So I've got an mkv file...

[koberulz]

And all I know is that it's from something that was originally HD, and it looks bigger than usual.

1. How do I know if it's HD or simply an SD version of something that was originally HD?

2. If it is HD, how do I convert it to something I can put into Encore and play around with, rather than just burning straight to a finished disc structure, retaining the high def video and surround sound?

[poisondeathray]

1) Quality compared to a true HD source is usually very poor. There is usually lack of detail, and you should be able to tell right away that it is an upscaled source

2) You can import raw video assets into Encore. Likely it's h.264 video, so use mkvextract to demulitplex the vidoe and audio, and import them separately. Encore won't accept all media types; if you want more info on what is inside the mkv, use mediainfo . If they are not valid you will have to re-encode to a format that is valid (lose quality when re-encoding using lossy formats)

[Baldrick]

1. Use MediaInfo and check the resolution/video frame size. And play it, if it looks like hd for you it's probably enough...

2. If you just want a basic blu-ray from the mkv use multiAVCHD.

[koberulz]

Likely it's h.264 video,

How do I tell this, and what difference does it make?

check the resolution/video frame size.

What resolutions are SD/HD?

[poisondeathray]

Likely it's h.264 video,

How do I tell this, and what difference does it make?

It's a video compression format, look it up on wikipedia for more information. It's not compatible with DVD (you need MPEG-2) , but commonly used in blu-ray. Again, use mediainfo

check the resolution/video frame size.

What resolutions are SD/HD?

720x576 and below is usually considered SD , anything above is usually considered HD

[koberulz]

Likely it's h.264 video,

How do I tell this, and what difference does it make?

It's a video compression format, look it up on wikipedia for more information. It's not compatible with DVD (you need MPEG-2)

I know that. I was asking what difference it would make to the mkvextract process.

but commonly used in blu-ray. Again, use mediainfo

I have, but I can't see anywhere that it says it's h.264, which could be that I'm just not seeing it, or that it's not encoded that way.

check the resolution/video frame size.

What resolutions are SD/HD?

720x576 and below is usually considered SD , anything above is usually considered HD

I've got one that's 1280 x 720, I'm assuming that's HD, yeah?

I've got another, though, that is 1024 x 576, which doesn't make it definitively either.

Also, what's stopping it from being SD video that's just been resized?

[poisondeathray]

MKVextract should extract the contents either way, so it doesn't matter if that's what youre asking

If you can't understand it, post the text info from mediainfo. It might be labelled AVC or other synonyms like AVC1

Nothing from the specs will tell you definitively that it's from an SD vs HD source, you have to use your eyes

[koberulz]

General
Format                           : Matroska
File size                        : 1.47 GiB
Duration                         : 50mn 2s
Overall bit rate                 : 4 199 Kbps
Encoded date                     : UTC 2009-02-07 08:51:23
Writing application              : mkvmerge v2.4.0 ('Fumbling Towards Ecstasy') built on Oct 11 2008 20:13:15
Writing library                  : libebml v0.7.7 + libmatroska v0.8.1

Video
ID                               : 1
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : High@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC           : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames        : 3 frames
Muxing mode                      : Container profile=Unknown@4.0
Codec ID                         : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                         : 49mn 59s
Bit rate                         : 3 731 Kbps
Nominal bit rate                 : 3 811 Kbps
Width                            : 1 280 pixels
Height                           : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Frame rate                       : 29.970 fps
Resolution                       : 24 bits
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.135
Stream size                      : 1.30 GiB (89%)
Writing library                  : x264 core 66 r1092 60f4cd8
Encoding settings                : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=7 / psy_rd=1.0:0.0 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=6 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / mbaff=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=0 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / wpredb=1 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40(pre) / rc=2pass / bitrate=3811 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=25000 / vbv_bufsize=25000 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=1:1.00

Audio
ID                               : 2
Format                           : AC-3
Format/Info                      : Audio Coding 3
Codec ID                         : A_AC3
Duration                         : 50mn 2s
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 384 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 2 channels
Channel positions                : L R
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Stream size                      : 137 MiB (9%)

[poisondeathray]

It's AVC (h.264)

Technically 720p30 isn't a valid blu-ray format, only 720p60 is. Encore might reject it. Most standalone players will accept it, if you use multiavchd for example, to author

Your video was encoded with proper vbv buffer values (required for device playback), but long GOP at 250 , so some standalone players might studder on ff/rwd on some sections

[koberulz]

I'm alright with the first sentence, but beyond that I'm horribly confused.

[jman98]

720x576 and below is usually considered SD , anything above is usually considered HD

I've got one that's 1280 x 720, I'm assuming that's HD, yeah?

I've got another, though, that is 1024 x 576, which doesn't make it definitively either.

