VLC 2.0 AND Blu Ray. What Do I need?

[webraider]

Can someone Please tell me what ELSE I need to download with VLC to get it to playback BluRay Discs. I've ONLY downloaded VLC. Also.. while we're at it, do I need to download anything for REGULAR DVD's as well. I tried to play a BluRay once and I was greeted with something telling me I don't have the proper library installed. I Apologize if this has been asked on this forum already but I was not able to find it.


Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

[Lotesdelere]

http://vlc-bluray.whoknowsmy.name

[webraider]

Thanks for the response. I got the files, however I have no idea where to find the directory for the KEYDB.cfg. It says this online:

~/.config/aacs/


As far as I can tell there IS no directory. How do I go about putting this file there?

[ajmas]

You will need to do this via the terminal (found in the utilities folder).

The '~' means your home folder.

Assuming that you downloaded the file into Downloads:

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cd ~/ mkdir -p ~/.config/aacs/ cp Downloads/KEYDB.cfg ~/.config/aacs/

At this point you can close the terminal.

[webraider]

This did not work for me. Yes, my file is still in my downloads folder. Incidently my Main Hard Drive is not named Macintosh HD. It's named simply "Hard Disk". Does that have anything to do with the script not working. I have the ability to show invisible files/folders and make them invisible again. Can I just create a directory manually in a certain location??

[nkoriyama]

There are some problems on playing Blu-ray Discs on Mac OS X.

#1 AACS dynamic library name is wrong.
I have to rename libaacs.0.dylib to libaacs.dylib.
See http://pastebin.com/36QZsWre line 98 - 100.

#2 AACS dynamic library is not loaded from VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/lib.
I have to set environmental variable "LD_LIBRARY_PATH" or so.

See http://pastebin.com/4q1uet64 line 98-100. I got this log when only renaming libaacs.0.dylib.
And See http://pastebin.com/H6KsLkQ6 line 98-100. AACS dynamic library was loaded properly when setting LD_LIBRARY_PATH.

#3 Still got some errors.
When VLC does not load AACS library, the error dialog says "This Blu-Ray Disc needs a library for AACS decoding, and your system does not have it."
After VLC load AACS library, the error dialog says "Your system AACS decoding library does not work. Missing keys?"
Because failing VUK calculation. See http://pastebin.com/H6KsLkQ6 line 149.

I cannot judge whether keydb is worng or library is wrong or something else is wrong...
But on Windows, I can play the video with the same disc and drive and keydb.cfg (but no sound, no subtitles )

I confirmed with following commands (that I wrote another thread on this forum):

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BD_DEBUG_MASK=0x1FFFF /Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC -vvv >& /tmp/vlc.log

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LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/Applicaitons/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/lib BD_DEBUG_MASK=0x1FFFF /Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC -vvv >& /tmp/vlc.log

[nkoriyama]

After I filed a report for 1st problem on trac.videolan.org , I realized these problems not of VLC.
#1 is libaacs's problem.
#2 is libbluray's problem. (or bluray module?)
#3 is libaacs's problem. (or libgcrypt or something?)

So, I cannot file reports for these problems.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

1. should be fixed in libaacs and is easy to patch, since it is just a building issue.
2. is a libbluray problem and should be easy to fix for someone knowing OSX loading library
3. is just that the MMC support for OSX is not done in libaacs. Anyone with a bit of skills could fix that using IOKit.

[nkoriyama]

@JB Thank you for explanation.

If I have more knowledge of programming on Mac, I can help. Unfortunately I don't have

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

@JB Thank you for explanation.

If I have more knowledge of programming on Mac, I can help. Unfortunately I don't have

There is some yadif work to do for 10bits

[blucy]

After reading this thread (not understanding everything ) does
http://vlc-bluray.whoknowsmy.name work (in this case I will try it)
or doesn't it - after all these problems have been reported?
Thanks.

[nkoriyama]

@blucy
ATM, the method written in http://vlc-bluray.whoknowsmy.name/ does not work on Mac OS X.
After the issues that I wrote below in this thread are fixed, it may work. But I don't know another problem will occur or not.

[blucy]

Thanks, then I'll watch this place - lots of blu-rays waiting...

[voidus83]

Took me a minute to figure this out for windows 7. Here you'll need to follow the same steps as in the above URL but the KEYDB.cfg should go in an AACS folder here: Users\username\AppData\Roaming\

The folder username being stand in for your actual username.

