Black Screen when Encoding with Handbrake 0.10.0

[Lolarikos]

Hello. I have a matroska file over 23GB and i want to fit it in a Single Layer Blu-Ray Disc, so I encode it with handbrake and I reduce the video's
bitrate. I also do some cropping to adjust it to 16:9 aspect ratio. I then use tsmuxer to create a Blu-Ray structure and burn it with ImgBurn.
I have read all the similar threads related to my problem but I found no answer, since all the other cases had to do with the number of reference frames. My video has 4 reference frames, so no problem with that. I think i do something wrong with the encoding. I am copying and pasting the media info of my mkv file and I think you can find the reason why I get black screen with regular sound:

General
Unique ID : 29750432687282932700305060085792920363 (0x1661B9942AA05041C69D1AC246C6532B)
Complete name : C:\Users\ac\Downloads\My movie.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 2
File size : 21.8 GiB
Duration : 3h 6mn
Overall bit rate : 16.7 Mbps
Movie name : My movie
Writing application : HandBrake 0.10.0 2014112200
Writing library : Lavf55.12.0

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 3h 6mn
Bit rate : 16.5 Mbps
Width : 1 420 pixels
Height : 800 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
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.606
Stream size : 21.1 GiB (97%)
Writing library : x264 core 142 r2479 dd79a61
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=1 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x1:0x111 / me=hex / subme=2 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=0 / 8x8dct=0 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / threads=6 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=1 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=24 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=10 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=16500 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=20000 / vbv_bufsize=25000 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709
Color range : Limited

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 3h 6mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 192 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : 27ms
Stream size : 256 MiB (1%)
Title : Stereo
Default : Yes
Forced : No


And something else. Let's say I had a matroska with more than four reference frames and I wanted to reduce them with Handbrake 0.10.0.
How can I do that. Handbrake 0.9.8 had an Advanced tab where you could adjust that setting. But the new version doesn't have that tab. Am i right? So how can I do that. Do I need to go back to 0.9.8?

Thank you very much in advance.

[Baldrick]

Or you could use bdrebuilder or bdtoavchd and try make a bluray from your mkv. They should have the encoding settings correct.

And you can still use the advanced settings in handbrake but you must enable it from the settings. Can't remember exactly where now. File -> options .

[Kerry56]

When you say you are getting a black screen, is this in a media player in your computer, or is this from a stand alone Blu-ray player?

The Advanced tab is available in the version of Handbrake I have (0.1.0.6534). Look in the Video tab and put a check mark in the box marked Use Advanced Tab Instead.

[Lolarikos]

Thanks for the answers. I don't use bdrebuilder, because I can't get rid of the black bars and it generally doesn't have many capabilities as a program.
I haven't tried the other one, but it seems to adjust the size of the output to fit in a DVD. I want to burn the BDMV/CERTIFICATE folders to a BD-R.
The Media Player Classic plays the BDMV created by tsmuxer fine. It is when i burn it on a BD-R and try to watch it on PS3 when I get the black screen. But the audio is fine.

[johns0]

The reason your getting a black screen is because the ps3 won't play the ntsc blu-ray video authored on a pal tv and vice versa.

[Lolarikos]

So you say that there is nothing wrong with the encoding? So the source video is the problem? Why do you say that the video is ntsc? Where did you see that?

[Kerry56]

Your PS3 obviously doesn't like the resolution. 1420 x 800 is not allowed in Blu-ray video specifications. Tsmuxer doesn't really distinguish what is Blu-ray compliant, and what is not. It just puts it into that format regardless, and a strange resolution is certainly not guaranteed to work.

Learn to love black bars. They are there for a reason.

And BD Rebuilder is one of the most versatile programs in existence in regard to amateur level Blu-ray compression.

[Lolarikos]

So is there any possible way to apply "pan and scan" to a 21:9 video without having these issues? I mean with handbrake... I cannot love black bars.
I hate them, I am sorry. I always want Full Screen in everything I watch or play.

[johns0]

So you say that there is nothing wrong with the encoding? So the source video is the problem? Why do you say that the video is ntsc? Where did you see that?

Frame rate : 23.976 fps
The ps3 will play weird resolutions as long as they don't exceed 1920x1080 4.1 profile,it just that sony locks out playing pal on ntsc and ntsc on pal.

[Lolarikos]

That frame rate is the standard for Blu-Ray movies. So you think that PS3 doesn't play Blu-Ray movies?
I think that Kerry is right. So how can I get 1920:1080 with no black borders from 1920:800?

[johns0]

The ps3 will play blu-ray movies as long as they are meant for the region,you need to re-encode the video to 1920x1080 at 25fps,just zoom your tv to get rid of any borders,if you re-encode the video and keep it at 23.976 it still won't play right.I have a ps3 and it will play 1280x532 and other resolutions as long as it's in ntsc for my region.

The thing is the picture will be stretched up with no black bars

[hello_hello]

For a Bluray disc (normal Bluray structure) to be playable with a PS3 does the video have to be Bluray compliant? Because your MKV is not.

http://www.x264bluray.com/home

Doesn't the video need to be 1920x1080 or 1280x720 etc

Technically the encoder output should be .264 and not MKV or MP4 for 100% Bluray compliance. There's a reason for that but I can't remember the details (something about muxers modifying or removing some of the encoder data from the video stream).

