Dolby Vision and 1.15.1

[mike admin]

While not announced on release notes page, MakeMKV 1.15.1 (released 15.4.20) should correctly recognize and preserve Dolby Vision streams in MKV file. Given the original thread is 143 pages at the time of this writing, I'm creating a separate thread. Please report any DV issues here.

UPDATE: This post got some attention and external linking, so I have to clarify a bit. At the time of this writing, the support of DV in MKV format is still an ongoing effort and not a finished standard by any means. While it is very likely that it would not change significantly, please do not assume that the currently-generated MKV files are final, with respect of DV data. This is precisely the reason DV support was not announced in release notes yet.
But, on the other hand, the files generated by 1.15.1 are complete in a sense that all information is preserved, and no matter what happens, MakeMKV would always be able to open these files preserving DV content.

[SamuriHL]

Woa! Thanks, Mike!

[flashback8]

Thanks! Been waiting for this one for a long time. I'll have to fire up the Oppo and see how it handles the MKV. I'm not counting on anything but it would be awesome if it somehow used the DV layer.

EDIT: As expected, the MKV plays only as HDR10 on the Oppo. A shame but very much expected. It's still nice to have an essentially lossless backup method that isn't TS files. :)

[jayper]

Holy shit! That is incredible.

[anothermkvuser]

Mike,

Very exciting......... Thank you for your efforts on this. Looking forwarding to testing it out.

[shawnc22]

thanks for all the hard work mike!

Just tried it on the full Joker movie (MEL) and here's the resulting media info from the lone video track

Code: Select all

Video
ID                                       : 1
ID in the original source medium         : 4113 (0x1011)
Format                                   : HEVC
Format/Info                              : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile                           : Main 10@L5.1@High
HDR format                               : SMPTE ST 2086, HDR10 compatible
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Duration                                 : 2 h 1 min
Bit rate                                 : 50.3 Mb/s
Width                                    : 3 840 pixels
Height                                   : 2 160 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0 (Type 2)
Bit depth                                : 10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.253
Stream size                              : 42.8 GiB (89%)
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : No
Forced                                   : No
Color range                              : Limited
Color primaries                          : BT.2020
Transfer characteristics                 : PQ
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.2020 non-constant
Mastering display color primaries        : Display P3
Mastering display luminance              : min: 0.0050 cd/m2, max: 4000 cd/m2
Maximum Content Light Level              : 992 cd/m2
Maximum Frame-Average Light Level        : 120 cd/m2
Original source medium                   : Blu-ray

Please correct me if I'm getting it wrong here, but is what makemkv doing now currently similar to what yusecope's tool is doing in combining the original dual video tracks into a single track with dual layers (BL+EL+RPU)? The lack of a dolby vision mention in mediainfo I'm guessing is due to the lack of DV descriptors in the mkv format, and thus softwares are currently not checking for DV data? Now if I remux this video track back into a TS container (doing that currently), I should get a playable TS file with DV?

[mike admin]

is what makemkv doing now currently similar to what yusecope's tool is doing in combining the original dual video tracks into a single track with dual layers (BL+EL+RPU)?

Yes. All tools - yusecope's, dvdfab an makemkv do the same thing - convert double pid encoding to single-pid encoding (UHD BD is always double-layer and stays double layer).

The lack of a dolby vision mention in mediainfo I'm guessing is due to the lack of DV descriptors in the mkv format

No, MakeMKV (hopefully) correctly builds and puts MP4 DOVI descriptors into track CodecPrivate area. Hopefully, this will be picked up by mediainfo & friends...

and thus softwares are currently not checking for DV data?

Correct.

Now if I remux this video track back into a TS container (doing that currently), I should get a playable TS file with DV?

Yes.

[shawnc22]

is what makemkv doing now currently similar to what yusecope's tool is doing in combining the original dual video tracks into a single track with dual layers (BL+EL+RPU)?

Yes. All tools - yusecope's, dvdfab an makemkv do the same thing - convert double pid encoding to single-pid encoding (UHD BD is always double-layer and stays double layer).

The lack of a dolby vision mention in mediainfo I'm guessing is due to the lack of DV descriptors in the mkv format

No, MakeMKV (hopefully) correctly builds and puts MP4 DOVI descriptors into track CodecPrivate area. Hopefully, this will be picked up by mediainfo & friends...

and thus softwares are currently not checking for DV data?

