dvd to hd

[mitche]

Greetings to all.
I tried converting a dvd to hd (mkv) so I can view it on my hdtv. It plays on my pc but not on my hdtv. I used woundershare dvd ripper plat. What did i do wrong? please help.

[Baldrick]

You posted in wrong section. Moving you to our dvd ripping/conversion section.

Give us more information. Which HDTV? Does it support mkv? What settings did you choose in wondershare? You can for example choose different video codecs and encoding profiles.

[mitche]

Thanks for putting me on the right path.
Its an RCA 46" full hd 1080p. Well it supports H.264, avi, mov and a few others that can't come to mind right now. In wondershare, for HD VIDEO I choose mkv, but there were others like TS, TRP, AVI,MOV,MP4. I believe the encoder was preset to h.264..

[edDV]

Thanks for putting me on the right path.
Its an RCA 46" full hd 1080p. Well it supports H.264, avi, mov and a few others that can't come to mind right now. In wondershare, for HD VIDEO I choose mkv, but there were others like TS, TRP, AVI,MOV,MP4. I believe the encoder was preset to h.264..

Quote here what the manual says is supported along with all the footprints.

MKV is probably the issue. Which part of the Caribbean? NTSC or PAL TV?

"NTSC/ATSC" HDTV sets are designed generally for MPeg2 transport streams (TS, M2T) which are most likely to play. h.264 in a TS transport stream container or MP4 is more likely to play than MKV.

Also try the files first from a USB flash drive. Not all TV sets support hard drives and among those that do, most want a FAT32 drive formating.

[manono]

What's the point? It'll be upscaled to 1080p anyway. Do you really think you'll get a better picture by reencoding it yourself to 1080p? Well, you won't. Just save yourself a lot of wasted effort and play the DVD.

[edDV]

I agree on that. A DVD player is the best way to play a DVD.

[MilesAhead]

If it's more convenient to play an .mkv file just rip the DVD with MakeMKV. No encoding. On my WD set top box subtitles work fine. Only thing is you don't get menus. If it's an episodic dvd just rip all the titles. It can make a difference how you are connected. I have my DVD player connected via component. 16x9 video is converted to 1080i by my TV. But 4x3 won't be upscaled. Better to rip the pan & scan dvd to .mkv and play on my set top box. It's connected via HDMI. Even 4x3 will be upconverted and shown in a postage stamp. Still looks better than when shown in SD.

The situation will vary depending on the number and type of connections available etc..

[manono]

But 4x3 won't be upscaled.

Am I not understanding something? By definition a 1080p widescreen TV set will play everything at 1080p and upscale anything that's not already 1080p. If the video AR is 1.33:1, then black bars get added to the sides. For a postage stamp effect (black bars on all 4 sides), you'll have a widescreen 4:3 source, with black bars above and below encoded into the picture and black bars added to the sides. It still plays at 1080p, though. For anything else, either the TV set or the player isn't set up properly (or designed correctly).

Sure, maybe for some reason it's more convenient to play an MKV, although I don't understand why that would be true unless you don't actually own a DVD player.

Still looks better than when shown in SD.

An SD source gets upscaled to Hi-Def if the TV set is 1080p (as mitche's TV set is). So I also don't understand the reasoning behind the statement. Are you saying the upscaler in your TV set is so horrible you'd rather reencode the SD source to Hi-Def yourself?

[mitche]

Thanks edDV,
I will try the mp4, I agree on the dvd player, just wanted to move away from the dvd player and dump everything on an HDD that can play on my HDTV
Yes manono,
i thought i would get a better picture.

[Noahtuck]

Yep, my dvd player upscales my old married with children 4:3 dvd's great to my HD tv in my bedroom through the HDMI cable.

OAR gives me black bars on the sides or i can zoom it in and overscan it to look 16:9 but of course some of the top and bottom get cut off but it's hard to tell by just watching it.

But i prefer the bars on the sides as i like seeing AMAP

[mitche]

manono, i don't have a dvd player at present, 3 went bad on me and I am looking for ways to eleminate its use. if its possible...

[mitche]

well guys the vibes i am getting is a dvd player is still the best choice in my case. Guess I have to get one then. I will still go ahead and try the HD mp4 .
Thanks guys , will report on the mp4

[MilesAhead]

But 4x3 won't be upscaled.

Am I not understanding something?

Most likely.

I can only tell you what my TV does. Not what your TV does. Using component connection it will only upscale the resolution to 1080i if the video is 16x9. It's a CRT type HDTV with a 16x9 mode not a wall sized wide screen. Over HDMI cable the same DVD player is capable of upscale to 1080p. Since the max on my set is 1080i it outputs to that res and postage stamps the 4x3 SD.

Believe me, I've pumped tons of 4x3 SD DVD into it trying all the settings to get it to postage stamp at 1080i. It won't do it using component. My WD set top box only has HDMI so that uses my connection. It's no big deal since most 4x3 SD I have, if it's old letterboxed stuff, I've already auto-cropped to AVI postage stamp 16x9 that does upconvert. The new stuff that's SD I just play on the WD box.

My DVD players are a few years old. Philips 5990s. Maybe the new ones don't insist on HDMI output to upscale 4x3. But that's the point. Everyone doesn't have the same equipment. Some setups it's worth doing a quick rip to allow more options.

[neomaine]

well guys the vibes i am getting is a dvd player is still the best choice in my case. Guess I have to get one then. I will still go ahead and try the HD mp4 .
Thanks guys , will report on the mp4

To play directly from the DVD, yes, it's the best choice. Make sure to get one that has progressive scan over whatever connection (probably HDMI) you use. Otherwise, you'll get a progressive (source DVD) to interlaced (dvd player) to progressive (your TV) conversion. Though at this point, your better off getting a BluRay player for future proofing.

However, if you would like to have your TV do the upscaling, continue to save your DVDs (and eventually your BluRay) to your hard drive and use a media player like a WDTV. I'm still using the second gen WDTV Live (no Netflix, but that's OK for me...) for playing all my media.