multiAVCHD - author Blu-ray/AVCHD (Blu-ray players, camcoders, Viera TV) + (HD) DVD

[gg72]

The video may not be compatible in the mov file. You can use Ripbot to create a new file that works in MultiAVCHD.

Yes, I do it, but it works only with 5.1 audio track, trailers with 2.0 audio don't...

[drelin]

Yes, I do it, but it works only with 5.1 audio track, trailers with 2.0 audio don't...

Ripbot work fine with 5.1 or 2.0 aac audio.

For my tests with multiavchd, I've convert mov audio aac with ripbot (launch a convert job and catch the audio ac3 created on the temp folder).
Select Bluray output.

[Dave5118]

You can now use external chapters in .txt file. TXT file format is really relaxed :) and could be a mess such as:


00:00:02;00:00:03;00:00:04;00:00:05 ; 00:00:06
00:00:07
00:00:08;
00:00:12;00:00:13;00:00:14
00:00:15

00:00:16;
00:00:17
00:00:18
00:00:19 00:00:20 00:00:21 00:00:22 00:00:23


Each line can contain one or many chapter marks, separated by ";" or space " " and time stamps have to be exactly 8 characters long (HH:MM:SS, not M:SS or H:MM:SS or H:M:S...). Empty lines are ignored.

:)

I think of dropping out the oldest (predefined) menu style with "Title#1... Title#20". I doubt anyone uses it anymore... Then of course multiAVCHD will ALWAYS require avisynth when menu is created.

Does anyone still use the pre-custom menu from the initial versions? It will decrease the size of multiAVCHD package (and DAT) by ~50%.

I think I'm missing something here, how do you get multiAVCHD to read the text file, I've named mine exactly the same as the 'movie' file, in the same directory, but it just uses the 5 min chapters when I set it to 10 in the text file. :confused:

[drpaulng]

Does multiAVCHD support wmv? How can we make wmv (vc-1) fit into multiAVCHD without re-encoding to H.264?

[MMtracker]

When I try to create the DVD, I get an error that says "mplayer.exe missing. Background for title #1 skipped! (XMB)"
I did install mplayer today. Is it looking for it in a specific directory? (I have it in C:\program files\Mplayer for Windows\MPlayer.exe.) Is it a version issue? (I have version 0.0.9.0 created Jan 14, 2009)? Is there more than one program called mplayer, and I have the wrong one? This must be something I did wrong, as noone else has reported this issue. Thanks.

[v_o_r_t_e_x]

Hi Deank, me again ;-)

Do you think you'll find some time or reason to extend your great
software to allow / support more then 40 titles / movies on one disc?

I wonder that noone else seems to have this request. But for only
40 non-HD movies, a BluRay is just too big :-)

Thanks for all your work!

[deank]

When I try to create the DVD, I get an error that says "mplayer.exe missing. Background for title #1 skipped! (XMB)"
I did install mplayer today. This must be something I did wrong, as noone else has reported this issue. Thanks.

Download the complete Setup_multiAVCHD_2.5.exe. It has mplayer included in multiavchd\tools folder. Don't install other mplayer packages.

Do you think you'll find some time or reason to extend your great software to allow / support more then 40 titles / movies on one disc?

Yes - it's just not as easy as it sounds.

@Dave5118: How did you understand they are @5mins but not @10? Do you see a log message "Using external chapters"? XMB chapter thumbnais don't follow real chapter marks, but jump points should be correct.

[Atreide]

Hello Deank,
any update on the Panasonic SD card compatibility ? one file is good enough there, no need for 40 :)
:thanks:

[jfcarbel]

Hello Deank,
any update on the Panasonic SD card compatibility ? one file is good enough there, no need for 40 :)
:thanks:

LOL, was just wondering the same here today. I have a file of the 81st Academy Awards and its bigger than 5GB so it will not fit on a DVD-R. Tried a burn to DVD dual layer and it would not work in my Panasonic BD30. But I do have an 8GB SD card now that would work out perfect. Heck I would be happy if we could only get one title playing for now on it.

[Dave5118]

@Dave5118: How did you understand they are @5mins but not @10? Do you see a log message "Using external chapters"?

