Problems ripping interlaced DVD material

[BansheeX]

If you rip DVD video data that is interlaced, it will create a video that will playback with a "combing" defect during heavy movement. Example:



Playing the DVD directly in the same media player, or playing a rebuilt file by using mkvtoolnix, results in normal playback. At first, I thought the problem might be in makemkv writing a bad header value or something that was failing to tell the player what it needs to know. However, I have used the program MediaInfo to compare the original mkv and the rebuilt one by mkvtoolnix, and they are practically identical.

Code: Select all

Video
ID                               : 1
Format                           : MPEG Video
Format version                   : Version 2
Format profile                   : Main@Main
Format settings, BVOP            : No
Format settings, Matrix          : Default
Codec ID                         : V_MPEG2
Codec ID/Info                    : MPEG 1 or 2 Video
Duration                         : 26mn 43s
Bit rate mode                    : Variable
Bit rate                         : 5 584 Kbps
Nominal bit rate                 : 9 800 Kbps
Width                            : 720 pixels
Height                           : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 4:3
Frame rate                       : 29.970 fps
Standard                         : Component
Resolution                       : 8 bits
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Interlaced
Scan order                       : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.539
Stream size                      : 1.04 GiB (95%)

Code: Select all

Video
ID                               : 1
Format                           : MPEG Video
Format version                   : Version 2
Format profile                   : Main@Main
Format settings, BVOP            : No
Format settings, Matrix          : Default
Codec ID                         : V_MPEG2
Codec ID/Info                    : MPEG 1 or 2 Video
Duration                         : 26mn 43s
Bit rate mode                    : Variable
Bit rate                         : 5 589 Kbps
Nominal bit rate                 : 9 800 Kbps
Width                            : 720 pixels
Height                           : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 4:3
Frame rate                       : 29.970 fps
Standard                         : Component
Resolution                       : 8 bits
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Interlaced
Scan order                       : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.540
Stream size                      : 1.04 GiB (92%)

Sorry, I can't help you any more as my knowledge is limited.

A couple of unrelated things:

1. Is there no way to rip without keeping chapters? I wish I could rip without them.
2. Subtitles are always enabled when I playback makemkv-generated rips. Why would they be on instead of off by default?

Thanks for the great program.

[BansheeX]

By the way, the DVD I am using is an original USA Red Dwarf disc. Here are two more images, my own this time. The first is a MakeMKV-generated file and the second is an mpg file extracted from that one by mkvextract. I don't know what mkvextract is changing during this process to make playback comb-free (like the disc itself), but it must be detecting what you're doing wrong and auto-correcting it somehow.





I'm also apparently not the only one experiencing this. Look at the last two posts of this thread, they are describing the same problem:

http://www.makemkv.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=894

[Taddeusz]

What are you using for playback? By default VLC won't automatically de-interlace the video. You need to specify the video to be de-interlaced.

[BansheeX]

I've used 3 different players on my Windows 7 box. You're right about VLC Player needing it turned on by hand. Here are my experiences with all 3.

VLC Player 1.0.5
-------------------
DVD: interlaced by default, but can be deinterlaced through setting
MakeMKV file: interlaced by default, but can be deinterlaced through setting
MKVExtract file: interlaced by default, but can be deinterlaced through setting

Windows Media Player 12
-----------------------------
DVD: deinterlaced by default
MakeMKV file: interlaced by default and there is no setting to deinterlace
MKVExtract file: deinterlaced by default

Zoom Player 7.00 MAX
--------------------------
DVD: deinterlaced by default
MakeMKV: interlaced by default, and while there is a setting to deinterlace in the context menu, it doesn't do anything
MKVExtract: deinterlaced by default


So it appears that WMP 12 and Zoom Player are able to detect something in the file and deinterlace on playback without user action. So what is makemkv doing to the file that is making deinterlaced playback impossible in popular players like Zoom Player and WMP 12?

[Taddeusz]

I'm not sure what your issue could be. I have no problem playing interlaced MPEG2 MKV's from Windows Media Player.

[BansheeX]

With some more testing, I think I've determined that the problem may lie with my registered MPEG2 decoder (DScaler5). Ripping with subtitles throws it off, but if I discard subtitles, it works fine.