popBD - simple MKV/*TS/MPEG to AVCHD/BD tool - split to 2 (BD5/BD9) volumes supported [Archive]

deank

6th March 2009, 22:08

Hey there all!

Here is another small application I coded in few hours. It was requested few days ago by turbojet, hence the idea for the name "popBD":

turbojet:

Hi,

What I am mainly looking for is kind of like a very stripped down version of multiAVCHD (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=143744) that can convert mkv to BD with accessibility and simplicity being the main priority.

Basic operation would be: get mkvinfo, make meta, run tsmuxer, burn with imgburn, optionally split in half with mkvmerge, which is useful to split a BD9 to 2 BD5's or some really long movies into 2 BD5's or BD9's.

For simplicity just a simple gui with an input box (drag and drop too)... with these options: image, burn, delete auxdata directory (for samsung players), mux directory (defaults to mkv dir), image directory (defaults to mkv dir), default mux dir, default image dir.

multiAVCHD (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=143744) is a must have tool when dealing with multiple files. However if it's an mkv that fills a dvd5 or dvd9... there are many times I wished with that I could pop in a dvd and press a button and in 15 minute it would pop out a burned disk that I could play in a BD player. I also think this is something other people would want...

So, here it is:

http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/popBD.jpg

Download links:

Full package: popBD (http://multiforum.deanbg.com) (3MB)

If you have multiAVCHD (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=143744) you can simply put popBD.exe in your multiAVCHD folder and use it. You don't need the "full package" as popBD uses some of the tools that multiAVCHD (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=143744) uses.

*****

Using it is really simple. One feature of interest is that it supports TWO volumes (for writing to TWO DVD discs).

For example if you're using a MKV file that exceeds 4GB limit, popBD will split it (at the selected size) and will create second folder (AVCHD_2). Be advised that max of TWO volumes is supported. Then you can burn two discs and get 2xDVD5s of about 8GB, 2xDVD9s - 16GB or 2xBD25 and get 50GB movie playable on your SAP/PS3.

It features:

* mkv/ts/m2ts/mts/mpeg/mpg support
* external SRT or SUP subtitles
* external AC3/DTS/LPCM audio tracks
* chapters from MKV/*TS/MPG or external chapters (in movie.txt file with HH:MM:SS format, space/";"/new line delimited)
* STOP after DVD/BD playback (no loop)
* split for volume 2 with correct start offset
* one pass processing - no intermediate/temporary muxing/splitting
* external applications used: mkvinfo/tsmuxer (mediainfo/mkvextract only if using original chapters)
* tsMuxeR in version 0.6 is updated to 1.9.9. popBD will not work properly with older tsMuxeR versions

Please test it and share your comments.

Dean

nwg

6th March 2009, 23:35

Nice work. There is actually a not well known free software called Blu Ray to DVD Express which does the same with Blu Ray. There is also a pay Pro version.

http://www.opencloner.com/blu-ray_to_dvd/

deank

6th March 2009, 23:44

:) Well... popBD is free and without any obligations. I just used some spare time this afternoon to partially fulfill a doom9 user request... I hope more people will find it useful.

I'm not sure if it is really correct to post a link to pay-ware application right after I posted the tool :)

nwg

6th March 2009, 23:50

deank

7th March 2009, 00:40

Yes... it's a pleasure to code different things and it's been this way since 1983 when I wrote my first BASIC program :) My job is more about programming ISs and huge DBs but I can always find time for side projects.

I just think of when I'll find the time to use my own programs... :p It's fun anyway...

Adub

7th March 2009, 01:46

You are doing a fantastic job helping out the community there deank. I may be working with you in the future as I am preparing a tutorial website for things such as this, and I would love to show people how to take full advantage of your programs. Excellent job.

Keep on coding strong, and know that your efforts are appreciated.

setarip_old

7th March 2009, 03:43

@deank

Hi!

Congratulations on creating what appears to be an impressive tool ;>}

I have a question/request:

I have thusfar intentionally avoided purchasing "AnyDVD HD" (as a matter of principle) and have instead been using (presently freeware) "MakeMKV" as my first step in backing up BluRay discs. This has worked extremely well with almost all manner and configuration of BluRay, EXCEPT those containing VC-1 video.

It recently came to light that MKVs containing VC-1 video created by "MakeMKV" do not have the required "default duration". Among other things, this causes tsMuxer to generate an "unable to process" error (both when used directly and when accessed by "popBD").

Is there some way you can enhance your program to overcome this shortcoming?

~bT~

7th March 2009, 04:11

^ this tool also uses tsmuxer.

congrats deank on another lil gem!

setarip_old

7th March 2009, 04:21

@~bT~^ this tool also uses tsmuxer.I am well aware of that - and that's one of the reasons I've asked this question of "deank"

deank

7th March 2009, 10:27

How do you process such files?
What does mediainfo/mkvinfo show when parsing such file?
What is 'default duration' and of what?

