Possible to change ref frame value w/out recoding?

[dave in or]

I have an h164 MKV file that has a level of high@5.1 with ref frame of 8. My blu ray player can only handle up to high@5.1 with ref frame of 5. Is it possible to change this without recoding? If not, how noticealbe will decrease in video quality will there be?

[aedipuss]

yes it's possible. will it actually play after you do??? try h264info.

[jagabo]

It's possible to change what the header says. But that doesn't change actual properties of the video. Fortunately, encoders rarely use more than 5 re-frames so most of the video will probably play. The question is, what happens when you hit a section that uses >5 re-frames? Will the player crash? Will you get a garbled picture for a few seconds?

[dave in or]

tried the h264info program. Media info listed the file as having 5 ref frames, but actually playing the video had the same effect as the file with 8 ref frames - which is blocky artefacts around motion. Does the h264info program only change the header?

Thanks for the input.

Any other ideas or programs to try?

I would just play the file on my computer and display it on my TV, but all of the media players make the audio out of sync. Recoding the file makes it work on my blu ray, but the conversion process will take about 2 days - I've been working with a 1 minute section.

[jagabo]

You can't change the actual properties (re-frames) of the video without reencoding.