Torchwood: Children of Earth (BD)

[WildTexasChef]

This is totally seperate from any of the other issues I have threads/post going about. Although admitingly, there might be similar issues.

Facts:

1. The original Blu-ray discs play without issue in my LG BD-390 player. Both disk 1 & disk 2.

2. Video Track is encoded using VC-1. There is a DTS-HD audio track. Three episodes per disc.

3. The discs also play fine on my computer using both Cyberlink PowerDVD and Corel's WinDVD program

I use AnyDVD-HD to rip both the Blu-rays to my hard drive. All episodes play just fine in PowerDVD & WinDVD.

I have tried both EAC3To and Tsmuxer and demuxed the M2TS tracks into a VC1 track & a DTS (downcoverted from DTS-HD) audio track.

Again each track (Video & Audio) will play just fine in both PowerDVD and WinDVD.

Here is my issue. AS soon as I mux the two files back together again. To either a TS/M2TS file or MKV file I get issues. The file will play, but there is alot of pixelation to it, lots of skips, pauses and "hiccups" when trying to play back the M2TS file or the MKV file. Again this is in either PowerDVD or WinDVD.

Using suggestions made to me in other posts and threads about converting VC-1 into another format, the problem exists in those new conversions as well.

There is something with "Torchwood" that is going on, or with the Torchwood files. As I have tried other Blu-ray rips that I have done including a few with VC-1 encoding as well and haven't had a problem like I am facing with "Torchwood".

So I am wondering if anyone else has had this issue with "Torchwood, Season 3, Children of Earth" This includes BOTH discs.

Keep in mind, that the original ripped M2TS file, unaltered from the way AnyDVD-HD wrote the file plays just fine in PowerDVD and WinDVD as well as the demuxed VC-1 only video track.

Any ideas why I can't get the two muxed back together again without major video flaws going on? There doesn't appear to be any issue with the audio quality, or audio/video sync.

Thanks

WTC

[Inspector.Gadget]

Take the original ripped M2TS file, run it through MediaInfo, and post the output of the "Text" view in a codebox in a new post in this thread. Chances are its some sort of 1080i and your VC-1 decoder isn't handling it well. What are you using to play back the MKV made from VC1 + DTS?

[WildTexasChef]

Take the original ripped M2TS file, run it through MediaInfo, and post the output of the "Text" view in a codebox in a new post in this thread. Chances are its some sort of 1080i and your VC-1 decoder isn't handling it well. What are you using to play back the MKV made from VC1 + DTS?

Running Windows 7 Ulitmate 64 bit and 32bit on another computer. Have tried the following players:

Windows Media Player
PowerDVD
WinDVD
Roxio CinePlayer

Media Info Report on the original M2TS File:
General
ID : 0
Complete name : F:\TORCHWOOD_S3_D1\BDMV\STREAM\00108.m2ts
Format : BDAV
Format/Info : Blu-ray Video
File size : 13.7 GiB
Duration : 58mn 43s
Overall bit rate : 33.3 Mbps
Maximum Overall bit rate : 48.0 Mbps

Video
ID : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : VC-1
Format profile : AP@L3
Duration : 58mn 43s
Bit rate : 30.0 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.482
Stream size : 12.3 GiB (90%)

Audio
ID : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Format profile : HRA
Duration : 58mn 43s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 2 047 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Surround: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Resolution : 16 bits
Stream size : 860 MiB (6%)

Text
ID : 4608 (0x1200)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : PGS

--------------------------

If there is anything else you need, let me know.

Like I said the ORIGINAL file listed above with mediainfo plays just fine in all of my players. Even the demuxed Video & or Audio will play. Its the newly created Muxed M2TS or MKV file that will no longer play correctly. The Video is "corrupted" the audio sounds fine.

Do you need media info on the newly created M2TS/MKV?

WTC

[Inspector.Gadget]

Nope. You have interlaced VC-1. It will not play properly with any decoder based on ffmpeg. Moreover, demuxing with eac3to may end up messing up the timestamps, causing errors in even the PDVD decoder.

If the episode (MPLS examined with BDInfo or eac3to) is just one M2TS file: Try just a straight remux/stripping of tracks with TSMuxerGUI and see how PDVD handles the new M2TS created without the use of eac3to.

If the episode spans more than one M2TS, you'll want audio gap correction during remuxing, so use eac3to with the -keepPulldown option and otherwise as usual.

[setarip_old]

@WildTexasChef

Hi!

It seems that, once again, after being GIVEN specific information about which programs to use, rather than doing the reading and testing necessary, you decide that any real effort on your part will be futile.

Available as a "cure for what ails you" this time, as you were directed to previously, BD_Rebuilder since v.26.01 (August 01, 2009) has the following capability:

Added MKVMERGE.EXE and supporting code within
BD-RB to enable reencoding of VC-1 field-based
sources, now no BD-5/9 backups will be blanked
automatically, and these streams will be reencoded
rather than copied for BD-25.

You really can't continue to expect that others are going to "do your homework for you...

[Inspector.Gadget]

An additional thought (and I feel as though I'm stealing setarip_old's line here): why, for MPLS/M2TS to MKV with DTS downconversion and no video re-encoding, are you not just using MakeMKV?

[WildTexasChef]

An additional thought (and I feel as though I'm stealing setarip_old's line here): why, for MPLS/M2TS to MKV with DTS downconversion and no video re-encoding, are you not just using MakeMKV?

I am not for sure I fully understand your question. So if my answer seems a little off, its because of that.