Correct.

Now if I remux this video track back into a TS container (doing that currently), I should get a playable TS file with DV?

Yes.

Yep, as expected the resulting TS file is as such:

Code: Select all

Video
ID                                       : 4117 (0x1015)
Menu ID                                  : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : HEVC
Format/Info                              : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile                           : Main 10@L5.1@High
HDR format                               : Dolby Vision, Version 1.0, dvhe.04.06, BL+EL+RPU / SMPTE ST 2086, HDR10 compatible
Codec ID                                 : 6
Duration                                 : 2 h 1 min
Bit rate                                 : 53.7 Mb/s
Width                                    : 3 840 pixels
Height                                   : 2 160 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0 (Type 2)
Bit depth                                : 10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.270
Stream size                              : 45.7 GiB (90%)
Language                                 : English
Color range                              : Limited
Color primaries                          : BT.2020
Transfer characteristics                 : PQ
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.2020 non-constant
Mastering display color primaries        : Display P3
Mastering display luminance              : min: 0.0050 cd/m2, max: 4000 cd/m2
Maximum Content Light Level              : 992 cd/m2
Maximum Frame-Average Light Level        : 120 cd/m2

And plays with DV triggered on my Shield. A couple more follow up questions:

I do see the DV descriptors when opening the mkv file in a hex editor, and I noticed that it's labeled as profile 7. Would it be more appropriate to use profile 4 (or even 6) since it's no longer a double track (or pid, is track and pid interchangeable here?) file? Also doesn't dvdfab discard the EL layer in creating a profile 5 mp4 and thus is slightly different than what makemkv and yusecope's tool is doing?

[mike admin]

I do see the DV descriptors when opening the mkv file in a hex editor, and I noticed that it's labeled as profile 7. Would it be more appropriate to use profile 4 (or even 6) since it's no longer a double track (or pid, is track and pid interchangeable here?) file?

No, these are different things as discussed in main thread. The single/double layer is a profile property, and single/double pid is just encoding - the video is still p7 double layer, encoding does not change DV profile.

Also doesn't dvdfab discard the EL layer in creating a profile 5 mp4 and thus is slightly different than what makemkv and yusecope's tool is doing?

Was also discussed in main thread. In theory one can discard EL units and only keep RPU for MEL streams. DvdFAB dies just that (assuming it correctly identifies MEL streams).
But I do not see any practical benefit in doing this - EL overhead for MEL streams is negligible and "keep all data unchanged, just change container" was always the motto of MakeMKV. So MakeMKV always keeps EL layer, even if it is MEL and in theory could be discarded. The Dolby spec specifically details that decoders should analyze first RPU unit to figure out whether the stream is MEL or not - so presence of EL layer or profile properties in descriptors are irrelevant.

[shawnc22]

I do see the DV descriptors when opening the mkv file in a hex editor, and I noticed that it's labeled as profile 7. Would it be more appropriate to use profile 4 (or even 6) since it's no longer a double track (or pid, is track and pid interchangeable here?) file?

No, these are different things as discussed in main thread. The single/double layer is a profile property, and single/double pid is just encoding - the video is still p7 double layer, encoding does not change DV profile.

Right, I know that layers and PIDS are completely different, but I went back to the original thread to reread a few things, and I believe that track and PID are referring to the same thing in this case. E.g. in UHD P7 implementations, video track #1 (primary PID) carries the BL layer, while video track #2 (secondary PID) carries the EL layer + RPU metadata. Then in the new MakeMKV or yusecope's tool, both video tracks are merged to a single video track (double pid to single pid) that is still dual-layered (BL+EL+RPU). It's just that yusecope has consistently referred to his tool as creating single track dual-layer files, and the term "track", instead of PID, was used so extensively in the original thread that I wanted to make sure they were referring to the same things.

[cipher]

Holy smokes. Dolby Vision support and Atmos fix in the same release. What an incredible job!

Looking forward to testing this soon.

[olevelo]

Wow, I literally just ripped Joker yesterday with 1.15! Guess I'll go back and do it again! Now to figure out how to play these...need to get a FAQ going to not wade through the other giant thread!

