Scrambled/pixelated video on Being Human (UK)

[mgscott]

I am having problems ripping "Being Human (UK).
The audio comes through fine, but the picture randomly breaks up into colored pixel dots.
Running: MakeMKV v1.8.9 linux(x64-release).
I noticed this with an earlier release as well.
New form of DRM on UK?

Edit: The extra content ripped just fine, only the main program content (episodes).

[Romansh]

Without further information, the most likely explanation is that the source uses VC-1 encoded video with interlaced compression, and your player doesn't decode it correctly.

[mgscott]

Without further information, the most likely explanation is that the source uses VC-1 encoded video with interlaced compression, and your player doesn't decode it correctly.

I saw VC-1 mentioned in other posts while searching. Is that a limitation of the BD-Drive I have?
The first one was an Asus BC-12B1ST and the newer drive is an LG WH14NS40.

What additional info would be required to determine the cause?
Is there a drive that you can recommend or is there an option I can change in MakeMKV or Handbrake?
Would that also explain why only the main feature is corrupted and the extras appear to be fine?

[Woodstock]

No, VC-1 isn't a drive limitation, but a software one. If the video is VC-1 interlaced, you need software that can decode it.

For handbrake, it needs to be one of the recent nightly builds. According to other messages posted here, anything built after January should be able to read VC-1i and turn it into x264.

[docchris]

If it helps, both MPC-HC and XBMC can play these back perfectly

(and yes they are interlaced VC-1 which many players struggle with)

[Romansh]

If it helps, both MPC-HC and XBMC can play these back perfectly

So as long as you're using an up-to-date version

[docchris]

well you can say that about almost anything....

im sure xbmc v1 cant playback h264...

[Romansh]

Pretty sure XBMC 12 is old enough to not support iVC-1 though, you really need 13 or later, unless I am mistaken.

Edit: or anything for which XBMC supports hardware-accelerated VC-1 decoding, of course (then the version of libavcodec used doesn't matter).

[mgscott]

Using the nightly build of HandBrake resolved the issue.
Even though the MKV file shows video scrambled, the m4v looks fine.
Though I can only use the CLI version on the newer builds due to problems with GTK library incompatibility with the GUI.
I did put together a small bash script and am actually finding the CLI version better than slogging through the GUI.

[Romansh]

If you can update GTK 3 to 3.10 or later and install the relevant development packages, you should be able to build the Linux GUI again.

[mgscott]

If you can update GTK 3 to 3.10 or later and install the relevant development packages, you should be able to build the Linux GUI again.

Yea, I looked into that and it seemed more trouble than it was worth.
The CLI is working just fine and it is actually easier to do batch encodes than with the GUI.