Alright, it’s time.
Inb4 all of the “4K is pointless,” “we don’t need 4K,” blah blah comments.
In this video I’m going to show you what’s required to rip 4K UHD and even HDR BluRays,
and the requirements might surprise you.
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I’m EposVox, here to make tech easier and more fun, and today we’re talking about
ripping those hot new 4K Ultra High Definition and HDR BluRays.
More pixels is more fun.
If you’re a pixel junkie like me, want to load up your Plex library with the hot new
stuff to play on your new TV like I did in a recent video, or you just want to experiment.
By the way, I do have an ongoing sponsorship with Plex so if you wanna check it out for
free or purchase a Plex Pass, or learn about it, check out my affiliate links and video
playlist linked below.
Alright so to rip 4K BluRays, you do not need a “UHD BluRay” specific drive.
In fact, the couple, super expensive “official UHD BluRay drives” will NOT work for this
process.
They have encryption that cannot be bypassed this way.
4K BluRays are just burned to BluRay XL discs, which most readers can read, but only specific
models will let you rip from them.
I’ll have some resources linked in the video description where they will hopefully keep
an updated list of “Ultra HD BluRay ‘friendly’ drive.”
There’s currently 10 available, but only like 4 are reasonably priced.
Here’s the list.
The one I usually is the LG WH16NS40 - it’s the cheapest and simplest.
I own two or three that are very similar to this one, but they’re not this exact model
so I had to pick it up for about 50 bucks and swap out my incompatible drive.
Other users strongly recommend the ASUS BW-16 drives - available in both internal AND external
USB 3.0 models.
Apparently this version is future-proof as potential future
I will have product links for all of this linked in the video description.
Either way, MAKE SURE you don’t update the firmware of your drive.
The currently available firmwares allow for us to bypass the AACS 2.0 protection, but
updated firmwares could stop this.
Next, install MakeMKV if you haven’t already.
This is always what I recommend for getting the fastest/best quality rip of any DVD or
BluRay, and I know for certain that it pulls the full HDR version.
Theoretically the keys we’ll be getting in a minute will allow you to open 4K BluRays
in Handbrake, VLC, etc. as well, but I have not tested this.
Next, you will need some hashed keys specifically for the movie you’re trying to rip.
Since the encryption scheme on the whole for 4K BluRays has not been 100% cracked, you’re
at the whim of people generating keys for specific films.
Sometimes there are multiple keys for a film and one may not work, etc.
I’ll have a link in the video description for a couple things that will benefit you:
First is a “hashed keys.txt” and “KeyDB.cfg” file with the keys I have accumulated thus
far, and the second is a Doom9 forum thread where people are posting new keys regularly
and uploading new KeyDB.cfg files with new movies being decrypted.
If you do have a 4k BluRay that does not have a key for it, you are not out of luck, actually!
Go ahead and pop the disc in your player and open it in MakeMKV and it will generate what's
called a "dump file" in your ".MakeMKV" folder in your user folder that I mentioned before.
This will generally be called "MKB20_v61_ the movie name".
You take that file and email it to * svq@makemkv.com *. They will actually generate hashed keys
from that dump and then add it to the updated key list.
And so.. at most you might have to wait a week or two?
But generally speaking, they have pretty quick turnaround.
And so I'll have that specific information added in the description kind of at the top,
because that's the important bit, along with the link for the updated keys, and that new
link.
They've kinda moved the forums around since I originally started working on this tutorial,
but the new link I will have featured towards the top of the description will have all of
the updated keys for the new movies.
So you can send in your dump and get keys made so that you can have access to your movie
and be able to rip it.
Put both of these files in your “.MakeMKV” folder in your user folder.
If you don’t have this folder yet, put a normal BluRay or DVD in your drive and make
MakeMKV open it to generate the files.
The software will reference this folder when looking for keys to decrypt your discs.
Then, if you have a disc that has keys for it, you should be able to open it in MakeMKV
and rip.
I’ve tested a few movies this way, including both Deadpool and Atomic Blonde in HDR and
both still work in HDR in Plex on my Samsung MU6290 TV.
To make them work in Plex, simply add them to your library.
HOWEVER, transcoding 4K HDR BluRays in Plex requires a LOT of horsepower - it’s actually
too much for my old Cinnabar dual Xeon server to handle.
And it will need to transcode if you’re playing on a PC.
Streaming the files to my Samsung TV worked via direct play and had no buffering or performance
problems at all, but to a PC (via Chrome or the Windows 10 app) requires converting HDR
to SDR and requires more power than I can give.
I’ll be releasing a video soon diving deeper into that kind of performance and what specs
you might need.
I, personally, do not like compressing my rips and don’t usually mess with that - but
this is one instance where I might actually recommend making a compressed copy via Handbrake.
Personally I will keep the full MKV rip and simply make a compressed 1080p copy to play
to PC devices.
Space-wise, the files can vary wildly.
My 4K BluRays, such as Deadpool and Atomic Blonde, have not been much larger than normal
BluRays - sitting at about 36GB and 41GB for those two films respectively, but as the format
becomes more popular, you could see rips as large as 80 or more GB in size.
Lastly, you can purchase a paid software called DeUHD - with a quite expensive pricing model
- to rip your 4K BluRays -- but many people in the MakeMKV, Doom9, and ripping scene say
that the DeUHD method of decrypting discs is obsolete and the software won’t be useful
for very long, on top of the fact that you can do it for free with this guide.
But it is an option available to you, if you wish to pay to save time.
And that’s it!
Pixels make the world go ‘round, and now you can get more of them for your movie rips.
If you want to learn more about Plex, check out my affiliate links in the description
below.
I also have links of all of the sources for this video, too.
Otherwise, like the video if it was helpful for you, subscribe for more awesome tech content,
and I’ll see you in the next one.
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