CraigR
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Prior to reading and replying to this post, please be advised that I am aware that CloneBD is in its early days and that additional features and performance improvements will be implemented as the product matures. The following issues are listed in the hope that they be of assistance to the developers and are in no way intended to be insulting or derisive. I own (and am a big fan of) the bulk of the SlySoft product suite.
ENVIRONMENT:
I am running the lifetime licensed version of CloneBD version 1.0.2.3 inside Windows 8.1 64-bit. Hardware is a Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD5H motherboard with a Core i7-4770K and 32 Gigabytes of Corsair DDR3 DRAM. Please note that the Windows 8.1 environment is fully up to date and "clean" in the respect that the system is not bogged down with background services or startup applications. I am using the Core i7-4770K integrated graphics with the Intel Quicksync technology due to the fact that, from everything I have read, a video card does not actually speed up transcoding. However, I am willing to invest in a quality GPU if that is what is needed to rectify the following issues.
CLONEBD SETTINGS:
As with CloneDVD, I am using CloneBD to identify the desired playlist files and rip them to a Blu-Ray folder structure. So, my workflow is:
01. Use AnyDVD-HD to remove the disc encryption and then to copy the disc to a Blu-Ray folder structure on an internal Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM drive.
02. Launch CloneBD and step through the process of selecting the desired video and audio tracks and ripping those tracks to a Blu-Ray folder structure on a SECOND internal Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM drive. In other words, I am not trying to read and write to the same hard drive.
03. Launch VidCoder (alternate front-end for Handbrake) to transcode the files to the desired MKV or MP4 formats. I know CloneBD can do this directly, but does not offer the settings control that Handbrake profiles provide.
ISSUES:
01. Speed: It takes roughly half the running time of the feature/episode to rip to disk (e.g. one hour to rip a two hour movie). I can load the exact same Blu-Ray folder structure in to TSMuxR GUI, make the same title, audio and subtitle selections and rip a two hour movie in about fifteen minutes.
02. Quality: CloneBD's ripped files are of very low quality. When loading up the ripped Blu-Ray folder structure in MPC-HD or PowerDVD, the picture has a huge number of artifacts as one would expect in a highly compressed transcode - except I am not transcoding at this point. Again, the same output when using TSMuxR GUI is indistinguishable from the source Blu-Ray. CloneBD must be performing some kind of compression because the files output to the target BDMV folder are about half the size of the AnyDVD-HD or TSMuxR GUI rips.
CONCLUSIONS:
Since I get perfect, high-speed ripping and transcoding of Blu-Ray source material using free, open source tools like BDInfo, TSMuxR GUI, and VidCoder, I feel the problems described lie with how CloneBD leverages the open source libraries upon which it is built. I would hope that CloneBD software engineers will eventually allow lossless ripping of video, audio and subtitle files from the Blu-Ray source. As well, I would like to see the option to expose an advanced settings panel to allow fine-grained control of both the ripping and transcoding features for advanced users.
Again, I really like SlySoft products and do not regret spending the $100 on CloneBD to support its continued development. I hope this post is helpful to the developers and, should anyone have any helpful suggestions regarding settings I am overlooking, your input will be greatly appreciated.
ENVIRONMENT:
I am running the lifetime licensed version of CloneBD version 1.0.2.3 inside Windows 8.1 64-bit. Hardware is a Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD5H motherboard with a Core i7-4770K and 32 Gigabytes of Corsair DDR3 DRAM. Please note that the Windows 8.1 environment is fully up to date and "clean" in the respect that the system is not bogged down with background services or startup applications. I am using the Core i7-4770K integrated graphics with the Intel Quicksync technology due to the fact that, from everything I have read, a video card does not actually speed up transcoding. However, I am willing to invest in a quality GPU if that is what is needed to rectify the following issues.
CLONEBD SETTINGS:
As with CloneDVD, I am using CloneBD to identify the desired playlist files and rip them to a Blu-Ray folder structure. So, my workflow is:
01. Use AnyDVD-HD to remove the disc encryption and then to copy the disc to a Blu-Ray folder structure on an internal Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM drive.
02. Launch CloneBD and step through the process of selecting the desired video and audio tracks and ripping those tracks to a Blu-Ray folder structure on a SECOND internal Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM drive. In other words, I am not trying to read and write to the same hard drive.
03. Launch VidCoder (alternate front-end for Handbrake) to transcode the files to the desired MKV or MP4 formats. I know CloneBD can do this directly, but does not offer the settings control that Handbrake profiles provide.
ISSUES:
01. Speed: It takes roughly half the running time of the feature/episode to rip to disk (e.g. one hour to rip a two hour movie). I can load the exact same Blu-Ray folder structure in to TSMuxR GUI, make the same title, audio and subtitle selections and rip a two hour movie in about fifteen minutes.
02. Quality: CloneBD's ripped files are of very low quality. When loading up the ripped Blu-Ray folder structure in MPC-HD or PowerDVD, the picture has a huge number of artifacts as one would expect in a highly compressed transcode - except I am not transcoding at this point. Again, the same output when using TSMuxR GUI is indistinguishable from the source Blu-Ray. CloneBD must be performing some kind of compression because the files output to the target BDMV folder are about half the size of the AnyDVD-HD or TSMuxR GUI rips.
CONCLUSIONS:
Since I get perfect, high-speed ripping and transcoding of Blu-Ray source material using free, open source tools like BDInfo, TSMuxR GUI, and VidCoder, I feel the problems described lie with how CloneBD leverages the open source libraries upon which it is built. I would hope that CloneBD software engineers will eventually allow lossless ripping of video, audio and subtitle files from the Blu-Ray source. As well, I would like to see the option to expose an advanced settings panel to allow fine-grained control of both the ripping and transcoding features for advanced users.
Again, I really like SlySoft products and do not regret spending the $100 on CloneBD to support its continued development. I hope this post is helpful to the developers and, should anyone have any helpful suggestions regarding settings I am overlooking, your input will be greatly appreciated.