Dean

setarip_old

7th March 2009, 19:25

@deank

It's probably simplest if I quote a poster at another forum (regarding this exact topic):i found the error. i was right! it's MAKEMKV.
it doesn't write the correct header-information
(duration-time/framerate) into the MKV-file.
but first read on...

i have done following test:

* extract VC-1 stream from MKV using mkvextract from mkvtoolnix

DONE
mkvextract gave me following error:
Error: Track 1 with the CodecID 'V_MS/VFW/FOURCC'
is missing the "default duration" element and
cannot be extracted.

i used tsMuxeR_1.8.4(b) to extract the vc1-stream from MKV

* try to play produced file and see if it plays

DONE
doesn't play. media player and vlc can't play the pure vc1-stream.

* create brand new MKV from VC1 video file using mkvmerge

DONE

* see if it still has a problem

DONE
the new created MKV works perfectly! without any choppy playback

i checked both files with mkvinfo and ta-daaa:

MKVMERGE CREATED MKV@MKVINFO:
| + Codec ID: V_MS/VFW/FOURCC
| + Codec decode all: 1
| + CodecPrivate, length 77 (FourCC: WVC1, 0x31435657)
| + Default duration: 41.708ms (23.976 fps for a video track)

MAKEMKV CREATED MKV@MKVINFO:
| + Codec ID: V_MS/VFW/FOURCC
| + CodecPrivate, length 77 (FourCC: WVC1, 0x31435657)

Default duration is missing in the MAKEMKV-MKV-file!!!

deank

7th March 2009, 20:50

So that means that demuxing vc-1 with tsmuxer and muxing it back to m2ts should work fine.

setarip_old

7th March 2009, 21:47

So that means that demuxing vc-1 with tsmuxer and muxing it back to m2ts should work fine.The quote seems to indicate that it's required to use "MKVMerge" (NOT "tsMuxeR") to successfully/properly remux back to .MKV - and then use "tsMuxer" to convert to .M2TS...

deank

7th March 2009, 23:25

Right, it's not that hard to be done... Do you have a sample anyway?

turbojet

15th March 2009, 14:27

Thanks for this.

A few bugs that I've found are:
- When splitting, subs don't display on the second BD (display times aren't reset to start from 00:00:00 ?)
- When splitting, second BD has the same chapter points as the full file, so chapter points are incorrect
- When splitting, second BD doesn't show video in powerDVD but it does in MPC-HC
- AVCHD directory is always removed even though most players need to see this directory to play.

A not so optimal fix for the splitting issues is to split with mkvmerge first then mux each mkv with tsmuxer, it takes about twice as long though.

deank

15th March 2009, 14:33

I did tests and subs did show on both first and second part.

PowerDVD is not a software I'll ever test with as it shows it's not a match for AVCHD/BD standards at all.

What do you mean by "AVCHD" directory is removed?

Playing second volume is as having 1st M2TS removed and starting from the second. Subtitles are incorporated before the split, chapters - too. Second part should display time AFTER the split point.

If your movie is 2hrs and the split is @ 1:20h, the second will start at 1:20h (REW before 1:20 will show black screen).

Did you test on a stand-alone-player?

zoner

15th March 2009, 14:35

- When splitting, subs don't display on the second BD (display times aren't reset to start from 00:00:00 ?)

I already used this great tool on a few BDs i own. and both discs show subs after splitting
about chapter i didnt check.

turbojet

15th March 2009, 14:56

Oh instead of AVCHD directory I mean AUXDATA directory.

I tried the subs in MPC-HC and PowerDVD 8, the first part worked fine.

In powerDVD the second part has the full length runtime. Seeking to after split time also doesn't show video. I know it's not a great player and they keep breaking more and more AVCHD/BD stuff with every version. But it is a popular player so I don't think it can really be ignored at least not v7 and v8 but I might look into getting arcsoft TMT one of these days.

I don't have a standalone player here but I will test on Panasonic BD30 next time I go there.

turbojet

15th March 2009, 16:27

According to suprip and BDSup2Sub the sub timings of part 2 are correct, I wonder why they aren't showing.

deank

15th March 2009, 18:45

I'll leave auxdata untouched. And those programs I wrote (popBD/multiAVCHD) are to be used in hardware players. I simply don't see what sense does it make to convert files to AVCHD and play them on a computer when you can simply PLAY them without any changes and conversions.

turbojet

15th March 2009, 19:39

Not all BD players like AUXDATA either so there really needs to be an option.
Every retail BD I've played on my computer works like it should, shouldn't we strive to match this when encoding?

deank

15th March 2009, 19:44

Yes, "BD", not AVCHD. And the time put in BD production is more than 3 minutes processin' someones MKV file, don't you agree.

And about AUXDATA... it is a standard... you asked me to remove the folder because of SAMSUNG players... Too many different versions of applying BD and AVCHD standard. AVCHD doesn't have such folder.

turbojet

15th March 2009, 20:11

Technically these are BD's it's outputting but I'm not going to discuss that again, to sum it up AVCHD uses an AVCHD folder in root, 8.3 naming, doesn't allow video bitrates above 15 MB\s and doesn't allow DTS.

