HandBrake - the "perfect" choice for Linux?

[GLUBSCH]

Installed is libdvdnav4 - but obviously HB quits encoding at 4%. Result is crap.
When browsing I discovered that HB expected a "NAV packet", but none was found. Whats the reason behind it here?

[microchip8]

a bug...

[JohnAStebbins]

dvdnav is more than just menu support. The dvd specification includes a small virtual machine that allows simple navigation and control scripts to be run while playing a disc. dvdread ignores these instructions and reads the disc strictly according to the layout defined in the ifo files. dvd obfuscation methods like ARccOS use the vm to modify the playback sequence which makes dvdread fail to play a disc in the same way that a real dvd player would. dvdnav executes the instructions and plays the dvd like a real player would.

Handbrake does not preserve dvd menus. We are using dvdnav to read the disc in the proper sequence.

[JohnAStebbins]

Originally Posted by GLUBSCH

Installed is libdvdnav4 - but obviously HB quits encoding at 4%. Result is crap.

If your handbrake binary was built according to our build instructions, then you should not need to install libdvdnav separately. It should be statically linked in the binary. If it wasn't built according to our instructions, then you're likely to have any manner of problems that don't exist in our official builds. We have local patches we apply to many of the libraries we use (libdvdnav has several patches we apply).

[GLUBSCH]

Originally Posted by JohnAStebbins

dvdnav is more than just menu support. The dvd specification includes a small virtual machine that allows simple navigation and control scripts to be run while playing a disc. dvdread ignores these instructions and reads the disc strictly according to the layout defined in the ifo files. dvd obfuscation methods like ARccOS use the vm to modify the playback sequence which makes dvdread fail to play a disc in the same way that a real dvd player would. dvdnav executes the instructions and plays the dvd like a real player would.

Handbrake does not preserve dvd menus. We are using dvdnav to read the disc in the proper sequence.

Good to hear. Still, when using libdvdread everything seems to work fine. Enabling the new dvdnav-feature makes HB stop encoding at 4%...
I´ll contact the packman team later today.

[JohnAStebbins]

GLUBSCH,I was curious, so I downloaded and inspected the rpm from http://packman.links2linux.org/package/handbrake which appears to be the packages built by pbleser for suse. It looks like they are linked correctly, so installing libdvdnav separately is unnecessary. I don't know why you would be having a problem. Your welcome to report it on the handbrake forums. Be sure to include an activity log so we can see exactly what you were attempting.

[JohnAStebbins]

GLUBSCH, were you getting errors like the following in the activity log with that dvd that failed when using dvdnav?

[12:12:54] dvdnav: Read Error, Error reading NAV packet.
[12:13:08] dvdnav: Read Error, Error reading from DVD.

If so, I know exactly why it quit. Those errors indicate bad sectors on the disc. Our dvdread support can skip bad sectors, but libdvdnav doesn't have an easy way to recover from a read error. If you try to seek forward past the point where the error was, libdvdnav's seek function has the possibility of actually positioning to a point before the error, thus putting you in an infinite loop. Because of this, our current code does not do error recovery and just quits. I've create a patch to libdvdnav that guarantees that an attempt to seek forward will always move the position forward and added error recovery to handbrakes dvdnav implementation. So the next build should be able to handle such errors.

[GLUBSCH]

Hey John! Right now I´m using the newest version of HB, but dvdnav still doesn´t seem to work with some dvds though.
Please take a second to scroll through this log:

 
[19:34:39] gtkgui: HandBrake rev0 (2009091599) - Linux x86_64 - http://handbrake.fr
[19:34:39] hb_init: checking cpu count
[19:34:39] hb_init: starting libhb thread
[19:34:39] hb_init: checking cpu count
[19:34:39] hb_init: starting libhb thread
libdvdread: Using libdvdcss version 1.2.10 for DVD access
[19:35:27] hb_scan: path=/media/MOVIEDVD_VOL1/VIDEO_TS, title_index=0
[19:35:27] scan: trying to open with libdvdread
libdvdnav: Using dvdnav version 4.1.3
libdvdread: Using libdvdcss version 1.2.10 for DVD access
libdvdread: Attempting to use device /dev/sr0 mounted on /media/MEDIADVD_VOL1 for CSS authentication
libdvdnav: Can't read name block. Probably not a DVD-ROM device.
libdvdnav: Unable to find map file '/home/glubsch/.dvdnav/.map'

libdvdread: Attempting to retrieve all CSS keys
libdvdread: This can take a _long_ time, please be patient

