Ripped DVD: Green blocks (pixelation?) on PowerDVD

[jcat]

I've ripped a DVD to my HD using DVDDecryptor. Before doing anything else I attempted to play it in PowerDVD. I got bizarre effects - I think it must be pixelation, though I'm not entirely sure. Square green blocks and mixed-up picture and sound. So I deleted and did it again, with the same result. The disk itself plays fine on PowerDVD, and when I load the file into TMPGenc DVD Author and presss play I don't get any of these problems.

I should also probably mention that the disk is PAL.

Anyone have any suggestions? Why won't PowerDVD properly play a file ripped straight from a disk?

[BJ_M]

are you trying to play full screen ? try to play at 100% instead

[yysie]

Change your resolution at 1152x864... The video is might a 352x576 video... any other screen resolution is not optimal.

[jcat]

The problem occurs whether or not I'm in full screen mode. As for resolution - do you mean change my own monitor's resolution, or the resolution at which PowerDVD plays?

But I can't see why the resolution or the screen mode should matter, since I have no problem playing the DVD itself from my DVD drive. It plays almost perfectly (an occasional stutter here or there). It's only the ripped files that are giving me this problem.

I should edit this to say that I am not in fact sure that what I am seeing is pixelation. I get green blocks and different scenes seem to be overlapped in small chunks - maybe these are artifacts?

[MackemX]

it sounds like its still encrypted for some reason

what settings did you use in DVDDecrypter?

[jcat]

It's definitely not still encrypted.

Let me give more info: I have 4 disks (episode disks from a UK show; PAL). I've ripped all of them using the exact same settings and methods. Two of them play just fine. One of them shows the green blocks with bits of the next scene mixed in - a kind of scrambled picture - from the moment I open it in PowerDVD. I can't even get to the menus. The other opens fine, and I can get to the menus and play each episode - two of the episodes are fine, but another of the episodes starts scrambling midway through.

I've searched this site till my fingers are raw, but I can't seem to find anyone else who's had this problem. I see that the green block problem often happens in PowerDVD with SVCDs and XVids, but this is a DVD - I'm loading the ifo file into Powerdvd.

Is it possible that the fault is with the disks themselves? If so, why would they play perfectly from my DVD drive?

Maybe I should try ripping in ISO mode and then creating a virtual drive using daemon tools, just to see if that works ...

[MackemX]

try using DVDShrink with 100% or Smartripper or any other ripper

[kazik1]

I had the same problem with DVD and avi files. My problem was with HDD patrition. I've been using RAID 0 and on this patrition I had the same problem. I think it was to big (200GB). I had to delete it and create smaller 100GB partition. Now it works fine.

[jcat]

My problem was with HDD patrition. I've been using RAID 0 and on this patrition I had the same problem. I think it was to big (200GB). I had to delete it and create smaller 100GB partition. Now it works fine.

That's interesting. I am working on a 130GB partition; perhaps that's the problem. Do you know why the size of the partition would cause this problem?

[yysie]

try using DVDShrink with 100% or Smartripper or any other ripper

I've had the same problem with smartripper.... And yes I mean the resolution in Powerdvd & Windows! it doesn't matter which one you're using!

[kazik1]

I have no idea but this resolved my problem. I have WD 2x200 GB RAID 0. I had one partition 200 GB b4. Now I created 2 x 100 GB and have no problems.

[jcat]

I've had the same problem with smartripper.... And yes I mean the resolution in Powerdvd & Windows! it doesn't matter which one you're using!

I'm still confused about what you're saying. Are you saying that you ripped files from a DVD using DVDDecryptor or Smartripper, had trouble playing the files on PowerDVD, and changing your screen resolution solved this? I'm having a hard time understanding why. First, it's ripped from a DVD, so I'm not sure why 352x576 is an "optimal" resolution. And second, as I said, playing the DVD from the DVD drive works perfectly at the current resolution, so I don't see why the resolution should affect playback of the ripped files.