I asked for an option to remove the folder, default is it keeps it. You are right AVCHD doesn't have that folder.

deank

15th March 2009, 20:14

I'll add those as options. I just find myself stranded between a lot of projects (@work) and I still try to find time for the pleasure-ones :)

turbojet

15th March 2009, 20:18

I understand, no rush.

turbojet

16th March 2009, 08:40

I've gotten this error on 2 different m2ts file inputs (both have h.264, multiple sups and original chapters) 1 has AC3 other has DTS.

(RT) Floating point division by zero - Line 23 (It's line 21 if original chapters is unchecked)

It seems to happen right after mediainfo. They both work ok in tsmuxer.

deank

16th March 2009, 09:44

You probably meant MKV not m2ts, right?

deank

16th March 2009, 13:04

Updated links to version 0.2.

Added ISO creation with imgburn and option to keep/remove AUXDATA.
The destination for .iso file is input mkv folder/drive.

http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/popbd.jpg

You can download the exe only from the first post.

deank

16th March 2009, 16:19

I just added option for keeping/removing subtitles from MKV files as it seems sometimes tsmuxer has problems with such streams and gives error:

"52.7% complete
Can't convert source text to UTF-16. Invalid chars sequence. "

and then stops.

So, just download the .exe.

deank

16th March 2009, 18:25

Also (as requested) a drop-down with split sizes for DVD5/DVD9/BD25/No split/Custom split size is added.

turbojet

16th March 2009, 21:52

I meant m2ts but maybe it's not intended to input m2ts files?

Thanks for the new version.

deank

16th March 2009, 22:07

Right. It is for MKV ONLY.

deank

17th March 2009, 11:02

Version 0.3:

* Added support for MPEG/MPG/M2TS/MTS/TS files
* Support for external chapters
* Support for external audio tracks for mpeg/ts/m2ts

If using MPEG input, audio has to be AC3 (not MPEG1/2) as no conversion is supported for audio streams.
The same is for other video types - their audio streams have to be AC3/DTS/LPCM.

:) Almost all requests are now fulfilled.

deank

17th March 2009, 18:17

Exe update only:

you can now leave TARGET and TEMP fields empty. Input filename/path will be used for both.

movie-test.mkv:

Target will be: popBD_movie-test\

Temp will be: popBD_TEMP_movie-test\

turbojet

17th March 2009, 18:40

Thanks but must it be prefixed with popBD?

Also I see 'Keep MKV embeded SRT/SSA subtitles' but it keeps SUP from M2TS too from my tests. Wouldn't 'Keep embbeded SRT/SSA/SUP subtitles' make more sense?

deank

17th March 2009, 18:49

I'll remove popBD prefix.. and embedded SUP is never removed, so I'd rather have it this way, as its primary purpose is to avoid problems with utf8/16 subtitles in mkvs. Download the exe again.

turbojet

17th March 2009, 18:59

Oh I see, I understand now.

Killerattacks

25th March 2009, 21:46

OK, a question by a newbie here. I want to burn a 1080p .mkv file with .ssa soft-subtitles to DVD. To my knowledge the video needs to be reencoded, so that the soft-subs get hardcoded. Because AFAIK the ps3 doesn't accept any kind of softsubs for AVCHD-DVD, but as I already said my knowledge is limited.

So I checked the "Keep MKV embedded SRT/SSA" subtitles option thinking that reencoding the subtitles into the videostream would be the result. After the process finished (only remuxing something, no reencoding) I opened the resulting 00001.m2ts with VLC and MPC HC, but as I suspected there are no subtitles.

What did I wrong?

EDIT

OK, I have a guess. When I open the original .mkv with mediainfo the log shows:
Text
ID : 3
Format : ASS
Codec ID : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Language : English

So it's no.ssa, but .ass subtitle-stream. Doesn't change much for me as the user, because they are "just soft-subs" to me, but maybe they need to be handled in a different way by popBD? No idea.

deank

25th March 2009, 21:55

Subtitles are not hardcoded - they are in a separate stream in the m2ts file. You will see them once you play the DISC in your PS3 or when you play it with TMT or NeroSHowtime NOT VLC :)

Post back when you test it... just don't use regular players but your PS3 (with DVD disk or USB) or TotalMediaTheater or Nero Showtime or...

And SSA and ASS is one and the same: SubStation Alpha / Alpha SubStation.

Killerattacks

26th March 2009, 01:23

hey, you are right. That's really cool. But I have a little bit of trouble with that solution too. for example when the subtitle should be just "Text" it becomes "{/i1} Text {/0}" and other things like this. Or at another point the original subtitle is somewhat styled and has a different location and says "Text" but becomes unstyled and is at the default position (hey, that's fine with me) but all you can read is "{\fad(150".

deank

26th March 2009, 08:55

You have 3 options :)

1) To use external SRT subtitles
2) To use unstyled SSA/ASS subtitles
3) To send me the extracted SSA subtitles so I can fix popBD :)

Killerattacks

26th March 2009, 20:20

dracore

26th March 2009, 20:28

deank the work you are doing is awsome :)

thanks for these great tools and all the work you have put into it bud :thanks:

deank

26th March 2009, 20:34

I have many files with styled subtitles so it would be a nice feature... at least for me ;)

Here's the link to the styled subtitles of the .mkv: Link (http://textsnip.com/e4afcb) (It's the complete .ass).

