PS3: Tsmuxer .m2ts inconsistent results

[zzspectrez]

Hello..

Goal:
* Downconvert my BluRay Collection to 720p (Save space)
* Maintain AC3
* Store also Locally on PS3 for convenient playback


My Experience:

I usually resize and transcode with MEGUI. The settings I have used for x264 video have varied with one of the AVCHD or PS3 encoder profiles.

I convert DTS to AC3 with eac3tool then mux in matroska for storage on PC.

I then would convert ac3 with neroaacenc to LC-Multichannel and mux in MP4 container for PS3. Works good but no multichannel since my receiver doesnt have HDMI in only Optical.

Saw some posts saying to use TsMuxer to mux mkv to m2ts file and you can maintain AC3.

Here comes my trouble. Some of my videos work, others come up as unsupported. Those that work, AC3 works great and is passed to receiver. Some videos allow seeking and thumbnail search others don't. Saw reference to unselect continually insert SPS/PPS in TsMuxer to allow seeking. This makes the file show up as unsupported.

So I did a test. I took a 5 minute clip and encoded as BluRay-HQ, AVCHD-HQ, PS-HQ.

Muxed with AC3 into Matroska and then Used tsMuxerGUI to convert to m2ts changed PS-HQ profile to 4.1.

Only PS-HQ clip plays. Others show unsupported.

Take the Same video sources. Convert AC3 to Nero AAC and mux into mp4 container.

All three clips play fine. So it is not the actual video streams.

Whats Going ON?

[deank]

Skip all unnecessary steps and use the video from megui and the ac3 audio from eac3to. Load .264 video and .ac3 audio in tsmuxer and select M2TS muxing.

There is absolutely no need to go to AAC or MP4 (worse!).

If PS3 says 'unsupported' it is VIDEO related so it means that you have wrong settings at video-encoding stage. tsMuxeR will only re-mux the video.

I've done this 100's of times and never had problems (not using megui of course, but multiAVCHD).

If only one of 3 profiles work it is a bug in megui encoding parameters for H.264/AVC compliance.

[zzspectrez]

Originally Posted by deank

There is absolutely no need to go to AAC or MP4 (worse!).

I tried using the same video streams muxed in mp4 container with AAC to verify the PS3 could play the video. In the mp4 container it could no problem. I converted AC3 to AAC because I dont believe mp4 supports AC3 audio.

Originally Posted by deank

If PS3 says 'unsupported' it is VIDEO related so it means that you have wrong settings at video-encoding stage. tsMuxeR will only re-mux the video.

Thats what I thought. What confuses me is the same video in an mp4 container plays fine. When muxed into the m2ts it is showing unsupported.

[deank]

Playstation 3 uses completely different approaches when playing different media (mp4/m2ts/mpg, AVCHD structures, avi).

For example playing MP4 from camcoder recording 1920x1080@60fps won't work in the original MP4 container but plays flawlessly when muxed into m2ts container.

Can you post (mediainfo) information about the parameters you used for the working and non-working encodes?

m2ts is a container with some restrictions, but quite useful when you want to go from file to Blu-ray/AVCHD structures.

[zzspectrez]

Originally Posted by deank

Can you post (mediainfo) information about the parameters you used for the working and non-working encodes?

m2ts is a container with some restrictions, but quite useful when you want to go from file to Blu-ray/AVCHD structures.

This is the commandline shown for the profiles in MEGUI:


Bluray HQ
program --crf 20.0 --profile high --level 4.1 --bframes 3 --ref 4 --slices 4 --aud --nal-hrd vbr --b-pyramid strict
--keyint 24 --min-keyint 2 --vbv-bufsize 30000 --vbv-maxrate 40000 --output "output" "input"

AVCHD HQ
program --crf 20.0 --trellis 0 --profile high --level 4.1 --bframes 3 --ref 4 --slices 4 --aud --nal-hrd vbr
--b-pyramid strict --keyint 24 --min-keyint 2 --vbv-maxrate 14000 --vbv-bufsize 14500 --output "output" "input"

PS3 HQ
program --crf 20.0 --b-pyramid none --profile high --level 4.2 --vbv-bufsize 31250 --vbv-maxrate 31250 --aud
--output "output" "input"

Thanks for your help!

[zzspectrez]

Originally Posted by deank

Skip all unnecessary steps and use the video from megui and the ac3 audio from eac3to. Load .264 video and .ac3 audio in tsmuxer and select M2TS muxing.

I had thought incorrectly that I had to import a matroska file!
When I had previously tried adding the h264 video from an mp4 container nothing would show up. When you exit txmuxer it would throw a blank error.

