Well, I’ve been getting more and more into Blu-ray backup recently, so I thought I would go ahead and post this nice tutorial and screencast combo! I’ll be detailing how to do it with BD Rebuilder today, and I will be adding how-to’s for other programs in the future.
Step 1
Rip your Blu-ray to a folder on your hard drive.
Step 2
Start up BD Rebuilder and you should see a main window like the one below. Using the Browse buttons, select your source directory. I’m using my Dark Knight Blu-ray in this example. Also, while your at it, select your Working directory. This is where your temporary files will be stored during the conversion process.
Step 3
Now, since I want to backup my entire Blu-ray (menus, extras, etc), I want to check to make sure that I am in the correct backup mode by going to Mode->Full Backup. There is one thing to remember here. A full backup means that you are backing up everything, so you have less space for your main movie, which means a reduced quality overall when you compress everything down. The alternative is to use the Movie-Only Backup mode, which (as I’m sure you can guess) will only backup your main movie. That means no menus, special features, or anything else. This a very nice option, as it allows you to obtain the maximum amount of quality possible for your main movie.
Step 4
Swing on over to the Settings menu, and after making sure that your Encoder is set to X264. Next, go to your Encoder Settings. As you can see, I have select my encoding priority to be Normal Priority. The reason for this is that I want my encode to run as fast as possible. I won’t be using the computer during the process, so I don’t care if other applications slow down. Now, if I were going to be using the computer, I would want to set my priority to Idle.
Also take a look at my Quality settings. There are 4 profiles available, and I find that the High Quality profile works well for my needs. It offers a decent trade off between speed and quality. Experiment with these and find one that works for you.
Step 5
Next, maneuver your mouse over to the Options menu. This is where we will be selecting our output size. As you can see, I have selected the BD-5 option. What this means is that I want to shrink down my Blu-ray until it is small enough to fit on a single layer DVD. BD-9 will fit on a dual layer DVD, and a BD-25 will fit on a single layer Blu-ray disk. I personally can’t afford to buy a blank Blu-ray disk and burner, but if you can, by all means go ahead. You also have the option of shooting for a custom size, but we don’t really need it in this case.
Step 6
Now, let’s go ahead and adjust the Setup of BD Rebuilder. Click on the Setup menu and you will see a window like the one below. Pretty much the only reason we are here is that we want to delete the WORKFILES after everything is finished. This just cleans up the temporary files after we are done. If you want a detailed explanation of the other options, please refer to the screencast. Save your changes and return to the main window.
Step 7
One particularly nice option about BD Rebuilder is that it supports batch conversion. For example, if you have a handful of Blu-rays that you wanted to convert, you could load up each one into BD Rebuilder and adjust its individual settings. Then all you need to do is queue them up using the Add Current Project to Bach Queue option (founder under the File menu). That way, when you are ready to press the Backup option, you will actually be backing up a multitude of Blu-rays, not just one per session. I find this to be a very useful option.
Step 8
Last but not least, hit the Backup button! This will get your conversion running into high gear. Now, in the case of a particularly large Blu-ray (like mine), you may receive the following warning. All it is telling you is that you have a large Blu-ray, and shrinking it down to a BD-5 may not give you the greatest quality. I know this, but I’m still okay with that for now. Go ahead and click okay if you are so inclined. BD Rebuilder will load up your files and start chugging long. You can sit there and watch it if you want, but will will take several hours and you probably have better things to be doing.
When it is finished, your necessary files can be found under your “Working Path” in a folder named according to your input source (ex. THE_DARK_KNIGHT). Inside that folder will be the BDMV and CERTIFICATE folders. Simply burn those two and you should be good to go!
Conclusion
All in all, it’s not a difficult process. The more you use BD Rebuilder, the more you get to appreciate its power and simplicity. If you guys have any questions, go ahead and post a comment and we’ll get you fixed up right away!
Note: For those of you having issues with VC-1 Blu-rays and Windows 7, I suggest that you read this thread.
If you have never burned a disk before, or if you a frankly just unsure about what you should use to burn your new disk, I wrote up a burning tutorial here.
Related posts:
- Convert Blu-rays to iPad with BD Rebuilder
- Backing Up Blurays with AVCHDCoder
- Burn Single Layer Video DVD’s With IMGBurn
Very good. I’ll try this one.