No there was no "Using external chapters" message in the log. When I tried the created AVCHD (usb) on the PS3, I could see the 'jump points' were still 5 mins by pressing 'select' on the controller.

[deank]

Then what do you see? Post your log...

Select [x] Add chapters each 5min... You should see a log message.


[13:11:17] Converting mkv file to AVCHD (D:\Downloads\__TEST\The Matrix 480p.mkv).
[13:11:17] Detected video: ID#1:V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC:720x480 23.976fps (AR:1.5)
[13:11:17] AR of 16:9 will be set for this title.
[13:11:17] Detected audio: ID#2:A_AC3:audio (48000Hz/6ch) Language: eng
[13:11:17] Generating meta file for tsMuxer...
[13:11:17] M2TS stream split set at 4000MiB...
[13:11:17] Adding subtitles (The Matrix 480p.srt) (und)
[13:11:17] Adding subtitles (The Matrix 480p.sup) (und)
[13:11:17] Checking for external chapters (D:\Downloads\__TEST\The Matrix 480p.txt)...
[13:11:17] Using external chapters...
[13:11:17] Detected frame reference count: 3 (max:24).
[13:11:17] Compliant with L4.1 for 720x480p.
[13:11:17] Creating BluRay folders (tsMuxer)...
[13:11:20] Done!



If you use [x] Keep original chapters and such are found in input file - they will be used instead of external.

[jbalsor]

i have a 16 gb sdhc just waiting here, hope to see sd support soon. Would be sweet. nevertheless awesome software just would be nice to stop eating through Dual layer DVD's.

[Dave5118]

Hi Dean, this is my log.

[00:51:10] Log started for multiAVCHD v2.5 (build 460)
[00:51:10] Processing 1 input files/folders .
[00:51:10] Temp folder does not exist. Set to F:\_TEMP.
[00:51:10] Converting mkv file to AVCHD (F:\movie\movie.mkv).
[00:51:12] Detected video: ID#1:V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC:1280x720 23.976fps (AR:1.78)
[00:51:12] Detected audio: ID#2:A_AC3:audio (48000Hz/2ch) Language: und
[00:51:13] Creating BluRay folders (tsMuxer)...
[00:57:07] Done!
[00:57:08] Preparing authoring information...
[00:57:08] Creating PAL top menu.
[00:57:08] Authoring custom titles menu (PAL).
[00:57:09] Encoding menu pages (x264)...
[00:57:16] Populating menu structure...
[00:57:23] Creating menu backgrounds for 1 titles (XMB)...
[00:57:45] Creating video backgrounds for XMB menu completed.
[00:58:40] Authoring custom menu completed.
[00:58:40] Setting menu for 1 titles...
[00:58:40] Completed.
[00:58:40] Creating AVCHD compatible 8.3 filenames...
[00:58:40] Done!
[00:58:40] F:\AVCHD folder created!
[00:58:40] Copy F:\AVCHD to root of USB drive/disk or MemoryStick card.
[00:58:40] Copy F:\AVCHD to X:\PRIVATE\ of SD/MMC card.

I named the text file movie.txt, and tried like this;

00:10:00

00:20:00

00:30:00.....

then this;

00:10:00;00:20;00:30.....

Cheers, Dave.

[deank]

Enable [x] Verbose logging and post back.

There is something wrong that you do...

If you have your movie:

F:\movie\movie.mkv

and chapters

F:\movie\movie.txt

You should see a log message.

You can also execute multiUPDATE.exe and try again...

[Dave5118]

Ok, Dean....just about to watch the footie :) will try that later.

Cheers, Dave.

[MMtracker]

Dean,
If you implement the Carousel or Cover flow menu that Atak_Snajpera first suggested, will you be able to make it compatible with TVs with up to 5% overscan? The XMB menu is great, but on my HD TVs the top menu is half gone and the bottom line doesn't show at all, which is very typical for HD TVs that were produced before 2007 (at least in the US). So even if I upgrade my TV, it's likely if I bring my videos to show somewhere else, the overscan will cut the menu.

Thanks.

[Dave5118]

Enable [x] Verbose logging and post back.

There is something wrong that you do...

If you have your movie:

F:\movie\movie.mkv

and chapters

F:\movie\movie.txt

You should see a log message.

