so you don't need to tell me about the evils of
>>Blu-Ray (http://www.bluraysucks.com). (Though I note that most of that
>>doesn't apply to DRM-free Blu-Ray discs like mine.)
>>
>>Thanks in advance for your assistance.
>>
>>Thanks!
>>
>>Aaron
>
> I have never tried it, but my understanding is that with an
> unprotected BluRay disk, like an unprotected DVD, you can just copy
> all the files to a directory and get VLC to play the directory.
> Whether MythTV can also play a BluRay directory, I have no idea.

Yes it can, as of 0.24.
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Release_Notes_-_0.24 (But not direct from
the platter as I understand it, only once ripped).

But I am not sure of the answer to Aaron's question, but I just got an
external bluray disk yesterday.

K3B offers to make an iso copy as a preliminary to copying a
(protected) bluray disk, but as I don't have a spare 32G I can't
actually make that happen. I have tried this only as an experiment of
course, to help Aaron out. When I free up some space or another
computer I may be able to help more.