I just bought a USB blu-ray burner -> http://www.digistor.com/Digistor-External-Blu-ray-Burner-USB-2-0-Tray-Load -> and I wanna try this one out.
I have used this program for some time now and it is fantastic. I have never tried a full back up though. Will it play on the ps3? Another issue I am having is with a new pc I just got with Windows 7 on it. I can get through the first audio pass and then I get a warning saying that it can not encode the video. I am getting very frustrated at this. I had no issues on vista running the program. I tries to back up Public Enemies and it would not go. Get back to me on your thoughts. Thanks.
I may have to install Windows 7 soon, as it seems that many people are having issues with a variety of encoding programs.
To answer your first question, yes, the Blu-rays will play on a PS3.
As to the Windows 7 issue, this isn’t entirely unexpected/unheard of. Windows 7 uses a new Directshow alternative called Media Foundation, which has thrown developers for a loop in the beginning. According to the author, in this thread:
Also, I suggest (if you haven’t already) that you go back and read the installation instructions found here and follow them to the letter. Just be comforted in the fact that the author has tested BD-Rebuilder in Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit and as long as you follow his instructions you should be fine.
BD rebuilder keeps saying failed video encode.
Well I can’t help you without more information.
Make sure that you have followed the BD-Rebuilder installation instructions found here. You will need FFDShow, Haali’s Media Splitter, WMV 11 (when dealing with VC-1 Blu-rays) and IMGBurn if you are going to be burning directly from BD-Rebuilder.
If you are on Windows 7, it is highly recommended that you let BD-Rebuilder configure your FFDShow settings and then leave them be. This method has been tested on both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7 by the author, so it should work just fine.
Sorry I should have given you more info. I used AnyDVD HD to rip the blue ray then followed the instructions in your guide. I tried it 3 times and had the same error code, “faile video encode.” I am using windows XP, I’m not sure if that matters. Also, should I download a UDF reader, if so, where can i get one. Free if possible. Thanks for all the info.
You don’t need a UDF reader. However, if you would like one, I suggest that you follow the instructions found here. But, it is not necessary.
My guess as to the reason that you are failing the video encode is because you do not have your codecs properly configured. Do you have all of the programs (besides IMGBurn) that I mentioned earlier installed? If so, make sure that under the FFDShow settings, VC-1 is set to WMV9 NOT libavcodec.
Tried BD reader again and now it says can’t encode audio.
Try updating to the latest release of BD-Rebuilder, which offers a number of fixes and better error reporting. At this point it time it’s sound like your codecs are incorrectly configured, but without a better error report (like WHY it actually failed) I can’t tell you much more.
I think I need BD-50 target size for output option, so I can keep the original video and audio. Please add it in the next release. Anyway, I want to backup my Troy blu-ray which has duration around 3 hours.
So far I used the BD-25, I can keep encode audio with original, but it reduced the video quality.
I think you are slightly confused. I don’t develop BD-Rebuilder. I simply wrote a tutorial for it.
If you want BD-50 target size, then there is no point of running it through BD-Rebuilder. All you need to do is rip the disk, and then burn it again. Most Blu-rays are already BD-50, however, I don’t know about the availability (and price) of BD-50′s.
thanks for all of your help adub. i successfully backed up a blue ray to a single layer dvd. when i attempted to play it, it was not in a dvd or blue ray structure when i played it on the ps3. i had to play it in streams. anybody else have this problem.
Hmm… It sounds like you burned it incorrectly. Make sure that you are burning the entire AVCHD directory structure produced by BD-Rebuilder.
For a full proof method, install IMGBurn, and then set BD-Rebuilder to burn the project on completion. That way all of the burn settings will be properly handled for you, which should eliminate any issues you may have.
Let me know if that fixes your issue.
thanx again adub. im backing up another one now and i will try those settings.
Hello adub, thanks for the great guide and video. I’m using v0.31.06 (beta).
