MakeMKV Plugin – On Hold
So it's with regret that I have to inform everyone that for the time being there will be no more updates to the MakeMKV / Plex plug-in. That is how it'll be for at least now. There are just too many bugs trying to get Plex to even stream a MakeMKV stream and other possible bugs with MakeMKV since it is in beta still. I'll keep investigating this in the future to see if I can get it working. But for now, This plug-in is now on hold.
MakeMKV 1.5.0
The latest version of MakeMKV (1.5.0) has been released with a bunch of new updates that seem really cool my favorites are UPnP support, decrypting a backup and better messaging support. While rummaging around with the new release I found these new flags that I thought might help others.
makemkvcon [options] Command Parameters
General options:
--messages=file
Output all messages to file. Following special file names are recognized:
-stdout - stdout
-stderr - stderr
-null - disable output
Default is stdout
--progress=file
Output all progress messages to file. The same special file names as in --messages are recognized with additional value "-same" to output to the same file as messages. Naturally --progress should follow --messages in this case. Default is no output.
--debug[=file]
Enables debug messages and optionally changes the location of debug file. Default: program preferences.
--directio=true/false
Enables or disables direct disc access. Default: program preferences.
--noscan
Don't access any media during disc scan and do not check for media insertion and removal. Helpful when other applications already accessing discs in other drives.
--cache=size
Specifies size of read cache in megabytes used by MakeMKV. By default program uses huge amount of memory. About 128 MB is recommended for streaming and backup, 512MB for DVD conversion and 1024MB for Blu-ray conversion.
Streaming options:
--upnp=true/false
Enable or disable UPNP streaming. Default: program preferences.
--bindip=address string
Specify IP address to bind. Default: None, UPNP server binds to the first available address and web server listens on all available addresses.
--bindport=port
Specify web server port to bind. Default: 51000.
Backup options:
--decrypt
Decrypt stream files during backup. Default: no decryption.
Conversion options:
--minlength=seconds
Specify minimum title length. Default: program preferences.
Automation options.
-r , --robot
Enables automation mode. Program will output more information in a format that is easier to parse. All output is line-based and output is flushed on line end. All strings are quoted, all control characters and quotes are backlash-escaped. If you automate this program it is highly recommended to use this option. Some options make reference to apdefs.h file that can be found in MakeMKV open-source package, included with version for Linux. These values will not change in future versions.
Message formats:
Message output
MSG:code,flags,count,message,format,param0,param1,...
code - unique message code, should be used to identify particular string in language-neutral way.
flags - message flags, see AP_UIMSG_xxx flags in apdefs.h
count - number of parameters
message - raw message string suitable for output
format - format string used for message. This string is localized and subject to change, unlike message code.
paramX - parameter for message
Current and total progress title
PRGC:code,id,name
PRGT:code,id,name
code - unique message code
id - operation sub-id
name - name string
Progress bar values for current and total progress
PRGV:current,total,max
current - current progress value
total - total progress value
max - maximum possible value for a progress bar, constant
Drive scan messages
DRV:index,visible,enabled,flags,drive name,disc name
index - drive index
visible - set to 1 if drive is present
enabled - set to 1 if drive is accessible
flags - media flags, see AP_DskFsFlagXXX in apdefs.h
drive name - drive name string
disc name - disc name string
Disc information output messages
TCOUT:count
count - titles count
Disc, title and stream information
CINFO:id,code,value
TINFO:id,code,value
SINFO:id,code,value
id - attribute id, see AP_ItemAttributeId in apdefs.h
code - message code if attribute value is a constant string
value - attribute value
Examples:
Copy all titles from first disc and save as MKV files:
makemkvcon mkv disc:0 all c:\folder
List all available drives
makemkvcon -r --cache=1 info disc:9999
Backup first disc decrypting all video files in automation mode with progress output
makemkvcon backup --decrypt --cache=16 --noscan -r --progress=-same disc:0 c:\folder
Start streaming server with all output suppressed on a specific address and port
makemvcon stream --upnp=1 --cache=128 --bindip=192.168.1.102 --bindport=51000 --messages=-none
MakeMKV Plugin v0.3
A new version of the plug-in is now available for download. There are still issues with Blu-Ray playback. That I'm trying to resolve.
