Blu-ray Highlights: Week of March 8th, 2015– Follow That Bird

Summary: There are lots of great Blu-ray movies on this week of March 8th, 2015, just like: Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, The Sound of Music, The Breakfast Club,Wolfcop, White Haired Witch, The Soft Skin and so on. Here is listed a haul of newly released Blu-ray Discs. Enjoy it~
  
New Blu-ray Discs Releases: 

‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 ‘– Katniss and her crossbow are back in the latest installment of the YA dystopian-future franchise. Because it’s the popular thing to do these days, the producers have split the final book in the series into two movies. Despite that, reviews were pretty strong. The Blu-ray includes a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, making this one of the few decent movies available in that format. (Be warned that copies sold through Walmart reportedly only have lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 audio.) Also, Best Buy has an exclusive SteelBook version. 

Unlike the last installment, ‘Catching Fire’, director Francis Lawrence has forsaken the annoying alternating-aspect-ratio gimmick in favor of a traditional 2.40:1 ratio throughout. When I asked him about this, he explained: “Yeah, I totally dumped that crap just to show Freakyguy666 what’s what. LOL. PWNED!!” True story.* 

‘Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb ‘ – Notable only for the fact that it marks Robin Williams’ final film appearance, this third and allegedly last entry in the middling family franchise petered out without making much of an impression during the holiday season. It will probably still sell well on video, as these things usually do. I sat through the first two of these for the benefit of a friend’s children, but they have fortunately moved onto other things now. 
 

 
‘Life of Riley ‘ – Legendary French auteur Alain Resnais (‘Hiroshima Mon Amour’, ‘Last Year at Marienbad‘) passed away at the age of 91 last year, barely a month after the Berlin Film Festival premiere of his final feature. The movie mixes live action and animation, as well as film and theater, in telling the story of a group of friends dealing with the news that their (unseen) friend is dying of cancer.
 

‘Russell Madness ‘ – I gather that this is one of those ‘Air Bud’ things, or at least a knockoff. From what I can ascertain, the title is supposed to be a pun on “Wrestle Madness,” which I guess is supposed to somehow be a play on Wrestlemania. Or something. Yeah, it’s really strained, even by the standard of kids’ crap. I’m grateful that my own kids are still about a year away from becoming obsessed with garbage like this.
 

Source: http://www.highdefdigest.com/blog/bluray-highlights-mar-10-2015/

You can also get the other Blu-ray movies on Mar 1th, 2015. Have fun with your family! 

Learn More Blu-ray to Any devices Tips: 

Blu-ray to TV- Enjoy Blu-ray movie on widescreen Smart TV
Blu-ray to Android- Convert Blu-ray to Android Tablet/Phone on Windows 8.1/8/7
Blu-ray to iPad- Copy 2D/3D Blu-ray contents to iPad Air on Mac
Blu-ray to iPhone- How to Convert Blu-ray to iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus?
Blu-ray to Xbox One-Copy Blu-rays to Xbox One for playback via Plex

Rip Blu-ray to MP4/MKV to use in Xbox One with fast speed

Summary: It seems to be a great idea to play Blu ray on Xbox 360 in your leisure time. This article will just show you how to convert Blu-ray to Xbox 360 video with high speed. 

Xbox One generates a DVD/Blu-ray drive, which is a great improvement, making users playing Blu-ray/DVD more conveniently. But, the Blu-ray Disc will be scratched or damaged due to repeat use. So what is the best way to get Blu-ray file into something Xbox one can stream, without losing either the quality? In this page, I will share a simplest way to play Blu-ray on Xbox one with ease. 



As we know, Blu-ray provides HD video sources for playback. But if you want to have a try to watch Blu-ray movies on Xbox One, you need to rip Blu-ray to Xbox One compatible format first.To save you from the awkward situation, Pavtube BDMagic for Windows comes to give you a hand. For Mac users, you can try to Pavtube BDMagic for Mac - which allows you to copy Blu-ray movies to Xbox game console on Mac Yosemite 10.10 (including Mavericks and Mountain Lion). 
  
This Blu-ray to Xbox One ripper offers specified video formats for Xbox One, Xbox 360 and many other game hardware like PSP, PS4, Wii and more. With it, you will be able to watch any Blu-ray/DVD movies via Xbox. Its build-in editor lets you touch up the Blu-ray/DVD video as you like, which include trimming, cropping, rotate, merge and apply special visual effects, etc. It also able to fetch and embed the metadata informatyion to the video. 

