Concerned about the quality of a DVD rip

[farmerdave]

I've just done a simple comparison of my HTPC and an entry level Panasonic Bluray player which upscales. I'm viewing this on a 55 inch Panasonic Plasma capable of 1080p. I ripped an episode of The West Wing from an original DVD using MakeMKV version 1.7.4-1 on Arch Linux. Then I plugged the HTPC into HDMI 1 and the Bluray into HDMI 2 on the TV, no other hardware (e.g. receivers) connected. I then made certain that the 2 inputs had the same contrast/colour settings etc.

Press play on both and switch between the two and the difference is dramatic. The HTPC mkv file from MakeMKV has washed out colour and soft picture, while the DVD playing in the Bluray player is crisp and deep colour. An unbiased and impartial third party confirmed this in an instant for me.

My suspicions were confirmed when I used K3B to rip the .iso, and then transcoded the same episode with Handbrake. Viewing the resulting file was very similar to the original DVD quality in terms of colour and sharpness.

To elaborate, it appears as though black colours seem grey (are being brightened?) after a MakeMKV rip, but the picture loses detail in this brightening. Is there any reason why this would be happening? Is it possible to adjust this type of settings for a rip?

[crowfax]

MakeMKV does not alter the streams when ripping. There are no settings to adjust. MakeMKV is NOT an encoder.

This is an issue with your playback software. Check the settings for your decoder. If it can't decode MPEG2 streams correctly within an MKV container, file a bug report with them.

[farmerdave]

Thanks for the reply, I am happy to hear that answer.

[robpdotcom]

There are a lot of variables. It could be the decoder, the video renderer, or the settings on your video card.