Newbie, help needed

MKV playback, recompression, remuxing, codec packs, players, howtos, etc.
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stuartrav
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2010 9:15 am

Newbie, help needed

Post by stuartrav »

Hi,

Please excuse my ignorance i have just bought a HTPC and am looking to build up a collection of films on my harddrive ripped from bluerays. To do this I have just downloaded makemkv onto my HTPC and have ripped my toy story 3 blueray. This has now given me a folder with lots of sub folders and 100s of files. My question is what do I do know? I have tried opening one of the files in BDMV/STREAM but windows media player cannot open / play the AVCHD video file.

I therefore think i need some codecs software so that windows media player will recognise the files, plus I think, (but I am not sure), that I need some additional software to make 1 large file (from all the individual files and folders that makemkv has created) so that i can then simply double click on this new large file to play the film.

So on the assumption this is correct please can someone recommend what to do re codecs plus advise what other piece of software it is that i require.

Many thanks
Icanseestars
Posts: 70
Joined: Sat Mar 07, 2009 10:12 am

Re: Newbie, help needed

Post by Icanseestars »

Uh not sure whats going on there but that doesn't sound like your using MakeMKV.

MakeMKV rips the movie to a .mkv container, in the GUI you can de-select everything but the main movie and the preferred audio track. After the movie has finished being ripped you can play it a variety of media players, XBMC is a much better HTPC front end than windows media center and has all the proper codec support built in.
setarip_old
Posts: 2136
Joined: Wed Dec 09, 2009 1:31 pm

Re: Newbie, help needed

Post by setarip_old »

@stuartrav

Hi!

1) Open the full disc folder that you created on your hard drive

2) Open the "BDMV" sub-folder

3) Select either "index.bdmv" or "MovieObject.bdmv"

4) The rest will then be obvious ;>}


stuartrav
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2010 9:15 am

Re: Newbie, help needed

Post by stuartrav »

Hi, Thanks for the help. I was accidently choosing to make a back up rather than just making a single MKV file. My only problem now is that i have created the MKV file but when i play it there is no sound. Hopefully i will be able to solve this tonight.

On a related subject as the MKV file was circa 20gb i wondered what if any software you use to decrease the file size and what impact this has on the quality when viewed on a tv.

Thanks
skittle
Posts: 349
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 4:23 am

Re: Newbie, help needed

Post by skittle »

Hi, please post mediainfo output from the file. I will bet 100% that the issue is that its VC-1 codec causing issues. What are you using to playback? Use latest VLC, Mplayer, mpc-hc...

As far as compressing the video files:
Have a look at one of the GUI's here: http://forum.doom9.org/forumdisplay.php?f=78
Handbrake is also a good choice for newbies. If you choose handbrake use the latest nightly build as the official one is very very outdated.
stuartrav
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2010 9:15 am

Re: Newbie, help needed

Post by stuartrav »

Hi,

Still no luck with getting any sound.

Can you advise where and how i find the mediainfo output for the file? I am using windows media player and have downloaded divx codecs.

Thanks for the info re compressing, please can you advise where i will find the latest version of Handbrake? (On the handbrake website it mentions that it "doesn't crack the latest DVD copy protection" and thus suggests that you have to use it in conjunction with other software, is this the case for the later versions as well)?

What i am looking for as someone who isn't a wizz around a computer is just simple easy software for getting bluerays onto my hard disk at the same / nearly the same quality both picture wise and sound wise as the actual blueray. Hopefully if i can simply solve the lack of sound i am currently experiencing makemkv will be this software.

Thanks
skittle
Posts: 349
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 4:23 am

Re: Newbie, help needed

Post by skittle »

Come on... please search google a little bit!
Also dump windows media player and 'divx codecs'... its junk.
These are the best players:
MPC-HC, splash player, VLC, mplayer. None of these require 'codec packs' and are much better than WMP.

Mediainfo: http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/
Handbrake nightly: https://build.handbrake.fr/view/Nightlies/

Rip with makemkv first, then process the mkv file with handbrake.
stuartrav
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2010 9:15 am

Re: Newbie, help needed

Post by stuartrav »

Sorry, I thought mediainfo output was part of MakeMKV, I didn't even think to look on google.

I have since downloaded Mediainfo, hopefully the below contains what you were looking for.

(Please note part of my testing to see what was going wrong with the audio involved ripping the blueray trying various different audio options from the blueray folder. The Medinfo for the below was when i tried the option of keeping all the audio options).