I can confirm this working with vlc 2.0 on win7 64bit professional.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Took me a minute to figure this out for windows 7. Here you'll need to follow the same steps as in the above URL but the KEYDB.cfg should go in an AACS folder here: Users\username\AppData\Roaming\

The folder username being stand in for your actual username.

I can confirm this working with vlc 2.0 on win7 64bit professional.

Yes, but the issue here is Mac OS.

[MikeCabe]

I am running Windows 7 32-bit and have followed the procedures above, but still am unable to view ble-rays. I had the same error listed above and got the same error list above, even after following the procedures all the way through voidus83's last comment. By the way...where can the log be found?

[PaulMC]

Hi all,

Sorry about the length of this post, but I thought it would be useful to offer an approximate summary of VLC 2.0.x's Blu-ray playback functionality so far, under OS X (10.6.8 in my case), along with various workarounds where applicable.

Many thanks must go to nkoriyama & others who uncovered a lot of the details, and of course to the VideoLAN developers for implementing Blu-ray access!

{BTW, to all the folks asking for help with VLC Windows AACS, there is a separate forum dedicated to that platform. E.g., see the Windows-related 'VLC won't play my blu rays' thread over in that forum.}

1. Blu-ray playback vs. AACS DRM -- Library loading
   When using the libaacs library (for AACS-protected content), as nkoriyama mentioned earlier, the (64-bit only?) OS X edition has a few issues. Not only does the 'libaacs.0.dylib' library file currently need to be renamed or symbolically-linked as 'libaacs.dylib', but it typically also has a dependency on at least one other private library (which might not be available for some reason).
   
   Note that you can investigate libaacs' dependencies via the command line (Terminal shell), e.g.:-
   • If the Developer/Xcode Tools are installed:
     /usr/bin/otool -L /your/path/to/libaacs.dylib
   • General method:
     /usr/bin/strings - /your/path/to/libaacs.dylib | grep .dylib
   The 'otool' exec is better, since it shows not just filenames but the required "compatibility levels" too. Alternatively, the verbose debugging mode described in earlier posts would also show any dependency library that could not be found.
   
   For instance, it turned out that the libaacs library that I dl'd last month (from the whoknowsmy.name domain) has a dependency on the libgcrypt library. The snag: libgcrypt apparently is no longer being shipped within the VLC 2.0.x app-package. Luckily, a matching recent version ('libgcrypt.11.dylib', at compatibility level 18.0.0) is included within the older VLC 1.1.9+ app-packages (their installers are still available in the VLC archive). Place libgcrypt into the same location as libaacs (or wherever appropriate if you're using a custom LD_* or DYLD_* env var).
2. Blu-ray playback vs. AACS DRM -- Keys & certificates
   Further issues can occur with libaacs, if your ~/.config/aacs/KEYDB.cfg database (DB) contains obsolete/revoked keys or certificates, or if in libaacs' OS X edition there's not yet sufficient MMC support for obtaining Volume IDs (in 'Stage 2' below). Just as a simplified recap, the AACS decryption process for a protected disc by an "approved" player can be said to have roughly four stages:
   • Stage 1 uses the player's Device Keys, together with a disc's Media Key Block (MKB) data, to retrieve a "Processing Key", and with that (plus another datum from the MKB) to compute the Media Key.
   • Stage 2 uses that Media Key, together with the disc's Volume ID (VID) -- obtained by the player presenting a valid Host Certificate to the drive (unless it's got patched firmware), which then reads the VID from a special "BD-ROM Mark" -- to compute the Volume Unique Key (VUK).
   • Stage 3 uses that Volume Key to unscramble the disc's scrambled Title Keys.
   • Stage 4 (finally!) uses those Title Keys to actually unlock the disc's protected media content.
   The default DB entries allow libaacs to (more-or-less) jump to Stage 2. A matched Processing Key entry (for the disc's MKB version) lets it compute the Media Key. The Host Certificate entry lets it request the VID. Together, these allow automatically computing the VUK, & hence the Title Keys. This avoids having to manually add lots of Volume/Title Key entries into the DB. Unfortunately, existing Processing Keys can become obsolete for new disc-MKBs; likewise, a Host Cert can be invalidated by a new disc-MKB that forces your drive's official firmware to update its revocation list, or again for OS X there may be incomplete MMC support in libaacs (making the VID inaccessible in either case).
   
