Convert Blu-ray to 1080p M4V for streaming to ATV 3 with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound pass-through

It looks like we were blind-sided a little by the iPad 3 events, because Apple had something more for us, like the latest iteration of Apple TV 2012, which looks and acts exactly like the previous model. That difference is its support for native 1080p video, as streamed from iTunes, over the Internet, or via AirPlay from a third-generation iPad. Yeah, you can stream 1080p HD movies and TV shows your buy on the iTunes store for enjoying on your 65-inch HDTV. With proper Blu-ray ripper software, you can even back up Blu-ray Discs and DVDs into Apple TV 3 optimized HD videos without much quality loss. If you’d like to stream Blu-ray and DVD collections to Apple TV 3, Pavtube Blu-ray Ripper should be your best choice.

Pavtube Blu-ray Ripper comes up with Apple TV 3 1080p preset in its latest update, letting you convert Blu-ray to Full HD 1080p M4V video that looks even sharper than iTunes store 1080p movies. Better off, the new preset exports HD video with 2 audio tracks- both Dolby Digital 5.1 and AAC stereo audio will be retained, so that Apple TV could pass-through Dolby Digital to A/V receiver for reproduction of surround sound, and export AAC stereo when going without surround sound system. This article aims to guide you through Blu-ray to Apple TV 3 conversion.

Preparations for 1080p/1080i Blu-ray Ripping:
1. Ensure that you’ve had an internal or external Blu-ray Disc drive installed properly.
2. Get Pavtube Blu-ray Ripper ($49). Trial download link:
Pavtube Blu-ray Ripper for Windows (Windows 7, Vista, XP compatible)
Pavtube Blu-ray Ripper for Mac (Mac OS X 10.12, 10.11 10.9, 10.8 compatible)
3. Keep your computer networked.

Ripping Blu-ray to Apple TV 3 compatible 1080p .m4v video

Step 1. Run the Blu-ray Ripper. Press “Load Disc” icon to import Blu-ray movie. Choose “File>Load from ISO/IFO” if you’d like to import Blu-ray ISO image file.

load Blu-ray

Step 2. Select main movie from file list. By default the main movie is checked exclusively. Other titles are extras and commercials, just leave them unchecked.

Step 3. Set subtitles and audio language for the main movie.

Step 4. Press on the “Format” bar, choose “Apple TV>> Apple TV 3 Dolby Digital Pass-through (*.m4v)”. If you are staying with the 2nd gen black Apple TV, the “Apple TV 2 Dolby Digital Pass-through (*.m4v)” preset works best for you.

apple tv 3 dolby digital audio pass-through

Step 5. Press “Convert” to get Blu-ray Ripper start ripping Blu-ray to Apple TV 3 optimized 1080p video.

Step 6. Wait till conversion completes. To improve speed, you are suggested to run the Blu-ray Ripper on a faster computer or take advantage of GPU acceleration (press the CUDA/AMD button to turn on or turn off GPU encoding). Press “Open” to find ripped movie.

Add Blu-ray rip to iTunes movie library for streaming to ATV 3

You can then add the ripped Blu-ray movie (.m4v video) into iTunes movie library. Open up iTunes and follow “File>> Add file to Library…” to sync video to iTunes. To sync, play and stream 1080p contents, iTunes 10.6 or later version is required.

For more information about how to stream 1080p videos to Apple TV 3 and connections for the Apple TV to pass-through AC-3 5.1 audio, please check Setting up Apple TV for Dolby Digital 5.1 pass-through.

Others You May Concern

1. Does the Blu-ray rip play silence or gray screen in iTunes?

No. iTunes does not play video contents with AC3 audio, but the Apple TV pass-through presets create video with both AC3 and AAC, so iTunes will find and play the AAC track instead.

2. Does the Apple TV 3 Dolby Digital Pass-through 1920x1080 (*.m4v) preset work with iPad?

Yes. The preset also work with new iPad. It plays stereo by default. If you’d like to play surround sound effect, enable Airplay to have iPad stream the video to Apple TV 3, which pass-through AC3 audio to receiver.

Note: You can rip DVD to Apple TV 3/4 with 5.1 sound with the same tool in the same way.

Tags : blu-ray to apple tv 3, stream blu-ray to apple tv 3rd gen, apple tv 3 dolby digital audio pass-through