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

I almost forgot ... I connect to the TV from the Popcorn Hour with a HDMI cable and watch the movies there, .. don't usually do movies on the PC. For more info on the PCH ... http://www.networkedmediatank.com/
and http://www.popcornhour.com

thanks
Allen

 

Is there a way to eliminate hard-coded subs from a video (h264)?

 

Odin, not really...

Are the subs over the picture?

Or if it's a 2.35 AR video, are the subs on the black part of the video? If they are, then that would be the only way to remove them via cropping the borders and re-encoding.

PS: tsMuxeR 1.6.1(b) is released ^. Cutting splitting of output files is now supported.

 

Allen, the latest version of AnyDVD HD now supports BD+. That's the major change. For non BD+ movies it wouldn't make a difference.

To do what what you are looking to achieve I would recommend using tsMuxeR. There are two options. First option is if you don't want to re-compress the video file. This would give a final file size anywhere from 15GB - 40GB. Second option is to re-encode the video to fit onto a DVD-5 or a DVD-9.

First Option.

1) Extract the Blu-ray folders to your HDD via AnyDVD HD.
2) Start tsMuxeR and browse to your main movie file (BDMV/STREAM/00000.m2ts).
3) Select the streams you want to keep and save new m2ts media file or output Blu-ray folders to burn to disc.

Second Option.

1) Extract the Blu-ray folders to your HDD via AnyDVD HD.
2) Start tsMuxeR and browse to your main movie file (BDMV/STREAM/00000.m2ts).
3) Demux the desired audio and subtitle streams (don't worry about the video).
4) Create a script in AVIsynth: DirectShowSource("D:\YOUR_BLURAY_VIDEO/BDMV/STREAM/00000.m2ts")
5) Load the AVIsynth script into MeGUI and use the MeGUI Blu-ray profiles as linked to in the links section ^ or here: http://www.mediafire.com/?f1zgyj5mn3n. I would suggest MKV as output format.
6) Load new h264 (in MKV container) created from MeGUI along with the other audio & subtitle streams you want to keep into tsMuxeR.
7) Save new m2ts media file or output Blu-ray folders to burn to disc.

 

Oh well, I finally found a HD version of a really cool kung-fu movie but it has asian subs hard coded over the picture.

 

Is there a way to convert .h264 files to .avc or .bsf so I can use them with Sonic Scenarist?

 

I'm sorry Odin. I know you asked this same question via PM. I have been busy with other things.

You need to load them up into the MUI Generator. When you browse select "All (*.*)" and after your AVC clip has loaded select MPEG4-AVC from the drop down menu. I PM'd you the link to the full guide. The reason I have been holding off is I have been watching the development of tsMuxeR quite closely and it seems that srt subtitle import isn't far away! :-D

 

Added AVIAddXSubs into the above applications. This is needed to take advantage of the PS3's latest v2.20 firmware that now offers DivX with subtitles to be displayed. These files need to be in the DivX media format container (.divx) as opposed to the more traditional avi container. AVIAddXSubs makes this task very simple and easy.

 

Hi Ryu,

Many thanks for this useful thread as it's interesting reference.

I have got 2 quick questions for you:

1.) I have got .avi video (not sure if it is Xvid or just plain .avi) - is there a good software to identify my videos accurately, especially its encodec? Windows Explorer does a poor job of it. Do you know any good software that identify video's codec accurately?

2.) Anyway, as with same .avi video above, I have got soft sub (.srt subtitle). I don't have any problem of watching avi video with .srt subtitle on my PC.

I would like to see same thing on my PS3, but it doesn't work (as PS3 can't support .srt by the look of it).

I thought firmwire 2.20 can support soft sub??

Can you please advise me how to set up PS3 so I can watch .avi video with .srt video?

Many many thanks for your great helps! Sorry for any trouble!

CHeers

 

Hello UKDude007, welcome to the thread. :-D

I just posted the application needed for this right above the post you just made. You will need to remux the avi into the DivX media format (.divx). AVIAddXSubs can do this very easily.