#SHORTENED#

libdvdread: Elapsed time 0
libdvdread: Using libdvdcss version 1.2.10 for DVD access
libdvdread: Attempting to use device /dev/sr0 mounted on /media/MEDIADVD_VOL1 for CSS authentication
[19:35:27] scan: DVD has 50 title(s)

#SHORTENED#

*** libdvdread: CHECK_VALUE failed in ifo_read.c:1791 ***
*** for pgcit->nr_of_pgci_srp < 10000 ***

libdvdread: Invalid title IFO (VTS_08_0.IFO).
[19:35:27] scan: ifoOpen failed
[19:35:27] scan: decoding previews for title 2
[19:35:27] scan: title angle(s) 1
[19:35:31] scan: audio 0x80bd: AC-3, rate=48000Hz, bitrate=448000 Unknown (AC3) (5.1 ch)
[19:35:35] scan: 30 previews, 720x576, 25,000 fps, autocrop = 2/2/2/2, aspect 4:3, PAR 16:15
[19:35:35] scan: decoding previews for title 4
libdvdread: Ignored size of file indicated in UDF.
[19:35:35] scan: title angle(s) 1
[19:35:36] scan: audio 0x80bd: AC-3, rate=48000Hz, bitrate=224000 English (AC3) (2.0 ch)
[19:35:36] scan: audio 0x81bd: AC-3, rate=48000Hz, bitrate=224000 English (AC3) (Director's Commentary 1) (2.0 ch)
[19:35:36] scan: audio 0x82bd: AC-3, rate=48000Hz, bitrate=224000 English (AC3) (2.0 ch)
[19:35:49] scan: 30 previews, 720x576, 25,000 fps, autocrop = 62/48/2/2, aspect 4:3, PAR 16:15
[19:35:49] scan: decoding previews for title 5
[19:35:49] scan: title angle(s) 1
[19:35:49] scan: audio 0x80bd: AC-3, rate=48000Hz, bitrate=224000 English (AC3) (2.0 ch)
[19:35:49] scan: audio 0x81bd: AC-3, rate=48000Hz, bitrate=224000 English (AC3) (Director's Commentary 1) (2.0 ch)
[19:35:49] scan: audio 0x82bd: AC-3, rate=48000Hz, bitrate=224000 English (AC3) (2.0 ch)
[19:35:50] scan: 30 previews, 720x576, 25,000 fps, autocrop = 62/48/2/2, aspect 4:3, PAR 16:15
[19:35:50] scan: decoding previews for title 6
[19:35:50] scan: title angle(s) 1
libdvdnav: demux error! 42 42 42 (should be 0x000001) 
[19:35:50] dvdnav: Read Error, Expected NAV packet but none found.
libdvdnav: demux error! 42 42 42 (should be 0x000001) 
[19:35:50] dvdnav: Read Error, Expected NAV packet but none found.
[19:35:53] dvdnav: Read Error, Error reading NAV packet.
[19:35:58] dvdnav: Read Error, Error reading NAV packet.
[19:36:03] dvdnav: Read Error, Error reading NAV packet.
[19:36:05] dvdnav: Read Error, Error reading NAV packet.
[19:36:07] dvdnav: Read Error, Error reading NAV packet.
...(to be continued)

[JohnAStebbins]

GLUBSCH, that's one screwed up disc (or you're having issues with your dvd drive). I've never seen a disc with errors like that (except the one bad disc I created for testing by marking it up with a dry-erase marker). Your log shows read failures during the scan, but you didn't supply the complete log, so I can't tell what handbrake did after completing the scan. There are 50 titles on that disc. Does it eventually complete the scan and present you with the opportunity to encode any of the titles? Please don't shorten the logs when posting them. It really does help to see the whole thing. If it's too long for the forum, put it up on our pastebin and provide a link to it.

Do you have access to another dvd drive? It would help to eliminate the drive as a possible source of the errors.

Do you have access to a computer with anydvd or some other good ripper? It would help to know if other programs have issues with that disc.

EDIT: it would also help to know what disc it is (movie title), and if you would also provide a log of a scan with dvdnav disabled for comparison.

