# Can Bolt play BluRay rips without transcoding?



## Sasparilla (Dec 10, 2003)

Was wondering can the Bolt could play BluRay rips via transfer (to the Bolt) without transcoding?

Been waiting for this as the litmus test for upgrading from my TiVoHD.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Not via Plex. Not sure about transfers though. Although even in my Plex test I'm not sure if it was attempting to transcode the video or the audio, since the audio is DTS.


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## Sasparilla (Dec 10, 2003)

Dan203 said:


> Not via Plex. Not sure about transfers though. Although even in my Plex test I'm not sure if it was attempting to transcode the video or the audio, since the audio is DTS.


Thanks for the reply (bummer about Plex), it would be about transfers that I'm looking for though.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Dan203 said:


> Not via Plex. Not sure about transfers though. Although even in my Plex test I'm not sure if it was attempting to transcode the video or the audio, since the audio is DTS.


It was the DTS Audio. Tivo does not accept DTS so it has to be transcoded.

I was able to stream an unmodified bluray rip with h.264 video at 24Mbps 1080p24 and AC3 audio at 640kbps and it streamed fine without transcoding. Still do not know what the upper limit on bit rate is.

Same video transferred and played fine as an mp4 file.


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## georgeorwell86 (Sep 15, 2015)

Has anyone run into mp4 files that will not play in Plex? I use the same profile in Handbrake to create all my mp4s....but I'm finding random files that will not play in Plex on the Tivo. At first I thought the common factor was AAC audio....but I ran across one that had AC3 that wouldn't play. Very odd.....


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## Sasparilla (Dec 10, 2003)

jcthorne said:


> It was the DTS Audio. Tivo does not accept DTS so it has to be transcoded.
> 
> I was able to stream an unmodified bluray rip with h.264 video at 24Mbps 1080p24 and AC3 audio at 640kbps and it streamed fine without transcoding. Still do not know what the upper limit on bit rate is.
> 
> Same video transferred and played fine as an mp4 file.


Thank you jcthorne! TiVo finally has given us something to play our bluray content on (non DTS audio of course...but I can live with that). Time for an upgrade for me, been waiting for this since the TiVoHD (which is what I have).


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## thefisch (Jul 25, 2015)

Is there a way to transfer a video file from your computer (like a bluray rip) to your tivo so it appears in my shows? What would the workflow be for that? To clarify, I am not talking about using plex to serve the show from a PC or NAS.


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

georgeorwell86 said:


> Has anyone run into mp4 files that will not play in Plex? I use the same profile in Handbrake to create all my mp4s....but I'm finding random files that will not play in Plex on the Tivo. At first I thought the common factor was AAC audio....but I ran across one that had AC3 that wouldn't play. Very odd.....


Do they play fine on your PC?

What goes wrong on Plex? Does it not play at all, or stutter, or stop?


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

georgeorwell86 said:


> Has anyone run into mp4 files that will not play in Plex? I use the same profile in Handbrake to create all my mp4s....but I'm finding random files that will not play in Plex on the Tivo. At first I thought the common factor was AAC audio....but I ran across one that had AC3 that wouldn't play. Very odd.....


Beware of the frame rate. Handbreak uses variable frame rate for most videos and that can cause playback issues on some devices.


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## georgeorwell86 (Sep 15, 2015)

Dan203 said:


> Beware of the frame rate. Handbreak uses variable frame rate for most videos and that can cause playback issues on some devices.


I have mine set to "same as source" and "constant frame rate". I think I'm going to need to run through a bunch, get a list of which aren't working on the Tivo, then drill down the details to find the culprit.


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## Sasparilla (Dec 10, 2003)

thefisch said:


> Is there a way to transfer a video file from your computer (like a bluray rip) to your tivo so it appears in my shows? What would the workflow be for that? To clarify, I am not talking about using plex to serve the show from a PC or NAS.


Yes. I believe its called (or was called TiVo To Go). Here's the forum:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=35

You can use it with Windows and I believe OS X (it's tied to another application there), still works with the Bolt. There's a standalone Windows Application you download and install. You pair the application with your TiVo over your local network at home (normally not hard at all). Then you can download and backup content from your TiVo to your PC (I use it for content I want to always have). And you can do the reverse, choose from and pull the content from your TiVo folder (the application adds) on your PC up to your TiVo (you can start watching as soon as the 1st couple of minutes of the movie is uploaded).

I do it with DVD content I want to have always available, but have been waiting for TiVo to get hardware (powerful enough) that doesn't need the movie to be transcoded from BluRay's into a new format - and it sounds like the Bolt does that.

The workflow would be to rip the DVD, its normally in pieces, use a program to put them together and then drop in your TiVo folder where you can access it from your TiVo - I'd assume BluRay content would be similiar (take longer to rip initially). (normally would take me 15 mins or so for a DVD, not sure what a BluRay would be without transcoding)


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

pyTiVo works better for that, but it's a bit more complicated to setup.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

thefisch said:


> Is there a way to transfer a video file from your computer (like a bluray rip) to your tivo so it appears in my shows? What would the workflow be for that? To clarify, I am not talking about using plex to serve the show from a PC or NAS.


Yes. pyTivo does exactly this.


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## georgeorwell86 (Sep 15, 2015)

While trying to figure out why some mp4 files won't play, I discovered that any MKV file I tested was being transcoded, whereas the mp4 files that would play were played without transcoding. Has anyone been able to stream an MKV that was not transcoded?


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

georgeorwell86 said:


> While trying to figure out why some mp4 files won't play, I discovered that any MKV file I tested was being transcoded, whereas the mp4 files that would play were played without transcoding. Has anyone been able to stream an MKV that was not transcoded?


Please post mediainfo for an mp4 that will not play and we can attempt to diagnose the problem. Can't help with mkv as all my video is stored in mp4 format so it can be easily pushed to the tivo.


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## georgeorwell86 (Sep 15, 2015)

jcthorne said:


> Please post mediainfo for an mp4 that will not play and we can attempt to diagnose the problem. Can't help with mkv as all my video is stored in mp4 format so it can be easily pushed to the tivo.


Will do. BTW, discovered last night that those mp4 files that will not play from the Bolt, play fine from the minis.


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