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Megui defaults to encoding your video into an mp4 container. I did not notice it had a raw option. I Tried this and tsmuxer accepted it with no error!

Thanks for helping me skip a step!!!

AND!!!

For whatever reason these resulting m2ts files show supported with ps3 and the seeking works???!!

I am more confused now!

[zzspectrez]

So to recap my findings:

Encode same avisynth clip trimmed to 5 minutes.

1. X264 AVCHD - High Quality
A) Encode AVCHD-HQ with MeGUI in mp4 container mux to matroska with AC3 audio import TsMuxer mux as m2ts...
PS3 shows unsupported
B) Encode AVCHD-HQ with MeGUI as rawavc. TsMuxer import raw avc and AC3 mux as m2ts
PS3 plays video/audio thumbnail search works

2. X264 Bluray - High Quality
A) Encode Bluray-HQ with MeGUI in mp4 container mux to matroska with AC3 audio. Tsmuxer import mkv file mux as m2ts...
PS3 shows unsupported
B) Encode Bluray-HQ with MeGUI as rawavc. TsMuxer import raw avc and AC3 mux as m2ts
PS3 plays video/audio thumbnail search works

3. X264 PS3 - High Quality
A) Encode PS3-HQ with MeGUI in mp4 container mux to matroska with AC3 audio. Tsmuxer import mkv file mux as m2ts..
PS3 plays video/audio thumbnail search does NOT work.
B) Encode PS3-HQ with MeGUI im rawavc. TsMuxer import raw avc and AC3 mux as m2ts
PS3 Plays video/audio thumbnail search does work!!

[deank]

I'm glad you worked it out.

Probably something breaks while going from MP4 to MKV to M2TS. Still, the less processing you do (the less time you waste) - the better.

Dean

p.s. btw all three profiles from megui you posted don't look good to me (not in AVCHD/Blu-ray context anyway). I don't know in what format your source files are, but you can try convert them with multiAVCHD. And better - if you use Blu-ray discs as sources - use BD-Rebuilder. AVCHD Coder and RipBot should also perform much better than just using megui.

[zzspectrez]

Originally Posted by deank

I'm glad you worked it out.

Probably something breaks while going from MP4 to MKV to M2TS. Still, the less processing you do (the less time you waste) - the better.

Dean

Unfortunately most of my blu-rays and dvds have already been converted to matroska files. I am going to try extracting the raw streams from the mkv and try them with tsMuxer. Hopefully that will work.

Originally Posted by deank

p.s. btw all three profiles from megui you posted don't look good to me (not in AVCHD/Blu-ray context anyway).

They are the default profiles that come with MeGUI.

What would recomended command line settings be for AVCHD compliant encodes?

Originally Posted by deank

And better - if you use Blu-ray discs as sources - use BD-Rebuilder. AVCHD Coder and RipBot should also perform much better than just using megui.

I opted for MeGUI because that was what I have always used with my DVD conversions with good results.

All my new sources are Blu-Ray 1080p h.264 or VC-1. Im taking these sources and downsizing to 720p (dgdecnv hw resize) and encoding h.264 (via x264) and downconverting DTS audio to AC3 and muxing into mkv container with subtitles and optional commentary tracks.

Is MeGUI no longer considered a good front-end to x264??

BD-Rebuilder I have played with also but ultimately I am trying to get away from the optical discs and just have media files on the PS3 hard drive (500gb drive).

Originally Posted by deank

I don't know in what format your source files are, but you can try convert them with multiAVCHD.

I have just recently started playing with your multiAVCHD with good results importing a few mkv (blu-ray compliant streams) and creating an AVCHD BD-RE 25 disc. The menu's are very impressive!! My PS3s optical drive (2nd one) is flacky about what it will read. It reads my BD-RE 25g will not read Blu-Ray 50g, BD-9 or BD-4.5.

I noticed there is an option for AVCHD folders for source but have not played with it yet.

Thanks a lot!!

[asarian]

Originally Posted by zzspectrez

Unfortunately most of my blu-rays and dvds have already been converted to matroska files. I am going to try extracting the raw streams from the mkv and try them with tsMuxer. Hopefully that will work.

Um, why not extract directly from your Blu-Ray discs?

[Ghitulescu]

Originally Posted by asarian

Um, why not extract directly from your Blu-Ray discs?

Originally Posted by zzspectrez

Goal:
* Downconvert my BluRay Collection to 720p (Save space)

You actually waste space, by duplicating your collection. You would save space if you don't have the BDs and delete the MKVs after downscaling

[Blue_MiSfit]

Indeed. You will have much better results by working with your original BluRay discs and doing a fresh rip.

... You DO own the BluRay discs, right?

Derek