Rip Blu-ray to MP4/MKV to use in Xbox One with best quality

Step 1: Load Blu-ray Movies

Kick off Blu-ray to Xbox One Converter and then load source Blu-ray movies by clicking "Load BD" button. 



Note: Subtitles and audio tracks could be selected after loading Blu-ray movies.

Step 2: Output settings

Here we select mp4 with H.264 codec for Xbox One. Click the Format drop-down list, and select “Xbox 360 HD Video(*.wmv)” from "Zune/Xbox 360 Device" category. You can select other Xbox360 format for watching. 



Optional settings: This Blu-ray to Xbox One Converter allows you to adjust video/audio settings. Video and audio parameters of selected profile could be adjusted, including: video codec, audio codec, bit rate, frame rate, channel, etc. You could click settings button to enter the Settings panel. 



Step 3: Convert Blu-ray to Xbox One with MP4/MKV 

Hit the convert button on the main interface to let this Blu-ray to Xbox ripper start converting. Once the conversion is finished, you could transfer the converted Blu-ray movies to MP4/MKV to use in your Xbox One for unlimited playback. Enjoy. 

Related Guides:

• 4k to Xbox One Conversion - Play 4K Movie with Xbox One
• Solved: Can Xbox One play MP4 files? (From external hard drive)?
• Play YouTube Videos on Wii, PSP and Xbox

New Blu-ray Discs released for this week of March 1, 2015

While upcoming new Blu-ray movies like Avengers: Da Vinci's Demons: The Complete Second Season are gearing up to head into theaters this spring, the big Blu-ray companies are still churning out some Academy Award nominees and winners, along with some holiday favorites. From big franchises like Space Dandy: Season 1 and Foxcatcher to smaller releases, like The Imitation Game, there are plenty of great DVD/blu-ray releases this month. Check out the list, below. 

Some decent looking releases this week!! Let’s get to it: 

Top 1. Life Partners 

Street Date: March 3rd, 2015 
Genres: Comedy, Romance
Starring: Leighton Meester, Gillian Jacobs, Adam Brody
Director: Susanna Fogel 

Plot Synopsis:

At 29, the most long-term relationship Sasha (Leighton Meester) and Paige (Gillian Jacobs) have ever been in is with each other, using their co-dependent friendship as an excuse not to venture out into the dating world alone. But when Paige meets nerdy Tim (Adam Brody) and starts to get serious for the first time, the nature of their friendship begins to shift. Fearing she's being cast aside, Sasha tries to keep their relationship the same, but does growing up also mean growing apart?

Top 2. Innocence 



Street Date: March 3rd, 2015
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Horror
Starring: Sophie Curtis, Kelly Reilly, Graham Phillips
Director: Hilary Brougher 

Plot Synopsis:

Haunted by the death and dreams of her beloved mother in a Montauk surfing accident, 16-year-old Beckett and her father, novelist Miles Warner, move to Manhattan and attempt to piece together their shattered life. Now enrolled at the exclusive Hamilton preparatory school, her psychosis and hallucinations intensify with the dubious suicides of current and past students, as does her first love for Tobey Crawford. The discovery that her new school may be run by a coven of beautiful and seductive women who perpetuate their youth by drinking the blood of virgins becomes the ultimate challenge of Beckett and Tobey s young lives. 

Top 3. Believe Me 



Street Date: March 3rd, 2015 
Genres: Comedy
Starring: Alex Russell, Zachary Knighton, Nick Offerman, Johanna Braddy, Miles Fisher, Sinqua Walls, Max Adler and Christopher McDonald
Director: Will Bakke

Plot Synopsis:

Sam (Alex Russell) stands on stage as thousands of fans go wild. Smart, charismatic, handsome, he moves them with his message, and when he calls for donations to his charity, the money pours in. Only thing is, Sam doesn't believe a word he's saying. 

Just months earlier, Sam was a typical college senior focused on keg stands, hookups and graduation. But when a surprise tuition bill threatens his dream of law school and leaves him thousands of dollars in the hole, he's forced to think outside the box. Convincing his three roommates they can make a killing exploiting the gullible church crowd, the guys start a sham charity and begin campaigning across the country, raising funds for a cause as fake as their message.

For Sam, embezzling money is easy compared to getting attention from the person he cares about the most. When Callie (Johanna Braddy), the tour manager and Sam's love interest, finally uncovers the guys' ruse, it's Sam's moment of truth.

Can the iPad Air 2 play 720p or 1080p MKV files on Mac natively?

