Movie Only Full Backup using BD Rebuilder (no encoding)

[seehazy]

Let me get this out of the way, I am one of those annoying purists that does not want the video reencoded or altered in any manner. I understand that the effect on video quality is so small that it is imperceptible to the human eye. I have tested this consensus for myself and I would have to agree. I don't care! I want an UNALTERED MOVIE ONLY BACKUP, also preserving both HD audio and default chapters.

I know this is possible by setting BD Rebuilder to FORCE_NOENCODE=1 in the output.ini. This can also be achieved by either setting the custom target size to the exact size of the movie or by setting the custom target size to a larger size than the movie (such as 51200MB for a 50GB custom target size). Both ways will result in BD Rebuilder understanding you do not want to reencode the video and it will not do so. I also make sure to preserve the HD audio using the appropriate checkbox in the settings.

The PROBLEM is that when I play the resulting ISO in XBMC media player, the first couple of seconds of the movie will be GREEN! The video starts with a green screen and then fades to green pixels... and then it plays flawlessly after that. I cannot understand this! I have done no encoding to alter the original video! Why is there green stuff! Aaahhhhh!!!

My solution has been to set the custom target size to a value that is 1MB below the video's original size. I then set my encoding settings to Highest quality and deselect one pass encoding, enabling two pass VBR encoding. This basically reencodes the video at 99.99% quality. This also gets rid of the green issue. Any time I have reencoded a video there has not been an issue with the green beginning.

Has anyone else run into this issue?? I have searched and searched but apparently no one else has seen this occur. By the way, I have also tried doing an unaltered movie only backup using tsMuxeR and ClownBD with the same results... infuriating! tsMuxeR also seems to get rid of the default chapters which I would prefer to keep.

Any help greatly appreciated.

[jman98]

What is your destination of the output of BDRB? Some BD movies are greater than 25 GB in size and if you are burning to discs, this requires you to use BD-R DL media. If you're using BD-R DL discs, there's no reason for BDRB to be involved at all. You can just rip and burn.

[Steve(MS)]

You can try bdtoavchd, don't know if the green will be there or not, never noticed it.

[seehazy]

Yes jman98 that is true.

When I use BDRB I output to a BD folder and create the image myself using ImgBurn. The only reason I create the image myself as opposed to letting BDRB automate the process is so I can set the volume label to something other than the BD folder name.

I am trying to do a MOVIE ONLY backup, however. If I don't use BDRB then there will be menus, extras, etc. That is why I need BDRB.

[fritzi93]

You can try extracting main movie with Clown_BD. If you have a driver-level decrypter running in the background, you can do it direct from disc, no re-encoding.

As to tsMuxer, it should preserve original chapters, unless you're somehow doing something wrong, but nothing occurs to me. Very odd, and the green screen thing...never encountered it.

[seehazy]

Thanks fritzi93. I have tried ClownBD, but not direct from disc. I will give that a shot. I will use AnyDVD HD in background and then select the .m2ts stream direct from disc. Previously I selected the .m2ts stream after having ripped the BD folder. Will post results when finished.

In tsMuxeR the chapter options are 1-no chapters, 2-insert chapter every "x" minutes, 3-custom chapter list. Which option would keep the original chapters?

[jman98]

You can always try to ask on the official forum at Doom9 about this if it's really a big deal and you want a solution. The author of BDRB seems to be a reasonable fellow, but he does not always get interested in problems that are reported. Most of the people on the official forum are his sycophantic followers who will tell posters that BDRB is just 100% perfect and flawless (even the author admits it has issues) and if it's not performing perfectly for you, then the problem is that YOU installed something wrong or did something stupid. So if you really want to try to fix it you can ask there, but don't bet your house on getting a helpful response or getting the author interested in looking into it.

[seehazy]

Thanks jman. I have actually just registered over at Doom9 but you have to wait 5 days to be able to post a forum thread. I was hoping jdobbs would see my post and help me out! I will be posting over there in a week if I haven't found a good solution.

[fritzi93]

In tsMuxeR the chapter options are 1-no chapters, 2-insert chapter every "x" minutes, 3-custom chapter list. Which option would keep the original chapters?

Oh, I get it. You're selecting the m2ts. You have to select the playlist file (mpls), not the m2ts. Then you get your chapters listed automatically.

That too can be done direct from disc. Scan the disc first with BDinfo and it will list longest title first (usually the one you want). Note down the mpls file and input that into tsMuxer.

[seehazy]

At this point I might stick with my temporary solution of encoding the video at 99% quality.