I have a question. I’m trying to burn a Blu-ray movie to a DVD-5. I used AnyDVD HD to create a source directory. Then I followed your instructions to the letter, but I chose “Movie-Only Backup mode.” I also chose “Auto-burn to Disc (with ImgBurn)” in the Output Options under Settings. But after the entire ordeal (which took over six hours and didn’t result in any error messages), the resulting DVD+R is unreadable, both in my computer and on my DVD player.
Any ideas?
“….and on my DVD player…..”
Keyword here. BD Rebuilder produces Blu-ray’s and AVCHD’s that use the advanced H.264 codec. Standard DVD players use MPEG2. You will need either a standalone Blu-ray player like the PS3 or similar, or a Blu-ray drive and something like Total Media Theater, or Cyberlink’s Blu-ray software to play the disk properly.
You could still open up the stream through your computer through a program like Media Player Classic, but I don’t think that is what you are going for.
Wow, you are correct. The DVD+R plays beautifully on my PS3. And to me, the picture looks better than a standard DVD played on a DVD player. I don’t know how this is possible since most movies are on dual-layered DVD’s and are thus bigger than that which can fit on a DVD+R. I admit it’s a little odd having a DVD that can only play in a Blu-ray player, but I can live with it.
“…or Cyberlink’s Blu-ray software to play the disk properly.”
Okay, this is strange. My computer is brand new and the pre-installed Blu-ray/DVD playing software is CyberLink’s PowerDVD DX. It worked fine yesterday playing an original Blu-ray, but now, after installing and using BD Rebuilder and its required software, it doesn’t even detect original Blu-ray discs anymore. Might you know what that’s about? Could using BD Rebuilder have affected my installed Blu-ray playing software?
You may find this interesting. Since you are using a 3rd party install of Cyberlink (through Dell I assume?), you may be experiencing this issue.
hello again adub, i hope i can ask another question. i followed the instructions, but when i backup the entire move and let img burn it, i still get data discs. i even tried the patcher method but most of my movies the patcher just gives me error codes. thanx for any help.
Thanks, Adub. Interesting. Well, seeing as how I’ll only be using my BD-RE to rip and burn, rather than watch, I’ve uninstalled Cyberlink’s PowerDVD 8.3 that came installed on my Dell. It can be reinstalled at any time.
Robert, did you edit any of the IMGBurn settings? If you did, uninstall, remove your settings, reinstall, and try burning the disk by hand using this guide from the author. And I’m curious, how do you know that you are getting a “DATA” disk? What tells you so?
Patrick, I’m glad that it worked out for you! Burn on my friend!
Hi Adub,
It’s my first time trying the backup, I did it, but forgot to chose “auto-burn to disc” in the output options. Can you tell me how to burn the files that bd rebuilder created. I will use imgburn with a bd5. Thanks a lot I really liked your tutorial, it helps a lot!
Hi again Adub, I just saw the guide you told Robert about. I will burn the disk by hand and see how it works. Thanks!
hey thanks again adub. when i put the disc in my ps3 it shows up as a data disc. i can play it, but i have to go into the streams folder on the disc and click on the movie title inside.
Hello again, Adub. Is there a way to get BD Rebuilder to work from an ISO image file (as opposed to file folders) as a source? If not, do you know of a program besides AnyDVD HD that can rip Blu-rays? I’ve tried BD Decrypter but can’t get it to work.
Yes, you can rip from an ISO image. However, just to be clear, AnyDVD rips to other things too. You can rip to a main file structure that will require no further handling to be usable.
To work with an ISO image you are going to need to mount it using something like Virtual Clone Drive or Daemon Tools (both are free). Simply install the software, right click on the virtual drive created, and select your ISO file to be mounted.
[...] might want to give BD Rebuilder a try as i don't think you can have a .MKV with HD audio (i've never seen one, anyway)……but [...]
ok adub i have bd rebuilder installed along with associated programs. now when i run it it has a pop up that sates it cant find a path to all the files etc that are in the tools folder ( ie mkvmerge, aften, tsmuxer etc ) within the bd rebuilder main folder any ideas?
Not really. A proper install should have configured everything for you. You didn’t edit the configuration file did you?
Just found this site. Great job and thank you.