Go here to download the latest version
New Features and Fixes
- Added preference to set the server load time out
- added better support for thumb art, titles and duration
- added better switching and loading with multiple drives
Plex Plug-in Update
A new version of the MakeMKV plug-in has been released.
New Features:
Instructions:
- Download the latest version of MakeMKV and Install
- Download and Install Plex
- Download and install MakeMKV Plugin (Double click to install)
- Launch the plug-in under the video section and update the MakeMKV location under preferences.
- Launch your DVD / Blu-Ray and select the appropriate stream
New Plex Plug-In for MakeMKV
I've just finished up my first release of a plug-in for Plex that allows you to watch Blu-Ray's in OSX without ripping. Consider this a Beta release. Please report any bug or any other feature requests in the comments below.
Instructions:
- Download the latest version of MakeMKV and Install
- Load MakeMKV. Click on the wrench (Preferences). Enable "Log debug message". Close MakeMKV
- Download and Install Plex
- Download and install MakeMKV Plugin (Double click to install)
- Launch the plug-in under the video section and update the MakeMKV location under preferences.
- Launch your DVD / Blu-Ray and select the appropriate stream
Issues:
- There is an issue where MakeMKV might still be running in the background and wont allow you access to your disc. If you load the plugin and it's running you can select stop MakeMKV or stop the process in Activity Monitor located at /Applications/Utilities/
- DVD or Blu-Ray thumb images to the right may be incorrect for some. please let me know if you have this issue.
- Cannot save a remote source yet. This will be available in the next release.
MakeMKV Streaming
As promised I wanted to get back after I was able to play with the new streaming feature in the latest release of MakeMKV. To my surprise this was actually in the last release (v1.4.9) but I was unaware of it. Basically after you scan a disc you can choose which title you want to stream.
Something that I found out that I didn't know about before is MakeMKVCon. As the name indicates this is a binary that lets you run everything from the console. So with the simple command ./makemkvcon stream disc:0 you can stream your movie over an http server. Just point our browser to http://localhost:51000 to find the right vob or .ts file you are looking for and launch it in vlc or another application that can stream over http.
The advantages of running it from the console is it makes it able for your to integrate it with a script. So that brings me to the second part of this post. Getting the blu-ray player to stream directly to plex without having to copy it to your hard drive first. Which in my opinion is great since I have a small hard drive. Unfortunately I don't have a working script yet. It's about 50% there. just have to finish learning the other parts of the plex plug-in api. Once when its done I'll be posting back here so keep checking back.
One thing I found interesting and didn't understand why at first is why the MakeMKV people would want to use an HTTP server to stream the files. seemed like a lot of added complexity when there are other ways to stream the output just as easily. Looking at the HTTP headers it mentioned UPnP. So that was a nice surprise. Once when all the UPnP stuff is completed you should be able to play these files in plex or xbmc a lot easier.
MakeMKV Update
I figures this was very news worthy. MakeMKV has updated their software to v1.4.10. Some of the new features include:
- New functionality: instant video streaming
- Added support for all blu-ray HD audio tracks:
- Dolby TrueHD
- Dolby Digital plus (E-AC3)
- DTS-HD
- DTS-HD Losless (Master audio)
- DTS-HD Low bitrate
This is great news all around. Until now the HD audio codecs weren't supported. I have to say the new instant video streaming sounds interesting. It streams content through a web server. After I look into it a bit more I'll post more details about it.
How-to watch Blu-Ray movies in OSX
So you have a mac and you have a Blu-Ray drive. But you can't figure out how to get them to work with each other. Well unfortunately for us sad folks Apple has not been very supportive of the Blu-Ray platform for what ever reason. Fortunately for us though we have people out there in the open source and hacking community that are really smart and have made it possible. Unfortunately it's not as easy as inserting your disc and pressing play. But it can be done and it isn't all that hard.