The thing is, I'm ripping multiple disks from the same set using exactly the same DVDDecryptor settings, and some of the ripped files are playing perfectly while others are scrambled and stuttering. This is utterly mystifying to me. Also, when I load the ripped files into TMPGenc DVD Author and preview them that way, the pictures are absolutely fine. This suggests to me that the ripping software is not the problem. Could it be a PowerDVD issue? I'll download WinDVD and try playing with that instead of PowerDVD.

I don't see how the size of the HDD partition could make a difference, but the next thing I'm going to do (before repartitioning my 250G second HDD) is to try ripping to my regular 40G drive to see if that changes anything. I guess I should also download WinDVD and try viewing with that instead of PowerDVD.

Any other suggestions?

[MackemX]

DVDShrink at 100%?

in fact instead of ripping the whole thing, just rip the bit you know has the issues and use as many rippers as you can find

have you tried playing just the VOB's not using the actual DVD?

do you have WMP?, try playing the VOB's with that

[MackemX]

are these green blocks similar?

p.s. bonus point if anyone names the movie

[jcat]

are these green blocks similar?

Yes! I can't name the movie (heh!), but those are the green blocks! They're scrambled with blocks and squares from the "real" picture, and the audio kind of stutters.

Any ideas?

[MackemX]

"welcome........ to the real world"

anyway that was playing the VOB direct from the DVD

all I can suggest for now is to use DVDShrink and use reauthor mode and rip just the VOB's you are having issues with

if you say it plays back OK in the preview then the DVD cannot be damaged

Have you tried just copying/playing the VOB's direct from the DVD?

[jcat]

anyway that was playing the VOB direct from the DVD

Are you saying that this is not a flawed dvd - so it works perfectly when played on a regular dvd player - but when played with PowerDVD off your computer's DVD drive you get this result? Any idea why this would happen?

all I can suggest for now is to use DVDShrink and use reauthor mode and rip just the VOB's you are having issues with

I very much appreciate the help, but I'm not sure I completely understand this. I've got my ripped files in a video_ts folder. I could easily reauthor with DVDShrink - ie, strip out the episodes I want, create new VOBs, etc - I assume this is what you're suggesting. But how/why would reauthoring solve my problem? I'm playing the VOBs off my hard drive (not off the dvd itself) and getting these green blocks - how could DVDShrink affect that?

Have you tried just copying/playing the VOB's direct from the DVD?

Again, I'm not sure I understand what you're suggesting ... isn't that what DVDDecryptor does - copy the VOBs directly from the DVD? And when I play the DVD from the DVD drive with PowerDVD, isn't that "playing the VOBs direct from the DVD"?

if you say it plays back OK in the preview then the DVD cannot be damaged

I don't think it's damaged. not only does it play back okay in the DVD Author preview, also it plays just fine directly off my DVD drive.

Regardless of whether there's any way to fix it or not, do you know what causes this? If it's happening for you when you read VOBs directly off the DVD, it sounds like it's a player problem - ie, PowerDVD is doing something wonky....

[MackemX]

I'm suggesting you use DVDShrink as an alternative ripper.

I'm saying try playing the VOB's direct from the DVD as they may not even be encrypted

DVDDecrypter decryptes the VOB's

you have to use other tools now and see if you get the same results, so use DVDShrink (or Smartripper) and rip the DVD with those

did you try playing the just the VOB direct from the DVD? (not using DVD mode) but playing the VOB directly
use DVDShrink in reauthor mode and just select the title that contains the VOB's and see if you get the same results playing back the VOB's from your Hard Drive
try to use another VOB player as there's plenty around

please try what I am suggesting and tell me your results. I'm trying to troubleshoot your problem not tell you how to rip the whole DVD to back it up, that will come after

[jcat]

MackemX, thanks for your help! I think I understand now. I'm going to try a bunch of the things you've suggested; it might take me a few hours, but I'll come back with an update to let you know if anything worked.

Thanks again

[ddlooping]

jcat, what DVD drive are you using?
If you have both a DVD-ROM and a DVD writer, have you tried ripping with the writer?

[jcat]

I have only one DVD drive - reader and writing.

First I ripped one of the problem disks to my 40G C drive using DVDDecryptor (checked the disk itself first; had no trouble opening any of the individual VOBs from the disk itself in PowerDVD or DVDShrink). The files on the C drive played perfectly in PowerDVD. Hmmm.

