www.makemkv.com

OK, I've re-ripped episode one from Earth: Biography disc 1, using MakeMKV 1.5.7. Same failure with VLC - audio only.

VLC Messages
avcodec: cannot decode one frame
[repeats ad nauseum]


Here's the MediaInfo log:

General
Complete name : /Volumes/Blu-Ray_rips/EARTH_BIOGRAPHY_D1_US/title00.mkv
Format : Matroska
File size : 7.40 GiB
Duration : 45mn 26s
Overall bit rate : 23.3 Mbps
Encoded date : UTC 2010-06-06 21:28:54
Writing application : MakeMKV v1.5.7 beta darwin(x86-release)
Writing library : libmakemkv v1.5.7 beta (0.7.7/0.8.1) darwin(x86-release)

Video
ID : 1
Format : VC-1
Format profile : AP@L3
Codec ID : WVC1
Codec ID/Hint : Microsoft
Duration : 45mn 26s
Bit rate : 19.3 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.310
Stream size : 6.12 GiB (83%)

Audio #1
ID : 2
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Format profile : HRA
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 45mn 26s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 2 047 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Stream size : 665 MiB (9%)
Title : HD
Language : English

Audio #2
ID : 3
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 45mn 26s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 510 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Stream size : 491 MiB (6%)
Title : 3/2+1
Language : English

Text
ID : 4
Format : PGS
Codec ID : S_HDMV/PGS
Codec ID/Info : The same subtitle format used on BDs/HD-DVDs
Language : English

Menu
00:00:00.000 : en:Chapter 00
00:08:01.180 : en:Chapter 01
00:15:31.063 : en:Chapter 02
00:26:11.169 : en:Chapter 03
00:34:01.406 : en:Chapter 04
00:44:16.453 : en:Chapter 05

Hi, common problem with VLC! If you notice your video is VC-1 which is causing issue.

What version of VLC?

Well, *I* didn't chose VC-1. MakeMKV did! Also, the Baraka rip is in VC-1 format too, so why does it play in VLC but Earth:Biography episodes don't?

As I wrote before, I'm using the latest VLC available for easy install (i.e. no crazy Beta versions here): Version 1.0.5 Goldeneye (Intel 32bit)

captain wrote:Well, *I* didn't chose VC-1. MakeMKV did!

The people who mastered the blu-ray picked VC-1. MakeMKV simply re-packed it into an MKV container.

Anyway... try the latest VLC nightly: http://nightlies.videolan.org/. See if that helps any.

So, looking more closely at my own data I see that the video streams differ in the latter part of the description:

This works (i.e. plays back in VLC and can be transcoded by Handbrake to play on AppleTV):
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive

This fails (i.e. won't do those things):
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Resolution : 8 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.309
Stream size : 6.09 GiB (91%)

I'm hoping that Mike has the solution. My first thought was that maybe a dual core 3GHz machine just maybe can't decode that much data. But then I thought, no, I've pumped more data than that before... plus the VLC error messages were a missing codec problem, not a speed or late problem. I'm still stymied.

crowfax wrote:

captain wrote:Well, *I* didn't chose VC-1. MakeMKV did!

The people who mastered the blu-ray picked VC-1. MakeMKV simply re-packed it into an MKV container.

Anyway... try the latest VLC nightly: http://nightlies.videolan.org/. See if that helps any.

Thanks for the suggestion. I got the latest nightly build, and got the same results: audio plays, no video at all. Here's the tail end of VLC's message log. The first 10,000 messages are mostly more of the first three avocodec warning lines here:

avcodec warning: cannot decode one frame (124218 bytes)
avcodec warning: cannot decode one frame (58858 bytes)
avcodec warning: cannot decode one frame (61222 bytes)
mkv debug: Event Key
main debug: incoming request - stopping current input
main debug: dying input
main debug: control type=0
main debug: control: stopping input
macosx debug: input has stopped, refreshing interface
macosx debug: input has changed, refreshing interface
main debug: dying input
avcodec debug: ffmpeg codec (Windows Media Video VC1) stopped
main debug: removing module "avcodec"
main debug: killing decoder fourcc `VC-1', 0 PES in FIFO
main debug: removing module "dts"
main debug: killing decoder fourcc `dts ', 0 PES in FIFO
main debug: removing module "dtstofloat32"
main debug: removing module "scaletempo"
main debug: removing module "bandlimited_resampler"
main debug: removing module "auhal"
main debug: removing module "float32_mixer"
main debug: releasing aout
macosx debug: input has stopped, refreshing interface
macosx debug: input has changed, refreshing interface
main warning: no vout found, dropping subpicture
main warning: can't get output subpicture
avcodec debug: ffmpeg codec (BD subtitles) stopped
main debug: removing module "avcodec"
main debug: killing decoder fourcc `bdpg', 5 PES in FIFO
macosx debug: input has stopped, refreshing interface
main debug: thread ended
mkv debug: Stopping the UI Hook
main debug: removing module "mkv"
main debug: removing module "stream_filter_record"
main debug: removing module "access_mmap"
main debug: Program doesn't contain anymore ES
main debug: thread ended
main debug: dead input

From what I've read so far on other pages, the problem is that VC-1 interlaced (1080i) is not supported by most of the available software decoders. I have one of those MKVs myself and neither VLC nor MPlayer Extended (without binary codecs) where able to decode the video stream. My only success with VC-1 interlaced was MPlayer Extended with binary codecs, but even with that combination the picture will stall after about 1 or 2 mins.

Oy vey! Once again, MicroS**t hoses us all. Any solutions yet?
There MUST be some way to transcode this MicroS**t crap into a decent format! ...no? :-/
I mean, come on, if it's not decodable how are people supposed to WATCH the damn movies?? If we can decode it to watch it, then we ought to be able to decode it to transcode it to be able to watch it on our equipment that requires specific formats, e.g. my stupid AppleTV. sigh.
I wish I were a good coder and cryptologist. I'd crack this thing and release it.

Fond though I am of blaming Microsoft as much as possible, I'm not sure we can in this case. I've hit the same problem with the BBC disks of Bleak House. In fact, this is (I think) not an uncommon for BBC disks to be done in 1080i. I'm converting my HD-DVDs to Apple TV files. I have a workflow worked out, but I have to do all the early stuff in Windows using things like EVODemux and eac3to. I've spent the last few days looking for a method to convert the 1080i without resorting to really arcane instructions or weird programmes, without any real success. If I demux them, I can produce a remuxed file that either has a screwed-up picture or no picture at all.

Fond though I am of blaming Microsoft as much as possible, I'm not sure we can in this case. I've hit the same problem with the BBC disks of Bleak House. In fact, this is (I think) not an uncommon for BBC disks to be done in 1080i. I'm converting my HD-DVDs to Apple TV files. I have a workflow worked out, but I have to do all the early stuff in Windows using things like EVODemux and eac3to. I've spent the last few days looking for a method to convert the 1080i without resorting to really arcane instructions or weird programmes, without any real success. If I demux them, I can produce a remuxed file that either has a screwed-up picture or no picture at all.

The video plays on the machine they were intended for a Blu-ray player ; )

Try the OSX version of XBMC and see if they play. As to Handbrake it doesn't really support Blu-rays all that well as an input format yet, the Windows x264 encoders like Ripbot264 are much better in this regard if you have access to bootcamp/virtual PC Ripbot264 is worth trying.

Thanks for the XBMC pointer! I'll give that a try. I'm surprised there's not a plug in for QuickTime in the Perian tool box to allow VC-1 decoding!