To identify the elementary streams within your avi, I would recommend MediaInfoRaw: http://www.mediafire.com/?5mxjsmuvjir

In the past I would have recommended Gspot but I feel this application is now a better choice.

 

Thanks for the info and link! you have been great help.

One more quick question.

Regarding PS3's latest firmwire, it says it can play back H264/MPEG-4 video.

I tried to playback two "One Piece" videos (which are MPEG-4 and H264) but it doesn't work as PS3 claims those are unsupported data type.

You are very knowledgeable about this stuff. I hope you might shred some light on this problem. Do you know why those are not work/playable on PS3 despite of latest firmwire?

I could post info about these video with MediaRawinfo but I'm at work. I'll post it tonight if you need it??

Many thanks! And sorry for trouble!

Cheers!

 

Yes please.

No need to be sorry. This is exactly what AfterDawn was created for.

 

I exchanged DivXMuxGUI for AVIAddXSubs in the applications section as I felt it does a better job for the objective of creating HD DivX files with switchable subtitles. DivXMuxGUI created a subtitle stream at a resolution of 640 x 480. AVIAddXSubs allows for custom resolutions. AVIAddXSubs also allows more subtitle manipulation options (font, character set, position on screen etc.).

I also added MediaInfoRaw into the applications section. :-D

 

RYU thanks i showed this to a friend and they loved it
thanks bro i owe you

 

No problem... Always happy to help out! :-D

 

Greetings to AfterDawn from Canada! First post here.

Ryu, great thread, this, and the other one on the PS3. Your work has been appreciated enough for me to sign up! Thank you!

However, there is very little mentioned about encoding SD resolution to blu-ray compliant streams (preferably in H.264).

I'm talking about a common-denominator blu-ray encoded stream, one that plays in (virtually) all BD players, not just something shoved into an MP4/AVI/VOB(or MKV/M2TS) and played on a PS3 (or PopcornHour, or whatever.)

The blu-ray spec does allow for H.264 in SD resolution. Since I have a stong interest in migrating/re-encoding/re-muxing my existing SD content to blu-ray (and compliant M2TS) I have a few contributions and questions to add.

Is this the place to ask, or would I be hijacking this thread? I can start another one if necessary.

Thanks again!
Geordie.

 

So it seems that you want to keep it in SD but have it in a Blu-ray compliant format? However, you don't want it in MP4, AVI, VOB, MKV or M2TS. Can I ask, why?

I am almost certain that most stand alone Blu-ray players will have compatibility with some of the above formats, epecially M2TS as that is the container format used on Blu-ray discs anyway.

It's like comparing a DVD (.vob) to mpg media files. In DVD structure the vob must be 720 x 576@25fps (PAL) or 720 x 480@23.976/29.97fps (NTSC). However, if you have a mpg file burnt onto a data disc in most cases the DVD player can play these without a problem and they don't need to be as compliant. Now, it's important to note that vob files on a DVD are basically mpg media files with a wrapper to allow for menu navigation, multiple audio tracks, subtitles etc. The situation with Blu-ray and M2TS is very similar.

From what I understand Blu-ray or AVCHD can only work with 720p or 1080p, so SD is not possible inside this format.

 

Thanks for your reply Ryu.

I guess my objective is fluid compatibility. MP4/MKV/AVI and non-BD-compliant M2TS files will need special hardware, or features or codecs installed (outside of the PC). Yet a blu-ray compliant M2TS will play on any player. This common-denominator compatibility is what I'm looking for.

As well, it's pointless to enlarge perfectly good SD content to HD rez. Too much encoding time and wasted extra space. Unless you have the true raw uncompressed source to encode to HD, there is little benefit, if any.

I agree. However the key words were "am almost certain" and "most", which are not synonymous with "know for sure" and "all" respectively. Not to be a hard-head here, but wouldn't you rather have the peace of mind knowing that you can play a particular video stream anywhere?

