H264info problems

[thomsonic]

Hi, I am trying to convert my mkv videos.

I want to change the level of my h264 stream from L5.1 to L4.0 and change the ref frames from what it is to 4 in order to play the files smoothly on TviX HD6500A. I am currently doing this with h264 and it works fine. But when I merge the files together as a mkv file with mkvMergeGUI i get the new file i want with the new changes, BUT!!! The content of the file, the video, is fu**ed up and unbearable to look at. I'm sorry, but I can't really describe it. It looks as if you are watching a video without (the right) codecs and there still IS something to watch.

Can anybody help me? I really want to get this to work.
I would upload a picture of it if I could, but when I take a screenshot of it I only get a black screen.
Btw I'm using K-Lite Mega Codec Pack (newest version) and I have never had these problems with a video, so it must be something I need to do in the h264info setup settings. Please help!

Thanks anyway...

[PuzZLeR]

I've experimented with H264info to make some of my x264 encodes blu-ray compatible (level and pulldown). Some streams work just fine, and others are just plain "sticky" (probably a better expression than yours) - they seem to work in some containers better than others (MP4, M2TS, MKV, depending) or either choke the playback app and/or have been problematic at best with real blu-ray players. Alot depends on the source and not all software/hardware will respond to something they may perceive as a "hack".

H264info is a tool with plenty of promise - its purpose is defy what was originally encoded and convert it into some other form of "compliancy" without re-encoding. However, such a challenge is still very much a work in progress and needs some more time.

Other tools that can change the level are TsRemuX or IDC Changer/IDC Multi Changer.

[thomsonic]

Other tools that can change the level are TsRemuX or IDC Changer/IDC Multi Changer.

Yeah, I've tried TsRemux, but it can not change ref frames, only level, right? If I could just change my mkv files to level 4.0 with 4 ref frames then I would not ever have to think about if the files will play in my TviX.

[PuzZLeR]

Can I ask what the # of ref frames was before? If the source has 3, or less, then you may not even need to go there other than the level change.

Then again, as I mentioned, H264info will not "fix" all sources just yet, and may never will. It is still very much a tester's item for now. I personally don't think you entered the wrong settings, just that it may not work at all anyway with your source.

It may suck to say this, but if this doesn't work for you then re-encoding would be the only other solution.

[PuzZLeR]

I see now (they both mix me up, TSRemux and tsMuxer). You can change the level with tsMuxeR.

But it won't change the number of reference frames though.

[nicorac]

I created a tool to change H264/IDC level easily.

I called it H264LevelEditor, it's free and can be found here:
http://coolsoft.altervista.org/h264leveleditor