PC client vs. HD-200/HD-300 for ripped bd directory playback

[mkanet]

Does anyone know what component(s) or specs in a BD folder structure could cause sageTV PC client from not being able to start playback? Some BD folder rips consistently playback great using sageTV PC client ; and some that dont. I'm trying to determine what the ones that dont have in common.

Are there known incompatible BD specs that cause sageTV PC client to not start playback of certain BD folder rips that the HD200 can play? Maybe it's related to subtitle support? These folders playback fine in VLC; as well as my HD200. I can also convert it to ISO, mount it as a virtual disc and play it in my old PowerDVD 8 player. It doesnt make a difference what audio/video decoders I use or which version of sageTV 7.x client.

[gplasky]

Were they all ripped the same way with the same parameters and with the same tool? I would begin looking at how they were ripped. I would think once you coorelate that info you would begin to see a pattern. I only use extenders for BD playback.

Gerry

[SWKerr]

Have you looked at the Codec used. Getting good VC-1 playback on a PC can be complicated. If you drag the main movie file into something like tsMuxer GUI you will be able to see which codec is used.

[mkanet]

It would be interesting to get replies from people who go through many, many BD folder disc rips made by slysoft AND at least try to play them back on their PC client (since that what I have). I know for a fact these movies are standard H.264. Audio stream are all standard too. I use the same decoders to play the same streams when remuxed to mkv (I can see what streams they are when using something like MKVextract).

As far as I know, its not the fault of the ripping process; as they play perfectly on my HD-200; as well as multiple software apps (for PowerDVD, I have to use slysoft products to convert to ISO and mount; but still works fine with same content). If there's something wrong with the rip, all software apps seem to react the same way; such as protection that anydvd doesnt support yet.

My friend who has a completely different setup than me; says he has the same exact problem on the same movies; so, I'm guessing this shouldnt be a surprise to people who try to use Windows PC clients who go through many, many BD rips and use slysoft. I just thought maybe someone has already isolated it to something very basic; such as, something related to subtitle support (one of the major missing BD standard features in PC client that the HD-200 doesnt have. Maybe this is something that will get resolved after full subtitle support. There isn't a whole lot for me to adjust, fix, or replace as far as I know.

Originally Posted by SWKerr

Have you looked at the Codec used. Getting good VC-1 playback on a PC can be complicated. If you drag the main movie file into something like tsMuxer GUI you will be able to see which codec is used.

[mkanet]

SWKerr was absolutely right. After looking at the streams inside the m2ts files (in the BD rips), they all had one thing in common... VC1. I dont know why I was convinced they were H.264

My VC1 decoder was set to PowerDVD 8's VC1 decoder; which doesnt work without of their own DS splitter.

I switched it to "WMVideo Decoder DMO" and rebooted. Now, at least the VC1 movies start... but some of them are very jerky.

I narrowed the problem down to the SageTV MpegDeMux. LAV/Haali splitters work perfectly with "WMVideo Decoder DMO"; but not with "SageTV MpegDeMux (which is required for m2ts/BD playback).

I dont know how long this problem has been going on, but I found this issue reported several months ago:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...7&postcount=17

For whatever reason, SageTVDemux doesnt handle WMVideo Deocder DMO the same way as other splitters; even in earlier versions of these filters.

Anyway, thanks for pointing me to the right direction. I just wanted to isolate the cause of the problem... which I did.

[Fuzzy]

Personally, I decided to run the BD Rips through TMT5 (which is why I created the external DVD/BD plugin). I am one who actually likes the disc menus, and I also use 3D from time to time, so it just made sense. The problems with VC-1 are multiple (mostly, because MS made it very hard to use anything by the DMO decoder), and it just wasn't worth fighting.

[mkanet]

Yeah, I used to have an external player a while back launch seamlessly (powerdvd starting in full screen mode), but, since I have a PC based client, I tend to toggle between window/full screen mode and do other things; otherwise, I'd just use my HD200. Interfaces. UI controls dont match either; and, none of the sageTV OSD menu options are builtin to the external player bluray playback screen for easy access; such as pulling actor/director/movie info on the fly via sageTV IMDB (which both me and my wife use a lot).

Having said that, this issue can be addressed in the sageTV demux; which isn't quite as flexible as common opensource 3rd party splitters that handle the DMO decoder for VC1 just fine. SageTV development was able to fix full HD audio decoding (DTS-MA/TrueHD/DD Plus using Arcsoft decoder (or LAV audio) using the sageTV Demux in just a few days after reporting it.. so hopefully now that this is brought to their attention, they can do the same thing. Who knows, it may not be as easy as it appears. Either way, I'd rather just go to my living room and watch it on my HD200 or Sony BD STB than install an external software BD Player.

But thanks for your suggestion anyway.

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Personally, I decided to run the BD Rips through TMT5 (which is why I created the external DVD/BD plugin). I am one who actually likes the disc menus, and I also use 3D from time to time, so it just made sense. The problems with VC-1 are multiple (mostly, because MS made it very hard to use anything by the DMO decoder), and it just wasn't worth fighting.

[Thomas Wischgol]

I agree, an integrated solution which let's us play BDs right within Sage would be a lot cleaner. As far as I remember, though, this was brought to Sage 's attention months ago and there still is no solution yet.

Thomas

P.S. 24 fps playback, where Sage would automatically switch based on the video, would be nice too (this is on Sage's agenda according to what support told me).