Converting from a working MKV to an AVCHD disc using TSMuxer pixelizes...

[Lathe]

Hello!

I realized (rather late) that with my OPPO Blu-ray player, if I want to back up movies from my collection to fit on a DVD-DL and convert them to MKV files, they play just fine, BUT with my player there are no chapter stops, so I cannot easily navigate forward or backward through the movie.

So, I thought, 'HEY, I can use TSMuxer to create AVCHD folders that would play more like a Blu-ray disc, then easily being able to use the 'next' or 'previous' buttons just like a Blu-ray!' I had already backed up a lot of my Blu-rays and converted them to MKVs, so with certain important ones, I'm going back and using TSMuxer to convert them to AVCHD discs.

Well, this has been working just fine EXCEPT this one MKV file that I have after seemingly creating the AVCHD folder and burning it successfully, the dang thing started pixelizing on playback. Kinda weird, not immediately, but the picture would be fine for a few seconds, then pixelize, then look okay, etc.

I'm wondering that since the original MKV plays perfectly fine on my OPPO and TSMuxer hasn't really changed anything from the original formats or anything, WHY the heck is the disc playing back like that? A friend helped my do the original encodes from BR to MKV since that is a bit complicated and I don't really know how to do that, but like I say, the MKV's themselves DO play just fine.

Here is the Media Info on the file:

General
Unique ID : 173224181900332830988533794246815468740 (0x8251C38F0A82669387B5E7678D454CC4)
Complete name : C:\Users\Owner\Desktop\Cypher.BR.Backup (1).mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4 / Version 2
File size : 5.89 GiB
Duration : 1h 35mn
Overall bit rate : 8 811 Kbps
Movie name : Cypher.BR.Backup
Encoded date : UTC 2012-01-22 21:41:31
Writing application : mkvmerge v5.9.0 ('On The Loose') built on Dec 9 2012 15:37:01
Writing library : libebml v1.3.0 + libmatroska v1.4.0

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 7 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 35mn
Bit rate : 7 306 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 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) : 0.331
Stream size : 4.76 GiB (81%)
Title : AVC
Writing library : x264 core 116 r2074 2641b9e
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=7 / deblock=1:-2:-2 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=10 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.10:0.10 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=32 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=0 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=10 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=0 / bitrate=7306 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=50000 / vbv_bufsize=62500 / nal_hrd=none / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=1:0.80
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Audio
ID : 2
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Mode : 16
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 1h 35mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 509 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 1.01 GiB (17%)
Title : English
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No

Text
ID : 3
Format : UTF-8
Codec ID : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No



Any ideas...?

Thanks!!!

[El Heggunte]

Perhaps your hardware player simply cannot handle some of the encoder settings that were used in the "problematic" video:

cabac=1 / ref=7 / deblock=1:-2:-2 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=10 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.10:0.10 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=32 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=0 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=10 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=0 / bitrate=7306 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=50000 / vbv_bufsize=62500 / nal_hrd=none / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=1:0.80

[Lathe]

Perhaps your hardware player simply cannot handle some of the encoder settings that were used in the "problematic" video:

cabac=1 / ref=7 / deblock=1:-2:-2 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=10 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.10:0.10 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=32 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=0 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=10 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=0 / bitrate=7306 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=50000 / vbv_bufsize=62500 / nal_hrd=none / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=1:0.80

YES! Thank you!

This is EXACTLY what I need, is someone who is much more experienced and will be able to see SPECIFIC variables in the encoding process that may cause my OPPO Blu-ray player trouble. I'm assuming that the ones that you have highlighted in BOLD are ones that may be suspect. That is excellent!

Now, if I could humbly presume just a tad more please, would you mind terribly just giving me a quick recommendation with these particular variables? I know that when I wrote OPPO a while back about another file, they said something about reference frames not being to high, but some of the encodes with even 9 or 13 have played okay, but perhaps that may be in COMBINATION with other variables. This is an area that I REALLY want to learn more about, but I just don't quite understand yet. Would you mind please suggesting perhaps what settings I might try with these questionable ones? One thing that strikes me is that the B-frames look quite high; THAT looks most suspect to me since I am familiar with that setting a little bit. How about the other 3 you mentioned, could you kindly tell me what they do and perhaps with what value I could try setting them?

bluray_compat=0

keyint=250

nal_hrd=none

I sure very much appreciate it, thanks!!!

[johns0]

The problem is the ReFrames : 7 frames have to be 5 or less or you will get that pixel smearing when played as an avchd in most newer dvd players,mkv will play properly with high reference frames but not avchd.

You can add chapters to an mkv with MKV Chapterizer.

[Lathe]

The problem is the ReFrames : 7 frames have to be 5 or less or you will get that pixel smearing when played as an avchd in most newer dvd players,mkv will play properly with high reference frames but not avchd.

You can add chapters to an mkv with MKV Chapterizer.

Ah, thank you SO much mate; sure appreciate it!!! I KNEW that there must be some difference but I didn't know what it was. I REALLY need to study up on all those H.264 settings so that I can hopefully begin to understand what the hell they do

Cheers!

[addu]

variable buffer and bitrates are incompatible with bluray hardware players.

[Lathe]

variable buffer and bitrates are incompatible with bluray hardware players.

Excellent! That is what I need to know, thank you! BTW, could you please tell me exactly WHICH settings shown in the media info box above represent the 'Variable buffer' and 'Variable bitrates' so that I can tell if my encodes have them.

Thanks!

[addu]

vbv_maxrate=50000 / vbv_bufsize=62500. Kindly put the vbv_maxrate=40000/vbv_bufsize=30000 while encoding.

[addu]

and for avchd try to put vbv_maxrate=18000/vbv_bufsize=15000 to play it comfortably.

[Lathe]

and for avchd try to put vbv_maxrate=18000/vbv_bufsize=15000 to play it comfortably.

Wow, that's awesome!

Thank you for suggesting the values; I REALLY need to read up on the codec so that I can truly understand WHY these need to be set a certain way.

I very much appreciate it!