[GLUBSCH]

Thanks for replying, John. I´ve repeated the test with libdvdread and experienced similar results. After waiting a while, HB successfully loaded the DVD. By now I completed the backup process those DVDs - each chapter one by one. My conclusion is that the DVDs structure was very different from what I experienced so far - HB showed every title twice, the second always with one chapter more. Just for your information: Those DVDs were really old. After manually selecting and adding the titles to queue everything went the way it should.

Here´s another thought to throw in: HB obviously currently doesn´t support decryption of HD-DVDs and Blu-Ray. And while I see you reading this, John, I notice the wrinkles in your forehead... You guessed it: It´s about copy protection. While HB probably never will support decryption of protected sources itself (which is a good thing), other programs will for sure. In order to successfully encode HD-DVDs and Blu-Ray DVDs with HandBrake, one will have to back up those with another program first. I see that libdvdcss won´t be of much benefit here, but do other libraries for decryption (possibly even right in HB) exist or is really another program needed to acomplish this task?

I´ve been reading a lot of good things about AnyDVD-HD in the past few days, but the WineHQ AppDB reveals, that the only thing working is installation and uninstallation. As said, I´d LOVE to have a solution that would work right within HB and take care about all of the newer encryption shemes and HD/Blu-Ray DVDs as well. Please share your thoughts and recommendations on this with me, John.

[microchip8]

there's libbluray library (dead or unmaintained?) and also developers are working on decryption/playback of BD/HD-DVD for MPlayer which possibly will be ported over to libav of ffmpeg (the decryption bits). We all would love to have solutions that work directly with the apps we prefer but reality isn't that easy, especially on the legal side of things, and it takes time and effort to do it

[GLUBSCH]

Originally Posted by froggy1

there's libbluray library (dead or unmaintained?) and also developers are working on decryption/playback of BD/HD-DVD for MPlayer which possibly will be ported over to libav of ffmpeg (the decryption bits). We all would love to have solutions that work directly with the apps we prefer but reality isn't that easy, especially on the legal side of things, and it takes time and effort to do it

Thanks, microchip8. Mh... there have been serious discussions about MakeMKV as well. Are those MKVs encodable afterwards? Is it really the most advanced solution at the moment (HD-DVD backup is only supported partially and for Blu-Ray support the team wants to see money later on)? Certainly looks to me like MakeMKV is going to turn commercial once it got popular enough... I´d like to hear Johns comment on this one, too.

[microchip8]

I haven't used MakeMKV at all so can't really comment on it... Yes, the MKVs made by MakeMKV can be encoded afterwards. It does not create something that can't be read by anything else, as explained on its site http://www.makemkv.com/

[JohnAStebbins]

I don't follow the development of the bd decryption libraries that closely. But the aacs algorithm that most bd use is a public specification and there are implementations available. The tricky part is in obtaining the keys, and people seem to have this solved (google aacskeys). Then there's BD+ encryption that afaik only Slysoft (anydvd) can currently handle. There's an effort underway to reverse engineer the complete java subsystem that's used for BD+. Who knows when that might bear fruit. Handbrake will never include any of these libraries in it's source tree, but may someday allow dynamic linking to one as we do for dvdcss.

What I know a lot more about is the playlist and clipinfo structure used on bd. These define the titles and how to navigate the clips for proper playback. I've written a library that parses this information and plan to integrate that into handbrake. This will allow you to open an unencrypted bd and see all its titles and associated information (chapters/audio track languages/subtitles) similar to how handbrake currently handles dvds.

[GLUBSCH]

Another intersting point of view. I know that HandBrake is primarily set to re-focus on it´s core strengths. But tell me John, is there a slight possibility that HB 0.9.4 will link to external libraries like libbluray or similar libraries in order to handle Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs right inside the program without having backed up the image in the first place (just like libdvdcss integrates to handle DVDs inside HB)?

[JohnAStebbins]

HandBrake is currently in a feature freeze prior to an 0.9.4 release. So no, bd playlist handling will not be in 0.9.4. I will be integrating my bd work after the release.

[GLUBSCH]

Originally Posted by JohnAStebbins

HandBrake is currently in a feature freeze prior to an 0.9.4 release. So no, bd playlist handling will not be in 0.9.4. I will be integrating my bd work after the release.

Certainly sounds like you are working on BD implementation yourself right now. Awesome, Mr. Stebbins!