   Forum rules prevent me from going into great detail here regarding workarounds, but I hope it's okay if I can at least: (i) restate the obvious which is to let VLC access non-protected content instead; and, (ii) confirm that otherwise it is possible to manually determine/add VUK entries into the DB, thus letting libaacs sidestep Stage 2 problems and jump to Stage 3+. (Hint: see Doom9's Forum.) Although, note that for libaacs the format of such entries differs slightly from the more common DumpHD-style ones, e.g.: hex strings require an explicit '0x' prefix. (For details, see the extensive comments in the 'KEYDB.cfg' source file at the libaacs Git repository.)
3. Blu-ray playback vs. BD+ DRM
   Protected content that also comes with "enhanced" BD+ safeguards (in a 'BDSVM' subfolder) could present a whole other set of problems, depending on whether VLC's (future) BD+ library can handle all the latest trickery.
   
   In this particular cat-&-mouse game, I think we'll just have to let the VideoLAN developers work as fast as they can...
4. Blu-ray folder playback vs. VLC OS X GUI
   For a Blu-ray folder -- i.e. a physical disc that was copied/ripped to your hard disk -- there are a few additional considerations. When trying to open a BD folder via the GUI ('File | Open Disc...', then the 'Open BDMV folder' button), you're indeed forced to select the lower-level 'BDMV' subfolder, so the generated MRL ends up having a trailing 'BDMV' subdirectory. (And, in the Playlist, the newly-added item has the unhelpful name 'BDMV'.) Unfortunately, VLC's internal BD processing also tacks on a 'BDMV' subdir to the supplied MRL/pathname when looking for the 'index.bdmv' file. So, because of the double 'BDMV's it fails to find the index, claiming that the "Path doesn't appear to be a bluray". Attempting to manually remove the trailing 'BDMV' from the MRL via the GUI dialog has no effect.
   
   Luckily, as described in other threads, there is a workaround which currently is to run VLC via the command line (Terminal shell) instead, and specify the correct MRL there, something like the following (remembering to "URLize" the BD folder pathname by translating any spaces into '%20's & so on, and to omit the 'BDMV' subdir):-
   
   1. For non-protected content:

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      /your/path/to/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC bluray:///your/URLized-path/to/BD/folder
   2. For AACS-protected content:
      If you've already set up any custom GUI-layer (not shell) env var for loading libaacs if required, then just use exactly the same command as above. Otherwise, just do the usual setup of the env var in the parent shell before running the VLC exec (the following command uses the 'env' tool, and is all on one line):

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      /usr/bin/env DYLD_FALLBACK_LIBRARY_PATH=/your/path/to/libaacs/and/dependency/libs /your/path/to/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC bluray:///your/URLized-path/to/protected/BD/folder
      Again, remember that successful decryption would also require VUK/Title Key entries in the DB.
   For testing, you could also activate the verbose debugging mode as described in previous posts.
   
   Alternatively, if you do still want to use the GUI for this -- and again you've also set up any custom GUI-layer (not shell) env var for loading libaacs if required -- then one approach would be as follows:
   1. In VLC, activate the Media Library (ML) if necessary, via: Full Preferences > Playlist | Use media library.
   2. If you're already familiar with the VLC XSPF format of the ML config-file (~/Library/Application\ Support/org.videolan.vlc/ml.xspf), then close VLC and manually edit that config-file to add track nodes with suitable 'bluray://' MRLs for your BD folders (remembering to increment the track IDs). Otherwise, in VLC, drag your BD folders into the ML pane, then close VLC and manually adjust the ML config-file's new track nodes, changing each 'file://' protocol into 'bluray://' instead.
   3. Launch VLC, and play the BD folder items from the ML pane.

Note that some BDs might still not play successfully even after applying any workarounds, for a variety of reasons, but things should continue to improve steadily in future VLC/library updates...

Anyway, here's looking forward to more good stuff coming down the pike!

Kind regards,
--Paul

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Great post.

About 1 and 2:
In part 1, there is some code missing for MMC in the code of libaacs. This is the main MacOS issue.
The gcrypt should be statically linked inside the dylib.

You should put part 2 on the wiki, btw.