Looking at those... i can probably implement bold/italic/underline, but i don't have time for such as:

{\bord4\3a&HFE&\1a&HFF&\t(0,940,\bord0,\1a&H00&,\3a&H00&\)\shad0\1c&HFEFEFE&\3c&HFEFEFE&\fs50\fnSemper\pos(636,296)}The End

it will simply show "The End"...

@dracore: :) thanks

Killerattacks

26th March 2009, 20:52

Your fast replies are awesome too.

And I'm perfectly fine with plain subtitles. I did a quick search and there seems to be a commandline tool "ssatosrt.exe" by the ripbot264 author. The result is a totally unstyled .srt file. Maybe it can be used by your program too, no idea.

deank

26th March 2009, 20:56

I use my own program code to convert ssa to srt and I'd rather keep most popular tags then stripping the ssa totally, so I'll check which tags I can translate from ssa to srt. I'll post back later.

Killerattacks

26th March 2009, 22:10

No 5 minutes without me posting new complaints ;) Playing the file (.mkv + unstyled .srt -> converted to AVCHD+menu) in showtime shows some strange behavior. If subtitles are 2 lines long they are not centered but at the left and a part is cut off.

deank

26th March 2009, 22:40

You can now redownload popBD.exe only (the link is in the first post)... Please let me know if it works with your SSA subtitles.

It should keep BOLD/ITALIC/UNDERLINE and remove all other tags.

About the SRT - use a tool to "break long lines" - such as SubtitleWorkshop or similar.

popBD/multiAVCHD are end-user programs and expect USERS to have prepared their files accordingly. I can implement a lot of things like fixing overlapping/correcting timing and tenths more - it is not the way thing should be done I think.

**

I also implemented those SSA fixes in multiAVCHD.

turbojet

26th March 2009, 22:41

deank did you notice my pm from a few days ago?

deank

26th March 2009, 22:47

Yes. Just give me few more days.

turbojet

26th March 2009, 22:48

OK no rush just wanted to make sure it went through.

Mtz

29th March 2009, 07:28

If a MKV contains some srt subtitles with different charsets (1250, 1251, 1252, 1253, 1254, 1255), can be possible to select the right encoding for each subtitle by the user?
For example:
rum is 1250
bul is 1251
swe is 1252
The best thing can be this: when popBD find the country code described for some subtitle in mkv, to encode it with the right charset. If not any country code found in MKV, to encode it with the default set.
The most used languages are:

Windows Code Pages:
CP1250:
Bosnia/Herzogovina
Croatia
Czech
Hungary
Poland
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
CP1251:
Bulgaria
Macedonia FYR
Russia
Serbia/Montenegro
CP1252:
Albania
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Latin America
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States
CP1253:
Greece
CP1254:
Turkey
CP1255:
Israel
CP1256:
Arabic Speaking
CP1257:
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
CP1258:
Vietnam

Can you make some setting that the first subtitle to be loaded when starting the movie?

enjoy,
Mtz

jhmac

29th March 2009, 09:14

Thanks for the great programs. I have a bunch of MKVs that I am running through popBD to make AVCHD disk and noticed after popBD finishes I have to close and restart before I can add another MKV, It would be nice if I could just click and add another MKV to popBD as soon as it finishes.

Thanks

deank

31st March 2009, 22:13

...I noticed (...) after popBD finishes I have to close and restart before I can add another MKV, It would be nice if I could just click and add another MKV to popBD as soon as it finishes.

Just re-download the .exe file. :)

turbojet

31st March 2009, 22:32

thanks
would it be possible to adopt the 'quit on last file finish' feature from multiavchd in the future?

deank

31st March 2009, 22:38

It is implemented. Are you saying it doesn't work? Can you open .bdmv in BDedit and check how Title#1 OID looks like?

turbojet

31st March 2009, 22:58

Oh I never checked but yep break is already there, great.

deank

31st March 2009, 23:01

:) I'll try to add the other options you asked for tomorrow... as you're the co-founder of popBD :)

vacano

7th April 2009, 14:19

Wow, "ask and you shall receive". Exactly what i was looking for, I've been following this from the beginning, outstanding job deank, however i tried one of my mkv files, burned it with imlburn, pop it in the ps3 and BIG GREEN LINE at the bottom of my screen, i did get a warning message, Video height not avchd complaint, most of my mkv files are like this (544p,536p,800p,696p,...) am i missing something, i really want to be able to make this files avchd, i will not consider myself a noob well i'm not a programmer or anything like that but I'm good on following directions that's why i don't post much 'cause when i got a problem i read, fix and done , i should say thank you i always forget. Thanks for all the times i forgot and Thanks in advance for this one in case i forget again...

deank

7th April 2009, 14:27

Unlike multiAVCHD, popBD will not fix NC titles and will not remove the green bar (if played in PS3), so you have 2 options:

1) Use multiAVCHD (which is not suitable if you're restrained to DVD5/9 sizes)
2) Use uncropMKV to fix your badly cropped MKV files and then use either popBD or multiAVCHD.

