Problem muxing DVD MPEG2 I/L to Blu-ray?

[laserfan]

The other day I got the bright idea to back-up my valuable TV series box sets (DVDs) to BD discs, by extracting just the episodes and re-muxing them to a BDMV structure with simple menu. Figure I might get an entire season on a BD-25, without reencoding at all. The first episode I've tried though (just to test the concept i.e. to BDMV as first play disc, no menu) does not play-back smoothly, and I'm wondering if there's an inherent problem with Interlaced DVD video and BDMV? I have extracted by a couple of methods and to several formats e.g. .mpg, .ts, .m2v (elementary streams) but I get poor results with every muxer I try:

tsMuxeR: Not smooth at all on playback, as though a few frames-per-second are missing

EasyBD Lite 1.09: Looks alot better than tsMuxeR but still not quite as smooth as the original

Sony DVDA Pro: Does not complete--errors-out on muxing (bug in muxer w/interlaced video according to search; tswrapper.dll error)

Ulead MovieFactory 6+: About the same as EasyBD Lite which is to say better than tsMuxeR but still not quite as silky-smooth as the original.

At first I suspected my PC players (TMT3, TMT5, MPC-HC) but they do play the original smoothly, just the BD mux not. Next I suspected my extraction method (VRD) and tried instead VOB2MPG with similar results. So I'm wondering if my source is simply not BD-compatible? But wouldn't Sony DVDAP have told me that on Open/import? It's standard MPEG2 720x480 29.97 interlaced NTSC, likely tff though I didn't check that specifically.

Am I wrong to think DVD MPEG-2 should mux to BD and playback perfectly? Guess I will burn a test disc to see if it plays OK on a settop player vs from the PC, but if anyone here has successfully done this, or has other ideas, I'd love to hear about it.

[Ghitulescu]

That was also my idea, and apparently some B-movies already appeared on BD in this form (some 20 movies on a single BD).
It should work flawlessly but I'm not sure whether NTSC would be a problem or not.

[Capsbackup]

I too have tried what you mention, with SD / DVD material, however only with tsMuxeR and multiAVCHD, with similar results... disappointing results! :confused:
However, my HD TV captures, first recorded to my Comcast DVR, then to my PC via firewire with CapDVHS, then MeGui to reencode from .TS to .264, removing pulldown to create / return 23.976fps 1080P, have turned out great!
( Just finished getting season 1 of Hogans Heroes, all 32 episodes in HD! It does have the annoying channel logo at the bottom of the screen though. :mad: )
Next will be creating a Blu-Ray of these for BD-R, and from my single episode tests to BD5 / AVCHD they look as good as the original. :)

[laserfan]

It should work flawlessly...
That's what I thought too going-in!
...my HD TV captures...have turned out great!
I've done that too, from TiVoHD and MyHD and HD Homerun tuner devices I have. It seems to me that at least a couple of the programs were video/interlaced and I made BDs that way w/o any attempt to deinterlace and they were fine. So this interlaced DVD has me puzzled.

I just tried indexing w/DGIndexNV and upon inspection it appears that while the program itself is film (with 3:2 cadence) the opening credit sequence is something very odd and inconsistant altogether. I wonder if the PC players are confused by this somehow. I suppose I could burn to disc and on my settop player try its Video mode vs. Auto under Cinema Conversion.

EDIT: Argh, that's the problem. When in tsMuxeR GUI I tried "Change fps to 24/1.001 and "Remove pulldown" the body of the episode appears smooth & perfect, but the audio is oos as tsMuxeR didn't know how to handle the opening credits with their inconsistent pulldown flags.

I really didn't want to try to convert this to Progressive.

[laserfan]

I wonder if the PC players are confused by this somehow. I suppose I could burn to disc and on my settop player try its Video mode vs. Auto under Cinema Conversion.
Bingo. Actually I didn't even need to change my Sony BD player from Auto to Video--the burned test DVD-RW-now-BD is smooth as silk.

I spent hours on this... not happy that none of TMT3 or 5 or MPC-HC perform anything near as nice as the settop player. :devil:

I did learn that Ulead is a relatively simple answer for this idea (DVD TV episodes to BD). Just open, add chapters if you want (it doesn't import those unfortunately), and output as BD, no recoding necessary. Oh yeah, there is still the custom menu that requires a bit of work.

If anyone knows a PC software player that doesn't suck, I'm all ears. :p

[Capsbackup]

If anyone knows a PC software player that doesn't suck, I'm all ears. :p

To think I never got past this step, or tried to burn to DVD+RW to test on my S360..:o
I too was hung up on PowerDVD and TMT3 playback, so I never proceeded further :(
Hind sight I guess, since I did try the HD TV caps, and they turned out great.
Well good find laserfan! :cool:

Which Ulead are you using, Moviefactory 7 ?

[setarip_old]

Have you looked at the thread immediately following this one that you've created?:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1497602#post1497602

[laserfan]

Have you looked at the thread immediately following this one that you've created?:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1497602#post1497602
Of course. How does that help me (or anyone)?

[laserfan]

Which Ulead are you using, Moviefactory 7 ?
No, actually it's the older MF6+ with the BD/HD plugin. I have tried to find a definitive 6 --> 7 changelist w/o success and personally can't see any benefit to the "upgrade".

MF6+ is notorious for wanting specific HD file qualities, but for this purpose (DVD SD MPEG2 DD audio) it works w/o reencoding. Downside is that it seems not to import/remux DVD subtitles.

[Ghitulescu]

Bingo. Actually I didn't even need to change my Sony BD player from Auto to Video--the burned test DVD-RW-now-BD is smooth as silk.
Maybe it's because your Sony (or your TV) has different settings depending on the material. This is why I said NTSC, as most player-TV combinations attempt to deinterlace/IVTC it.
If anyone knows a PC software player that doesn't suck, I'm all ears. :p
Ask yetanotherid, he must know one or more....

[laserfan]

If anyone knows a PC software player that doesn't suck, I'm all ears. :p
They're talking about IVTC in the MPC-HC thread, and mention was made of mplayer so I DL'ed mplayer and MPUI (GUI for MPlayer) and it plays the BD-muxed program smoothly, unlike any of the others I tried!

It also has a very nice output screen that (incidentally) shows the player struggling to find a cadence/fps during the 100sec credit sequence, then it settles-in to a correct 24000/1001 rate for the body of the program.

Next time I see something hinky in TMT I'm gonna check it w/Mplayer!