I’ve been trying to burn Blu-rays for a while. I finally get to the point where I need to shrink one a bit. BD Rebuilder shrinks it, but when I use image burn, it says the file is too large for the disc. I go back to BD Rebuilder and try to shrink it a bit. This is what i get:
[08:29:12] BD Rebuilder v0.31.06 (beta)
– Source: EAC3TO_OUTPUT
– Input BD size: 23.46 GB
– Approximate total content: [02:33:31.840]
– Target BD size: 21.92 GB
– Windows Version: 6.1 [7600]
– Audio Settings: AC3=0 DTS=0 HD=1 Kbs=640
[08:29:14] PHASE ONE, Encoding
– [08:29:14] Extracting A/V streams [VID_00000]
– Error in attempt to extract audio/subs.
–
[08:41:31] – Failed to retrieve audio, aborted.
Any ideas?
Thank you.
I suggest that you look at step 5 again. Your target size is your problem. You probably want BD-5.
I’m using a BD-R. 25 gig capacity. ImgBurn said it was just a bit oversize.
Ah, okay then.
Well judging from your comments (and your log) you have a few problems. For one, your audio is not being extracted correctly. Does this happen regularly or was it just this one time?
Second, what encoding mode are you using? Are you using One Pass? If so, this may be the cause for your sizing problems. Try changing to 2 pass (which is better for hitting a specific size) and see if that fixes the problem.
Audio problems happen a lot.
I did not select any of the pass encodings under setup. I set it to normal and highest quality. How would I change it to 2 pass and which one should I use?
I am keeping the HD audio.
Audio problems happen a lot.
I did not select any of the pass encoding options under setup. I set it to normal and highest quality. How would I change it to 2 pass and which one should I use?
I am keeping the HD audio.
Take a look at the screenshot from step 4. If you do not have one pass selected, then you are using 2 pass.
If you are having audio problems, then why are you trying to burn this disk? Are you sure that the output is fine?
I think you should go about solving your audio problems before you try to finish burning your disk. Make sure that you have to necessary programs installed (Avisynth, FFDShow, Haali’s Media Splitter, etc) and configured correctly.
I”m not trying to burn it yet.
I used BDR and got it down to 23.45 gigs with no audio problems.. When it tried to burn it with ImgBurn, it said the file was too big. I had the audio problem when I went back to shrink it to 22.45 gigs. Then I would try to burn it.
I had had audio problems before, but I thought they were gone. I have all the other programs installed, but I’ve left them at their default. I’m not sure what to change. I’ve done some searches, but it seems no one has put all of the settings in one place.
I have yet to burn my first Blu-ray.
Wait. Just to be sure, you are using your Original Source Files for your second shrink, yes? Or are you using the files that came out of your first shrink? If the latter, that’s a no no.
Use your original source files any shrink you do. If you use the original files for your shrink, do you get an audio error?
Not using original source file. Let me try that.
OK. I tried just using BD Rebuilder and AnyDVD HD (and not Clown BD as well). This is what I get:
———————–
[07:28:13] BD Rebuilder v0.31.06 (beta)
– Source: THE_FUGITIVE
– Input BD size: 23.11 GB
– Approximate total content: [02:44:12.275]
– Target BD size: 21.92 GB
– Windows Version: 6.1 [7600]
– Audio Settings: AC3=0 DTS=0 HD=1 Kbs=640
[07:28:13] PHASE ONE, Encoding
– [07:28:13] Extracting A/V streams [VID_00000]
– [07:42:27] Reencoding: VID_00000 (1 of 4)
– [07:42:27] Collecting video information
– Source Video: VC-1, 1920×1080
– Rate/Length: 23.976fps, 187,356 frames
– Bitrate: 20,060 Kbs
– [07:42:28] Reencoding: VID_00000, Pass 1 of 2
– Encode failed. Retrying.
– Encode failed. Retrying.
– Reached retry limit. Aborting.
– FFDSHOW Revision: (3222)
[07:42:31] – Failed video encode, aborted.
You mentioned before that the settings for the programs that BD Rrebuilder calls might not be correct. Could you possibly post the correct settings?