Thanks for your support.

vacano

7th April 2009, 14:33

OK, thanks for fast reply, I'll try uncropMKV then popBD.

deank

7th April 2009, 14:35

That's the best way, so you'll have a compliant mkv file for use with any other application in the future. If you have troubles with uncropMKV - post in its thread and I'll help if I can.

vacano

7th April 2009, 15:04

Is uncropMKV for MKV files only or does it support TS files (despite the name)

deank

7th April 2009, 15:14

It should accept most files... Will convert them to MKV and will process them as such.

vacano

7th April 2009, 15:21

Thanks, my next post will be in UncropMKV section as is creating a small file first then it goes to do the cropping and stops.

deank

9th April 2009, 12:39

Because of the new version of tsmuxer popBD is updated to version 0.5. Please download THE COMPLETE package.

turbojet

10th April 2009, 10:49

I see 0.5 uses 100 headers with no extended info is this proven safe?

What's been thoroughly tested is 100 headers for bdmv files with extended info and 200 headers for clpi/mpls, tsmuxer 1.8.35+ can't reproduce this.

deank

10th April 2009, 11:04

Yes, I didn't notice that tsmuxer creates index.bdmv without the IDEX. Update your popBD.exe from the link in the first post.

turbojet

10th April 2009, 11:16

Thanks, has idex again.

jhmac

17th April 2009, 09:05

Can PopBD be used with the latest version of tsmuxer? Or should I stay with the version included with each release?

Thanks!

deank

17th April 2009, 09:57

Full downloads (and .exe only) for:

* multiAVCHD (build 528)
* popBD ver 0.6
* uncropMKV ver 0.6

are updated.

Check the links in the first page of each thread. multiAVCHD and popBD include tsMuxer 1.9.9.

turbojet

17th April 2009, 09:58

What changed in TSMuxer 1.9,9?

deank

17th April 2009, 10:03

A slight different Title#1 program code in movieobject.bdmv which interfered with the BREAK command I'm using to avoid title looping. It is nothing that may affect testing players' compatibility.

popBD 0.6 will not work with previous versions of tsMuxer.
popBD 0.5 will work with tsMuxer 1.9.4

turbojet

17th April 2009, 10:14

ok thanks

deank

18th April 2009, 17:28

popBD is updated - there was a problem processing SSA subtitles in MKV (in rare occasions when Commentary tracks are present and other major parsing error).

turbojet

24th April 2009, 17:50

Latest version doesn't seem to put in the break command. Is it still intended to?

deank

24th April 2009, 17:52

I think it does with tsmuxer 1.9.9.

turbojet

24th April 2009, 17:58

Yup it does thanks, I was using 1.9.7 for some reason.

hollydoc

30th April 2009, 21:05

I think it does with tsmuxer 1.9.9.

Can you ad an option to split by time, i like to split an >25 BG Bluray by an cHapterpoint.

Hollydoc

deank

3rd May 2009, 20:18

popBD is updated to 0.7.

It is now independent from tsMuxeR's index.bdmv and movieobject.bdmv files. Index is now generated and marked to be recognized in multiAVCHD.

Dean

mCmAl

4th May 2009, 16:49

I've tried 2 mkv's,and both of them aren't played properly by a Sony BDP.The audio is OK,but the video isn't right.It seems to stuck now and then to a certain frame,making the movie not viewable.Any suggestion on how to avoid this would be appreciated.

deank

4th May 2009, 16:54

It is possible that the video is not compatible with AVCHD/BD profiles. Post what mediainfo says about yout input file. Remove the filename.

mCmAl

4th May 2009, 17:11

Sorry for my ignorance,but where can I find this mediainfo?

These are the properties :
Video: MPEG4 Video (H264) 1280x720 23.98fps [Video]
Subtitle: UTF-8 [Subtitle]

DonRon

4th May 2009, 17:22

a nop question

the problem with converting MKV to AVCHD (BD strucktur)
is that the MKV is encoded without black bars, and no standalone can play with without it

what dos popBD do about that ?

cheers

deank

4th May 2009, 17:28

popBD and multiAVCHD do not re-encode your video files. If you're files are not 720x480, 720x576, 1280x720, 1440x1080 or 1920x1080 - you may have problems playing them (most people don't have).

If you want to re-encode your mkvs to compliant resolutions - use RipBot, MeGUI or uncropMKV.

Dean

mCmAl

4th May 2009, 17:32

Deank,is this the problem?

[18:34:39] Detected frame reference count: 10 (max:9).
[18:34:39] Video is not AVCHD/BDMV compliant!

deank

4th May 2009, 17:39

Yes - this is a major problem and cannot be overcome without reencoding.

DonRon

4th May 2009, 20:03

thanks for replying

but ??

90% of all the 1080p MKV`s on usenet is in 2.35:1 (1920x ~800)

what about them ?

re-encoding the black bars with ripbot264/megui takes 4ever

cheers

turbojet

5th May 2009, 06:07

thanks for replying

but ??