[bmurphy]

I had the same problem today, trying to open the E:\ drive (where E is my Blu-ray disc drive). I could not play Blu-ray with VLC 2.0.1 and an HP Blu-ray drive unit in my PC. After reading the blog, I tried opening up the E:\BDMV folder with VLC. I got the same error messages as before but then it opened and I was able to use all of the playback features. I am running Windows 7 64 bit. I did not download any extra files. Is what I did (opening the BDMV folder) the standard workaround?

[nkoriyama]

This forum is for Mac OS X....

I did not download any extra files. Is what I did (opening the BDMV folder) the standard workaround?

You have to prepare libaacs.dll and keyfb.cfg when you want to play AACS protected disk.
If you don't prepare them, you can neither play discs nor open BDMV folder.

Even if you prepare and install them properly, you may possibly be unable to play for some reason.(Host key / Certificate has been revoked by your drive, etc.)

[bmurphy]

Sorry, I did not realize that the forum was MAC OS only.

[inkobl]

Thanks for advising me if someone find an issue it doesn't seems to work for me either... on my macbook pro.
I can read bluray but it's very slow, lot's of cut maybe my graphic card is guilty ?

I've got another problem for my own movies made at home with finalcut pro 7 there is some little cut beetwen each parts that make impossible to read with the new VLC 2, any issues again for this problems ?

[bellboy]

Paul,

Thanks for the detailed post...but my brain has melted under the load of deciphering it.

Is there a step-by-step guide that could be posted here? I've done what I could to the files that I downloaded from the posts here, but I'm still getting the error that the AACS library doesn't exist.

I do have a piece of software to play BR discs (from MacGo), but it's pretty lame and doesn't have menu support yet.

I don't want to get booted from the forum if my question is a violation of forum rules, but if I could be pointed in the right direction I sure would like to be able to watch my own BR discs at my desk instead of firing up the PS3.

Thanks, BB

[PaulMC]

Very sorry about this long-delayed reply, sometimes our lives do get rather hectic...

1. Jean-Baptiste, if still needed, I'll look into how to update the Wiki with a brief summary of AACS processing. There's so much great info already available over on Doom9's Forum that I guess providing links to those external threads (if okay to do so) would be useful too.
2. inkobl, if you've haven't already done so, perhaps you could try viewing the relevant title's raw '.m2ts' file(s) (assuming there's no DRM or it can safely be stripped) in other OS X video players to compare. (The AVS Forum website has a lot of user-collected disc info with title playlist/m2ts details, in the 'NEW Unofficial Blu-ray Audio and Video Specifications Thread'.) I myself often use MPlayer OSX Extended and MPlayerX. [Although note that, in some OS X versions, MPlayer OSX Extended Rev 14 may crash when launched for the first time (building a font cache), complaining about a missing 'libz.1.dylib' library; if so then make a symbolic-link, within the '/path/to/MPlayer OSX Extended.app>/Contents/MacOS/lib/' subdirectory, pointing to '../../Resources/Binaries/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/mpextended.mpBinaries/Contents/MacOS/lib/libz.1.dylib'.]
   
   For instance, I've been finding that the main title from my backup BD folder of 'The Tree Of Life (2011)' yields no picture (e.g., "grey screen") nor sound in VLC 2.x, but the associated raw file plays fine in both of the above players; and ditto for the various raw files associated with the main title from my backup BD folder of 'X-Men: First Class' (no doubt future VLC updates will address such glitches). OTOH, if you find that all players are struggling with a given BD title then, as you mentioned, it's probably an issue with the graphics hardware/drivers.
3. bellboy, as VLC's Blu-ray disc (BD) playback functionality is still very much in development (esp. on the Mac OS X side), it's difficult to come up with a definitive guide for commercial AACS-protected BDs. Not to mention that there can also be other DRM layers on top of "pure" AACS (e.g.: BD+, Bus Encryption, etc.). It really is a big protection mess out there, & unfortunately the legality of circumventing DRM may be "iffy" depending on where you reside and so on...
   
   For VLC Mac & commercial playback, the best solution could be to just pre-strip the DRM from your discs altogether (bearing in mind the above caveat), by using MakeMKV either to make a decrypted backup BD folder or in streaming mode for on-the-fly decryption; or, in a Windows Virtual Machine or Boot Camp partition, by using AnyDVD HD or DVDFab PassKey for on-the-fly decryption. BTW, I should note that MacGo's Mac Blu-ray Player software is itself based on VLC; so, as you've already tried that and found it somewhat incomplete, VLC might not be the best choice for you in any case. ;-) Alternative OS X BD player software would include Fengtao/DVDFab's Media Player for Mac (although this too is partly based on the open-source XBMC media player, plus improvements in playlist/title selection & probably substituting DVDFab's own decryption); they do offer a free trial. In terms of officially licensed, fully featured software BD players (CyberLink's PowerDVD and the like), it seems that they're currently available for MS Windows only, which of course can also be run on your Mac via a VM or Boot Camp.
   