Also, what's stopping it from being SD video that's just been resized?[/quote]

1) Yes.
2) Yes it does. 1024x576 is larger than 720x576 (do the math). Thus it is HD.
3) Nothing, but such would be rare and look like crap. I'm not saying that there isn't some idiot out there who wouldn't do it, but most people aren't that stupid. And besides, I think it's safe to assume that you are not paying for these files in any way, so you have no control over what you get and no right to complain about it if you don't like it.

[koberulz]

720x576 and below is usually considered SD , anything above is usually considered HD

I've got one that's 1280 x 720, I'm assuming that's HD, yeah?

I've got another, though, that is 1024 x 576, which doesn't make it definitively either.

Also, what's stopping it from being SD video that's just been resized?

1) Yes.
2) Yes it does. 1024x576 is larger than 720x576 (do the math). Thus it is HD.[/quote]

The height being 576 in both cases, though, doesn't make it all that clear.

3) Nothing, but such would be rare and look like crap. I'm not saying that there isn't some idiot out there who wouldn't do it, but most people aren't that stupid. And besides, I think it's safe to assume that you are not paying for these files in any way, so you have no control over what you get and no right to complain about it if you don't like it.

I have no intention of complaining, I'd just rather burn SD video to a DVD rather than screwing around with Blu-Ray, for the rather obvious reason that when it comes to Blu-Ray I really don't know all that much. I'd rather ensure there's a benefit to it before I do unnecessary work.

They don't look like crap, though, so I think it's fairly safe to assume we're dealing with HD files here, depending on what poisondeathray was on about.

[poisondeathray]

I'm alright with the first sentence, but beyond that I'm horribly confused.

Exactly what do you want to know, and exactly what are you trying to do?

If you just want to put this on an optical disc (even dvd5/9 or bd25/50) to keep high definition for your standalone blu-ray player, try multiavchd

If you just want a DVD (as in standard definition DVD-video playable in a regular DVD player) , then use a program to convert to DVD. Look at the tools llist on the left column of this website. AVStoDVD is a good one to try

[koberulz]

exactly what are you trying to do?

1. Determine if I've got HD or SD video (which seems to be done, other than the fact that 1024 x 576 is simply SD widescreen with square pixels, so I'm still not entirely sure what the deal is there).
2. If I am dealing with HD video (which I apparently am, though I'm not really sure what all the numbers you rattled off meant), turn the mkv file into something I can open in Encore CS4 in order to burn a blu-ray disc.
3. Burn a blu-ray disc.
4. Watch the resulting blu-ray disc, feeling good about my achievement.

[poisondeathray]

All "HD" means is video dimension bigger than 720x576. This does not necessarily indicate anything about the quailty (e.g. if it was upscaled from an SD source). So yes, you have an HD video (1280x720 1:1 pixel)

On a PC, a 720x576 16:9 video will display as 1024x576 because it is anamorphic, so the pixels are "stretched" wider upon display, but it is still SD because the original frame size is 720x576

Encore might not accept the video asset when you demux it with mkvextract, because it's technically not compliant with blu-ray specs - You can try it if you want - that's why the suggestion to use multiavchd.

720p60 is 1280x720 59.94 fps - you don't have this
720p30 is 1280x720 29.97 fps - this is what you have, and is technically, non-compliant with blu-ray

[koberulz]

the suggestion to use multiavchd.

720p60 is 1280x720 59.94 fps - you don't have this
720p30 is 1280x720 29.97 fps - this is what you have, and is technically, non-compliant with blu-ray

What will the end result be? The equivalent of VOB files?

[poisondeathray]

the suggestion to use multiavchd.

720p60 is 1280x720 59.94 fps - you don't have this
720p30 is 1280x720 29.97 fps - this is what you have, and is technically, non-compliant with blu-ray

What will the end result be? The equivalent of VOB files?

I guess you could call it the "equivalent" for blu-ray.

If you used multiavchd, it would author the video as transport streams (.m2ts) along with the folder file structure, analogous to a structure required for DVD-Video. You would have something like an AVCHD disk, but it's still not technically compliant, although it should play in the majority of standalone units. You could even burn it on DVD5 media since it's not very large in size.

[koberulz]

Every time I think I almost understand what's going on, it gets more confusing.

What exactly is AVCHD, and how does it relate to Blu-Ray?

[creamyhorror]

If you're confused by terminology or want to know what programs do, you should use search and find out instead of asking about every basic detail.

[koberulz]

I've done some searching, but apparently Wikipedia doesn't speak noob. All I can really tell is that AVCHD can be burned to Blu-Ray or DVD, and quality-wise is somewhere between the two, or something, and compatibility is weird.

This was a lot simpler when it was just a blu-ray vs dvd thing.

[koberulz]

Is there someone that can explain the DVD vs AVCHD vs Blu-Ray thing? I'm still not really understanding it...what are the pros and cons of each, particularly with respect to the source I have? What effect does the framerate actually have?

[koberulz]

So I used mkvextract to see if it would work, and Encore is refusing to import the resulting h264 file because the correct decoder isn't installed. What do I need to install to make it work?