90% of all the 1080p MKV`s on usenet is in 2.35:1 (1920x ~800)

what about them ?

re-encoding the black bars with ripbot264/megui takes 4ever

cheers

There's no solution. Blame the people that encode at those resolutions.

sparky909

8th May 2009, 16:51

Hi,

Firstly, must say fantastic software, simplifies a lot of work and takes a lot of hassle out. Great effort and the pace of releases and bugfixes is awesome.

Ive tried a couple of different files out on popBD in terms of a basic 8GB MKV split to 2 x 4.5GB DVDR's as AVCHD. My problem is that playing them back on my Panasonic BD35E (the UK version) on 1.3 or 1.4 firmware the disks always exhibit the same problem :

1. disc spins up and is recognized as a "DVDR" with AVCHD
2. Player kicks of the first item in the playlist (in my case, there is only ever one).
3. The LCD display shows "PLAY" for about 10 seconds, nothing appears on TV it remains blank.
4. Disk then stops spinning, and the LCD display shows "STOP" on the player.

Ive tried variations of Disc media and burn speeds, file contents, and even player firmware, but always has the same result. And yet a few posts here say no worries at all with popBD and AVCHD playback on the BD35 at all. So im wondering what others have done that i havent.

I then tried using multiAVCHD, and again its the same exact problem on any spanned disc. However, i did manage to manually get a AVCHD fileset from multiAVCHD to work fine when i did a convert of 8.5GB MKV -> 2 x 4000meg m2ts files, then burned the FIRST one and played it back. e.g. just making a non-spanned conversion, then burning only the first stream not both. I also managed to get a AVCHD onto a SD card working fine. This suggests that on a non-spanning setup, the AVCHD plays fine.

Ive tried :

- cropping to the right size for AVCHD
- using the AUXDATA remove options and not using the AUXDATA remove optoins
- ignoring subtitles
- manually editing the playlist and clpi files to try and get it working.
- turn off 24p on the BD35 player.

But in all cases, nothing helps.

What has been the experience of other BD35 owners and what works for them??

I suspect from tests that the popBD DVD5 spanning option doesnt work 100% - possibly due to the playlist having issues across disks - and i base this on being able to get one disk out of two working from AVCHD but none on popBD.

Another theory was maybe its NTSC versus PAL issues? has anyone played back NTSC(23fps) converted MKV->AVCHD on a UK player?

However - it may just be something basic im missing.

Also to add context - the BD35 has NO issues playing other AVCHD disks either 720p or 1080. Its only the popBD and multiAVCHD spanned disks which will not work at all.

Help me obiwan, you are my only hope.... :-)

deank

8th May 2009, 16:57

What do you mean by "multiAVCHD spanned discs"?

multiAVCHD does not support DISC splitting. No one else posted about problems with popBD - let's see what other users will say - I don't have a blu-player to test with but Playstation3 plays split volumes fine.

sparky909

8th May 2009, 17:07

Sorry - to clarify, my previous post:

- popBD MKV -> 2 x 4.5GB DVDR
- multiAVCHD MKV -> m2ts streams split at 4000mb

doesnt work for my BD35E-UK on 1.4 or 1.3 firmware. See details of post for other aspects tested.

Thanks!

turbojet

15th May 2009, 16:57

When splitting I see these issues in the output from an mkv with video, audio, 1 internal sub, 1 external sub, original chapters:

First playlist refers to first and then second m2ts which doesn't exist
Second playlist uses first m2ts runtime which doesn't exist
Original hapters aren't kept, 5 minute chapters are in both outputs

Other than that audio/subs/clipinfo is good. Is there any chance of fixing these issues?

deank

15th May 2009, 17:36

First playlist refers to first and then second m2ts which doesn't exist
Wrong. Both m2ts files are in the mpls file, but the second is not referred in anyway during playback.

Second playlist uses first m2ts runtime which doesn't exist
Yes, it uses it but it doesn't do any harm, because it plays PL item 2.

Original hapters aren't kept, 5 minute chapters are in both outputs

I never said that popBD will keep chapters .

The only way to go around these things is 2/3 pass processing which I thing is unnecessary.

rapscallion

15th May 2009, 18:49

@dean...this looks like a great little program. I do have a question though.

I cut a clip, via tsmuxer, from a ~24gb m2ts file, ~ 2gb, and burned to dvd5-rw, just to test it.
In a SA player, I got a lot of stuttering/chopiness, in both video and audio, which I assumed was because the avchd standard is a max bit rate @ 16mps. The clip had bitrates substantially higher.

So, my question is, if you span 2 dvd9's ~16gb, won't the potentially higher birates exceed the standard and possibly cause stuttering/playback problems?

turbojet

15th May 2009, 18:59

Wrong. Both m2ts files are in the mpls file, but the second is not referred in anyway during playback.

Yes, it uses it but it doesn't do any harm, because it plays PL item 2.

I discovered and suspected these as there's been some reports of MPC-HC not playing them correctly but it very well could be an isolated issue. I will test a BD player soon.