Summary: Chances are you need an effective way to play 1080p, 720p MKV files on iPad Air 2 by converting MKV to iPad supported video formats.  

 
With 9.7-inch low reflectivity Retina screen, iPad Air 2 is a great tablet which allows you to enjoy the vivid images beyond the limits of your eyes. <Review: Apple Leaks the New iPad Air 2 >. 

After you got the iPad Air 2 tablet, you may want to copy some 1080p or 720p Videos to iPad Air 2 for watching. But how to watch 1080p and 720p HD videos like MKV, WMV and AVI on iPad Air 2 smoothly and make them perfectly match the premium screen of iPad Air 2? Here, check out this top iMedia Converter for Mac and convert 1080p/720p MKV movies to your iPad Air 2 with supported format. 

Tip: For Windows users, Pavtube offers freeware MKV to iPad Air 2 Converter to convert MKV to iPad Air in lossless quality. 

Steps on: How to Play 1080p/720p MKV movies on iPad Air 2 on Mac with perfect quality 
  
Step 1: Import 1080p, 720p MKV 

Run the iPad Air 2 MKV Converter for Mac. Click "Add File" to load one or multiple .mkv file(s) into the program. Besides MKV, you can also load FLV, AVI, WMV, VOB, TiVo, MPG, MOV, etc.  

Note: You can also use this iMedia Converter for Mac to help you rip Blu-ray/DVD or ISO files to iPad Air 2. Enjoy it! 
    
Step 2: Choose the right file format for iPad Air 2 

Click “Format” bar, you can get the optimized videos for iPad Air under iPad > iPad Air HD Video(*.mp4). To get 1080p video quality, just choose iPad>iPad Air Full HD Video(*.mp4). 

Tip: If you like, you can click “Settings” to change the video encoder, resolution, frame rate, etc. as you wish. 
 


What’s point? The supported resolution of iPad Air goes up to 1080p, though video playback and most apps never break out of 720p. For watching videos on iPad Air, 720p with 1500~2500kbps is just all right. I found bitrate higher results in big file size, and lower visible quality loss, and vice versa. 
   
Step 3: Start 1080p/720p MKV Videos to iPad Air 2 Conversion 
  
Tap the Conversion button, it will start 720p/1080p videos to MP4 conversion for iPad Air 2 on Mac immediately. Click “Open” to find the result MP4 videos after the conversion and transfer them to your device with ease. 

Further Reading: 

• Blu-ray to iPad - View Blu-ray on iPad Air 2 with 2048*1536
• Sync MKV, AVI, VOB, FLV, WMV, MTS, XviD, Divx to iPad Air 2 
• Rip Pixar Blu-ray/DVD collection to Watch on an iPad Air 2

Chromecast MKV- Solve MKV files won't transcode to Chromecast issue

A step by step guide on how to convert MKV to Chromecast playable MP4 format to solve MKV wouldn't transcode to Chromecast issue.

mkv files won't transcode to Chromecast

Here is my situation: I have a large number of "mkv" movies. Plex will play the .mkv movies fine on my PC using the Plex Web interface. Now the problem: This is a Chromecast forum so I'll start there. When I use the native cast utility within Plex, the video will not transcode to the Chromecast. The audio makes the trip, but the screen remains gray with a mish-mash of mainly purple pixels along the top edge. I have tried varying the connection playback options (all the obvious things) but no deal. Would you help me out? Thanks!!

Google Chromecast is a digital media player that allows you to stream MP4, WebM, MPEG-DASH, Smooth Streaming, and HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) video formats on your High Definition Television (HDTV). The MKV video which can't be played with audio through Chromecast may contain DTS or AC3 audio codec which is unsupported by Chromecast. If you would like to stream and play unsupported local MKV video through a Chromecast, you have to first of all convert your mkv videos into Chromecast compatible ones.

Learn more >> The most powerful software of comparative

Here Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate is suggested. Acting as the Chromecast video converter as well as audio converter, it can easily convert various formats, not only MKV, but also MOV, M4V, MPG, MXF, MTS, M2TS, M2T, AVI, FLV, VOB, WMV, WTV, DVR, DV, SWF, TS, and etc to Chromecast supported video format and tons of audio file like AMR, AC3, AAC, APE, WMA, WAV, M4A, M4R, CAF, VOC, QCP, MP2, 3GA, and etc to Chromecast compatible audio format. In addition, it supports 150+ video presets for popular devices like the iPad, Android devices, game console, etc. For Mac users, get the equivalent Mac version. Just get the right version and follow the steps below to convert MKV for adding to Chromecast.

