MikeyFresh

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Welcome to the HiFi Haven Rip SACD with a Blu-ray player thread!

This thread does not intend to rehash or further detail the well established PlayStation 3 SACD ripping method, nor the more recent Blu-ray player method, that in each case typically involves use of a command line interface (CLI) via the Terminal or Console, and/or the use of a Telnet session.

While both of the above are perfectly workable solutions, they are also more complex than most non-expert computer users care to tackle. The CLI can be intimidating and/or tedious for those unaccustomed to it.

This thread instead details the use of certain model Blu-ray players when coupled with the superb Sonore ISO2DSD freeware, which offers an easy to understand Java-based GUI that is configured and operated with just a few clicks on Windows, Mac, or Linux based computers (64-bit OS version required). Concise step-by-step instructions with screenshots are provided.

Update Oct. 2018:

There is now an upgrade alternative to the venerable ISO2DSD app also available. This newly hatched freeware is called SACDExtractGUI (thank you mindset!). SACDExtractGUI is the current state-of-the-art User Interface solution for ripping SACD. It offers some additional functions, and rip speed improvement too when coupled with mindset's sacd_extract 3.9 (itself a fork of Mr. Wicked's wonderful original extract tool).

While Sonore's ISO2DSD is also fully compatible with sacd_extract 3.9, there you'll only get the rip speed improvement, but not the additional functionality offered by SACDExtractGUI. The new SACDExtractGUI is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux based computers (including the ARM-based Raspberry Pi 3B), and just like Sonore's ISO2DSD, it is a Java applet requiring a 64-bit operating system computer.

The specific SACD ripping method detailed here utilizes the Blu-ray player as a file server (aka the server method), with the extracted DSD tracks sent over Ethernet or WiFi to a destination computer residing anywhere on the same local area network (LAN) as the server Blu-ray player/ripper.

We'll focus on extracting the 2-channel stereo tracks, converting them directly to .dsf files and forgoing a full ISO disc archive, electing not to rip any multi-channel tracks. This saves significant storage space, ripping time, as well as the post-rip time and effort needed to split the stereo from the multichannel in a full ISO. Alternatively, opting to rip a full archival ISO (or even just the multichannel tracks) is only a difference of a couple of clicks in the GUI should one be so inclined.

Additionally, the subplot of this thread will center on use of the various recently discovered (Feb. 2018) inexpensive Sony brand Blu-ray player models that currently hold the distinction of being the "world's least expensive SACD ripping solution".

While no longer in production, these Sony Blu-ray player models are available on the used market for as little as $20, and were commonly sold all over the world by various retailers including Costco, Walmart, and Target, so 2nd-hand examples should remain easily obtained for some time to come.

The essentially similar procedure for use of certain model Pioneer, Oppo, Cambridge, Arcam, Primare, Electrocompaniet, Denon, and Yamaha brand players will also be covered, if any Haven members prefer to use one of those machines instead of a Sony.
 
Is this in some way different than what the guys at Computer Audio have been doing for the last couple of years?
 
Is this in some way different than what the guys at Computer Audio have been doing for the last couple of years?

In some ways yes, and in most ways no.

The threads on the AA, CA, and SH forums have become very long, sometimes contain errors, certain dated information, and off-topic content too. They can be somewhat difficult to search. Newbies and lurkers are often very quickly frustrated or scared off. Screenshots are very scarce or non-existent.

This is not to say those threads aren't extremely valuable resources, and I'm surely not knocking them in any way. I learned much of what I know about SACD ripping on the very CA thread you referenced, and via PM with a few of the expert-level members there.

But I hope this Haven thread will offer some important differences.

First, a concise, up-to-date, relatively clutter free, and easy to understand for the non-expert computer method that anyone can do. This means we will largely forgo discussion on use of things like the command line interface (CLI), Telnet, or any other somewhat advanced programs or methods requiring more than just basic computer skills and knowledge. Most people find the CLI to be unfriendly at best, so we'll use a GUI instead, and include all-important screenshots of it's use.

Second, we'll focus on the most recent development first, that being the relatively new finding of various downright inexpensive Sony model Blu-ray players that are compatible. This is not to say that information wasn't also hatched elsewhere. It was, and I don't at all claim to have invented it, though I did endeavor to help test, refine, and troubleshoot it. It's a newer and cheaper way to rip SACDs and those Sony models involved are easily obtained. In fact many people already own one, given they were commonly sold at the big chains such as Costco, Walmart, and Target.