   If you do still want to plunge into the brave new world of AACS in VLC (& your discs don't also have extra DRM such as BD+, etc.), then I guess a relatively brief guide for the current VLC 2.0.1 Mac release might look like this, assuming that you intend to use the pre-built libaacs library-file from Dec 2011 & the latest 'KEYDB.cfg' database-file:-
   1. Use the Intel 64-bit edition of VLC 2 (since that libaacs file is Intel 64-bit only).
   2. Verify that the libaacs file is in a suitable location, and do the same for the supporting libgcrypt file. (See the earlier posts on where to obtain the latter, and also about renaming/sym-linking the libaacs file if necessary. Note also that the OS X edition's external dependency on libgcrypt will very likely be eliminated soon, & the latter's code rolled into libaacs.) Now, exactly what constitutes a "suitable location" is tricky... The standard instructions say to place the libaacs file into '/path/to/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/lib/'. However, due to the internals of how the two libraries are being loaded, this will likely work only when launching VLC from the command line (Terminal utility), and you'd also need to first do two other things: (i) place the supporting libgcrypt file into a second new subfolder also named 'lib' within that first 'lib' subfolder; and (ii) in Terminal, explicitly 'cd' to the first 'lib' subfolder, so as to make it the current directory before invoking the VLC executable. OTOH, if you'd prefer to launch VLC in the GUI way, then detailed instructions can be found in the 'OSX Blu-ray playback and libaacs working?' thread, where SquishedSquirrel describes one way to set up a special GUI-layer environment-variable that points to the library files in a custom location (I too have been doing something similar to this).
   3. Verify that the 'KEYDB.cfg' file is located in the correct (hidden) subfolder under your user account. If necessary, open the Terminal utility and, at the command prompt, enter: 'mkdir -p ~/.config/aacs' (without the quotes). Then, in Finder, bring up the 'Go | Go to Folder...' dialog/sheet, and enter: '~/.config/aacs'. That should reveal the hidden 'aacs' subfolder, and you could then copy a 'KEYDB.cfg' file into there, & open it in a text editor to see its contents, etc.
   4. Manually add Volume Unique Key (VUK) entries for your discs into the 'KEYDB.cfg' file. As confirmed by developer Jean-Baptiste, the current OS X edition of libaacs still lacks full support for the MultiMedia Commands (MMC) needed to query a disc for data such as its Volume ID, etc. [Recall that libaacs uses the Key DB's processing-key & host-certificate entries to communicate with a disc for its Media Key & Volume ID, from which libaacs can then auto-compute its VUK key & hence all its Title keys for playback.] So, even the latest default 'KEYDB.cfg' file is rather useless on the Mac. At the moment, you'll need to manually add those VUK entries. This is where things get "iffy" again in terms of legal issues... I'll just say that there do exist cross-platform utilities that can obtain a disc's VUK, and there are even public user-submitted VUK entries for many discs; see the relevant threads in Doom9's Forum (General > Decrypting). Remember though, most available VUK entries are in "classic" DumpHD format, whereas libaacs uses an extended syntax. (See earlier posts for a link to the official 'KEYDB.cfg' template for libaacs; it has extensive comments on, & examples of, the expected formats of various entries -- e.g., all hexstrings must begin with '0x'.) Once you get the hang of all this, it's actually not too bad, and I myself have had success adding VUKs for a few of my backup BD folders that I'd ripped "as-is" (with AACS intact) for various reasons. For additional help with Key DB entries, you could also try posting over at Doom9.

Anyway, let's continue to keep an eye out for future improvements in VLC for BD playback, esp. in OS X.

Kind regards,
--Paul

[blucy]

> In terms of officially licensed, fully featured software BD players (CyberLink's PowerDVD and the like), it seems that they're currently available for MS Windows only, which of course can also be run on your Mac via a VM

Hmmm... I asked them and they answered it wouldn't work via VM (Parallels etc.). Always restarting for using Boot Camp for watching a BD (or a part of it) is too cumbersome.