(Read Best Ultimate Video Converter Review) 

Download Video Converter for Chromecast:



Tutorial: Casting local MKV video files to Chromecast

Step 1: Load original MKV files

Click "Add Video" button on the main interface to load your MKV files to the program. (Drag & Drop function is included.)



Step 2: Select output format

Click "Format" and choose MP4 from "Common Video" or HD MP4 from "HD MP4" as output format, which can be recognized by Chromecast easily.



Tip: Adjust the video and audio parameters including the Bitrate of Video&Audio, Video Size, Sample Rate, Frame Rate, Audio Channels, etc., by clicking the "Settings" button on the main interface for getting the best quality.

Step 3: Start MKV to Chromecast Conversion

Tap the ConverT button on the main interface to start transcoding MKV to Chromecast. The process will be finished soon. After the conversion, you can easily find the encoded MKV video clips in the destination folder by clicking "Open" button to locate the converted video files. Drag the video file you want to play into the Chrome browse and click the browser extension, select "Cast this tab", the local video will be streamed to TV directly for easy playback.

With the new optimized acceleration technology, the super speed video conversion now is 6X faster than before and surpasses most regular video converters. What's more, this video file converter ensures zero quality loss. With its built-in video editor, you can personalize and retouch your videos in clicks.

More related:

• Converting Blu-ray for Chromecast via Plex
• Top 5 Free Online MKV to AVI Converter 
• Cast iTunes Movies TV Shows to Chromecast 

Find more solution at Chromecast column. 

Source: How to Cast unsupported MKV video Files through a Chromecast 

Put and Sync iTunes, Amazon and Digital Copy movies to Galaxy Tab 3 Kids Edition

This article will show you how to convert DRM protected iTunes, Amazon and Digital Copy movies to Galaxy Tab 3 Kids Edition for you kids with the best DRM Movie Converter.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 Kids’ 1024 x 600 7-inch display is crisp enough for viewing images, watching movies and playing games. It well support videos up to 1080p. For common children’s film, we can directly transfer them onto Galaxy Tab 3 Kids Edition for playback; but for the kids’ movies downloaded from iTunes, Amazon and Blu-ray/DVD Digital Copy, we may have to take a small bending.

As is know to all, videos purchased from iTunes, Amazon, Digital Copy, etc are always be protected by DRM and are prevented from copying, transferring and being played on the unauthorized PCs or other non-apple video playback devices. Fortunately, by removing DRM protection and converting these DRM video to Galaxy Tab 3 Kids Edition supported MP4 format, you can make DRMed movies playable on Galaxy Tab 3 Kids tablet.

What you just need is a DRM video converter. Here Pavtube ChewTune is highly recommended. It is the highly-praised DRM remover and video converter which can strip DRM from iTunes, Amazon, Blockbuster, BBC iPlayer, Rhapsody movie, video, music, tv shows, Digital Copy and convert them to Galaxy Tab 3 Kids highly compatible MP4 with nearly 100% preserved quality. Simply follow the steps below to bypass the drm protection and watch DRM videos with Galaxy Tab 3 Kids Edition. (Read Top 5 DRM Removal and Converter Review)

Convert iTunes/Digital Copy/Amazon videos to Galaxy Tab 3 Kids Edition

Step 1. Download Pavtube DRM Video Recorder.

There's no time limitation in the trail version; feel free to give a shot!

(For Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard users: download the DMG file)

There would be a command window pop up during the installation, pls do not shut down it and let it running until the installation completed.



Important: Note that you shall not launch iTunes until reaching the last step-- clicking the "Convert" icon.

Step 2. Add video and choose target format.

Drag and drop your videos to it directly, or you can click icon to import them as below.



Let's click the drop-down-list besides "Format" and choose "Samsung > Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1(*.mp4)".



Step 3. Customize target video specs. (Optional)

Click "Settings" as above to enter Profile Settings window, you can find settings for video size, codec, bitrate and frame rate. Change them at your own needs.



Step 4. Start (batch) conversion.

Now click the big red icon to start converting DRM videos to Galaxy Tab 3 Kids Edition in batch within a few clicks; this convert will activate your iTunes Media Library automatically and start to play this video (let's keep iTunes running this time). The player windows cannot be removed or closed.

In the meanwhile, it will start to record this video in MP4 real-time. The conversion time is equal to the video length itself; you can do other tasks during the converting the process, but the system volume could be turn off temporally; no worries and do not touch it to get perfect DRM removed video.