I personally don't have a BD player to test this on as I'm still up-in-arms over that or a PS3 (for my SD content), but what you're saying is that I can take BD compliant content, mux it into M2TS files, burn them (properly) to disc and they will play as raw files? Interesting. Gotta try this with .mpg on a DvD...

Are you sure about this? I keep hearing yes/no on this. It shows in the AVCHD site that it accepts 480, and so does Wikipedia, and others. I'm just miffed if it's only MPEG-2 streams only for DvD playback, hence my question to the thread. (However AVCHD is exclusively H.264.) Have you, using the MeGUI/x264 profiles for blu-ray, tried it personally with a rez of 720x480 (or 720x576 for Oz)? I'm curious if it will work as a regular playback disc on a stand-alone BD unit. (You may have to change sar=1:1 to something like sar=10:11 to avoid distortion.)

Thanks for reading.

 

Yes, but what is wrong with regular DVD authoring (mpeg2)? Or an alternative could be DivX as there are many DivX certified Blu-ray players hitting the market. The PS3 is also DivX HD compatible.

This is why I suggested regular DVD authoring.

I have tried this with .mpg media files on regular DVD players, which is why I mentioned it. DVD players can play .mpg media files burnt on a CD or DVD as a data disc. At this time not all Blu-ray players can play these M2TS (BDAV mpeg2 transport stream) files in the raw format. However, it's worth noting that it is still early days for the Blu-ray format. I am sure the future will see players with broader compatibility.

I am not 100% sure as I haven't tried this. One thing that is important to note is that AVCHD has it's own specifications. The discs I have created are basically Blu-ray discs on a DVD. The PS3 identifies it as an AVCHD disc but the content on that disc is actually beyond the AVCHD specifications and in line with the Blu-ray specifications. DTS audio is one of these attributes that AVCHD natively does not support but play perfectly on the PS3.

I have just looked into this and it seems that SD is fine in this format (AVCHD). The information I have gathered also states that most Blu-ray players can play AVCHD authored in the correct structure (as tsMuxeR outputs or any other Blu-ray/AVCHD authoring software). However, the compatibility of playing the raw AVCHD stream (M2TS) isn't as widely compatible. From what I can discern though, the PS3 isn't the only player that can play raw M2TS streams. It seems there are other stand alone Blu-ray players that can play these media files. I am sure with a bit of research it is possible to discover which players can do this. Two that are mentioned on Wikipedia with this compatibility are the Sony BDP-S1 and the Panasonic DMP-BD10. The rest I will leave up to you...

You could try browsing here for information on available Blu-ray players: http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/630898

 

...enjoying this discussion thank you.

Alas my dear friend, I would have never left the world of good ol’ reliable, established, MPEG-2 and DvD if it weren’t for the high bitrate demands of the format and small size of those discs - too awkward for my collection. ;-)

DivX is wonderful too, but being a Mod at DivX, I can say that its true purpose, at least legally, has always been only as a solid backup to an original.

I understand it wouldn’t be as economical today using empty BD discs, and the equipment involved, but my concern right now is future-proofing. I agree with you that the BD standard is a little loose right now until the players coming out start accepting similar formats.

I have two questions for the moment:

1) I know that AVCHD and regular BD is not the same. AVCHD only accepts H.264, less audio formats, has limitations on multiple streams, etc. But is what’s accepted into AVCHD a subset of the overall acceptance of BD (which also includes VC-1, MPEG-2, multiple tracks, subtitles, etc.)?

2) What I’d like to do is encode a few small sample M2TS clips, in SD rez, in compliant blu-ray format, and upload them for a few kind souls to verify that they work on their model player. Is it Ok to do this on this forum? If a couple of people verify that they work on their models I would be thrilled to provide a detailed instruction set of how I encoded them in case anybody else is interested in encoding their SD content to high quality H.264 compatible BD files.

Thanks again Ryu.