Then I went back to the drive I'd been using when I got the problems - my 2nd hard drive, 250GB total, but I was using the 150GB partition. I started all over - reformatted the relevant partion in and ripped the disk yet again using DVDDecryptor . Had same problems as before playing the ripped VOBs in both PowerDVD and WinDVD.

Loaded the ripped files into DVDShrink, which came up with an error when analyzing the DVD files on the V drive. Nonetheless, despite the error, I was able to play all the VOBs correctly in DVDShrink - no scrambling or green blocks. When I loaded the disk itself into DVDShrink, I had no error message. This suggests it could be something about DVDDecryptor - but that doesn't explain why the files worked perfectly when ripped to my C drive. Something wrong with my V drive? Possibly, but it scans as perfectly healthy, freshly reformatted ... maybe it's what kazik said - the partition's too big?

Anyway, now I'm trying something different - ripping the disk back to my V drive again, with DVDDecryptor, but this time in ISO mode. Going to create a virtual drive and load it up and see if that works.

If not, next thing I'll try is ripping to the X partition of my 2nd HDD - 100GB. And then the C drive again. Then maybe I'll try a different ripping software.

Still makes no sense to me that the ripping would work onto my C drive but not my V drive, or that it would play fine in DVDShrink but not in PowerDVD or WinDVD.

[ddlooping]

jcat, your hard-drive problem sounds very similar to the following:
http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=122700#post122700
Very puzzling.

[jcat]

You're right, ddlooping, it does sound at least slightly similar - unfortunately no one's come up with an explanation or a fix over there.

So ripping in ISO mode didn't solve the problem. THe virtual disk played slightly better, but still had the scrambling.

Now I'm trying to rip to my 100GB partition instead of the 130GB partition (both NTFS, btw). We'll see if that works.

I also could, of course, just reauthor in DVDShrink directly from the disk - but I'd really like to figure this out!

[ddlooping]

jcat, could you still try re-authoring with DVD Shrink.
It would be interesting to see if you get the same error message as parag (on the other forums).
It might also help finding the problem root.

[jcat]

Well, I ripped the same problem disk to the other partition on the big drive - the 100GB partition - and the ripped files play absolutely perfectly.

Not sure what to make of this. This is exactly what kazik1 said up above. What could possibly be the reason for this? It's exactly the same disk, just a different paritition!

Going to try another problem disk to the X drive just to make sure it's not a fluke.

Once I've done that I might go back to the V drive and try reauthoring with Shrink, just to see what happens ....

[ddlooping]

Ok, please keep us posted.

[ddlooping]

Do you know why the size of the partition would cause this problem?

What if the files (or fragments of files) were physically too far from each others, due to the partition size?
Maybe the data couldn't be retrieved quickly enough to allow for smooth playback.

[jcat]

What if the files (or fragments of files) were physically too far from each others, due to the partition size?
Maybe the data couldn't be retrieved quickly enough to allow for smooth playback.

Hey, that's an idea!! Sounds reasonable to me, although you wouldn't think there'd be much of a difference between 100G and 130G, but maybe there's something significant about the 100G line.

Meanwhile, the second problem disk ripped perfectly to the 100G partition. Absolutely perfect, not a green block or scrambled bit anywhere that I could find.

I'll probably wait until tomorrow to try DVDShrink on the stuff on the 130G partition - can only do one thing at a time, unfortunately.

[MackemX]

copy the files that do not playback on one partition to the other partition then check playback of the files on the new partition

if they play then it's the speed of the other partition, if they do not play then its how you ripped them

[jcat]

copy the files that do not playback on one partition to the other partition then check playback of the files on the new partition

if they play then it's the speed of the other partition, if they do not play then its how you ripped them

Excellent idea! Overnight ripped three more disks to the smaller (100G) partition with perfect results. Can't do anything now, but when I get home from work I'll start experimenting with the "bad" files on the big partition. I'll try Shrinking them and I'll also try moving them to the other paritition ...

I'll keep you posted.