bluray playback conundrum

[ryanroat]

[edit: I see I posted this in the stand-alone rather than the extender forum; mods feel free to move if you deem appropriate]

We could not get Napoleon Dynamite (bluray) to play with our usual bluray playback app PowerDVD. I haven't explored every nuance of why, but I though 'okay, I can try out the extender Bluray playback."

So I ripped the disk (anydvd), and loaded up the extender. I didn't know at that time about importing the DVD directory for playback, so I just browsed to the directory and played the largest file, which was indeed the main feature. Alas, there was no audio. Using the audio button on the extender remote, I was able to find commentary audio tracks and alternate language tracks, but no english feature-only audio.

So this morning, I looked up how to use the import directory function to enable DVD (and bluray) playback. Now the movie shows up as a DVD, but the only thing that ever shows up is the audio and video for the main menu. However, there's not even a menu, just the video and audio, over and over again.

I've tried skipping forward to the next chapter; the time bar moves along, but the playback is still just the menu video & audio. I press the DVD menu button on the remote, and nothing happens at all.

I can't think of what else to try to get access to the main feature with audio! Any suggestions?

[HelenWeathers]

BD playback is still a work in progress. The current beta firmware for the HD-200 still does not support the Menu function. The latest beta made great strides in addressing the issue of the BD Menu loop looking like a large movie file. Are you running the 20090313 beta firmware?

[ryanroat]

yes, just pulled the newest 313 beta yesterday; I don't really need the menus, but just a solution to play the movie. Should I use a folder that just has the main movie file in it?

To experiment a little, I just ripped my one of my "Lost" bluray discs, and I get the same experience: disc menu screen, but no ability to actually play the feature(s). I guess with one of these episodic discs like Lost, you'd really need the menu to choose which episode to watch. But for a movie disc, how do I get the movie to play?

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by ryanroat

I don't really need the menus, but just a solution to play the movie. Should I use a folder that just has the main movie file in it?

I do process my movies using tsMuxeR to extract only the main movie and that always seems to work for the problem ones.

To experiment a little, I just ripped my one of my "Lost" bluray discs, and I get the same experience: disc menu screen, but no ability to actually play the feature(s). I guess with one of these episodic discs like Lost, you'd really need the menu to choose which episode to watch.

Without the Menu structure, with discs containing episodes you could process them seperately to different named bdmv folders like LostS1E1, LostS1E2, etc.

Either that or you can try to locate (file browser) just the largest m2ts files and play them individually.

[ryanroat]

from core SageTV V6.5.12 beta announcement:>>Fixed bug where we mis-detected the main movie file in BluRay BDMV playback if it had a very long looping playlist (like in a menu background)

That seems to describe what I'm experiencing. I've got a bunch of stuff recording this afternoon, so I can't shut everything down to update now, but maybe the core update is what I need rather than the extender hardware update?

>>Either that or you can try to locate (file browser) just the largest m2ts files and play them individually.

Except if you refer back to my first post, you'll see that I couldn't get an english movie-only audio feed that way. I'd be happy to do that to watch the movie if I could get audio.

Thanks for your input. I think the new core beta might be the key here; we'll find out later today once I can shut the system down for an update.

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by ryanroat

you'll see that I couldn't get an english movie-only audio feed that way. I'd be happy to do that to watch the movie if I could get audio.

The audio issue is probably how you are connected. S/PDIF or HDMI will pass DTS core to an external amp. On my TVs, I have to create an AC3 track from the DTS master to get main audio to work.

[ryanroat]

Originally Posted by HelenWeathers

The audio issue is probably how you are connected. S/PDIF or HDMI will pass DTS core to an external amp. On my TVs, I have to create an AC3 track from the DTS master to get main audio to work.

hmmm. I *am* connected HDMI directly to the TV (it's a secondary view zone, so no external audio system).

DO you suspect I'll still have the audio issue even if I get the DVD-style playback resolved?

How complicated is set up and ripping via tsMuxeR?

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by ryanroat

hmmm. I *am* connected HDMI directly to the TV (it's a secondary view zone, so no external audio system).

DO you suspect I'll still have the audio issue even if I get the DVD-style playback resolved?

How complicated is set up and ripping via tsMuxeR?

My TV has HDMI but doesn't understand DTS, only AC3. So yes, I think that may be your audio problem.

tsMuxeR is easy to use as is eac3to (another program you'll need) which actually does the audio conversion.

Search the forum for tsmuxer and eac3to and you'll find lots of info on how to use both.

EDIT: BDInfo is another tool you should get as it makes selecting the proper playlist easy. All three of these are freeware BTW.

[ryanroat]

yes, as it turns out, upgrading to the latest Sage core beta allowed the DVD-style playback to play the main movie, but still no main audio...

off to figure out how to rip and covert the audio...