I never said that popBD will keep chapters .

The only way to go around these things is 2/3 pass processing which I thing is unnecessary.

Is resetting to 0:00:00 after the length of the first video a possibility?

deank

15th May 2009, 19:09

I cut a clip ... and burned to dvd5-rw ... In a SA player, I got a lot of stuttering/chopiness...

So, my question is ... won't the potentially higher birates exceed the standard and possibly cause stuttering/playback problems?

DVD discs have bitrate limitations. If you burn it to BD-R/RE disc I guess it won't stutter. My tests are with Playstation3 via USB and DVD-RW and there is no stuttering whatsoever with any files/bitrates (even with peaks of 30-40-50 Mbit/s)

Is resetting to 0:00:00 after the length of the first video a possibility?

No, unless tsmuxer's output is re-processed in 2nd pass.

turbojet

17th May 2009, 22:23

Both parts of popBD split output don't play on Panasonic BD30 without splitting it does, so it goes beyond an MPC-HC isolated issue.
I have a good feeling the concern I had with the mpls files is causing it.

deank

18th May 2009, 18:36

Next days I'll take time to rewrite popBD to conform AVCHD and Blu-ray and will make it split output to any number of discs (or any number of SDHCs) + I'll try to bypass this "problem" with mpls.

... or I'll try to implement popBD in multiAVCHD.

turbojet

18th May 2009, 21:09

OK thanks

Did you ever look into any of these?
removing empty temp directory
basic cli like <input> <output> which uses settings from the ini, could have a switch like -strict for removing empty dirs. multiavchd could have -menu -nomenu
implementing same blank output uses source directory behavior in multiavchd

deank

18th May 2009, 21:35

I doubt that I'll ever make any of my programs in CLI mode.

I'm still working TEMP folder removal...

jayman

19th May 2009, 23:53

Hey Dean, what do you think is a good method in the meantime to handle those videos that are larger? I've got a few 12 gb movies that I want to put on 4.7 gb dvd's (I have a ton of them)...Also, I noticed that the 2nd volume when splitting into 2 volumes, it wasn't bluray format but avchd format even though the first volume was bluray format. If that makes any sense. In other words, there were some of the folders missing that are needed to play on my bluray player like auxdata, etc... but only in the 2nd volume. Is that a bug with the program?

Töpfer_0815

20th May 2009, 17:13

Hello,

first of all thanks for this excellent tool !

I have experienced that the 1st DVD can't be played in my Panasonic BD-80 blueray player when I process a ts file which needs splitting over two AVCHD DVDs. The player simply stops at the begin. The 2nd DVD works fine. I have found out, that it is tmuxer who produces this result when splitting. When I split the ts file before into two chunks and use popBD for each file it works fine for both DVDs.

Anyone else with this behaviour?

deank

20th May 2009, 18:16

Do you split it using Time CUT START/CUT END?

Töpfer_0815

20th May 2009, 18:33

I've split it with popBD's setting "volume split".

deank

20th May 2009, 18:35

I was asking about tsmuxer split.

Töpfer_0815

20th May 2009, 18:38

I was asking about tsmuxer spil.

I've assumed, that popBD uses tsmuxer for splitting. That's the reason I have mentioned tsmuxer here. I've just used popBD for the whole thing.

When I split before using popBD I've used tsH264split - this worked fine.

deank

20th May 2009, 18:41

Ok, oh... I thought you were using tsMuxeR to split it before using popBD. Yes, popBD uses tsMuxeR.

There are some changes coming this/next week so I hope all will be okay in version 1.0.

Dean

Töpfer_0815

20th May 2009, 18:48

Ok, oh... I thought you were using tsMuxeR to split it before using popBD. Yes, popBD uses tsMuxeR.

There are some changes coming this/next week so I hope all will be okay in version 1.0.

Dean

Thanks, I'll report about the result.

shv

21st May 2009, 09:34

Would it be possible to support the usage of mpls to get the original chapter marks to the two target BD5/9/25? Moreover it would be good if the split between the two disks/parts could be done on a chapter mark automatically by the tool to fit the target disk size or you could allow the user to define a time where the split will be done instead of Memory size like TsMuxer supports this.

Wolfe999

28th May 2009, 01:26

I just tried it today and it seems a marvellous piece of work.

But I've found a problem for me and don't know if it's because of your program or the ones it uses. Maybe there's a simple solution and you can lead me to it. I want to keep Spanish subtitles, but whenever it finds letters like ñ, Ñ á, ó, é, í ú, Ú, Ó, É, Í, it doesn't recognize them and represents them with strange characters. ¿Is there a way to correct this?

I'd really appreciate it any advice you or other could give me.

Thank you and regards
Wolfe :)

deank

28th May 2009, 02:13

Try to set your windows for non-unicode programs.

Go to Regional settings and find the option to chose spanish for 'default for non-unicode programs'.

Dean

Wolfe999

28th May 2009, 02:54

Thanx for your prompt answer, Dean.

I went to check what you said (I'm using windows 7 x64 RC 7100) and it was already set with Spanish for non-unicode programs.