You can also execute multiUPDATE.exe and try again...

I ran multiUPDATE.exe, and it appeared to update it again, even though it was currently showing 'build 460' already in multiAVCHD.

Yes, it worked this time, got chapters(jump points) at 10 mins :)

I did also, tick the 'verbose logging' box as well, but doubt that would have fixed it LOL

Cheers, Dave.

[Atak_Snajpera]

So even if I upgrade my TV, it's likely if I bring my videos to show somewhere else, the overscan will cut the menu.
Did you even bother to calibrate your tv????

[odin24]

I'm having trouble creating custom thumbnails on a custom menu. Is this possible or is the thumb generated from a random point in the video?

[WhatHappend]

Did you even bother to calibrate your tv????

Most fixed pixel HDTVs prior to 2007 don't have any over-scan adjustments. I have the service manual for my model, and the question for my model has been ask many of times on the message boards. No over-scan adjustments.

We are not asking for much adjustment to the menus. The footer line is gone, the header line is just about all cut off on my TV. The first few letter on the Title are cut off on the left edge.

Calibration discs show you how much overscan your TV has (not tell you how to adjust for it). And 3-5% is the normal range.

[gg72]

Ripbot work fine with 5.1 or 2.0 aac audio.

For my tests with multiavchd, I've convert mov audio aac with ripbot (launch a convert job and catch the audio ac3 created on the temp folder).
Select Bluray output.


When I have files with 2.0 AAC audio, in ripbot I can't see the convert option to AC3 2.0...
6 channel (5.1) is OK: AAC 5.1 to AC3 5.1 works.

[Atak_Snajpera]

When I have files with 2.0 AAC audio, in ripbot I can't see the convert option to AC3 2.0...
6 channel (5.1) is OK: AAC 5.1 to AC3 5.1 works.
Show screenshot because I don't believe you :)

[deank]

There is a Headline offset setting that allows you to move it down. There is a footer offset setting... it doesn't work but i'll fix it.

I have 2006 philips which shows full pixel.. no overscan... also 2008 panasonic... both show all 1920x1080 information.

The overscan could also depend on player in use.

[MMtracker]

Atak_Snajpera,
From what I understand, most (if not all) U.S. TVs (pre 2007) have overscan and didn't allow calibrating to a true 1-to-1 1920 x 1080 pixel match. (I'm not sure about elsewhere). The TV companies got lots of complaints because this is an issue with gaming, as a few games have critical data on the edge of the screen that couldn't be seen. Samsung came out with a firmware upgrade for my LNS4096D TV to reduce to overscan for that TV, but it only works on certain boards and some people have ruined their TVs trying the upgrade...mine is an older board that it didn't work on. My other three older Sharp 720p LCD TVs also have overscan. I think most TVs today allow options that don't have overscan. It's painful to see how much video I actually lose on the edges (somewhere between 3-5%), and I need to remind myself of that when I'm recording to allow extra space on the perimeter.
So, that is the reason why creating a menu that supports overscan is helpful. It seemed like Carousel could support overscan, as there is more space on the top and bottom of the menu to move the text away from the perimeter, so that's why I asked, as opposed to messing up a perfectly good XMB menu implementation that works great for people to don't have overscan issues.

[gg72]

Show screenshot because I don't believe you :)

There is:

http://kepfeltoltes.pirateclub.hu/pics/ripbot.jpg

I can't see the AC3 convert option, or do it was wrong? :(

[odin24]

Is it possible to use custom thumbs, and have them manually positioned?

[Atak_Snajpera]

or do it was wrong?
What happens if you select blu-ray disc? :) multiavchd can import bluray structure as well.

[gg72]

What happens if you select blu-ray disc? :) multiavchd can import bluray structure as well.

OK, thank you, I see it now and I try it! :)

[deank]

Is it possible to use custom thumbs, and have them manually positioned?

No - sorry.

I think I can implement overscan option (with 0-10% values). I just need to do some testing to rearrange navigation placeholders. I already implemented menu generation - it's just that nav-arrows need to be repositioned.

And I'll try with Slide menu, too.

