Help with DVD to MKV

[CV91913]

For the past couple of years I have been converting DVD's and a few Bluray discs to MP4 to play on my Android Tablet. I have been using MPeg Video Wizard which will import DVD's and Bluray m2ts files and convert them to MP4. But recently I ran into a Bluray that did not have it's subtitle as part of the stream. So I turned to trusty BDRB to convert to MKV because it will retain subtitles. Worked great! There are some issues with Android players not clearing the PGS subtitles correctly, but they do work. I decided to give up the old program and use BDRB to do the DVD conversions as well. OOPs...The MKV files made from the DVD imports do not play the video in any Android player that uses HW decoding. I do have a couple of players that do SW decoding so I can play them. I have tried the files on two different Tablets running different versions of Android (ICS and Jellybean.) I also tried to export to an MP4 using the same DVD import files and that did not play either. I am using the same Alternate.txt settings for both the BD source and the DVD source except I do the BDs at 1280x720 and I leave the DVD res alone. That is the only difference in the two builds.

Is there some setting I am missing? The MKV that works is from a 1920x1080 VC-1 and the one that doesn't is an MPEG 720x480. The one that does not work is 23.97 fps, Progressive, 2:3 Pulldown NTSC and the one that does work is Just 23.97 fps, Progressive.

I am not reporting a BDRB bug, just looking for some help from those of you that know a lot more about this stuff than I do. I do have logs and MediaInfo on all of this stuff but that is a lot to post unless it would be of more help. I do have Use X264 internal LAVF for decoding set.

[jdobbs]

For the past couple of years I have been converting DVD's and a few Bluray discs to MP4 to play on my Android Tablet. I have been using MPeg Video Wizard which will import DVD's and Bluray m2ts files and convert them to MP4. But recently I ran into a Bluray that did not have it's subtitle as part of the stream. So I turned to trusty BDRB to convert to MKV because it will retain subtitles. Worked great! There are some issues with Android players not clearing the PGS subtitles correctly, but they do work. I decided to give up the old program and use BDRB to do the DVD conversions as well. OOPs...The MKV files made from the DVD imports do not play the video in any Android player that uses HW decoding. I do have a couple of players that do SW decoding so I can play them. I have tried the files on two different Tablets running different versions of Android (ICS and Jellybean.) I also tried to export to an MP4 using the same DVD import files and that did not play either. I am using the same Alternate.txt settings for both the BD source and the DVD source except I do the BDs at 1280x720 and I leave the DVD res alone. That is the only difference in the two builds.

Is there some setting I am missing? The MKV that works is from a 1920x1080 VC-1 and the one that doesn't is an MPEG 720x480. The one that does not work is 23.97 fps, Progressive, 2:3 Pulldown NTSC and the one that does work is Just 23.97 fps, Progressive.

I am not reporting a BDRB bug, just looking for some help from those of you that know a lot more about this stuff than I do. I do have logs and MediaInfo on all of this stuff but that is a lot to post unless it would be of more help. I do have Use X264 internal LAVF for decoding set.So, if I hear right, you're saying that anything that has pulldown isn't working on the Android tablet but all others are?

[CV91913]

So, if I hear right, you're saying that anything that has pulldown isn't working on the Android tablet but all others are?

Yea, I guess so. To be clear, pulldown was in the Psudo BD structure not in the MKV. The MKV that works remained at 23.97 and the one that doesn't work is 29.97 that is really the only difference.

I happen to have a title (The Siege) that I had both the DVD and BD for so I did more testing with that title and tried to make things as apples to apples as possible, down to using the same alternate.txt settings for both which meant upscaling the DVD to 1280x720. BD mkv worked DVD mkv did not. I tried another program as a test and using both the DVD direct and the BDRB Psudo BD structure, it made mkv files that played. One difference in the encoding settings was that the MKV did not play had interlaced=fake / bluray_compat=1 and the one that did play had interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0.

I have all of the logs and mediainfo data on all of these tests if you want to spend time on this. I know Android playback is probably very low on your priorities. BDRB does a great job of converting BDs to mkv and I will just use something else to do DVD's.

Thanks for your reply....

[jdobbs]

Yea, I guess so. To be clear, pulldown was in the Psudo BD structure not in the MKV. The MKV that works remained at 23.97 and the one that doesn't work is 29.97 that is really the only difference.

I happen to have a title (The Siege) that I had both the DVD and BD for so I did more testing with that title and tried to make things as apples to apples as possible, down to using the same alternate.txt settings for both which meant upscaling the DVD to 1280x720. BD mkv worked DVD mkv did not. I tried another program as a test and using both the DVD direct and the BDRB Psudo BD structure, it made mkv files that played. One difference in the encoding settings was that the MKV did not play had interlaced=fake / bluray_compat=1 and the one that did play had interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0.

I have all of the logs and mediainfo data on all of these tests if you want to spend time on this. I know Android playback is probably very low on your priorities. BDRB does a great job of converting BDs to mkv and I will just use something else to do DVD's.

Thanks for your reply....What happens if you uncheck "Use DEINTERLACER..." in the setup dialog? Fake interlacing only occurs on DVD sources when that is checked.

[CV91913]

What happens if you uncheck "Use DEINTERLACER..." in the setup dialog? Fake interlacing only occurs on DVD sources when that is checked.

I changed the DEINTERLACER setting and it changed the display aspect ratio from 16:9 to 4:3 but it still does not play. It turns out that all of the DVD's I have converted to MKV are not true 16:9 but some anamorphic ratio. It appears that all of the MKV's that work are 23.97 fps although I do have a bunch of MP4's that are 29.97 and they work fine. I am attaching some MediaInfo info that may or may not help you.

Alternate.txt

[00034]
caption=Samsung (DVD) MKV Container, No Resize, Auto-AAC
vBitrate=2500
aBitrate=*
aType=1
vFormat=7
cType=1

This is the MediaInfo from the BDRB Psudo BD
Codec ID : 2
Duration : 1h 55mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 5 755 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 9 800 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Standard : Component
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Scan order : 2:3 Pulldown
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.694

This MKV From Handbrake Plays
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 55mn
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 320 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.25:1
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Writing library : x264 core 130 r2273 b3065e6

This MKV From BD BDRB Plays
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 55mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Maximum bit rate : 15.0 Mbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Writing library : x264 core 138 r2358 9e941d1

This MKV From DVD BDRB Does Not Play
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 55mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Maximum bit rate : 15.0 Mbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : MBAFF
Writing library : x264 core 138 r2358 9e941d1

This MKV From DVD is from before changing the Deinterlace Setting to Off
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 55mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Maximum bit rate : 15.0 Mbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Writing library : x264 core 138 r2358 9e941d1
As you can see, Handbrake changes the Aspect ratio and does 23.97, I just told it to use Width 720 and maintain aspect ratio. I don't know what to make of all this, I hope you do. Let me know if you want any other logs or info. Thanks again for your reply.