www.makemkv.com

Posted: **Mon Jan 18, 2010 1:00 pm**

HI.

I have two blu-ray rips, Transformers 2 and Half-blood Prince. Both ripped with MakeMKV 1.4.11. Neither one plays well on the wdtv. They start off OK, but then the video gets choppy, and the audio drops out. Specs are below. All my HD-DVD rips play fine (created with dumphd & eac3to).

I am running b-rad 0.5.8.1 on the WDTV.

I am trying to figure out if this is a makemkv issue with the MKV creation, or a problem/limitation of the WDTV. I also tried running the MKV thru tsmuxer, and the resulting M2TS did not play at all on the WDTV.

Any help or ideas are appreciated?

Thanks,
John

Transformers 2:

Code: Select all

General
Complete name                    : /media/backup/Movies2/Transformers-ROTF.mkv
Format                           : Matroska
File size                        : 39.0 GiB
Duration                         : 2h 29mn
Overall bit rate                 : 37.3 Mbps
Encoded date                     : UTC 2010-01-09 15:17:03
Writing application              : MakeMKV v1.4.10 beta linux(x64-release)
Writing library                  : libmakemkv v1.4.10 beta (0.7.7/0.8.1) x86_64-manbo-linux-gnu

Video
ID                               : 1
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC           : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames        : 4 frames
Muxing mode                      : Container profile=Unknown@4.1
Codec ID                         : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                         : 2h 29mn
Width                            : 1 920 pixels
Height                           : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Frame rate                       : 23.976 fps
Resolution                       : 24 bits
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Progressive

Audio #1
ID                               : 2
Format                           : DTS
Format/Info                      : Digital Theater Systems
Format profile                   : MA
Codec ID                         : A_DTS
Duration                         : 2h 29mn
Bit rate mode                    : Variable
Channel(s)                       : 6 channels
Channel positions                : Front: L C R, Surround: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Resolution                       : 24 bits
Title                            : HD Lossless
Language                         : English

Audio #2
ID                               : 3
Format                           : DTS
Format/Info                      : Digital Theater Systems
Codec ID                         : A_DTS
Duration                         : 2h 29mn
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 1 510 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 6 channels
Channel positions                : Front: L C R, Surround: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Resolution                       : 24 bits
Stream size                      : 1.58 GiB (4%)
Title                            : 3/2+1
Language                         : English

Prince:

Code: Select all

General
Complete name                    : /home/john/Download/DVDRips/halfblood prince/title01.mkv
Format                           : Matroska
File size                        : 21.6 GiB
Duration                         : 2h 33mn
Overall bit rate                 : 20.1 Mbps
Encoded date                     : UTC 2010-01-16 14:59:17
Writing application              : MakeMKV v1.4.11 beta linux(x64-release)
Writing library                  : libmakemkv v1.4.11 beta (0.7.7/0.8.1) x86_64-manbo-linux-gnu

Video
ID                               : 1
Format                           : VC-1
Format profile                   : AP@L3
Codec ID                         : WVC1
Codec ID/Hint                    : Microsoft
Duration                         : 2h 33mn
Width                            : 1 920 pixels
Height                           : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Frame rate                       : 23.976 fps
Resolution                       : 24 bits
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Progressive

Audio #1
ID                               : 2
Format                           : TrueHD
Codec ID                         : A_TRUEHD
Codec ID/Info                    : Dolby TrueHD
Duration                         : 2h 33mn
Channel(s)                       : 6 channels
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Resolution                       : 24 bits
Title                            : 5.1
Language                         : English

Audio #2
ID                               : 3
Format                           : AC-3
Format/Info                      : Audio Coding 3
Codec ID                         : A_AC3
Duration                         : 2h 33mn
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 640 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 6 channels
Channel positions                : Front: L C R, Surround: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Stream size                      : 703 MiB (3%)
Title                            : 3/2+1
Language                         : English

Posted: **Mon Jan 18, 2010 9:02 pm**

I think it has to do with bitrate. I have two wdtv lives. Highest I've done I've played back with no problem I believe is 12Mbps bitrate. So in a nutshell I'd use handbrake with CRF 20 high profile and it'll take that Transformers movie down to about 7GB and you won't be able to tell the difference. HD-DVD rips have higher than 12Mbps or 15Mbps bitrate that you mention play fine on wdtv?

Posted: **Tue Jan 19, 2010 11:13 am**

Well, here's the relevant mediainfo from my Transformers HD-DVD:

Code: Select all

General
Complete name                    : /home/john/Movies/Transformers/Transformers.mkv
Format                           : Matroska
File size                        : 21.2 GiB
Duration                         : 2h 23mn
Overall bit rate                 : 21.2 Mbps
Movie name                       : Transformers
Encoded date                     : UTC 2009-04-21 15:38:10
Writing application              : mkvmerge v2.5.3 ('Boogie') built on Mar  8 2009 13:50:23
Writing library                  : libebml v0.7.8 + libmatroska v0.8.1
Cover                            : Transformers_Image

Not as high as Transformers 2, but higher than Half-Blood Prince. And yes, it plays perfectly.

