Compressed Blue Ray - No Fast Forward or Rewind

[gabe1475]

After I compressed Avengers (blue-ray format) to MKV file. The file will play, but the movie length registers as 0 and I do not have the ability to fast forward or rewind. Has anyone come accross this and know of a fix for this?

[CADweasel]

I would suggest you use Handbrake to re-encode your video to mkv. I have never had any problems with fast forwarding or rewinding video encoded with Handbrake. http://handbrake.fr/. The default quality setting produces excellent video. Also if you wanted to keep the original mpeg files intact and place them in a mkv wrapper, I suggest using Makemkv. http://makemkv.com/

[gabe1475]

I did use handbrake, but instead of the default settings I use their High Profile settings which is supposed to preserve a bit more on the quality side. I did try default, and while the picture is very good and only 2.7GB, there was a noticable difference between the blue ray file and the compressed file. Don't have issues with any of the other videos, although I have not done that many.

What size files are you getting from compressed blue-ray files?

[CADweasel]

I have had the exact same problem with the High Profile setting. Video kept pausing and playback was erratic. 2-3 GB per video file is what I usually get when compressed, so you are in the ball park.

You can adjust the slider to the right under the "Video" tab to increase the quality, but you will have a larger file. You can also try the "Avg Bitrate" setting and play with the numbers a bit. I found that a setting of 2500 - 3000 gives good quality.

Instead of encoding the entire file, use the "Preview" button to get 30 seconds of sample video to check the quality.

[Taddeusz]

2500-3000 kbps is pretty low for getting good quality out of a bluray. I personally use between 6300 and 8500 kbps to keep the bits per pixel at a reasonable level. I've found that below that quality starts to become noticeably worse.

[gabe1475]

I would prefer higher quality since I am only keeping select movies that my Kids or I will be watching more than once. Thanks for the input, will try normal profile and adjusting the bitrate manually. I am actually running a normal profile without bumping up the bitrate to see if that still has the issue.

[Taddeusz]

I started out using CQ mode but quickly discovered that I would have to manually adjust the quality value to attain the bpp that I wanted. Using average bitrate mode you can determine the quality target you want to hit and it will give you repeatable results as far as how many bits per pixel are used.

[Fuzzy]

harddrives are cheap, so i just don't recompress them. most movies are around 20GB, some ranging up to 30GB. $140 can get you a 3TB drive that can hold 100+ BluRay main movies - that's < $1.40 added extra to the cost of the $30 BluRay to have it full time available at the click of a remote.

[Taddeusz]

Cheap is relative. I wish I could afford more storage right now. Just finished up my degree and waiting for my company to move me to full time or find another job. Just don't have enough disposable income to dispose of.

[Fuzzy]

My point being, if you consider it in the cost of the BluRay, it's a minor cost - The other way to look at it is, that's the cost of simply buying 2-3 fewer BluRays. That is, if you ARE actually buying the BluRays...

[gabe1475]

From my perspective cost is not the issue as I have about 5tb total storage for sage with space for more which is more than I will need for some time. I want to be able to utilize from a DLNA capable TV withough any type of media player. I have verified that the TV plays compressed blueray from MKV files, so this seems like the best solution. The TV is mounted on the wall with just power cord and ethernet attached.