Homebrew HD DVD w/ commercial software

[mikeathome]

Here is a cookbook for homebrew HD DVD:
Disadvantage:
- $100 commercial piece of software required

FOR A FREE WORKING solution check out multiAVCHD from Dean. Some limitations might exist.

Features:
- AVC video
- chapters
- subpictures
- menu's (maybe, not included)

Howto:

0) Software required:
- AnyDVD HD v6.x (optional)
- BDInfo (optional)
- ffdshow v3054 or higher
- AVISynth v2.58
- eac3to v3.16 or higher
- DGIndexNV v2.xx
- x264 core:79 r1342 or higher (patched version)
- h264info v0.25
- tsmuxer 1.10.6
- suprip v1.16
- Ulead MF6+ / HD Power Plug / Patches (3)
- ImgBurn v2.5.0.0

1) Video:
1a) HD DVD Source:
eac3to feature1.evo+feature2.evo feature.mkv ;with AnyDVD HD running directly of HD DVD or from harddisk already ripped
- demux video to .mkv
- remove pulldown from video (29.97 -> 23.98)
- demux all audio and True HD Audio to .flac (remove normalization), (.flac | .ac3 | .eac)
- export chapters (.txt)
- demux all subs (.sup)

EXAMPLE:
c:\hddvdtools\eac3to d:\HVDVD_TS\feature1.evo+d:\HVDVD_TS\feature2.evo c:\hddvd\hddvd.mkv

1b) BD Source:
BDInfo find main feature .m2ts | .mpls
tsmuxer open main feature .m2ts | .mpls remove all unwanted streams and re-mux to new .ts stream ;with AnyDVD HD running directly of BD or from harddisk already ripped

EXAMPLE:
TSMuxer create a c:\hddvd\hddvd.ts with:
- Video stream 1, VC-1 1920x1080, 23,98fps
- Audio stream 2, True HD Audio, 6ch 1536kbps (core AC3, 640kbps, 6ch)
- SubPic stream 3, PGS English

2) DGIndexNV .mkv | .ts
- index the video (.dgi)
- crop to 1920 x 1080 (accept the proposal)
- .avs
LoadPlugin("...\DGDecode.dll")
DGSource ("...\.dgi")

EXAMPLE:
DGindex the hddvd.ts to hddvd.dgv create a hddvd.avs with:
LoadPlugin("c:\hddvdtools\DGDecode.dll")
DGSource ("c:\hddvd\hddvd.dgi")


3) x264.exe --bitrate 8000 --keyint 14 --level 4.1 --min-keyint 2 --ref 2 --mixed-refs --bframes 2 --weightb --subme 5 --partitions p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,i8x8 --8x8dct --ipratio 1.1 --pbratio 1.1 --vbv-bufsize 14000 --vbv-maxrate 17500 --qcomp 0.5 --merange 12 --threads auto --thread-input --trellis 0 --mvrange 511 --aud --nal-hrd --sar 1:1 --output "...\.264" "...\.avs"
- bitrate = ((8140[mb]*1024)-audiosize[kb])*8 / length[s]; should >5000, allow for some mux overhead

EXAMPLE:
x264.exe --bitrate 8000 --keyint 14 --level 4.1 --min-keyint 2 --ref 2 --mixed-refs --bframes 2 --weightb --subme 5 --partitions p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,i8x8 --8x8dct --ipratio 1.1 --pbratio 1.1 --vbv-bufsize 14000 --vbv-maxrate 17500 --qcomp 0.5 --merange 12 --threads auto --thread-input --trellis 0 --mvrange 511 --aud --nal-hrd --sar 1:1 --output "c:\hddvd\hddvd.264" "c:\hddvd\hddvd.avs"

4) h264info
- put 3:2 pulldown flags (23.98 -> 29.97)
- put picture structure (PPS) at every picture

5) Audio:
eac3to .eac .ac3 -448 -libav | eac3to .flac .ac3 -448 | eac3to .ts x: .ac3 -448 ;x: stream number of audiostream (usually 2: )
- encode .ac3 | .eac | .flac nach 448kbps 6ch 16b 48kHZ DD

