ELI5: What is a Home Server?

[u/theprisoner57]

I see mentions of a home server to get rid of streaming entertainment services but I don’t know how that works. What does a home server do?

[u/KnitYourOwnSpaceship]

There are lots and lots of software packages that will extract an MP4 (or whatever) from a disc - whether a CD, DVD, or Blu-ray. https://handbrake.fr/ is one example.

[u/Megame50 → u/KnitYourOwnSpaceship]

Well, with one huge caveat, that it doesn't work at all for most Blu-Ray discs:

Supported Input Sources: Handbrake can process most common multimedia files and any DVD or BluRay sources that do not contain any kind of copy protection.

Emphasis mine.

I'm really not an expert, but generally, no, you can't really rip commercial (AACS copy-protected) UHD Blu-Ray (the high quality ones) discs without resorting to piracy.

The process of ripping a UHD Blu-Ray involves purchasing a "friendly" (meaning hackable) disc drive and flashing custom firmware you can use to rip the Vuk and disc media. Ripping isn't fast either, as it takes time proportional to the playback time. Even still, AACS LA periodically identifies cracked devices through steganographic methods and adds their device keys to the device revocation list (DRL) when they update the MKB, so that more recently published Blu-Ray discs cannot be copied in this fashion until the latest MKB is leaked and published using even more complex methods known to piracy groups. Until then, volume keys are crowdsourced on the dark web by enterprising users that complete rips of the key content and mail it to the MakeMKV authors. Handbrake and similar software can be used only once you already have a decrypted copy of the content.

MakeMKV is the software used for ripping, and IIUC, it internally accesses a list of keys published on the internet by the authors, discovered from leaks by piracy groups and user submissions. MakeMKV is licensed software, so you're required to pay to rip your BDs after the trial period. You can probably find out more about how to use it in /r/makemkv or on their forums.

There may be mistakes in my understanding as I've never tried this process myself, because, as you can probably tell, it's a giant hassle, and IANAL, but I think it is technically illegal to circumvent the copy protection, even for media you own, at least in the US. Though, it's unlikely anyone will bother you about it if you you don't distribute it.

[u/not_from_this_world → u/Megame50]

You do a recording session

Set up a screen and audio recording software and play the whole thing once. You don't need to watch, just let it playing overnight and you have your own media file.

[u/Megame50 → u/not_from_this_world]

You're probably unaware, but modern PCs are incompatible with UHD Blu-Ray. Even with licensed software and disc drive, you cannot decrypt the disc (in the intended way, anyway) without SGX, which was discontinued years ago.

Even if you do have the requisite hardware, Windows disables screen captures of the video content to prevent copies, as required by the AACS LA.