For MPG2 & H.264 encoded Blu-rays I have now started using MakeMKV to create MKV files from those Blu-rays. It does a good job of downconverting the DTS-HD & TrueHD audio down to it's core DTS or AC3 as well. So I am now using that for these types of Blu-rays. I still use AnyDVD-HD to rip the original Blu-ray as I store the ISO image on a seperate total system for backup purposes. I use MakeMKV & have it pull from the folder in question. Still works well.

I have mixed results with VC1 encoded Blu-rays.

Using my TiVo and pyTiVo as the server. IT will play VC-1 Encoded MKV's. Albeit though some exceptions. Such as Torchwood.

I would prefer using my BD390 as it has better video quality than the TiVo. The BD390 is also capable of playing back DTS sound tracks where as the TiVo is limited only to AC3 audio.

I tested the Blu-ray "Two Lovers" with two programs. One is Handbrake, the other is VC12AVI. Along with using TSMuxer, MKVmergeGUI.

Using the Handbrake option took a total processing time of about 18 hours on the system I use for video processing & gave me a MKV with a DTS audio track, and H.264 Video track.

The VC12AVI path, took about the same amount of time to process on the same system. My final result was a MKV with MPG2-HD video and a DTS audio track.

Both of these MKV files play without issue on my BD390. I am not able to tell any difference in video quality between the H.264 MKV file, and the MPG2-HD MKV file. This is being displayed on a Pioneer 60" KuDo Plasma display.

My video processing computer is currently processing an episode of Torchwood using the VC12AVI method. It's about 8 hours into this process. I am hoping that it works and I wil get a MPG2-HD/DTS MKV file in the end.

The basic process with either method (Handbrake or VC12AVI) is to convert the VC1 video to either MPG2-HD or H.264 and then create a MKV with the DTS-core or AC3 audio track along with the H.264/mpg2-hd video track.

The program I use to put all the AVI files back together again into one video track could easily produce a H.264 file as well as MPG2-hd. The reason I chose MPG2-hd (since it gives me the option) is that TiVo's that transfering 1 hour of MPG2-HD video to the TiVo is faster than transfering 1 hr of H.264 video.

Someone also suggested HDConvertToX to convert VC1 video to another format. I might give that a try as well.

Thank you for all your help. I have finally found a workable solution for my VC1 encoded blu-rays. It's still a little tedious. But I know it time it will improve. Same thing happend with SD-DVD's. Now I have one simple quick program that can easily handle all my needs for ripping and converting SD-DVD's. Eventually there will be something like that for Blu-rays as well. ;)

Oh... and of course thank you for telling me what might be the problem with Torchwood. (The original reason for this thread)

WTC

[Inspector.Gadget]

The reason I chose MPG2-hd (since it gives me the option) is that TiVo's that transfering 1 hour of MPG2-HD video to the TiVo is faster than transfering 1 hr of H.264 video.

Unless re-encoding is done while transferring to the Tivo, for the same length movie at the same bit rate, the encoder employed should not matter because the file will be the same size.

[WildTexasChef]

Unless re-encoding is done while transferring to the Tivo, for the same length movie at the same bit rate, the encoder employed should not matter because the file will be the same size.

The TiVo S3 & HD units support hardware decoding of MPG2-HD video. Supposedly it will support Hardware decoding of H.264 as well. Allthough pyTiVo and TiVo Desktop could be converting the audio. Especially if the audio track is DTS. Either way I got to work at least with VC-1.

Back to the Torchwood issue...

As I said before I am going to try Handbrake in it's conversion of the Torchwood VC1 M2TS file.

Handbrake stalled at the popup window of:

"Reading Source, The CLI is about to read your source... This process can take up to 1 minute. Processing... Please Wait!"
Only option Cancel button.

I left it at this screen for about 4 hours. When I ran Handbrake on the VC1 Blu-ray of "Two Lovers" This screen only stayed on for about 2 min. Then it went away and allowed me to choose my options. Maybe Handbrake is having issues with the video being interlaced? "Two Lovers" was proggressive.

(I edited the following about 15 min after I posted this post)

VC12AVI.... didn't work either. When I tried playing back the AVI files alone. Lots of pixelation. It looked as the video was still "Encrypted". So aparently VC12AVI is having issues with the interlaced video as well, since it worked perfectly with the VC-1 Progressive video of "Two Lovers"

Any Ideas as what might work with VC-1 Interlaced?

[setarip_old]

Any Ideas as what might work with VC-1 Interlaced?

And for a record THIRD (and final) time, you are directed to BD-Rebuilder:

http://forum.doom9.org/showpost.php?p=1340767&postcount=5

From this point forward, perhaps other members...

[WildTexasChef]

And for a record THIRD (and final) time, you are directed to BD-Rebuilder:

http://forum.doom9.org/showpost.php?p=1340767&postcount=5

From this point forward, perhaps other members...

And for a Third and final time... what I have tried to say a few times before about BD-Rebuilder is that it won't work on my system. It Freezes, or crashes, or runs forever but never finishes... The last time I let it run 72 hours before I forced it to quit. However... maybe that is because it was trying to transcode INTERLACED VC-1?

However... hence force.. the ORIGINAL question of THIS thread about "Torchwood" has probably been answered. As the issue someone pointed out in a previous post is that Torchwood is Interlaced VC-1 Video....

To the moderator..... Please Lock this thread... as the original question has apparently been answered for this thread (Torchwood issue).... I will move discussion of VC-1 issues back to the other threads that are dealing with this issue.

WTC