I have used BDRB, ClownBD, and tsMuxeR with no success. I now understand using the .mpls file using tsMuxeR and can use default chapters. THE GREEN SCREEN STILL APPEARS whenever I try NO ENCODING. I have also tested using both AnyDVD HD and DVDFab. I have used AnyDVD with both methods: that is, ripping the BD folder to HDD and also ripping direct from disc using the previously mentioned programs. Whenever I RE-ENCODE the video there is no issue with green image/pixels.

I have tested with two different BD's (The Road and Pineapple Express). The Road shows green at very beginning before intro movie studios and beginning of movie. Pineapple Express shows green directly after intro movie studios as the movie is starting. I will test with one other movie I own (Bruno). If the green still appears I would imagine I am doing something wrong. But what?? This makes no sense to me... why would there be image distortion when I am trying to keep the movie intact and not alter the quality??!!

[fritzi93]

Have you tried another playback device or software?

If it's only happening with XBMC media player, then there's the culprit.

[seehazy]

It could have to do with the media player and be an application issue... The thing is it shows green in both XBMC and VLC media player. A few times I have opened the .m2ts file from the stream folder and previewed with VLC but the green shows up there as well. I have been using XBMC to open the ISO's, I doubt using VLC would make a difference.

Maybe I should burn to disc and test using the BD drive and a PS3?

[jman98]

I have to say that I would feel a lot more like there was a real problem if you got this same result on your PS3 or using Total Media Theater. The thought did occur to me that this might just be an XBMC thing. I use VLC but I don't really recommend it for testing beyond just checking that menus work and that the video will start. I don't recommend it for any type of BluRay playback checking.

[seehazy]

Fritzi and jman I think you guys are right, it is an application issue. I have tested my movie only full backup (without reencoding using BDRB and output to an ISO using ImgBurn) using the free trial of Total Media Theater. Mounted and played video on TMT with no green screen or green pixels!

This may be common knowledge but VLC does not handle playing BD ISO's direct from file with no mounting. I use VLC for all of my DVD backups (plays DVD ISO's unmounted) but have been trying out different media players for BD material. Could I get some suggestions for solid media players? I am aware of WinDVD and PowerDVD, XBMC is my current media player of choice, VLC for everything but BD (however it will play .m2ts files), and now I know about Total Media Theater.

Reencoding the video seems to ensure the files will play flawlessly across all of the media players (except for VLC). Just for the sake of compatibility I may continue to reencode my video using the 99% original quality method I have described previously.

[fritzi93]

You could try a re-install of XBMC, and if you're using a 64-bit version, try 32-bit. Or vice-versa. Maybe worth a shot.

I've never liked PowerDVD, and IMO the only Blu-Ray software player worth getting is TMT. VLC in its day was great for playing darn near anything, and it was as good or better than anything else out there. But now it's getting a little long in the tooth, and of course can't navigate BDs anyway.

If you can do without the requirement to navigate Blu-Ray menus, the possibilities open up. Mux your movie-only rips to MKV or MP4 and there are many free software players that can play them. I do have TME (the player component itself is essentially TMT) and can play BDs, but I find it convenient to play MKVs with MPCHC.

It's understandable that you like XBMC and would like to keep using it, but it seems pretty onerous to have to use the workaround you've come up with. Then again, with a change of container (to MKV, et. al.), you might not have to.

Anyway, good luck, I'm sure you'll work out a satisfactory solution.

[seehazy]

I do think my current XBMC is 64 bit and I might have to try the 32 bit version. Good suggestion.

I actually do not require the menus and I do not believe they remain when selecting movie-only backup in BDRB. Changing the container would allow even greater compatibility so that would seem to be a good idea. I would prefer keeping them unaltered however. Does changing the container affect video quality? Another consideration is keeping the BD file structure and creating ISO's... I would like to be able to burn to disc at any time and ideally play in any blu ray player. Changing the container would prevent this (correct?).

Thanks everyone for your suggestions they have been immensely helpful! I at least know BDRB is doing its job correctly... once I choose a suitable media player I shouldn't have any more issues.

***One other question: does TMT or TME support playing ISO's directly (without mounting)? Does not appear to be the case while using the free trial.

[jman98]

If you just rip and put the ripped files into a container without conversion, there is no quality lost. BluRay players are getting better at supporting various files types such as MKV, but there's no 100% guarantee that any BluRay player you buy can play any MKV file you make.

It's good that you found out the problem prior to posting at Doom9 as that spared you the inevitable "It's your fault. You suck and are stupid!" type responses your post would have gotten since this really was not a BDRB problem.