Now it's almost 4 a.m. and I'm falling over. I'm gonna sleep and tomorrow when I come back hope I'm lucky enough for you to have find the solution to this.

Thank you very much

Regards
Wolfe :)

deank

30th May 2009, 18:50

deank

2nd June 2009, 16:24

For questions and support please visit: http://multiforum.deanbg.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5&p=35 (http://multiforum.deanbg.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5&p=35)

sparky909

6th June 2009, 09:51

A note to all popBD users:

I'll try to implement popBD's splitting feature in multiAVCHD (Volume split).

It won't be restricted span-count-wise, so you'll be able to split 14GB file into 3-4 DVD5 discs for example.

Using multiAVCHD will allow you to have more control and tons of options, not available in popBD.

Panasonic users will benefit, too, because they'll be able to watch 8+GB or 16+GB or 50GB files in their players (using SDHC).

I'm not saying that I'll end support for popBD, but it may very well be the case if multiAVCHD extends it's features to replace popBD.

Dean

Thanks Dean, my post a few weeks back about volume splitting and issues on the Panasonic BD35 blu ray player was essentially about the same issue - that volume splitting seemed to work only on certain players, and probably due to the issue raised by Topfler(sp?).

My earlier post mentions that multiAVCHD has issues when i tried to "force" a split, but did work on a single volume when i manually edited the various files that set the first track to play and such. Hopefully your next set(s) of changes resolve these things, but i would hope that you still retain popDB (in its corrected/patched format) as an offshoot to multiAVCHD as its a lot simpler and direct to use for most conversion jobs.

I really like multiAVCHD. Its a clean app. But for a almost single click solition popBD rocks.

You do great work bro.

samtroy

7th June 2009, 11:27

First of all a big THANKS to deank for his great tools.

OK now.. just to make that perfectly clear:

It is NOT possible to take a MKV with a resolution of 1280x688p, run it through popBD, burn it to DVD and play it back on my standalone Samsung 1600 BD-player because of the missing black borders??

Do I really have to re-encode with uncropMKV every single MKV which has a cropped picture (removed black borders) before feeding it to popBD?? I certainly hope not.. :(

Sorry for that kinda noob question and thanks in advance for your answers.

turbojet

8th June 2009, 06:51

TsunamiR

2nd July 2009, 05:47

First of all, u make an amazing soft deank!... thanks a lot for your work and of course for share it!....

I write to let u know that I make my first test.. with these mkv

The Horsemen 2009 720p BluRay x264 BestHD

1280x720
6296 kbps
English AC3 640 kbps

I use the default options that came with the popBD, and the result of the process was burned into a single DVD5.

I tested with my BDP-S550 I works perfect, amazing quality,.. and no problems with the reproduction,.. and the subtitles works perfect too....

I ll gonna make a few more test and post it the results here to let u know how its works.

Sorry for my basic english, I speak spanish :)

tivobyte

18th September 2009, 03:04

The software seem sooo close to working, but it isn't quite there. I do get two directories that can be written to DVD's. The problem is, it doesn't compress the movie to those two DVD's (which I actually don't want anyway) In the temp directories, there are other movie files, but these aren't in a format that I can write to a DVD and play in a blueray.

While it might not be the best form, I'm glad that NWG posted a link to a program that worked. I have been looking for something to produce AVCHD disks, and there are all sorts of programs out there, but that one works great, is fast and does exactly what I want 1:1 blue ray to AVCHD.

I'd love to support folks providing freeware, but I needed something that works....

Your milage may varry.

deank

18th September 2009, 11:42

Then use multiAVCHD, not popBD.

deank

21st September 2009, 16:37

I think it is time to start this project from scratch...

Next version I'm preparing is going to get all the compatibility achieved by multiAVCHD (except HD-DVD), without the menu part and having the output split to as many DVDs/USBs/SDHCs as one may want.

Dean

~bT~

24th November 2009, 21:50

can anybody pls provide a mirror? RS is saying 'only avail for premium members' :/

deank

24th November 2009, 21:57

http://www.videohelp.com/tools/multiAVCHD (http://download.videohelp.com/deanbg/popBD_0.7.exe)

~bT~

24th November 2009, 22:31

^ thanks DeanK. much appreciated!

robshot

13th December 2009, 18:48

deank the work you are doing is awsome :)

thanks for these great tools and all the work you have put into it bud :thanks:

Hullow Dracore!
Long time no see.. Come visit the old chatroom :)

deank

22nd February 2010, 19:12

A quick note for the users of popBD - as I posted back in september, it is now possible to split an output to many volumes (1000 is a good number I think), but not in popBD.

I was spending some time this afternoon, thinking how to implement the cool popBD feature into multiAVCHD... And I did it...

multiAVCHD now supports splitting the output up to 1000 volumes. What does it mean? It means that you can use multiAVCHD as you did before, but if you use only ONE file ([f] mode) or playlist ([m] / [p] modes or DVD title [d] or Audio title [a]) you'll get the option to split the output in volumes.

It will be available in build 732.