General
UniqueID : 71731719806578124448563209910548695406 (0x35F706D6B6FF70D9FE9F8ADA72BC096E)
Complete name : C:\Video\Toy_Story_3_(Disc_1)\title05.mkv
Format : Matroska
File size : 25.6 GiB
Duration : 1h 42mn
Overall bit rate : 35.8 Mbps
Encoded date : UTC 2010-12-06 20:57:55
Writing application : MakeMKV v1.6.2 win(x64-release)
Writing library : libmakemkv v1.6.2 (0.7.7/0.8.1) win(x64-release)

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 42mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Maximum bit rate : 31.5 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Language : English
Color primaries : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4, SMPTE RP177
Transfer characteristics : BT.709-5, BT.1361
Matrix coefficients : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4 709, SMPTE RP177

Audio #1
ID : 2
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Format profile : MA
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 1h 42mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Channel(s) : 8 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, Back: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Title : Losless
Language : English

Audio #2
ID : 3
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 1h 42mn
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
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 1.08 GiB (4%)
Title : 3/2+1
Language : English

Audio #3
ID : 4
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Format profile : MA
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 1h 42mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 24 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Title : Losless
Language : English

Audio #4
ID : 5
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Format profile : ES
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 1h 42mn
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 : 24 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 1.08 GiB (4%)
Title : 3/2+1
Language : English

Audio #5
ID : 6
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 1h 42mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 640 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 469 MiB (2%)
Title : 3/2+1
Language : English

Audio #6
ID : 7
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Format profile : Dolby Digital
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 1h 42mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 320 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 235 MiB (1%)
Title : 2/0
Language : English

Menu
00:00:00.000 : en:Chapter 00
00:04:53.543 : en:Chapter 01
00:06:20.254 : en:Chapter 02
00:11:37.405 : en:Chapter 03
00:15:17.166 : en:Chapter 04
00:18:34.196 : en:Chapter 05
00:19:23.870 : en:Chapter 06
00:26:17.117 : en:Chapter 07
00:28:59.404 : en:Chapter 08
00:31:47.822 : en:Chapter 09
00:33:22.333 : en:Chapter 10
00:35:50.064 : en:Chapter 11
00:37:30.122 : en:Chapter 12
00:40:11.325 : en:Chapter 13
00:41:12.636 : en:Chapter 14
00:43:37.489 : en:Chapter 15
00:44:49.269 : en:Chapter 16
00:48:19.521 : en:Chapter 17
00:52:28.061 : en:Chapter 18
00:53:51.895 : en:Chapter 19
00:57:11.969 : en:Chapter 20
00:58:20.705 : en:Chapter 21
01:01:09.999 : en:Chapter 22
01:02:06.639 : en:Chapter 23
01:02:57.022 : en:Chapter 24
01:06:35.032 : en:Chapter 25
01:11:21.735 : en:Chapter 26
01:15:57.260 : en:Chapter 27
01:17:35.817 : en:Chapter 28
01:19:43.194 : en:Chapter 29
01:23:01.934 : en:Chapter 30
01:24:59.594 : en:Chapter 31
01:28:15.581 : en:Chapter 32
01:34:18.277 : en:Chapter 33
stuartrav
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2010 9:15 am

Re: Newbie, help needed

Post by stuartrav »

Sorry i forgot to add could one of the players you have recommended solve the problem on its own?

Many thanks
skittle
Posts: 349
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 4:23 am

Re: Newbie, help needed

Post by skittle »

Most likely... give mpc-hc a try ;)
http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/
stuartrav
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2010 9:15 am

Re: Newbie, help needed

Post by stuartrav »

Hi,

I have deleted divx codecs and installed Mpc-hc and also installed latest directx, (as requested by mpc-hc) and now I have sound! Thank you.

Taking into consideration my lack of knowledge and that I have a DELL Zino HD 400 with Athlon Neo X2 dual core processor 6850e 1.80ghz, 6.00gb RAM and ATI mobility radeon HD 4330 512MB graphics card running windows 7 home premium 64 bit are there any particular setting changes you would recommend I try on mpc-hc to fully utilise my 50inch tv playing the sound through a 5.1 home cinema system?

Once again many thanks
skittle
Posts: 349
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 4:23 am

Re: Newbie, help needed

Post by skittle »

mpc-hc by its self is good, but read these threads if you feel nerdy (particularly the first link is a good read):

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=143689
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=146228
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=154719
stuartrav
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2010 9:15 am

Re: Newbie, help needed

Post by stuartrav »

Hi, I have Mpc-hc up and running now and have ripped some more of my films to my HTPC using makemkv. (I have not made any changes to the settings of Mpc-hc as for the moment at least i thought that would be beyond me)!

My problem now is that on some films if i fast foward the picture freezes at the point i was at prior to fast forwarding and the sound stops playing. This has happened on some DVD's where the file size is less than 3gb but has not happened on some bluerays where the file size is over 20gb, (just for clarification it has happened on some bluerays as well), so i don't think it is a case of the computer not being powerfull enough.

I hope someone has some suggestions as to why this is happening and can recommend a solution as it is very frustrating.

Many thanks
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