VirtualBox + AnyDVD HD Tips

[user667]

As a Linux user who wants to back-up my Blu-Rays and who is new to AnyDVD, I've seen a lot of posts asking for a Linux version of AnyDVD HD. While I also really wish SlySoft would produce such a version, I've spent some time learning through trial and error about how best to use AnyDVD HD with VirtualBox, and thought I would share my experiences.

With VirtualBox and the right settings, I've been able to get performance that is on par with a standard Windows XP installation. I typically get speeds of 15 MB/s running native Windows, and about 13.5 MB/s running Windows in VirtualBox (in a Linux environment) on the same machine.

For those not familiar with VirtualBox, it is an virtualization tool similar to VMWare that is maintained by Sun/Oracle. There is an open source version, and a free but closed source version. I use the closed source version. More on VirtualBox at http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/VirtualBox.

Relevant details about my set-up:
- Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz CPU
- ASUS P5Q-E LGA 775 Motherboard
- OS running on RAID0 w/ Two Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS Hard Drives
- Data drives on Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS Hard Drives (no RAID)
- LG Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM & 16X DVD±R DVD Burner SATA Model GGC-H20L w/ hacked FW
- 4 GB DDR2 1066 RAM
- Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty AMD64 version
- VirtualBox 2.2.0

When running in a VM, the biggest bottleneck I've observed is the write speed to wherever you're writing your rip. I've found that I get best performance when running on a shared folder mounted through VirtualBox. Unless you want to have huge virtual disks, you have to write to a mounted share of some sort. Trying to write to a local Samba share cuts my throughput down to about 5 MB/s, and I tend to get access errors during rips. I have no idea why this is, but I've seen it repeatedly in multiple VM installations on multiple versions of Ubuntu. To get around this bottleneck, mount your shares through VirtualBox, as shown below:



Additional screenshots of my config are below. I think the CD/DVD-ROM settings are critical (enabling passthrough), but you may be able to use other settings on the other screens and not constrain your performance. Settings not shown are default or not important for AnyDVD HD performance.








2010-05-08 UPDATE:

Going from 1 to 2 CPUs in the VM seems to speed things up by about 50%. I've gone from 8-10 MB/s to 14-16 MB/s

 

[user667]

Additional config image (because I am limited to 4):




2010-05-08 UPDATE:

 

[samborambo]

Hi user667,

Your tips have been a great help. Do you know if ripping of blu-rays can be automated with this set up? Does AnyDVD HD support command line automation? I have a mythtv system and would like to make this happen in the background for importing bluray movies.

Cheers,

Sam.

 

[sej7278]

i think you forgot to mention the most important point - to enable dvd passthrough (as per your screenshot) otherwise anydvd won't work at all :disagree:

you'll probably need to install the guest additions to get the best out of video/audio playback, and also shared folders of course.

also xp is pretty poor at being virtualised, you'd be better off using 2003.

i wouldn't bother writing using virtualbox or any slysoft programs, nerolinux can more than handle udf 2.5/2.6 for bluray/hddvd, and of course any program can handle udf/iso9660/joliet for cd/dvd.

i've stopped using clonedvd mobile under emulation, i just use the same settings in mencoder under linux natively. might change my mind if the new engine for cdvd-m ever arrives.

 

[user667]

i wouldn't bother writing using virtualbox or any slysoft programs, nerolinux can more than handle udf 2.5/2.6 for bluray/hddvd, and of course any program can handle udf/iso9660/joliet for cd/dvd.

But just straight copying it in Linux doesn't remove AACS/BD+ and the Region Code. There is not yet a reliable way of doing this for Blu-Rays in Linux as far as I know.

Or am I mistaken?

 

[user667]

Do you know if ripping of blu-rays can be automated with this set up? Does AnyDVD HD support command line automation? I have a mythtv system and would like to make this happen in the background for importing bluray movies.

Me too, but there is no way to automate it that I know of.

 

[sej7278]

But just straight copying it in Linux doesn't remove AACS/BD+ and the Region Code. There is not yet a reliable way of doing this for Blu-Rays in Linux as far as I know.

Or am I mistaken?

ripping with anydvdhd is what removes all of the protection. the burning stage has nothing to do with that.

 

[Ninpo]

Hey nice guide.

Have you come across the issues that I describe in this thread?

I'm also using Virtualbox. Incidentally I did find that enabling multi core in the latest version, for some odd reason dropped AnyDVD down to about .3MB/s at ripping. Not sure why, been fine since I returned to 2.x.

 

[user667]

Have you come across the issues that I describe in this thread?

I don't own that disc, so I can't try to replicate your problem. But for what it's worth, I've never had a problem with VirtualBox that non-VirtualBox users didn't have. I've been using it for about 4 months now and have no complaints.

I'm also using Virtualbox. Incidentally I did find that enabling multi core in the latest version, for some odd reason dropped AnyDVD down to about .3MB/s at ripping. Not sure why, been fine since I returned to 2.x.

I've never tried enabling multicore.

