How can I watch Blu-ray discs?

Question

I've got a Blu-ray drive and I'd like to be able to use it to watch movies under Ubuntu.

Solution 1

Please see the following official documentation for Bluray disc playback on Ubuntu:

Solution 2

It is actually possible if you use the media center application called xbmc which can be found here.

https://launchpad.net/~team-xbmc/+archive/ppa

After you have installed the package their is a plugin for xbmc to read bluray disks. The instructions are here.

http://bloggingabout.com/bluray-playback-xbmc-plugin.html

OMGUBUNTU.CO.UK also has a very simple script to get it setup with VLC also which is at the below link.

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/10/easy-blu-ray-movie-playback-in-linux/

Solution 3

makemkv is what i use on linux to rip and then play blu-ray discs. It works very well, and it's free at the moment. Makemkv will convert any dvd or blu-ray disc to an mkv file. DVDs rip into files of around 5GB, while bluray disks will give you huge files of 30-40GB. From there, i use handbrake to compress the video (including several audio/subtitle tracks) for viewing on tv/ipad/laptop.

Installation instructions are here: http://www.makemkv.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=224

Solution 4

lxBDPlayer player works fine for unencrypted Bluray discs.

They have a .deb installer on their homepage and on sourceforge.

I even mounted an untouched BluRay ISO and opened it with this player.

The player only has some very basic features like start, stop, pause, skip and chapter selection, but it is easy to install and easy to use.

Solution 5

As of Ubuntu 16.04 you can use a 30 day trial of MakeMKV

Install makemkv

cd ~/Downloads
wget http://www.makemkv.com/download/makemkv-bin-1.9.10.tar.gz
wget http://www.makemkv.com/download/makemkv-oss-1.9.10.tar.gz
sudo tar -xvzf makemkv-bin-1.9.10.tar.gz
sudo tar -xvzf makemkv-oss-1.9.10.tar.gz
sudo apt install build-essential pkg-config libc6-dev libssl-dev  libexpat1-dev libavcodec-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libqt4-dev -y
cd ~/Downloads/makemkv-oss-1.9.10
sudo ./configure
sudo make
sudo make install
cd ~/Downloads/makemkv-bin-1.9.10
sudo make

Accept terms

sudo make install
cd
makemkv

Start Stream

makemkv

Then

Open Disc > File > Stream

Then

Play Stream

vlc http://localhost:51000/stream/title0.ts

More detailed instructions here:

http://www.makemkv.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=14633#p49831

View more solutions

Comments

[JanC]

That sounds like the usual “Movie companies love to make their customers hate them...” :P

[hannaman]

FYI - the script on omgubuntu.co.uk requires MakeMKV to decode the Blu-Ray disks. MakeMKV is not free.

[Dean Thomson]

I know that, but there was nothing in the question that didn't state it had to be free.

[Jonathan]

Downvoting because it appears to be out of date. Doesn't include Ubuntu 16.04 and DumpHD returns a 404

[Jonathan]

But you should also include that in your answer

[Jonathan]

Downvoting since the Bloggingabout link is out of date

[Jonathan]

Downvoting since this is now out of date

[VBwhatnow]

Did you downvote all of these answers to you could shill this software?

[Jonathan]

Huh? No none of the answers worked. If they worked that's fine. But they are out of date. Do you get personally offended when someone down votes your outdated answers so you like to accuse them when they post one that works? Just curious

[VBwhatnow]

No I just think its funny that you're even bothering to answer a 6 year old question with an accepted answer. But hey, do whatever makes you happy buddy :^)

[Jonathan]

You have to because if you start a new one then they mark it as a duplicate. It's how Stack Exchange works. Did you downvote me out of spite?

[terdon]

@VBwhatnow there's nothing wrong with adding a new answer to an old question. Especially when it's a comprehensive and detailed answer. Quite the contrary, answering old questions is great, whether they have an accepted answer or not. And when the accepted answer is a link only, and not a real answer at all, new answers are even more welcome. Even if they suggest trial software.

[spacer GIF]

On 16.04 and 18.04 this hangs the drive after about 1 second of playback.

[Admin]

This answer should be downvoted as it forces the user of Stack Exchange to click and read the information on a 3rd party website - which can be prone to link rot or content rot.