Personally, I'd just re-encode it to fit on a disc, but keep it as an MP4 and burn it as a data file. The whole Bluray video structure thing seems like a waste of time to me unless you particularly need a Bluray video disc. Or does it only play MP4 via USB? I don't own a PS3 so I don't know. It's listed as a supported file type. https://support.us.playstation.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/361/~/movie-%26-video-file-types-for-ps3

[Lolarikos]

I f reencode to 25 frames per second, I will need to add one extra frame per second. Where will I find that frame? The encoder will automatically play one of the 24 frames twice and the whole video will have glitches. And I tell you again. I have used ConvertXtoHD that encodes in 23.976 and the output played fine on PS3. 25 frames per second is DVD PAL (correct me if I am wrong). Blu-Ray is standard for all regions and it is progressive (23.976fps).

[Lolarikos]

Excuse me Mr. "hello_hello",

what do you mean that my video is not Blu-Ray compliant?
I have never seen a video with *.264 format. The h624 is indeed an encoding method, but a file format? Are you sure?
I don't want to burn the video as a data file because it won't have subtitles (srt not supported by PS3) and I want to create a standard Blu-Ray disc playable by all players on the market.

[hello_hello]

So how can I get 1920:1080 with no black borders from 1920:800?

Crop 250 pixels from one side, 248 pixels from the other, and resize what's left back to 1920x1080.

Although it'd probably be fine resizing down to 1280x720 instead. The height is only 800 to begin with so you're not reducing it much. And there's less video to encode, so at the same bitrate as you'd encode 1080p the encoding quality should be higher, but you could probably use half the bitrate you're encoding with at 1080p and the encoding quality would still be very high.

http://www.x264bluray.com/home/720p-encoding

[Lolarikos]

So the video I posted previously, I will encode it back to 1920x1080 pixels, so I won't have to crop anything as the aspect ratio will remain the same, but I will have six more hours of two pass encoding. I hope it will work. I hope it is that strange resolution that creates the problem.
I don't want to go to the second solution you are saying Mr Hello because I will have to crop from up and down, where the information is more important than right and left, and thus cannot be removed (the heads of the actors will be half).

[Kerry56]

When I make Blu-ray video and author them, I use MeGUI to make raw .h264 video output and deliberately use Blu-ray compliant settings. Handbrake doesn't have that option (.h264) as far as I am aware. But I also stick to the compliant resolutions. When doing the authoring step, I don't use tsMuxeR, but rather, an old copy of Adobe Encore.

23.976fps should be fine for any Blu-ray player, including the PS3.

In order to change a wider screen movie and fit down into 16:9 with no black bars, you'll be cutting out rather large sections of the movie. There will be things happening off screen that would normally show up. Look up pan and scan.

Edit: bit late with this reply I see.

[Lolarikos]

Thanks all of you for the answers. I will try some solutions and I will write again to inform.

[hello_hello]

Excuse me Mr. "hello_hello",

what do you mean that my video is not Blu-Ray compliant?
I have never seen a video with *.264 format. The h624 is indeed an encoding method, but a file format? Are you sure?
I don't want to burn the video as a data file because it won't have subtitles (srt not supported by PS3) and I want to create a standard Blu-Ray disc playable by all players on the market.

If you look at the page I linked to you'll see there's certain encoder settings required for 100% Bluray compliance. I don't use HandBrake but the following x264 command line would be what you'd need for 1080p at 24fps (the speed preset and tune film options aren't required, they're personal choice):

http://www.x264bluray.com/home/1080i-p
x264 --bitrate XXXXX --preset veryslow --tune film --bluray-compat --vbv-maxrate 40000 --vbv-bufsize 30000 --level 4.1 --keyint 24 --open-gop --slices 4 --colorprim "bt709" --transfer "bt709" --colormatrix "bt709" --sar 1:1 --pass 2 -o out.264 input.file

As you can see the output format specified is .264. That's just the "raw" video, not in a container such as MKV or MP4. I don't know how critical that is, but you'd mux it with TSMuxer the usual way. Mind you the above is for "strict" Bluray compliance but some players might still play video that's not 100% compliant.
You can extract the raw video from MKVs with gMKVExtractGUI or MKVCleaver. They might extract it as .h264 but it's the same thing. Not much to look at though. Just a file with a .h264 extension.

You'd be hard pressed to find a Bluray player that doesn't play MKVs and MP4s via USB these days. Most support srt subtitles (although I prefer to hardcode subtitles myself so they always display). Not so long ago the budget model players probably didn't support MKV or MP4, but now they probably all do. And they don't require all the Bluray encoding settings for MKV or MP4. The default x264 settings should be fine.

If I reencode to 25 frames per second, I will need to add one extra frame per second. Where will I find that frame? The encoder will automatically play one of the 24 frames twice and the whole video will have glitches.