[MMtracker]

Dean,
Thanks for pointing out the header offset. From what I have seen, the offset only works for the straight custom menu and the thumbnail menu (XMB must ignore it). This does help those menus, as the offset of 1 prevents the Title from being clipped because of overscan, although the Title is then covered up by the top two thumbnails on the Thumbnail menu. The straight custom menu works just fine for my purposes, so that's what I'll use to get the Title subtitles on the menu. Thanks!

[deank]

No.. It's just that in XMB title offset is in pixels and in other 2 is in LINES... I'll fix that two these days.

So to move title in XMB you need a value of 50-100 - not 1. I'll fix the footer too and both values will be in pixels.

You can also change TITLE font and size to avoid overlapping.

[MMtracker]

Dean,
Pixels offset would be great for dialing in an offset...I just couldn't input anything higher than 9. (Might just be boundary logic from the line offset filter that's getting in the way). Thank you, as always, for making this app!

[navycrow]

Hi, i just found this tool and i find it great.
But i have a question. I've made my first Multi AVCHD with two movies on external USB drive.
Now i want to add a new movie. Can i add it to existing multiavchd without remake the first two?? or i have to remake the 3 movies in a new avchd ???
Thx

[LDA2887]

hey Dean! great job on the app...wanted to know if you can add subs to a avchd movie...i mean, not to the mkv, but to the avchd folder when you add it to multiAVCHD...and was wondering why when i create an AVCHD and the movie is 2.35:1 ratio with a resolution of 1280x544, the ps3 changes the resolution to 480p instead of 720p...thanks for your help

[deank]

Dean,
Pixels offset would be great for dialing in an offset...I just couldn't input anything higher than 9. (Might just be boundary logic from the line offset filter that's getting in the way).

:) You are right. I'll change the length of the box.

It is fixed in build 461 for all menu types. Offset is now in pixels (x & y).

I've made my first Multi AVCHD with two movies on external USB drive.
Now i want to add a new movie. Can i add it to existing multiavchd without remake the first two?? or i have to remake the 3 movies in a new avchd ???

Yes, you can drag the folder to multiAVCHD - it will detect it. Enable [x] Edit AVCHD on loadinig in Settings and you can reorder/delete titles on load. If you use AVCHD folders as input - don't use up/down/del buttons in media TAB.

wanted to know if you can add subs to a avchd movie...i mean, not to the mkv, but to the avchd folder when you add it to multiAVCHD...and was wondering why when i create an AVCHD and the movie is 2.35:1 ratio with a resolution of 1280x544, the ps3 changes the resolution to 480p instead of 720p

If your AVCHD input folder contains only one title and the title is contained in only one m2ts file - you can add this (00000.mts) file to the compilation from the original AVCHD (and use 00000.srt subtitles).

Also about non-compliant files - read the tutorial and check this link (http://forum.doom9.org/showpost.php?p=1235782&postcount=309)!

[Atak_Snajpera]

@deank
This is how I imagine my perfect menu for multiAVCHD
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/7864/multiavchd.th.png (http://img5.imageshack.us/my.php?image=multiavchd.png) http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/8096/multiavchdallthumbs.th.png (http://img6.imageshack.us/my.php?image=multiavchdallthumbs.png)

[deank]

What does 'thumbs' button do? Show all clip thumbnails but in different view - as 2 menu types in one? One slider (cover flow) and one table-view?

It looks a bit complicated :) but doable. I just have to check how many buttons one can put in a single menu page, because I think 15 is the top but I hope I'm wrong.

I really like the idea!

[Atak_Snajpera]

What does 'thumbs' do? Show all clip thumbnails but in different view - as 2 menu types in one?
The second view would be useful if you want to quickly select specific clip without having to browse them in 'cover flow' mode

It looks a bit complicated but doable.
I can create command line tool which would automatically create each page. So your job would be to just import specific .bmp in your app.

[deank]

The problem is not creating the menu images, but setting the proper navigation in the m2ts files.

And if there is a program that can extract frames from m2ts files at the exact second - it will be great... mplayer gives me headache already.