After the conversion, click "Open output folder" to quick locate the converted video. Then you can transfer the converted video to your Galaxy Tab 3 Kids Edition.

Tips:

1. The DRM removing process may mislead your anti-virus software to falsely report virus/worm. Please ignore the report to keep on ripping.

2. This product cannot convert unplayable iTunes files (damaged, unauthorized, etc).

Now just get your DRM-free iTunes/Digital Copy/Amazon video ready and have a better movie watching experience with Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 Kids Edition on the go!

More related: 

• Convert MKV/AVI/Divx /Tivo/MPG/VOB/FLV to Fire HD Kids
• Fast Rip Blu-ray to Galaxy S3 Mini or Galaxy Tab 3 for watching
• Get "Frozen (2013)" DVD movies playback on Galaxy Tab 3 10.1

Source: Play DRM-protected kids’ movies and TV shows on Galaxy Tab 3 Kids Edition

How to View Blu-ray Movies on XBMC player via network?

This is a quick guide on how to convert Blu-ray movie for XBMC player playback via network with Pavtube Blu-ray to XBMC converter.

XBMC has been the most popular media player that can be used to build a home theater system. With XBMC media player, you can view and watch any videos, music, podcasts on your local computer or from internet. XBMC is developed for Mac, Windows, iOS, Android platform now. So almost all of us can use this powerful media player app without obstacles.

And there will be a trouble that maybe you are not able to play Blu-ray movies via XBMC due to the Blu-ray copy protection. So, the best way to get XBMC play Blu-ray movie is to remove copy protections, and rip the movies to a XBMC Player compatible format.

In order to rip a Blu-ray, a professional Blu-ray Ripper is the key. Here we recommended Pavtube BDMagic - A powerful Blu-ray to XBMC Converter tool designed. It is capable of converting Blu-ray movies to XBMC supported MP4/MKV/AVI format, so that you can enjoy Blu-ray movies with XBMC Player conveniently without any trouble. More than that, with full supports for retail BD movies, the Blu-ray Converter is good at decrypting almost all latest BD copy protections, including AACS and BD+, so you can rip the latest released Blu-ray movies to XBMC at will. Mac version is BDMagic for Mac. See the detailed tutorial as below.

• Read More: Top Blu-ray Ripper Review

Convert Blu-ray movies to XBMC Player supported format

Step 1. Load Blu-ray.

Put the Blu-ray disc into the BD drive and then click the import from BD drive button after launching the program.



Step 2. Choose XBMC compatible formats.

Click on the dropdown menu of "Format", and then follow "HD Video > H.264 HD Video(*.mp4)" for ripping movies from Blu-ray Disc to XBMC MP4. What's more, "MKV HD Video(*.mkv)" is compatible.



Optional - Adjust video and audio settings

The Blu-ray to XBMC Ripper allows users adjusting video and audio parameters before converting Bluray to MP4. Click "Settings" button, then you will be able to adjust video and audio settings in the following popup window, including codec name, aspect ratio, bit rate, frame rate, sample rate and audio channel.

Step 3: After everything is done, click "Convert" button to start ripping Blu-ray to XBMC MP4 for playback.

The program adopts advanced audio and video in sync technology, which will guarantee you perfect audio and video synchronization. Once the conversion is done, you can click "Open" button to get the final output XBMC files with ease.

So there you have it. Pretty simple. Now just enjoy/play 1080p Blu-ray movies with XBMC Player as you like.

Tips:

• In "Subtitle" tab on "Editor" Window, you are able to add *.srt and *.ass subtitles you get from internet or other places to the Blu-ray movies. 
• Support Direct copy titles from Blu-ray in Original Format. 
• Support 1:1 backup Blu-rays with original structure. 
• Support TrueHD 6.1 and TrueHD 7.1 decoding. 

Pavtube BDMagic is also the best choice if you want to play Blu-rays/DVDs with Apple TV, iPad, iPhone, Android/Windows tablet/phone and other devices with high quality. It enables you to transcode Blu-ray/DVD to Window Movie Maker, Sony Vegas, Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer etc. With this best Blu-ray Ripper, you can easily and quickly rip Blu-ray/DVD discs and make a backup, conversion, compression of your Blu-ray/DVD for any use.

More related:

• Enable DVD Playback in XBMC (Xbox Media Center)
• Solution to "XBMC not showing .avi files" issue
• Copy Blu-ray/DVD for Playing on Mac Mini HTPC via XBMC

Source: Rip Blu-rays to my network and play them with XBMC