Denny
OK. I tried just using BD Rebuilder and AnyDVD HD (and not Clown BD as well). This is what I get:
———————–
[07:28:13] BD Rebuilder v0.31.06 (beta)
– Source: THE_FUGITIVE
– Input BD size: 23.11 GB
– Approximate total content: [02:44:12.275]
– Target BD size: 21.92 GB
– Windows Version: 6.1 [7600]
– Audio Settings: AC3=0 DTS=0 HD=1 Kbs=640
[07:28:13] PHASE ONE, Encoding
– [07:28:13] Extracting A/V streams [VID_00000]
– [07:42:27] Reencoding: VID_00000 (1 of 4)
– [07:42:27] Collecting video information
– Source Video: VC-1, 1920×1080
– Rate/Length: 23.976fps, 187,356 frames
– Bitrate: 20,060 Kbs
– [07:42:28] Reencoding: VID_00000, Pass 1 of 2
– Encode failed. Retrying.
– Encode failed. Retrying.
– Reached retry limit. Aborting.
– FFDSHOW Revision: (3222)
[07:42:31] – Failed video encode, aborted.
You mentioned before that the settings for the programs that BD Rebuilder calls might not be correct. Could you possibly post the correct settings?
Denny
Here’s the next one. I ripped to an image with AnyDVD. Got rid of protection and took trailers out.
[08:35:35] BD Rebuilder v0.31.06 (beta)
– Source: THE_FUGITIVE
– Input BD size: 23.12 GB
– Approximate total content: [02:44:12.275]
– Target BD size: 21.92 GB
– Windows Version: 6.1 [7600]
– Audio Settings: AC3=0 DTS=0 HD=1 Kbs=640
[08:35:35] PHASE ONE, Encoding
– [08:35:35] Extracting A/V streams [VID_00000]
– [08:48:58] Reencoding: VID_00000 (1 of 4)
– [08:48:58] Collecting video information
– Source Video: VC-1, 1920×1080
– Rate/Length: 23.976fps, 187,356 frames
– Bitrate: 20,052 Kbs
– [08:48:58] Reencoding: VID_00000, Pass 1 of 2
– Encode failed. Retrying.
– Encode failed. Retrying.
– Reached retry limit. Aborting.
– FFDSHOW Revision: (3222)
[08:49:00] – Failed video encode, aborted.
The good part is that, with your help, I think this will finally get figured out.
Okay, you have the infamous VC-1 problem. Your VC-1 decoder is configured incorrectly. Which version of Windows are you running? If either XP or Vista, open up FFDShow and go to the Video Configuration section. Under Codecs, make sure that you have WMV9 selected as your default decoder for VC-1. Note, you will need a decently recent version of Windows Media Player for this to work (WMV9+).
Another option is to reinstall BD Rebuilder and let it configure FFDShow for you.
I’m running windows 7. I checked the VC-1 decoder. It’s already set to WMV9. I’ve got the version of WMP that came with Windows 7.
Ah, of course you are. Windows 7 seems to have the most problems these days. Okay, so reinstall BD Rebuilder and run it as an administrator so that it can configure your DirectShow settings correctly the first time. Then don’t change them!
Let me know what happens.
P.S. The author has BD-Rebuilder working on both 32 and 64 bit Windows 7, so it’s just a configuration problem.
Yes!! It finished. Thank you!
It seems like the order in which you install the programs makes a difference. I installedd BD Rebuilder before I installed FFDShow. Would that mean that Bd Rebuilder did not get a chance to configure FFDShow?
OK. Now that I’ve got the file, I want to use ImgBurn to burn it to a blank Blu-ray disc. Should I copy the folder or the individual files?
Thanks,
Getting further than I did before. Does the order in which you install the programs make a difference? I installed BD Rebuilder before I installed FFDShow. Would that mean that BD Rebuilder did not configure FFDShow?
Oops. Looks like I have to make an iso image. Same basic question: should I make an image of the folder or the separate files? These blanks cost too much to experiment with.
Stop! You don’t have to make an ISO image!
All you have to do is point IMGBurn at the output folder generated by BD-Rebuilder. It should recognized the format and create the necessary settings. Make sure that you are burning using UDF 2.50 at least.
See this guide: http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=9512
It’s a good guide, and I’ll make one of my own when I have time.
I found that guide while I was waiting for your reply. The guide says to copy the individual BDMV and Certificate folders into the ImgBurn window. Or should I copy just the folder? Or does it make any difference?