I do periodically (like once a month) run into issues where ripping speed is just dog slow (like what you're experiencing). I can almost always resolve this by
1) Shutting down the VM
2) Ejecting the Blu-Ray disc
3) Starting the VM and waiting for Windows to boot
4) Re-inserting the VM
The times that I can't are usually when the disc is dirty or scratched, which has nothing to do with VirtualBox.

Overall, my VirtualBox experience has been very smooth. I still wish a native Linux version could be developed, but I understand the reasons why it isn't. Since I need the VM for other things anyway, continuing to use AnyDVD within that environment is acceptable for the time being.

 

[ChinaJade]

I moved to Linux a while back, and have been using the Slysoft products in Virtualbox too.

@user667: THANK you for the "shared folder" trick! Native Windoze has always had flaky network access, and this was exacerbated when running non-natively under Virtualbox. But, your trick works like a champ! I no longer get the dropped connections. Linux simply rocks.

@sej7278: THANK you for the "Windoze 2003" emulation trick (instead of XP)! I am now ripping things at full native-Windoze speeds (its actually even a little faster, its not much, but it surprised me--I guess something at the emulated device driver level is better).


The games I play work great on Linux (WoW, DAoC, etc.), so do apps like Quicken. Some programs, like MakeMKV and MKVToolnix, that have native Linux implementations actually run two to three times faster on the same hardware than their Windoze counterparts. I only wish Slysoft made native Linux implementations, but I understand the technical difficulties involved in such, but I can keep on wishing.

Thanks again guys for the Virtualbox info to make the Windoze stuff less painful!

cheers,
CJ

 

[Dâniel Fraga]

Another useful tip I discovered today: unmount the media before inserting another one. This will prevent AnyDVD HD from giving read errors. I don't know if it was a change in Virtualbox or not, but it is a good practice to do.

 

[user667]

Another useful tip I discovered today: unmount the media before inserting another one. This will prevent AnyDVD HD from giving read errors. I don't know if it was a change in Virtualbox or not, but it is a good practice to do.

I don't even mount it in Linux. You don't have to for it to be accessible in VirtualBox.

 

[Dâniel Fraga]

I don't even mount it in Linux. You don't have to for it to be accessible in VirtualBox.

No, i mean inside Virtualbox. On the menu, you have: Devices -> Mount CD/DVD-ROM.

In the past I'd just mount the first media and forget about the others. Everything works. Now I have to mount the first one, use Anydvd, then unmount it, insert another media, use AnyDVD etc. Probably a Virtualbox issue or something that was changed in Virtualbox (3.0.6 r52130)...

 

[Dâniel Fraga]

Well, now that I noticed the option "Enable PassThrough" was disabled (?). I don't know why it was disabled, but it seems that during some version upgrade, maybe Virtualbox disabled it... probably this was the real issue... so we just use the mount option and forget about it...

 

[phreichmuth]

Blu-ray drive as network share for host

Hello everybody

I would like to watch blu-rays on a mac mini on the TV. As OS X has the same limitation like Linux in terms of blu-rays, I am thinking about the following:

- Running Windows XP as a guest in virtualbox
- using AnyDVD HD to remove copy protection
- make the Bluray-/DVD-/CD-drive in the guest available as a network share for the host
- playing the blu-ray in a player like Quicktime or iTunes on the host like a movie stored on any other network share.

The advantage would be that you don't need to rip the movie or store it in any other way on any disk, but having direct access to the disc as in Windows directly.

Has someone already experience with this methode or can someone test it?

As I have no blu-ray drive and no AnyDVD yet, I only could try it with a not copy protected DVD. That works, but I am not shure, if AnyDVD has enough access rights to the disc to remove the encryption and if it works trough the network sharing.

Thanks for your help.

Philipp

 

[Dâniel Fraga]

Hello everybody
As I have no blu-ray drive and no AnyDVD yet, I only could try it with a not copy protected DVD. That works, but I am not shure, if AnyDVD has enough access rights to the disc to remove the encryption and if it works trough the network sharing.

Thanks for your help.

Philipp

Yes, AnyDVD works fine inside Virtualbox. Just enable the Passthrough option in Virtualbx and you'll be fine.

 

[phreichmuth]

@ Daniel: Does the described scenario work as well (make the Bluray-/DVD-/CD-drive in the guest available as a network share for the host and access it by iTunes or quicktime on the host)?

 

[Dâniel Fraga]

@ Daniel: Does the described scenario work as well (make the Bluray-/DVD-/CD-drive in the guest available as a network share for the host and access it by iTunes or quicktime on the host)?

Maybe, but I never tried it. Maybe it's better to ask (or search) on the Virtualbox list:

http://vbox.innotek.de/mailman/listinfo/vbox-users

 

[phreichmuth]

I found out in the mean time that the movie actually is accessible through the guests share by the host, but it does not play nicely. Enormous artefacts and breaks.

It seems to be a problem with the virtual machine as the movie also does not play nicely all the way in the guest itself. Better, but not perfect.

 

[user667]

I updated my original post to include discussion of adding making more than 1 CPU core available to the VM. Going from 1 to 2 CPUs in the VM seems to speed things up by about 50%. I've gone from 8-10 MB/s to 14-16 MB/s