Lastly, this Haven thread will be different simply because this is HiFi Haven. Though the CA thread you mention has been relatively free of bad behavior/participants, at least in comparison to many other threads there, thats not to say it never happens. I've seen posts attacking the OP for not immediately responding to a question, posts attacking methods or members when someone having difficulty feels the need to point fingers/blame others for their own mistakes, and posts attacking fine companies and freeware like Sonore ISO2DSD, etc... this Haven thread will have exactly none of that.

I could go on, but I think that's the gist of it. This Haven thread aims to be newer, kinder/gentler for beginners, more concise, and hopefully much easier to understand using screenshots to detail a streamlined process (the server extraction method over a network using a GUI), all presented and discussed in the spirit and manner we've become accustomed to here, as opposed to elsewhere on the web.
 
Thanks for taking this on Mike - this is great!

I've been ripping all my SACDs to DSD for years using the PS-3 method but it's clunky & geeky to say the least - would love to see a concise and noise-free description of how to do it using more 'current' pieces.
 
So, with greater accessibility of SACD ripping technology, may we posit the existence, somewhere in the darkest nooks and crannies of the innerwebs, of a site listing the whole catalog of SACD titles?

Because, uh, if so, we should all make sure not to go there.

In any case, all this talk of nooks and crannies makes me want an English muffin.
 
So, with greater accessibility of SACD ripping technology, may we posit the existence, somewhere in the darkest nooks and crannies of the innerwebs, of a site listing the whole catalog of SACD titles?

Because, uh, if so, we should all make sure not to go there.

In any case, all this talk of nooks and crannies makes me want an English muffin.

That would be dreadful. I'd have to visit there, just determine the size and scope of the transgressions.
 
I have been ripping SACDs on the Oppo BDP-103 Player for the last 18 months. Works like a charm

Me too, I started with a Pioneer Elite BDP-80fd in July 2016, and then upgraded to the Oppo-based Cambridge CXU model in March 2017. Both have been rock solid.

I wanted redundancy, as the Pioneer "Elite" doesn't exhibit the greatest build quality, and I am hell-bent on retaining this SACD ripping capability indefinitely, so I added that Oppo-caliber Cambridge CXU unit to my fleet where it serves primary duty as the main disc spinner in a video-based living room set-up.

With the more recent advent of cheap Sony model compatibility, I've now got 3 capable machines, a cheap Sony, a mid-priced Pioneer, and an expensive Cambridge. I've pushed the cheap Sony BDP-S5100 unit to front line duty, for now it will do all of the SACD rip heavy lifting.

I will not relinquish this ability to rip my SACDs, I've waited far too long for it, and every time I turn around I've bought some new titles that need to be ripped. Having more than one rip capable unit lends peace of mind.
 
A good starting point in this thread for anyone hoping to rip their own SACDs involves reviewing a list of "reported working" Blu-ray player brands and models. This post will be updated periodically as additional compatible player models are discovered.

Maybe a Haven member already owns one of these units, or in the case of these newly discovered cheap Sony models, perhaps there are Haven members who would take the same type of low-risk $39 (or so) eBay plunge I recently did to acquire a used example that will get the job done.

The known to work players all use similar versions of the MediaTek MT85xx SoC as their CPU solution. While it appears MediaTek still sells the MT8580, the players known to be using these ICs were all first offered for sale sometime around 2012-14, and since then the subsequent model offerings have either used different CPUs and/or different Linux kernel versions and are thus (currently) incompatible with ripping SACD.

Recent evidence suggests the actual specific SoC version used in any given player might have less to do with compatibility than first thought, and equally critical to compatibility (or lack thereof) is the use of kernel version 2.6.35 in the player's lean-Linux operating system. That kernel version debuted August 1st, 2010.

EDIT: the June 2020 unlocking of the Sony BDP-S6500, certain early production S6700, as well as the UHP-H1 demonstrated compatibility with some players using Linux kernel version 3.10.26, holding out hope that more players using that kernel version might also someday be unlocked.

EDIT: the January 2024 unlocking of the OPPO BDP-9x series demonstrates compatibility with some players using Linux kernel version 2.6.27, holding out hope that more players using that kernel version might someday also be made compatible.

So we are talking about "old" technology here, though Pioneer, OPPO, Cambridge, Primare, Arcam, Denon, Marantz, and MSB all continued to offer these units as a current model straight through much of 2017, and there are still today some new-in-box Pioneer BDP-80FD units available, but they are vanishing fast (Best Buy might have the only remaining new stock in N. America).