EXAMPLE:
c:\hddvdtools\eac3to c:\hddvd\hddvd.ts 2: audio.ac3 -448 -libav

6) SubPictures:
eac3to .ts y: .sup ;for BD (.ts) input, y: stream number of subpicture stream (usually 3: ), with HD DVD input you already have the .sup step 1a)

EXAMPLE:
c:\hddvdtools\eac3to c:\hddvd\hddvd.ts 3: subpic.sup

7) suprip
- OCR .sup into .srt

8a) Use a Texteditor to change the Unicode .srt to DOS ASCII .srt (otherwise the subtitles won't show)
8b) Subtitles go out of sync towards the end of the movie. This is a bug in UMF. The out of sync expands to ~5secs @ 2hrs. In order to resolve this I wrote a little MS Excel spreadsheet which imports a .srt file and add's a delay to the individual subpic's timecodes (pro-rated). I didn't find a tool able to do this. All tools I tried add a general delay not a pro-rated one as required. PM me if you want this spreadsheet. This will keep the subpics in good sync throughout the movie.

9) Mux Audio+Video:
TsMuxer
- mux A+V zu .ts (check video framerate 29.97, set audio delay, check a/v properties)

10) UMF6+
- no convert compatible content
- no menu
- import .ts (check project size, should not increase, if you do DVD9 set the project size to 15Gig if you want to use the whole size of the disc, UMF will fail if not ~150MB space left, if you set your encoded size correct you'll be able to use the last byte on the DVD9 with this trick!)
- create chapters (manual or auto set)
- import .srt
- font Western (dropdown box), size 18
- build structure to harddisk

11) ImgBurn
- import HDVIDEO_TS, ADV_OBJ and blank VIDEO_TS
- set to UDF 2.50 (override message 2x)
- burn

DONE

[setarip_old]

@mikeathome

Hi!eac3to feature1.evo+feature2.evo feature.mkvThis sounds like you're backing up an already-existing commercial HD-DVD (as opposed to creating a homebrewn HD-DVD from scratch).

If so, shouldn't you also list another piece of commercial software as being required - namely "AnyDVDHD" for realtime ripping while using "eac3to" to create an MKV?

[laserfan]

Here is a cookbook...Nice list; looks (mostly) complete to me. I've made a couple of HD DVDs and this will serve to remind me what's involved if I ever want to do it again.

BTW I think too that some HD-DVD players insist on DVD+R as a booktype, i.e. my Pioneer burner forces DVD+R DL to DVD-ROM booktype (no good), and so I have to use a different burner than the Pioneer.

[mikeathome]

@setarip_old
Yes, if you want to use this procedure to backup your HD DVDs / BDs you might need this piece of software (but there are other free options as well). That was not the focus of this thread! I am not going to argue with you on the terminology 'from scratch'. The moment I create video and audio by encoding/re-encoding and ripping+OCR subpicture generation + manual chapter insert, I pretty much call from scratch, don't you?

The prime intent was to show the opportunity. You can use whatever source you like with Avisynth. DGs Nvidea GPU accelerated decoders will 'unleash' the GPU power for resize and crop operations, which will speed-up the process noticeable.

The reason I used eac3to for the .mkv generation is a glitch I came across concerning VC1 content in mkv-container (I had constant failure on one very specific movie using mkvmerge, no discredit: I usually use it and have been very much satisfied all time). I don't know why but it was messed up; movie going slower and faster randomly leading to a crappy encode. NO issues with eac3to, so, for the time being I recommend this method and yes it gives you all streams in one go in case you backup.

@laserfan
I have Plextor which doesn't know these issues ;-). I always burn a blank VIDEO_TS folder (with some fake title) with the HD DVD content (same like Dean does in his HD DVD procedure). That seams to do the trick. The DL9 needs UDF 2.5. With that setting you need to acknowledge the error messages from ImgBurn and enforce it.

mike
P.S.
AVSForum is proposing a similar procedure since October 2008!