-john

Posted: **Tue Jan 19, 2010 3:28 pm**

@jabster

I have two blu-ray rips, Transformers 2 and Half-blood Prince. Both ripped with MakeMKV 1.4.11. Neither one plays well on the wdtv.

How do they play on a standalone player?

How do they play with a software player?

Posted: **Tue Jan 19, 2010 5:19 pm**

How do you define a standalone player? My playing options consist of my computer and my WDTV. I don't have a blu-ray player (my DVD player is HD-DVD).

Software: Ran Transformers 2 on my linux box, AMD 5500+ dual core, 3G ram, VDPAU driver. It ran well enough, using SMPlayer, windowed (not full screen), choppy at times, but all my HD movies try my system resources. I also left all my other programs open while playing it.

Funny thing I noticed about Half-Blood prince this morning: It played well from about the time Harry met Professor Slughorn (possibly earlier, I was in and out of the room until then) all the way up to the point where the camera moved thru the windows and into the Weasley twins store. Right where the camera moves thru the window some fireworks start inside the store, and then it got choppy and I lost sound.

I'm also making a MKV using eac3to, which should be done by the time I get home tonite. Hopefully mkvmerge won't take too long and I'll be able to check Transformers 2 again tonite. I doubt it'll make a difference, but I figured it doesn't hurt to check.

-john

Posted: **Tue Jan 19, 2010 6:06 pm**

If you are doing this under Linux (as your testing under software players indictes), you may be better off posting in the Linux sub-forum here.

On the other hand, if you're creating the .MKVs under Windows, why are you testing playback under Linux? If you don't have a commercial software player such as PowerDVD r similar, you could test under VLC in Windows...

Posted: **Tue Jan 19, 2010 6:59 pm**

Well, I posted here since the files do appear to playback fine using linux (fine meaning that I have known hardware limitations for 1080p movies, but I never lose the audio). So I kind of figured it might be a general problem, rather than linux specific.

I'm running eac3to in a virtualbox instance of winxp. My only windows computer is my wife's 3 or 4 year old laptop, which is much less powerful than my desktop box. I don't even want to think about trying it there.

-john

Posted: **Wed Jan 20, 2010 12:22 am**

mrbass wrote:I think it has to do with bitrate. I have two wdtv lives. Highest I've done I've played back with no problem I believe is 12Mbps bitrate. So in a nutshell I'd use handbrake with CRF 20 high profile and it'll take that Transformers movie down to about 7GB and you won't be able to tell the difference. HD-DVD rips have higher than 12Mbps or 15Mbps bitrate that you mention play fine on wdtv?

So what does "not tell the difference" mean exactly?

I haven't used handbrake in a while (maybe a year?), but I was having a hell of a time getting settings right so that I could indeed not tell the difference between the DVD rip and the DVD.

So, is getting it down to that point of visually indistinguishable a simple setting of CRF 20? Leave everything else at default?

thanks,
john

Posted: **Sat Jan 23, 2010 5:00 pm**

mrbass wrote:I think it has to do with bitrate. I have two wdtv lives. Highest I've done I've played back with no problem I believe is 12Mbps bitrate. So in a nutshell I'd use handbrake with CRF 20 high profile and it'll take that Transformers movie down to about 7GB and you won't be able to tell the difference. HD-DVD rips have higher than 12Mbps or 15Mbps bitrate that you mention play fine on wdtv?

Yeah...here's the thing....I'm running Transformers2 thru handbrake, CQ=20, 4 refframes, all other settings left at default for High Profile, saving to MKV...and I CAN notice a difference.

Not so much on brighter scenes, but definately on darker scenes and black screens, I definately see a lot of artifacts. And that's exactly what I'm trying to avoid. It's a large part of the reason I've left all my DVD's as plain rips from MakeMKV and have not run them thru any compression.

Are there some other settings I can adjust to maybe get rid of those artifacts, or at least most of them?

thanks,
john

Posted: **Sat Jan 23, 2010 5:34 pm**

If not satisfied with CRF=20 then try CRF=16 ...although it'll be a larger in size. If satisfied with the result keep working your way up CRF=17, then CRF=18, etc. Just encode a chapter with lots of action to test your results. No need to do the whole movie until you find your desired quality.

Posted: **Sat Jan 23, 2010 7:52 pm**

mrbass wrote:If not satisfied with CRF=20 then try CRF=16 ...although it'll be a larger in size. If satisfied with the result keep working your way up CRF=17, then CRF=18, etc. Just encode a chapter with lots of action to test your results. No need to do the whole movie until you find your desired quality.

Tried that.

Still end up with massive bitrates at 20+. WIth half-blood I ended up using 14. Trans2 is just so bloody high to begin with...gads.

Problem with all this is that it just takes so frakking long to get an encoding done. Just on the first 2 chapters of T2 for a test is like 4 hours. Grr.

Changing settings....I'll return when I get something good that plays over NFS....maybe in a few months....

-john

www.makemkv.com

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