[olevelo]

is what makemkv doing now currently similar to what yusecope's tool is doing in combining the original dual video tracks into a single track with dual layers (BL+EL+RPU)?

Yes. All tools - yusecope's, dvdfab an makemkv do the same thing - convert double pid encoding to single-pid encoding (UHD BD is always double-layer and stays double layer).

The lack of a dolby vision mention in mediainfo I'm guessing is due to the lack of DV descriptors in the mkv format

No, MakeMKV (hopefully) correctly builds and puts MP4 DOVI descriptors into track CodecPrivate area. Hopefully, this will be picked up by mediainfo & friends...

and thus softwares are currently not checking for DV data?

Correct.

Now if I remux this video track back into a TS container (doing that currently), I should get a playable TS file with DV?

Yes.

Yep, as expected the resulting TS file is as such:

Code: Select all

Video
ID                                       : 4117 (0x1015)
Menu ID                                  : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : HEVC
Format/Info                              : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile                           : Main 10@L5.1@High
HDR format                               : Dolby Vision, Version 1.0, dvhe.04.06, BL+EL+RPU / SMPTE ST 2086, HDR10 compatible
Codec ID                                 : 6
Duration                                 : 2 h 1 min
Bit rate                                 : 53.7 Mb/s
Width                                    : 3 840 pixels
Height                                   : 2 160 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0 (Type 2)
Bit depth                                : 10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.270
Stream size                              : 45.7 GiB (90%)
Language                                 : English
Color range                              : Limited
Color primaries                          : BT.2020
Transfer characteristics                 : PQ
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.2020 non-constant
Mastering display color primaries        : Display P3
Mastering display luminance              : min: 0.0050 cd/m2, max: 4000 cd/m2
Maximum Content Light Level              : 992 cd/m2
Maximum Frame-Average Light Level        : 120 cd/m2

And plays with DV triggered on my Shield. A couple more follow up questions:

I do see the DV descriptors when opening the mkv file in a hex editor, and I noticed that it's labeled as profile 7. Would it be more appropriate to use profile 4 (or even 6) since it's no longer a double track (or pid, is track and pid interchangeable here?) file? Also doesn't dvdfab discard the EL layer in creating a profile 5 mp4 and thus is slightly different than what makemkv and yusecope's tool is doing?

I assume this is the new Shield right? I have the 2017 version, which I think doesn't support DV? And you have to have the Pro version? It didn't seem like it was worth upgrading, but I guess it is now? Does Kodi play it?

[cipher]

Wow, I literally just ripped Joker yesterday with 1.15! Guess I'll go back and do it again! Now to figure out how to play these...need to get a FAQ going to not wade through the other giant thread!

Good idea. The original thread had numerous posts of people using the wrong tool, tool version or processes which was leading to confusion every time one of these incorrect posts was added.

Given we're looking at a new approach, can someone confirm if the following is the current workflow for creating a DV file that can be played on our TV's:

1) Using MakeMKV, create an MKV file from the UHD disc (I'm assuming there is no need to first create the full disc anymore)
2) Remux the .MKV file to a .TS file using a specific version of Tsmuxer (this step is still a bit iffy to me, maybe shawnc22 can chime in with his steps)
3) Play the TS file directly off a storage device (eg USB Drive) connected to your DV TV or use a DV Supported streaming device like the Shield 2019 to play it via software like Plex.

I'm also assuming that this opens the possibility for software like Plex to add the ability for us to be able to play our DV based MKV's without having to convert them to TS first?

[cipher]

I assume this is the new Shield right? I have the 2017 version, which I think doesn't support DV? And you have to have the Pro version? It didn't seem like it was worth upgrading, but I guess it is now? Does Kodi play it?

Yea, I'm in the same boat with the earlier Shield version so I'll have to grab the 2019 version. Here's a thread that discusses why we won't see it on our older version - https://www.reddit.com/r/ShieldAndroidT ... er_shield/

I'm going to move the older one to my second TV that currently has a Roku (after a conversation with the wife about UI changes!) which means anyone watching that 2017 version should see the fallback HDR layer when playing these titles via Plex while the new 2019 Shield will play the DV layer when playing the same title.