You'd do what's always been done for PAL, just speed the 24fps video up to 25fps. You can't do that with Handbrake though.
That's probably the other advantage of standalone files, there'd be less chance of having to worry about frame rates. Mostly, if a device can play a standalone file, the frame rate doesn't matter. There's no region or PAL/NTSC issues to worry about.
I can't speak for the PS3 myself, but I live in PAL land and I've never had a player.... from budget DVD players capable of playing AVIs, to current model Bluray players, to TVs with built-in media players..... ever refuse to play a file based on frame rate (unless it was too high for the device such as 50fps or 60fps).
That's another thing to consider. It's almost hard to buy a TV these days without a built in USB media player but they don't have a drive for playing discs. Even my smartphone has HDMI out and will play MKVs and MP4s.

[hello_hello]

I don't want to go to the second solution you are saying Mr Hello because I will have to crop from up and down, where the information is more important than right and left, and thus cannot be removed (the heads of the actors will be half).

No, it's exactly the opposite. You'd crop 250 pixels from the left and 248 from the right. That leaves you with 1422x800.

1422/800 = 1.777 or 16:9.

You'd resize it to either 1080p or 720p for Bluray compliance, or for encoding to MKV or MP4 you could just re-encode it without resizing if you prefer.

The effect is exactly like zooming in until the black bars are gone. I do the zooming on playback myself, but that's easy for me as my PC is connected to my TV.

It looks like this:
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/368837-how-to-get-rid-of-the-black-bar?p=2361242&vi...=1#post2361242

If you want to get 4:3 video to fill the screen, then you need to crop video from the top and bottom, but as a rule it can be done without chopping people's heads off etc. At least not too often.
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/368837-how-to-get-rid-of-the-black-bar?p=2361587&vi...=1#post2361587

[Lolarikos]

Thanks for suggesting me to use bdtoavchd. It's a fantastic program. When I inserted my video it told me immediately what the problem was: the aspect ratio was not Blu-Ray compatible. BDtoAVCHD removes black borders when detects cinema scope AR, automatically loads audio and subtitles streams (as long as they are embedded to the matroska) and has a variety of output options (only double layer BD-R missing I think). I will check the results and post my impressions. I hope I won't have glitches, pixelation or audio issues.

[hello_hello]

Lolarikos,
I think we mightn't have been on quite the same wavelength before, and maybe not yet either, but I thought I'd offer this clarification, of sorts.

So the video I posted previously, I will encode it back to 1920x1080 pixels, so I won't have to crop anything as the aspect ratio will remain the same, but I will have six more hours of two pass encoding. I hope it will work. I hope it is that strange resolution that creates the problem.

When you said "encode it back to 1920x1080" were you referring to re-encoding the 21GB MKV in your first post, or do you still have the original larger than 23GB MKV? If you still have the larger than 23GB MKV you should be working with it. Maybe that's what you meant, but if not, it'd be better to delete the 21GB MKV and work with the original again.

Thanks for suggesting me to use bdtoavchd. It's a fantastic program. When I inserted my video it told me immediately what the problem was: the aspect ratio was not Blu-Ray compatible. BDtoAVCHD removes black borders when detects cinema scope AR.

BDtoAVCHD would be adding black borders for cinemascope, not removing them. You applied cropping to the sides originally, Handbrake removed the black bars, and you were left with 1440x800. That is 16:9 and it is the correct aspect ratio. It just needs resizing to a Bluray compatible resolution.

Well, BDtoAVCHD may have complained about the aspect ratio not being Bluray compatible because it's not exactly 16:9. That's why I suggested cropping 250 and 248 from the sides. It's a little more accurate and BDtoAVCHD probably wouldn't complain

Your 21GB MKV 1440/800 = 1.8

My cropping 1442x800 = 1.7775

Below there's a pic to hopefully ensure we're referring to the same thing.

The entire picture is the same aspect ratio as your TV and the same resolution as Bluray. 1920x1080 (16:9)
Both the light and dark blue areas are a cinema scope movie encoded onto it.
The top and bottom green represents the usual black borders.
The light blue areas left and right represent 250 and 248 pixels respectively.
The dark blue is what remains of your original 1920x1080 resolution if the black borders are removed and it's cropped to 16:9. Dark blue is 1442x800 (16:9), awaiting resizing up to 1920x1080, or resizing down to 1280x720. I'd probably resize down most of the time in this situation.

If you feed BDtoAVCHD the light and dark blue areas for encoding (ie a 1920x800 cinema scope MKV), it should automatically add the green. You're then back to 1920x1080 and Bluray compatible. Your borders are back.

Alternatively, give BDtoAVCHD the whole picture. The original 23GB MKV. Let it re-encode it. Same result, but you've only re-encoded once. Obviously the borders are still there too.

Depending on how much control BDtoAVCHD gives you (I've never used it) you could give it the whole picture (original larger than 23GB MKV) tell it to remove the green parts, tell it to remove the light blue parts, and tell it to resize the remaining dark blue area to 1080p or 720p and you'd still only be re-encoding once.

Your current method seems to have involved re-encoding the original larger than 23GB MKV while removing everything except the dark blue (21GB MKV), then you're giving BDtoAVCHD the dark blue part (21GB MKV) to re-encode a second time (while resizing to 1080p or 720p).