[Atak_Snajpera]

The problem is not creating the menu images, but setting the proper navigation in the m2ts files.
Could you explain me how your app creates AVCHD menus? I always fought that each page is just a separate .m2ts (single frame)

And if there is a program that can extract frames from m2ts files at the exact second - it will be great... mplayer gives me headache already.
It can be achived using DGAVCDec + ImageWriter (avisynth function)

1) index .m2ts with DGAVCDec
2) add to script # Write frame 5 to "C:\000005.PNG"
ImageWriter("C:\", 5, 5, "png") //More info in AviSynth Documentation

3) save script extract_frame.avs
4) execute script using avs2avi (avs2avi.exe extract_frame.avs -c null -o n)

[deank]

I use imagewriter in avs only for preview but don't want to use avisynth/directshow for thumbnails. It is easier but a lot of users won't be able to use it as it will require avc decoder and splitter. It was in the initial release but I dropped it because of MacOS users.

Menu buttons and navigation are in IGS stream inside m2ts, so you can't do anything until someone releases a proper muxer for such streams.

Without a proper way to mux h264 (menu page from avs) and the IGS - you can't do anything. My breakthrough with creating custom menu was to find a workaround on muxing video and navigation.

Yes, each menu page is in separate m2ts, but without navigation stream (IG) inside - it is unusable.

[jjrdias]

Hi,

Since the last two or three builds of the app, i've been unable to play the resulting DVD's. I'm converting Clone Wars episodes into AVCHD, and everything always went fine. Nowadays, the DVD's i burn (exactly as i did before) simply won't run. Am i the only one with this problem?

Thanks a lot for all the hard work.

[deank]

Explain more in detail.

Did you use update only or complete download?
Did you replace tsmuxer with other version?
Were you able to play the compilation before burning?
What player do you use for playback?
What error do you get?
Did you use custom menu before?
What was the last build you were successful on playing output with?

I don't recall doing changes in the program that would affect its performance to such extent (except for changing tsmuxer version in full download).
I removed predefined menu in last few builds. Check your checkboxes in Author and Menu tabs.

[jjrdias]

Thanks for the swift reply

I cannot pinpoint the exact last build when it worked flawlessly - the last DVD i bruned with the app that worked was about a month and a half ago
I update the app whenever it starts (autoupdate), and i manually updated the DAT files
I did not replace TSMuxer
I dragged the AVCHD folder to PowerDVD before burning, to make sure it was working, and it played fine - which made not being able to play the DVD even more strange
As far as an error, PowerDVD - that plays the other DVDs i burned with MultiAVCHD just fine - just stops.

Thanks in advance

[deank]

PowerDVD won't play multiAVCHD output. It has a problem and I don't know what it is. I suspect it is 'showing real title count' instead of 40 as before.

Do you use hardware player?

I can PM you a byte to change in index.bdmv and test if you're familiar with hex editing... just for a test.

edit: it is at offset $6b (zero based) in index.bdmv and you can change it to $28 (hex)

[jjrdias]

Thanks again,

Actually, i only play my BR and AVCHD's with PowerDVD, through my laptop with blu-ray player. Waiting to buy a good standalone player or a PS3. Maybe that's the problem. The thing is, it plays three MultiAVCHD DVDs i burned previously. Weird. Will give the latest burned DVDs to a friend that has a PS3, to see if they play. I'm afraid i don't know much about hex editing, but will still give it a try.

Thanks for the help, and will inform on the results.

[deank]

If you're using PDVD I guess this is the problem. I got reports from many users having their PDVD giving strange errors like 'DVD door not closed' or similar with builds after I did change what I said in previous post.

You can send me your index.bdmv at my email and I'll return it to you with the change so you can test easily. No need to test with PS3 - it works, as I do my tests on PAL PS3.

[jjrdias]

Thanks,

Will send you the index file, as soon as possible.

Cheers

[jjrdias]

Could you PM'm me your e-mail so i can send you the index file?

Thanks

[Solaris]

Hello Dean,

I don't know if it has already been reporte but I have encountered a problem after cleaning up the AVCHD subdirectory. I deleted som of the old folders and now I get a message 'cannot rename file D:\AVCHD to D:\AVCHD-20090315-XXXXXX' when I try to create multiBD. XXXXXX stands for the time and changes every time I try again. Furthermore MultiAVCHD jumps to the top of the screen and sort of minimises to a small rectangle. No way to do anything but close and restart. And then again the same message. Any ideas?

Regards.