Below is a list of reported working/compatible with SACD ripping brands and models, hopefully there will be additional discoveries and this list can someday be revised once again, just like it was back in February 2018, again in February 2019 with the addition of various Sony units listed below, and again during 2020 with the addition of certain compatible Denon, Marantz, and Yamaha brand units, as well as the 2024 addition of the OPPO 9x series players.

Sony brand compatible Blu-ray players:
BDP-S390 (also sold as BX39 in some markets)
BDP-S490
BDP-S495
BDP-S590 (also sold as BX59 in some markets)
BDV-E190
BDV-E290
BDP-S4100
BDP-S5100 (also sold as BX510 in some markets)
BDP-S6200 * (also sold as BX620 in some markets, requires Sony ARMv7 AutoScript sacd_extract_6200 version)
BDP-S7200 * (requires Sony ARMv7 AutoScript sacd_extract_6200 version)
BDP-S790 * (requires Sony ARMv7 AutoScript version/S790 variant)
BDP-A6000 * (requires Sony ARMv7 AutoScript sacd_extract_6200 version)
BDV-N590 * (requires Sony ARMv7 AutoScript sacd_extract_6200 version)
BDV-NF620 * (requires Sony ARMv7 AutoScript sacd_extract_6200 version)
BDV-NF720 * (requires Sony ARMv7 AutoScript sacd_extract_6200 version)
BDV-N7200 * (requires Sony ARMv7 AutoScript sacd_extract_6200 version)
BDP-S6500 * (also sold as BX650 in some markets, requires Sony ARMv7 AutoScript version/S6700 variant developed Jun. 2020)
BDP-S6700 (not
recommended, only certain early production is compatible)
UHP-H1 (requires Sony ARMv7 AutoScript version/S6700 variant developed Jun. 2020)

Pioneer brand compatible Blu-ray players:
BDP-80FD
BDP-160
BDP-170
MCS-FS232 * (requires Sony ARMv7 AutoScript version S6200/7200 variant)

OPPO brand compatible Blu-ray players:
BDP-93 and 95 * (requires sacd_extract_95 AutoScript version)
BDP-103 and 103D
BDP-105 and 105D

Cambridge brand compatible Blu-ray players:
Azur 751BD
(requires sacd_extract_95 AutoScript version)
Azur 752BD
CXU

Arcam brand compatible Blu-ray & CD/SACD players:
FMJ UDP411
FMJ CDS27

Primare brand compatible Blu-ray player:
BD32 Mk.II


Electrocompaniet brand compatible Blu-ray player:
EMP 3

Denon brand compatible Blu-ray player:
DBT-3313UD and 3313UDCI * (requires Sony ARMv7 AutoScript version/S790 variant)

MSB Technology brand compatible Blu-ray players:
Universal Media Transport V
Signature UMT V

Yamaha brand compatible Blu-ray player:
BD-S677

Marantz brand compatible Blu-ray player:
UD7007 * (requires Sony ARMv7 AutoScript version/S790 variant)


Are there any Haven members who have one of the player models listed above, and wish to rip their SACDs?
 
Probably a dumb question from the non-digital one here..... :)

The OPPO BDP-93 I have plays SACDs. What I take from your post, though, is that it will not RIP them?
 
Probably a dumb question from the non-digital one here..... :)

The OPPO BDP93 I have plays SACDs. What I take from your post, though, is that it will not RIP them?

That is correct, unfortunately the only SACD rip compatible Oppo models (currently) are the 10x series players.
 
Tonight I configured the $39 Sony BDP-S5100 "eBay Treasure" unit for connection to my home network via WiFi, allowing the removal of the Ethernet cable from the player's LAN port.

This unit is now no longer physically tethered to my router, so it can be relocated anywhere in the house, and the only cable it needs is it's captive AC power cord.

I then proceeded to successfully rip the RCA Living Stereo Chopin Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2/Rubenstein SACD reissue with absolutely no troubles.

This dispels an often repeated fallacy found on some other forums: that WiFi isn't stable enough or high bandwidth capable for ripping SACD over a network.

That's a gross over generalization, modern WiFi in all but the most interference-prone environments will work perfectly well for ripping SACDs over a network, albeit just a little bit slower than an Ethernet wired connection.

Chopin-sacd.jpg
 
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