The Expanse Season 4 Bluray Region A - Episodes/chapters out of order

[Dingdong]

Linux Mint 20
MakeMKV 1.15.4

Discs seem to be registering with MakeMKV but the resulting files seems totally out of order and makes no sense when watching them.

Whats amiss?

[digimars]

I'm having the exact same problem with the Expanse seasons 1-3 set that I got today. It's Region B (a UK import). I ripped the first two seasons but the resulting MKV files are all out of whack.

This is what shows up in the details window after I loaded S1 D1 back up again:

Code: Select all

Using direct disc access mode
Loaded content hash table, will verify integrity of M2TS files.
File 00007.mpls was added as title #0
File 00000.mpls was added as title #1
File 00005.mpls was added as title #2
File 00004.mpls was added as title #3
Title 00003.mpls is equal to title 00004.mpls and was skipped
Title 00003.mpls(1) is equal to title 00005.mpls and was skipped
File 00003.mpls(2) was added as title #4
Title 00003.mpls(3) is equal to title 00007.mpls and was skipped
File 00006.mpls was added as title #5
File 00010.m2ts was added as title #6
Title #00008.m2ts has length of 3 seconds which is less than minimum title length of 5 seconds and was therefore skipped
File 00002.m2ts was added as title #7
Title 00003.mpls(2) is equal to title 00006.mpls and was skipped
Operation successfully completed

[preserve]

the resulting files seems totally out of order and makes no sense when watching them. Whats amiss?

In cases like this, it's usually the user's understanding of the disc structure that's amiss. I'm waiting for my import copy of this to arrive, and I can advise further when it does. Or, I can take a look at it for you if you provide the Disc Scans described here: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=23959

I'm having the exact same problem with the Expanse seasons 1-3 set that I got today. It's Region B (a UK import). I ripped the first two seasons but the resulting MKV files are all out of whack.

The order in which MakeMKV assigns the titles does not necessarily follow the numbering of their source IDs, which is usually (if the folks authoring the disc are being logical) the correct order.

I suggest checking the Default Output File Name Template to help you better identify the titles after they've been ripped.

- Default Output File Name Template: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=18313
- I add {_s:SN} to the end of mine.

[digimars]

Good information, thank you! It turns out my problem was something else entirely. On my import copy, the end of each title had an extra chapter entitled 'textless elements'. When I go to encode these, I can just make the stop point the beginning of these chapters.

[Reiver]

For all television series you cannot assume that the episodes are sequentially numbered MPLS files on the disc. You have to visually or temporally (i.e. the run time) verify the correct episodes. This is not a makemkv bug.

I had to do this with The Expanse series 1-3 blurays.

[digimars]

For all television series you cannot assume that the episodes are sequentially numbered MPLS files on the disc. You have to visually or temporally (i.e. the run time) verify the correct episodes. This is not a makemkv bug.

I had to do this with The Expanse series 1-3 blurays.

Oh, I completely understand that. I've been using this software for years. My problem was that instead of finding the end credits at the end of the files, I was finding extra video with no audio. That's when I looked further back into the video files and found that these were extra chapters tacked onto the end of each title, from the original blu-ray.

[Reiver]

Ah, yes, that issue. That is indeed an makemkv bug.

I'd reported it in The Expanse Season 1 [UK] Episode Rips Have Hidden Extra Video and there have been other discs collated under Shannara Chronicles Season 2 - UK release where mike admin had stated;

This is (still) a limitation of MakeMKV. The playlists are correct, but the program fails to remove unused video at start. The MPLS file specifies what M2TS to use and how to join them. Also it can specify what parts of M2TS files to use. This is almost never used in practice - I've seen less than 10 discs total that have MPLS saying "use xxx.m2ts from 1:30 to the end". MakeMKV currently ignores the "cut" information in MPLS files, so you get entire M2TS. The proper MPLS parsing is on a to-do list. For now you'll have to cut 1:30 with mkvtoolnix.

It's lazy disc authoring - why would waste space and include unused video (when not an easter egg) on a disc...

[preserve]

^ Yes, I’d agree that it is lazy authoring. On the other hand, it is kind of cool to watch the Expanse credits sequence (and other CGI bits) without the text elements.

I’m just getting into these UK releases now, looking forward to comparing them to the US releases for PQ. In season 2 I think there is also a test signal and then title cards prior to the start of the episodes.

Another odd aspect of the UK releases is that unfortunately, they’ve made separate playlists for the episodes that have commentary, so if you want the commentary integrated into one MKV, you’ll have to do some remuxing.