The complete HD (Blu-ray/HD-DVD) back-up thread.

Okay this is where im going to need Ryu new guide if im going to load the audio with it.Because i would always encode the video then use the Ac3 audio i got after Demux.Does Ryu profile use the audio also?

 

Sorry, let me clarify. Demux the audio only using tsMuxeR you'll use this later when you remux everything after the MeGUI recode.

First make sure you have this version of x264.exe http://megui.org/auto/x264-839.zip

You can find Ryu's MeGUI Blu-Ray profile in this thread (mediafire.com link). In your MeGUI's installation directory make a folder called "Profiles", in the folder make one called "Video". place the "Ryu77 Blu-ray.xml" document in that folder.

In MeGUI start a new AviSynth script, load your whole original mkv, BE CAREFUL HERE, MY VERSION ALWAYS WANT TO RESIZE, MAKE SURE THAT OPTION IS UNCHECKED and save it.

However if you want a Blu-Ray structured disc the video dimensions must be either 1920x1080(not 1920x818, etc) or 1280x720 (not 1280x525, etc), if they are anything but those resolutions you will need to resize. To do this keep that option checked and input ypur desired dimensions. You will also need to add borders to fill in the added lines of resolution. To do this go to the "Edit" tab and directly under the "DirectShowSource" line input the following command;


AddBorders(0,###,0,###)

To identify what numbers need to be added into the AddBorders command, you will need to work out how many lines are missing.

720 - 528 = 192
192 divided by 2 = 96

or

1080 - 818 = 262
262 divided by 2 = 131

Save it.

The benefits to making a Blu-Ray file as opposed to just m2ts is now you can keep your DTS audio along with other audio streams and also incorporate srt subtitles. Otherwise you should just keep it m2ts.

Make sure the preview looks normal (should have black widescreen bars) then close the preview. Now chose the RAWAVC file output and you should also be able to find the Ryu77 Blu-ray profile in the "Video Profile" dropdown.

Now you need to specify your file size, go to the tools section-->Bitrate Calculator. Make sure you take into consideration the audio stream file size and the Blu-Ray structure header (around 570mb for a DVD9).

8152mb (DVD9 size) -minus- 570mb (header) -minus- audio stream ###mb =equals= h264 file size. Once you figure that out specify your file size and apply.

Hit the "enqueue" button, go to the "Queue" tab, there should be two jobs there, start the first one and when that's done the second will start automatically.

Now go out and get some fresh air!

When the recode is done load the new .264 video file and the audio file (from the first step) in tsMuxeR, make sure you change the AVC level from 5.1-->4.1, select the m2ts radio button (or Blu-Ray if you resized) and Start Muxing.

Either file type should now be burned to disc with Nero Burning Rom, UDF-Data DVD partition type 2.5 (this is changed manually).

If you have a powerful, fast PC it should take 7-8 hours... if not then a couple of days.

Hope this helps.

EDIT: oh yeah, massive props to Ryu77 for creating such an amazimg profile!!!

 

Thanks very much, Odin24. You are the man!

A couple of Noob questions (sorry) -

1. What do I do with the x264.exe?
2. Is the following AddBorders syntax correct if I have a 1920x800 source mkv file?

AddBorders(0,0,0,140)
LanczosResize(1920,1080) # Lanczos (Sharp)

3. I get the following message when I click Enqueue. Should I continue?

Your AviSynth clip has the following problem:
AviSynth clip doesn't have mod16 dimensions:
Width: 1920
Height:1080
This could cause problems with some encoders,
and will also result in a loss of compressibility.
I suggest you resize to a mod16 resolution.
Continue anyway?

 

In your MeGUI installation directory there should be a folder called "tools", within that folder make one called "x264" and move the x264.exe file there. It might look like this;

C:\Program Files\MeGUI\Tools\x264\

Your add borders should look like this;

AddBorders(0,140,0,140)

Otherwise you'd be adding half of what is required, only 140 lines to the bottom field.

 

I think I just found the answers to the first 2 questions:

1. x264.exe goes into the megui\tools folder
2. The AddBorders syntax should be:

AddBorders(0,140,0,140)
#Resize

Am I on the right track? Now is the message in #3 ok to ignore?

Thanks again, Odin24.

 

I think we were typing at the same time, see my previous post just before yours.

Looks like you're on the right track.

 

You don't need to worry about that message. Some encoders are sensitive to resolutions that aren't mod16 (divisable by 16). For example mpeg4 simple profile/advanced simple profile encoders like DivX and Xvid recommend mod16 resolutions. In this case with the x264 encoder we are using mod8... So in short, ignore the warning message.

I would recommend always using even numbers when adding borders. The resizing part of the script will ensure that you get the right size video. I rounded down the borders as it is better to get an extra two lines of actual video, as opposed to adding in more border lines (shrinking the video). So the AVIsynth script would be...

DirectShowSource("D:\YourMKV.mkv")
AddBorders(0,130,0,130)
LanczosResize(1920,1080)

 

Thank you both, Odin24 and Ryu77! I have 2 workers encoding 2 1080p mkv files as I type.

