What software to rip DVD/BD for XBMC on Mac Mini

nantucket66

nantucket66

nantucket66

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I incorrectly posted this in the Apple Hardware Forum so here goes again...

I have a 2011 Mac Mini (2.3 with 8 gig) and am toying with the idea of using it as a HTPC with XBMC.

I have plenty of NAS storage so that is not an issue.

Plan to buy and external BD/DVD Writer (any recommendations welcome) and rip away.

What is the best software to use and what is the best format to rip to?

I'm not bothered about saving HDD space or bothered about extras on the discs, I just want the best possible picture/sound of the main feature.

I have my MM connected via HDMI to a 60 inch 1080p Pioneer plasma.

If the model of MM I have isn't up to 1080P/24 without stuttering it would not be the end of the world as I have a silly number of DVD's and would just concentrate on those and play BD's the old fashioned way.

Thanks
 
I have the older Mac Mini but the same screen.

I use Plex as the media centre app, and rip with MakeMKV. Very easy to use, and you can choose to rip the main movie as a .MKV with no compression, cut out the other languages, directors commentary etc. I've ripped all of my BD, and they play without stuttering.

I store my collection on a 12TB Drobo, check out my thread :)
 
Plex seems overly complicated, I've downloaded Plex Nine, the interface visually looks great, but.......

When setting it up I pointed it at the appropriate file locations for movies and tv shows (just on the internal drive on the MM until I fully understand it and move over the my NAS drives).

All seemed good initially. However I cannot for the life of me figure out to add another file location once I am actually in Plex itself.

I added a few files via a USB key from my W7 laptop to the TV Show folder but Plex does not see them (they are normal mkv files). I did this with a few movies and this seemed fine. They work fine on XBMC on the same MM

What I am missing (apart from a brain!)?

Cheers
 
You don't add locations in Plex itself that's just the client. In your menu bar you should have an icon which looks like ">" That's PMS which is the media manager component of Plex and servers to local and remote clients.

This is also what is used to scan for new content (can do it automatically if required) and define what directories are used for each section, as well as what metadata scanner to use. Note that if you are scanning on a network share then hold down option when clicking on manual scan normally has better results.

Personally I find the library features of Plex significantly better and easier to use than XBMC.

edit: if you are not using the library functions then you should be able to add a new directory as a "source" in the video apps section of the Plex client (but this way doesn't support subtitles).
 
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I either must be blind or Plex is broken.......I cannot see anything which looks like a ">" anywhere.

I have a folder called SD movies (yet to buy a BD writer).

Plex can see 11 movies, yet there are 14 movies in the folder. I cannot for the life of me see how to get it to rescan this folder.

TV shows is the same, couple of series in the folder, but nothing at all in Plex.

So basically I cannot figure out how to add a new location (be it local or network) and also how to get it to update new content in an existing location.

XBMC is seeing everything....
 
nantucket66 said:
I either must be blind or Plex is broken.......I cannot see anything which looks like a ">" anywhere.

I have a folder called SD movies (yet to buy a BD writer).

Plex can see 11 movies, yet there are 14 movies in the folder. I cannot for the life of me see how to get it to rescan this folder.

TV shows is the same, couple of series in the folder, but nothing at all in Plex.

So basically I cannot figure out how to add a new location (be it local or network) and also how to get it to update new content in an existing location.

XBMC is seeing everything....
Click to expand...

Plex probably isn't seeing them because you probably haven't scanned for them.

- Exit Plex.
- Look at the screen on your Mac. Top right on the top bar you probably have the date/username. Run your eyes left along the bar you should have an icon which looks like ">" as PMS runs in the background even when Plex isn't running.
- Click on the > to open the menu
- Click on Media Manager
- This opens the library management GUI. Select the section you want to update on the left pane.
- To add directories to the section and set which metadata agent to use click "edit section" on the bottom right.
- To just rescan hold down option/alt and click the refresh button in the very bottom right of the section

(holding down option/alt gives a deeper scan which works a lot better when scanning network drives. This is due to the directory time stamps not being updated properly on NAS drives when files are copied into them and by default the high level scan only rescans directories where the timestamp has changed to save time).

This application is also where you set up things like automatic library scans, what metadata agents to use for each section and language/subtitle preferences for playback. PMS runs in the background as you could be running Plex on another Mac or another device on the network and pulling stuff from PMS on this system.

There is a lot of information on how to use Plex, and very active forums, on the applications website. This includes how to properly name your files and directory tree structures tp be picked up more easily as well in the wiki.

I would guess that you are not using library mode in XBMC and are browsing through the interface to the files.
 
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Thanks for that, getting there slowly.

The Media Manager updated the movies perfectly and all seems well there.

The TV shows folder is plain weird.

There are only 2 files in this folder. Sons of Anarchy Season 2 and The Inbetweeners Season 3.

Inbetweeners doesn't show up and only the last 4 Episodes of SoA appears but they are tagged as Season 1, I presume I need to edit my Metadata more accurately?
 
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