Mac Blu-ray to Playbook-Play Blu-ray/DVD movies on BlackBerry PlayBook under Mac


Best setting for playing Blu-ray/DVD movies on PlayBook?

Is there a way to get Blu-ray and DVD to play on my BlackBerry PlayBook via the Mac? I’ve copied a DVD movie to my playbook tablet, but the device does not recognize the file. What file extension does playbook play? Does it play .vob and. mts files from DVDs and Blu-rays? And what’s the best setting for ripping these disc movies for playbook?

RIM has provided a “Supported Media Types on BlackBerry Tablets” sheet to detail playable video and audio formats for BlackBerry Playbook. And you can see vob and mts is not there. This means the BlackBerry PlayBook can’t directly hold both Blu-ray and DVD movies.

Blackberry Playbook supported formats:
.3gp, .3g2, .m4a, .m4v, .mov, .mp4, .avi, .wmv, .wma, .mp3, .aac, .f4v, .wav

Blackberry Playbook acceptable codecs:
H.264, MPEG-4, Xvid, VC-1, VP6, AAC, PCM, WMA, MP3

As far as I know, the best solution is to convert Blu-rays and DVDs before transferring the disc movies to Blackberry Playbook on the Mac. We just need get some help from the third-party software. An easy-to-use yet reliable software, entitled Pavtube Blu-ray Ripper for Mac is recommended here. Specially designed for Blu-ray video zealots who use Mac OS, the Mac Blu-ray/DVD to PlayBook Converter allows you set format settings to get desired file size and quality. And other Blu-ray rippers let you rip Blu-ray only but this one rips both Blu-ray and DVD. Designed for fast speed and negligible video quality loss, this amazing software is your best choice for Blu-ray ripping.

I have tested with H.264 encoded videos (480p, 720p avi, mkv, avi clips from Blu-ray and DVD rips), and successfully copy them to BlackBerry Playbook. However, when I disconnect Playbook with PC, I can never find the videos- Playbook will not recognize MKV! Yet all the H.264 .mp4 videos and Xvid .avi videos play great on BB Playbook, even the 1080p .mp4 plays fine. So when ripping Blu-ray and DVD movies to Playbook, H.264 mp4 or Xvid .avi is the choices here. I used to rip Blu-ray and DVD movies to PC and WD TV Live players and learned video codecs and settings well. After several conversions and tests I worked out the best settings for converting Blu-rays and DVDs to Blackberry Playbook:

Video
Video Codec- H.264
Video Format- .mp4
Resolution- 1280*720
Video Bitrate – 1500kbps
Frame Rate – 30fps

Audio
Audio Codec- AAC
Audio Bitrate- 128kbps
Sample Rate- 44.1khz
Audio Channel- Stereo

I choose H.264 .mp4 as the best format for Blackberry Playbook conversion because it is the recommended video format for local playback on Blackberry Playbook tablet by Blackberry official site. Although Playbook supports video playback up to 1080p, I choose 1280*720 for converting mkv to Blackberry Playbook- the tablet screen resolution is 1024*600, and I don’t plan to watch Playbook videos on HDTV via HDMI output- I have WD TV Live Plus for HD movie playback. For watching videos on Playbook tablet, 1500kbps is just all right. I find that bitrate higher results in big file size, and lower visible quality loss.

After everything is done, transfer and copy the result videos to BlackBerry PlayBook, then you are free to experience and view Blu-ray and DVD movies on BlackBerry PlayBook with with best HD video quality. Have Fun!

Hope the article helps.