I am excited to see how they turn out. Meanwhile, one more question - I see that Ryu77's famed profile does a 2-pass. Would I see a visible difference in quality if I go with 1 pass? The reason I ask is the time/patience factor. Even on my x64 Quad Core with 4GB RAM, each file still takes about 10 hours to do 2 pass.

 

There probably will be a difference, but everybody's eyes are different. Try for yourself, do not use a profile and see for yourself.

 

Odin and Ryu, I just want to thank you both very much. My first AVCHD created with meGui is beautiful - 1080p picture with DTS sound! And I can FF and skip chapters. Thank you, thank you!

 

Great to hear!!!

 

Here's something I've recently discovered.

I just made a AVCHD DVD9 with Spanish audio and english subs (srt). The text has a lot of accents which caused some confusion to the PS3 displaying a bunch of weird text and symbols where the accented letter should be. I manually edited the srt file and replaced the accented characters with normal ones which corrected my issue.

Originally the file came with a .sup file which cannot be edited without converting to srt. I had trouble doing this so I went here to aquire what I hoped originally came with the mkv.

http://subscene.com/search.aspx

EDIT: BTW, if you are making a AVCHD DVD with subs I highly reccomend experimenting with the AVCHD_ME program Ryu posted in this thread...

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/22/621809

...or else you could be making a few shiny coasters before you get your desired output. In tsMuxeR you can trim your movie... I just made a 5 minute sample which was abou 400mb, perfect for verifying your work before burning to disc.

Hope this helps.

 

I have a few observations/questions regarding megui and its queues:

1. If I want to use multiple workers to encode more than one file at a time, I have to change the log file location and name in Ryu's video profile. Otherwise, they will trip on each other and the jobs will fail. Is there anyway to set the log file names dynamically or am I stuck with modifying it for every encode?

2. When using multiple workers, they seem to work fine through the first pass, i.e., I don't see much penalty in speed - each job still finishes in the same amount of time as run on their own. However, during the second pass, things slow down dramatically if both workers are working on phase 2 at the same time. It's taking twice as long (10 vs. 5 hrs) to encode a 2-hour video. So it doesn't seem to be worth the trouble to have multiple workers running. Or should I stagger them somehow so they are always working on different passes?

I'd love to hear your experiences and recommendations on both of these.

Thanks.

 

See my comments above in bold.

 

I'm pretty new to all of this, but think I'm following along alright. I've spent hours reading this forum (and others), and I'm pretty sure someone here can put me on the right track.

Most of the posts are about making 'backups' of disks. As I understand, you can take the currently encoded files off the disks, split them into their components, change them if desired, then put them all on a different disk (or in folders).

What if all I want to do is 'backup' a given Blueray, HDDVD or DVD disk to a single file that I can play through a generic player (such as Windows Media Player)? Ideally it would be a high definition file with at least 5.1 channel sound (but I would settle for 2 channels if need be).

Is this a pipe dream?

If the question is actually outside the scope of this thread, please redirect me to a more appropriate forum/thread.

Thanks in advance!

 

It's very easy...

1) Rip the Blu-ray to your Hard Drive with AnyDVD HD (this also removes copy protection/encryption).
2) Load the M2TS file into tsMuxeR (found in BDMV/STREAM folder).
3) Select desired video and audio track (must be Dolby for raw M2TS output).
4) Select M2TS output and start muxing...

 

If I recall, a while back someone was asking if it is possible to upconvert a DVD, i.e change the resolution from say 720x480 (vob mpeg)to 1280x720 (h264). Now that I am a little more familiar with AviSynth I know technically this is possible by resizing it.

My question is if I do this will there be a noticable difference in quality if the file was run through one of the MeGui, or Ryu's Blu-Ray profiles?

 

Yes, it's possible. I am not sure if there would be any quality improvement over playing through a upconvert DVD player though. I guess it would depend on which would have the superior scaler.

Personally, I couldn't justify recoding a DVD for the potential minimal gain that may not even occur.



**Anyone that is using my MeGUI profile, please download it again from the first page of this thread.**

I updated my MeGUI profile. I found that certain files were coming out smaller than I had calculated for. I needed to lower the minimum quantizer from 10 to 5. It's nothing major, it basically just allows the encoder to use less compression if the video track calls for it. If you are part way through an encode, there is no reason to stop it. The updated profile would only be necessary if some files were coming out smaller than anticipated.

 

I've used your profile on several occasions now, they come out exactly as specified... when I specify in GB, not Mb. Not neccesarily with your profile when specified in mB the file was too large.

FYI, the closest total file size for a 8152 Mb DVD was short by 32Mb for me, what's your best?

 

Yes, but the encoder was still restricted to a minimum qauntizer of 10 previously. In most cases this will be fine as we are compressing HD material to fit onto DVD-9's, so a fair degree of compression will need to be used. In cases where you are only encoding to 720p and approaching the 10,000Kbs mark, then the quantizer may need to be allowed to be lower as this allows the encoder to use less compression and allocate more bits to specific sections of video.