www.makemkv.com

Has anyone tried successfully playing back decrypted Blu-rays (the back up discs that some of us make to keep our originals in pristine shape) on any of the new non-Sony Blu-ray players lately?

My process is:
1. I use MakeMKV to produce unencrypted BDMV and Certificate files
2. I use BD Rebuilder to put those files back together
3. Then I use Imgburn to create one unencrypted Blu-ray disc that will play in my Blu-ray player.

I've never had any serious problems playing back a Blu-ray in my GoogleTV Blu-ray player, though on a Sony Playstation the audio would cut out after 20 minutes. That however would NOT happen when we played a Blu-ray on an Xbox. It played perfectly using an Xbox.

But now I am considering buying a new Panasonic 4K Blu-ray player (the DP-UB820) and I'm wondering if "my process" above will result in Blu-ray Discs that will play correctly in the new player. Or will I lose the audio after 20 minutes? Has anyone had any actual experience with this lately?

Thanks!

Sounds like Cinavia... some players honor it, some don't. Since it's a 'watermark', (most) decryption tools have no affect on it.

https://www.myce.com/article/cinavia-th ... ced-68001/

If the player has the official "Blu ray" icon on it, it will honor Cinavia.

But you don't need a BD player to play ripped files. Media players are available for a wide range of prices. They just require that the files not be encrypted.

If considering Panasonic, bear in mind they have poor mkv support over a network, 24p is force converted to 60hz and no support for HD audio.

I did not know that. Thanks for the tip Morbius!

By the way, you wouldn't have a suggestion as to which 4K Blu-ray player I should buy, would you?

Well this may not be helpful, but if you want a disc spinner with good mkv support then Oppo is very good. Supports 24p, HD audio and UHD. Last time I tried (about a year ago since I experimented with one in person), it did not have automatic enabling of forced subtitles in mkv files even if correctly authored, in the way that Kodi does. But there have been firmware updates since then so possibly Oppo have fixed this.

But for network streaming I'd look at a Kodi box, eg a Raspberry Pi if you don't need UHD or passthrough HD audio (eg for Atmos), or if you do need that, then a Vero 4K+. It's very cheap and very capable, with excellent developer support.